First Impressions of the Sena 20S bluetooth system

Susan told me she wanted to get me an early Christmas gift.  For the last couple of months I've been looking at buying a new helmet, and I was thinking that if I was going to get a new helmet...then I might as well get one that was Bluetooth ready.  That would be my early Christmas gift!

I've been riding for a bit over five years now, and I keep thinking that their is no reason for me not to ride to the other coast or other places.   I've been lost on the bike before and to quote my ex-wife.  "Every road goes somewhere, and once your somewhere you can always find your way home."   Still though, I've grown to depend on the technology and understand it better than most.  I don't care for the idea of being totally without it now.

Susan and I stopped over at Cycle Gear with the intent of buying a Bilt modular helmet with the Bluetooth built in.  As it so happened the sizes ran small.  Even the XXL large helmet was to small for my fat head.  They did have a few other helmets, most without Bluetooth, but nothing in the price range we were trying to stay within. 

That's when the debate started.  "Do we just buy the unit by itself?" 

One of the reasons that I've been wanting a Bluetooth is because of the GPS function.  That has been my primary concern, I just feel I would be more willing to travel to other places if I felt secure in getting there.  I don't really like the idea of using the phone or listening to music on the phone.  However having that voice in my ear telling me I was going the right way appeals to me. 

The option to buy a Bluetooth and install it in my current helmet was suggested.  I'm not very happy with the old helmet but the idea of being able to move it to another helmet later was just to good to pass up.  So just like that I became the proud owner of a Sena 20S motorcycle Bluetooth communication system.

So they installed it.  It cost a bit more than I would have liked, although I did get the two year extended warranty on the unit.  I now have access to the phone, music, FM radio, Pandora and can use either a one-to-one or group intercom (with up to eight people).  It will link up with other Bluetooth systems and there are even voice prompts.   Yes, even a smartphone application. 

Susan called me on the Bluetooth on the way home twice.  I was able to hear her clearly with the visor down and traveling about 50 MPH.  It was when I was on the highway and at a much higher speed that I had trouble making out what she was saying. In fact, that was one of the reasons I didn't do this before.  I've read reviews of the Sena headsets that have told me the same thing.

I kept losing GPS on the way home, mostly because my smartphone was in my pants pocket.  I think if I tucked into my jacket or a shirt pocket I would not have an issue with it.  Although now I wonder if a cell phone mount might be in my future (as shown in a picture taken from somewhere).  At least that way I would have GPS and be able to view the route as I approach it.  Although I would have to have a small hole drilled into the dash to have a charging cable added . 

About half way home I switched to the music function on my phone and tuned in the Billy Bragg station on Pandora.   Bragg is a singer/songwriter with a strong voice and generally just guitar to accompany him.  I figured he be a good test of the speakers.  Again, I was able to hear clearly as long as I stayed below certain speeds. 

Generally speaking I'm happy with the whole setup and will have to play around with the unit some to figure out how to get the most of it.  This may be the only Christmas gift I get this year but I'm happy with it.  I'm looking forward to those days when Sue will behind me and were chatting as we ride. 

I'm looking forward to getting out more.

I got your app right here!!! - must have applications for your motorcycle

With the heat and the weather being what it is, I've been sort of self limiting on the time I spend on my bike.  However I've been playing around with a few phone apps lately and thought I should write a bit about technology and how it affects the biker. 

Lets be honest, our phones are part of our lives (like it or not) and although I do not recommend staring at your phone while on the bike - there are various applications that a biker can use.  These are a few that I've used and highly recommend.

I've already wrote about the Crash Detection and Response application (CRADAR) here.  A crash application is something I highly recommend for every biker.  While I have that application installed, I have to admit that I rarely use it.  This application, indeed every phone application I'll be writing about, requires the GPS function of your phone to be turned on.  This in turn, eats into your battery life. 

Since nearly all of my riding is commuting, Susan knows where I'm at since she knows the (general) route I take.  I'll admit to mixing it up sometimes just for something different.  

I also used to use Waze as well, which I found to be much better than my phone's built in Google Maps function.  I loved that the application could be updated in real time for things like construction, letting you know where a speed trap was or a broken down car.  Although I ended up deleting this function since I could not delete the built in Google Maps.  Frankly I saw no use to having two navigational functions in my phone. 

Plus, when your on the bike it's best not to look at the screen.

