The Next Bike Training Must-Have Gadget?

Radios? Pah! Old hat, we've gone through the 49Mhz, works for 100yards, stuff, onto PMR - with some riders now using Bluetooth.

Video? Pah! [Well, not me] Multi-cam set-ups, burned to DVD or shown during a rest stop on a hand-held device.

No, this has to be the Next Big Thing!


DIGI Lean Digital Display
Just how good are you?

Your speedometer might tell you how fast you’re travelling but the Acumen DIGI Lean will record your acceleration / braking G-force and lean angles. Quite possibly the ultimate track day tool, this is the coolest trip computer for the sports bike rider or track day addict.
• Acceleration (shown in G)
• Deceleration (shown in G)
• Maximum lean angle since ignition last switched on
• Clock (date and time)

There is also an option to display the previous maximum lean angle; for example, if you’ve just completed a sweeping bend, you can press the button to reveal your ‘angle of dangle’ (for safety reasons this function only works when the machine has returned to vertical).

Fitting is straightforward, with only three wires to connect (one to power, one to ignition and the third to ground). Designed for universal mount and supplied in a robust billet aluminium housing.


Remember - when you go searching for one to keep gadget-level with your friends ;) - you read it first here!



.

Chicken Pate - . . . errr . . . Pathe - News

Hot from the camera, give or take 90 years, motorcycle footage from British Pathe.

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=75681

British Made - testing army motorcycles near Coventry, West Midlands - 1915.

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=20011

Cornering at Speed. Thrills of the exciting side car race. Isle of Man


Thanks to Janet for these.


.

Cool Heated (and Cooling) Clothing

Although I've been using heated gloves, then grips, for many years (probably about 30 years! Eeek!), I've been a fairly recent convert to heated clothing, buying a heated waistcoat (an EXO2, and very good it is too) just a couple of years ago.

But cooling clothing - I hadn't heard about that until Ian sent me a link to a Youtube video:



That system's from www.entrosys.com

A quick look around also found this:



From www.hogcooler.com



.

Pre-Ride Briefing

Following on from yesterday's reminder card, I carry a laminated prompt card, which is read and explained to all trainees and candidates, so there are no (well, 'fewer') misunderstandings. Most trainees sent the content prior to the session as part of pre-training notes.

Road Riding Briefing:
Follow the road ahead unless given directions; If unsure, look for my signals;
If separated from me, find a safe place to stop and wait;

’Fall back’ procedure to previous stop.

‘Stop’ procedure – How I will signal you to stop;

Ride for yourself, ignore my positioning – also overtaking;

Make your decisions on what you think is right;

Ride at a pace at which you are comfortable – do not feel under pressure;

Speed limits - no exemptions;
• The session should be enjoyable, but you cannot be assessed if I cannot see you, therefore if you cannot see me in your rear view mirror, consider finding somewhere to slow up as I may have been obstructed;

• Learning Intention & Success Criteria of session;
• Any questions?



.

New Rider Reminder Card

'Back to biking' rider (aka the 'born again'), or recently passed gained your CBT?

This is the reminder list I used to pass out in credit card-sized, laminated, form to be carried in the rider's wallet and referred to regularly.


Clutch Biting Point – it must be instinctive.

Head & Eyes Up –
Trust your hands and feet, they know
where they are;

Look where you want to go

‘Wrist down’ on the throttle

Drive Through Corners And Roundabouts –
Slow in, Fast(er) out.

Brakes, then Gears, in a straight line.

Always Stop With The Bike Upright.

Feet Up In Tight Turns –
Rear brake only



The reminders are key elements of the training day.



.

Daker Rider [Almost] Entombed

OK, it's a bit of a 'not quite, lucky escape' story (borrowed from the MCN site).

There’s still two days of the Dakar rally left, but these pictures surely show the best crash of the whole rally!

Swedish female competitor Annie Seel’s KTM is pictured here crashed at the bottom of a 16ft-deep tomb – this is the story of the crash in her own words:

"At km 131 the track split around some ruins, and joined again after. To avoid dust I cut from right track over to the left, across a small rise. Behind the rise a 5m deep tomb opened, 2x3 wide.