Gas Buddy is another one of those applications that everyone should have downloaded into their phones.  Once again it uses crowd sourcing to provide you with the location and prices of the gas stations around you.  It even allows you to get directions to that gas station. 

If your budget conscious like I am (OK, I'm a cheap bastard) it even has a trip cost calculator.  It even gives you which gas stations you should stop at. 

Recently I've been playing around with the Pirella Diablo SBK application.  Let me state that this has absolutely nothing to do with Pirella tires (which I highly recommend by the way).  This application is designed more for the serious sport bike rider or sport bikes in general. 

It has both road and track factions (including lap times) and allows for the calculation of lean angles....even G forces.  Each route is saved to the website, in case you find that special road, and it also records mileage, time and speed.  It even has a function to allow you to send your results to friends or share it on social media. 

That being said....it has no way to download a route that you wish to take or send a crash notification to your loved ones.   At least not that I'm aware of. 

I'm still playing around with this application to a great extent and the more I learn about it the more I like it.  Although for what ever reason you have to go to the companies website to log in, which means everything is in Kilometers.  If your using English units, your data is record on the application in miles. It's not a major issue, I know how to convert from KM to miles, but it is annoying.

Really how hard is it to have that option on the website?   I can share the data to my Facebook account, but I can't login via Facebook even though that is an option?  Am I doing something wrong?  Again, more annoying than anything.   

If only there was that magical phone application that would let you do all these things and more, all in one convenient place.   You would need something like five applications in one. 

Along comes the Eat Sleep Ride application which supposedly does everything we've talked about.  In the interest of full disclosure I've not used this application yet but it seems to be getting rave reviews in the various forums I visit and on various motorcycling sites. 

In addition to everything the Pirella application does, it also allows you to track your mileage and discover routes that other bikers share with the application (I'm still not telling you where my secret road is).  For an additional cost you can by their "Crashlight" function which will send a text and voice message after 3 minutes if you go down.  It also allows you to instantly share photos. 

This application supposedly is great for setting up group rides and keeping track of everyone in said group ride.

For what ever reason however, I can not get that application to work in my android phone.  It's probably a memory issue and I'll try downloading it later once I play around with my phone.  

So I'm curious, anyone use any of these applications?   Any reviews you would like to add? 

All these applications are available via Google Play or your Apple Store. 

The Buddha and me (and updates make 3)

**NOTE** At the end of my day the bike tire went BOOM!  You can read about that here.

When you’re traveling, it’s easier to let go of a beautiful moment because you know the adventure continues. No matter what rolls by outside your window, there will inevitably be more to appreciate when you get off the [bike]. - Ehren Prudhel from Tiny Buddha

When a friend of mine posted her photo's of a recent trip to a Buddhist Temple in nearby Palm River, Florida I knew I had to take the bike down.  I don't consider myself a religious person to any extent, but I've always had a affinity for Eastern Religious practices.  If anything I consider myself to be a lapsed philosophical Taoist.  Perhaps a Pastafarian Deist?

The chance to walk along the gardens and mediate, even for a few moments appealed to me.  I also enjoy Thai food which is a rarity for me, and they offered this for sale on Sunday mornings (sadly nothing offered peaked my interest).  

What attracts me to the Eastern Religions is the idea of wholeness.  At the risk of getting to philosophical, there is no separation between the mind and the body.  Diet and exercise (such as Yoga and Tai Chi)  are considered part of the everyday religious practice.  Sex is not viewed as a negative.  In fact, there seems to be very few negatives in the Eastern World view in my opinion.  Life may be full of pain and suffering, but it is just an illusion.  A wonderful, crazy, mind blowing illusion.

As I sit here and write this I can not help but think that is one of the reasons I enjoy riding so much.  The bike is not something I climb into and surround by, but rather something that I am part of.  A flick, a lean, a push or a pull and Kimmie obeys.  My scientific mind understands the control is just a illusion, physics will always win - I have faith that a cager will not cross the double yellow line or pull out in front of me.  There is a wholeness to riding.

I decided not to enter the temple proper due to the fact that I was in full riding gear, and I overhead a young man stating he wanted to say a few prayers for his deceased mother.  He did not need to have me walking about snapping pictures like a fool.

The grounds were rather small but there was a variety of exotic flowers and the riverfront was peaceful, I found myself wanting to come back during the weekday's and just sit and be quiet.  I also considered asking several monks to bless my bike.  Perhaps I should have.

The ride itself only took about 30 min and cover about as many miles on roads that I more or less understood and knew well.  I had been wanting to stretch Kimmie legs on roads I did not know, lately I've been feeling like all I ever do is ride to work.  While being a "scooter commuter" is all well and good it really does not challenge me as a rider.  Muscle memory tends to take over riding the same paths day in and day out.  While repetition may be good for Tai Chi, it is (in my humble opinion) not good for a motorcyclist.  While our attention will naturally fade on the back of a bike from time to time (just as it does in a car), I feel that our attention is sharpened on roads we don't know or ride often.  It's good to keep the mind active and awake when riding.  I'm glad my mind was active.  If you don't know what happened read here.

From Kymcoforums.com

The ride would also give me a chance to try out the new "My Tracks" app for the smart phone.  I have been wanting a way to track and then review my ride to parts unknown.  You never know when your going to find that special road or roads that need to be explored further.  Or in my case a neat little winery or milk shake place via pinpoints!  This ride can be imported to Google Earth and then shared, which hopefully I did correctly at the end of this entry.

While I've not adopted the idea shown in the photo, I think that is going to be the next project.  Lately I've been meaning to go further and I could use my GPS and speedometer applications on my phone with ease in this set up.  Part of me likes the idea of seeing where I've been, the other part does not want to look back.  The camera on my phone could also take video if I mounted it correctly.  While not a fan of ride videos (which I find boring) I could see it use in some cases.

I'm not sure if I like the slow but steady move I'm making to an all Google platform.  I enabled Google + comments once before and it seemed that although my blog reached a wider audience, I received little to no feedback.  I would rather have the feedback, so if your unable to leave a comment PLEASE contact me via my email.  It's important for me to hear from you to determine what path I take.

Here is the URL to the ride.

Frustration leads to Serendipity

Frustration:  feelings of discouragement.

Serendipity:  finding valuable or agreeable things not sought after.

This last saturday I experienced both of those feelings.  Susan and I started riding two-up for several reasons, but one of the main ones is she wanted to explore the local area with me.  As part of the Equinox to Equinox rally I was visiting old cemeteries and  traveling all around the back roads coming back home with interesting stories and pictures of what exactly was out there.

We agreed to go exploring, planning to take a two hour and 60 mile ride to a few places I wanted to mark off my list.  The courthouse in nearby Dade City, the Muffler Man, a couple of cemeteries.  I had heard of an old ghost town nearby...well not really a ghost town but a town that used to have over 1000 people living there that now had less than 100, yet somehow managed to preserve it's early 1900's buildings.  As fans of history we had to see this!

First however we had some errands to run and breakfast to eat, so we climbed aboard Kimmie and took off.  We had no issues, not a care in the world as we started off on our journey.

Then Susan started to tap me on the shoulder, she forgot something at the house.  We turned around.   About an hour later we left again.  And turned around again as something else was needed or forgotten.   Another hour passes.  We are now into the heat of the day....to hot for Susan to ride.  I'm on my own.

I've been looking for a way to map out my route and then have it transferred to my phone.  I have some earphones that I can plug in and listen to the GPS directions as I ride.   I head out, the voice in my ear tells me turn left, turn left, turn left...wait a second.     It seems to be stuck on one turn, refusing to advance to the next.   I try a different tack, inputting a new destination.   It searches for GPS.    It searches for GPS.  It searches for GPS.   I swear at it.  It finds GPS.

It loses signal.

Fuck it, where does this road go anyway?

I turn and start to head down a road I've never been on before.  It's a nice 2 lane road, heading into the wilderness that is central Florida.  I ride through farmland and past citrus tree, there are more than enough twisties to make it interesting.  I am the only bike on this road,  and I realize it's a hidden gem as I putt along at about 40 to 50 miles per hour.  It's a great road, no potholes, the curves well marked out.

I pull off here and there when something catches my eye, an old barn falling down or a baby calf grazing at the fence line.   I try to entice it with some flowers picked by the side of the road but it wants nothing to do with some strange man riding a noisy machine.

I ride some more, the smell of lavender off in the distance.  I turn a corner and see an old familiar sign.  I'm in the Green Swamp now.   The paved road gives out to hard scrabble but it's nothing that I've not ridden on before, Kimmie and I move forward, till the road were on dead ends at a small but well maintained little church and graveyard.