"I rode too slow to jump and too fast to stop. Put brakes on, slide bike to the left and abandon ship. I managed to jump to the left edge while bike tumbled down. I am lucky not to go down cause the walls were impossible to climb.

“Stopped some riders to call for help. A helicopter came and I climbed down with a thin rope to check bike, it was ok.

"We tried to pull the bike, but no. They said I must wait for the organisation truck to come and help.

"Took a while but then Mr Etienne Lavigne, race director, arrived in a helicopter instead. Like a true hero he climbed down with a rope, tied my bike with the real tie roses, and instructed the pilot how to lift it.

"Now I could continue the race, saved by the angel from above. Only suffering from painful swollen hand and aching foot."



.

After the Snow . . .

After the snow, the thaw.

After the thaw, the floods.

So I wasn't too surprised to hear about some local road closures.

Although it's a bit weird that a ford is closed due to being flooded.

Weirder still, it's called Landsend Ford . . .


.

Dazzled Speed Camera

One of my interests is camouflage, particularly when applied to vehicles - even as a 'high-viz' colour scheme!

The use of 'dazzle' patterns is fairly well known, it was featured recently on TV (James May) if I remember correctly.

Dazzle works in a couple of ways: first it breaks up the outline of the painted object, then it causes confusion.

One of the original ways it was used was on warships, to prevent submarine captains easily identifying which way the ship was heading so that torpedo aiming and timing became more difficult.

But the latest picture I've seen is of something far more 'everyday', a speed camera enclosure!



Oh - for another twist on dazzle, read here



.

Black Fire Appliance

So what colour are fire appliances*?

Red? Well typically, yes.
Yellow? Sometimes.
White? Yup, sometime white too.

But black? You don't often see that!



I'd hazard a guess that it's just a publicity stunt by the manufacturers.

More here



* Saddo warning! 'Engine' only applies to fire fighting machines which are manual or steam powered (either for the pump or vehicle propulsion). Otherwise they're 'appliances' or 'tenders'.


.

DSA EU 3rd Driving Licence Directive Consultation

Quick reminder: you have just four weeks to respond to the DSA's consultation on the EU 3rd Driving Licence Directive.

Summary
The consultation contains details of how the Department and related Agences (the Driving Standards Agency and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) intend to implement the requirements of the Third Driving Licence Directive (2006/126/EC) into national law.
The proposals are divided into 4 sections covering (a) Changes affecting training and testing for riders of mopeds and motorcycles, (b) Changes affecting training and testing for drivers of cars and light vans, (c) Changes affecting Driving Examiners and (d) Changes affecting driving licence administration.


More here including reply form

Download the documentation here (pdf)


.


.

Tree Fellers in a Car . . .

Have you heard this one?

So: how do you get a tree trucnk stuck in your car?



Background:

Kiwis run big logging outfits known as 'stem trucks' which carry long trimmed trunks that hang off the back of a tractor trailer/dolly combination. All legal and above board.


The story:

It seems that driver of Mack stem truck no: 521 Bill Groves was quietly minding his own business trundling down the Goudies Road some two klicks south from the Burn Road intersection road with a full load on when a bloke driving a Ford Telstar TX5, travelling at quite a lick ran up the rear of the truck. Whereupon, two overhanging stems passed through the windscreen and out the rear window, somehow missing the three occupants of the car!

The car then travelled 7 meters up the logs before hitting the rear bumper of the truck with such force that it then jammed under the bumper and was suspended off the ground by the two logs that had gone through the windscreen! The occupants of the car then jumped out onto the road....However, that's only the start of it as the driver of good old 521 (Bill Groves) was unaware of the incident and continued on his journey along Goudies for 2.8 kms and down Pukapuka Road for a further 3.4Kms.

Meanwhile, up ahead was RFH stems unit No 655 travelling up Pukapuka empty. 521 slowed to pass. In doing so the dust reduced to the stage where Bill saw a part of the car's front bumper in his rear vision mirror.

Naturally, he asked Jimmy (on R/T) what was behind him. Jimmy advised him a car was hanging off the stems unit although on inspection the found no passengers in the car. Bill left the truck and went with Jimmy to locate the driver and subsequently found him and his passengers on the side of the road near to the scene of the collision on Goudies Rd. (The ambulance and police arrived)

Driver of car stated he was familiar with the Road and stems trucks. Also stated he was travelling in light dust but did not think a truck was ahead of him even when he drove into thick dust.States he applied the brakes and when he saw the truck he looked at his speedo and was travelling at 80 kph...."






.






From here

Self-Assembling Motorcycle

Watch a GSXR assemble all by itself!
Total film time was roughly over 30 hours.
The bike ran on first start-up too!
Music: Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer



.

Mobilty Scooters

These jobbies have been in the news lately, in particular on the BBC news site.

Which acted as a good reminder that I've been meaning to post about the Red Wheelies for months, but keep forgetting.

So here they are!




.

"I Wouldn't Dare . . . "

Dr Werner Struth is president of Bosch's Chassis Systems Control Division, and responsible for considerable research into vehicle safety innovation.

However . . . I have to wonder about whether he's beginning to overlook the part a driver plays in avoiding crashes, when he's quoted as saying:

"I would not dare to travel in a car without an airbag."



.

A post about . . . posts

It's no secret: motorcyclists crash. Trouble is, that they usually hit something other than the ground as part of the crashing process.

Often, that 'something' will be s signpost.

Signpost Solutions have come up with a low-cost padding option to cover particularly 'exposed' signposts, called the Biker mate.


SignPost Solutions have devised the Worlds first car and motorcycle friendly sign mast. The photograph shows the new ' Biker Mate ' device fitted to a Lattix passively safe mast which is the first time that both types of road user have been accomodated in one installation and offers a safe solution for each mode of transport when collisions occur.

Biker Mate can also be fitted to steel sign posts, signal pole, lighting columns and and wooden telegraph poles. The unique patented device is low cost and very simple to install and also remove/refit where neccessay for access to lighting column doors. Biker Mate is available with or without reflective material and comes in modular form so that any height can be achieved.





.

New Helmet Technology

It's not often that something 'new' comes along in the world of helmets.

Usually any 'innovations' are really just tweaks to materials (carbon fibre rather than fibreglass) or finish (scratch resistant ocatings on visors).

For some manufacturers a new colour scheme based on the helmet worn by a famous racer is reason enough to launch a publicity campaign.

Even something like Pin-Lock visors are really only a minor add-on - albeit a good one!

So I was interested to read about ThermaHelm.

What makes this so different? Well, simply (and in my layman's terms), it starts 'treatment' for head injury as soon as a rider has a crash!

However, they say:

ThermaHelm™ is a revolutionary brain cooling helmet technology that could save your life. Riding without ThermaHelm™ technology is like driving without an airbag.

Head injuries occur in 80% of all motorcyclist fatalities. A key factor in these injuries is brain swelling inside the helmet and the response time to address the issue. ThermaHelm™ technology helps to mitigate this problem by cooling the rider's head post-accident.

A standard helmet acts like an insulator. The polystyrene foam found in ALL motorcycle helmets is the same white foam that in installed in the walls of ALL refrigerators and portable coolers. It's the perfect energy absorber...and insulator. The helmet acts like an oven to an already hot, sweaty head causing post accident brain temperatures to potentially reach a fatal threshold. This is how motorcycle riders can die.

ThermaHelm™ technology works by triggering an endothermic chemical reaction inside the helmet lining at the moment of impact. The helmet immediately cools the motorcyclists head, keeping it cold even before the emergency services could have been called.

More info, news stories, videos and images on their web site: http://www.thermahelm.com/

.

Hello, and Happy New Year

Welcome back - some new posts over the next few days :)


.

Hello, and Happy New Year

Welcome back - some new posts over the next few days :)


.