I ask permission of the dead to move my motorcycle close to the graves and take my photo.  Taking a few minutes to watch the various butterfly's float through the air.  It's peaceful here and I can understand why the Baptist Church seems to be in the middle of no where.

Off again now....through twists and turns heading home or at least in that general direction.  I cross an old wooden one lane bridge.  I worry about stopping in the middle of it, but I hear no cars...in fact I hear nothing but nature and the gurgle of the water below me.

I know now that I have to return to this road, this hidden gem.  I hope to bring Susan here, she would love the quiet and the view.  The flowers on the side of the road in their purple and golden glory.  I'm tempted to post something to the various forums I belong to.  Letting other bikers know about this find, this amazing remarkable road.  Then again it's my secret...and I'm reminded of the legend of  Brigadoon.

On the way home I was able to get a few historical markers out of the way.  So I was able to get some points towards the rally.   But the rally was an afterthought.  All I wanted to do now was ride.

Applications for my smart phone...

Recently I finally upgraded to a smart phone.  I did this for several reasons and frankly they were all bike related.  A simple GPS device on my phone could get me home if I got lost on back country roads, and could tuck easily into my jacket pocket with some attached ear buds.  Recently I downloaded Waze which seems like an interesting idea, "crowd sourcing" traffic information.  In other words, getting real time information on accidents, slow downs, police and other things that are along my programmed route.  Even providing different options on how to avoid something.  All the information is gathered by reports supplied by different Waze users.

(credit:  Waze)

The problem of course is how crowed the screen can get, and how you might be distracted by the information coming at you.   Nor is things like a slow down in traffic and accidents mentioned while you drive, although it did warn me of a car on the side of the road...when I was on top of it.  So if your not looking at the screen, your going to miss it.  Looking at the screen while riding the bike has some disadvantages of course.

I have already sung the praises of such programs as CRADAR and Guardian Angel and have downloaded applications that let me keep track of my maintenance.  What to do if I am in an accident (complete with a separate folder for photographs of said accident).  It even includes my doctor's name and emergency contacts. I'm not in a hurry to test these applications.

There is a large part of me that likes the idea of having all that info at my fingertips when needed.  There is even a program that will let me track my route on the bike for future downloads, sadly however that program seems unstable...being designed more for hiking and biking.  I could see using a similar program to map out my rides just in case I find something interesting.  I may try it again.   I recently learned of an application for my android phone called Trip Journal which I will have to try soon.  BreadCrumbz looks interesting as well.

An application available through Best Biking Roads which gives me access to available known routes, and living more or less in the center of the state of Florida I seem to have access to various routes, is pretty cool. However at a $9.00 cost to download it I'm not sure if it's worth it to me.

Then again the big question for me...is will I actually use this stuff?  I have owned my Burgie for a little over a year and I can count the numbers of recreational rides I've had on it using my fingers.  Well I enjoy commuting on the bike daily, it was the reason I primary bought the bike for, I also know that the Burgie is built for riding.  That I enjoy exploring back roads and mysterious places.  That getting lost is not a bad thing.

First things first however, clutch replacement and a new front tire.

Rally Season

Although I lived in North Carolina for years, the seasons here in Florida are different.   We still have four seasons of course.  Summer, "Snowbird Season" or Winter, "Love Bug Season" when we are surround by the mutant bugs from hell, and finally the Hurricane season.  Summer which by definition may be several 90 degree days in a row can occur at any time and can last three to nine months.

So a lot of "summertime" activities generally happen in the months traditionally occupied by "winter."  There is a logic to it of course, it's nicer to be outside when the temperatures are cooler and frankly; your taking advantage of the snowbirds as well.  Many of whom are looking for something to do.

Thus our state fair is in the middle of February for example.  With the lower temperatures come various biker and scooter rally's as well.  In a effort to get the word out I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about three upcoming rally's that I know of.  Why you should go to at least one of them, and finally introduce to a neat little smartphone app I found that might save your life.

 Sun, Sand and Scooters is the second annual rally held in St. Petersburg and is being held from November 9th through the 12th.  St. Pete is a very friendly city for scooters and motorcycles and is world famous for it's beaches.  What is really nice about this rally is that one of the sponsors is the Magnuson Hotel and Marina.  So you can literally stay at one of the nicer resorts, go riding, go swimming, go riding, sleep in comfort.  I may be mistaken but I think registration ends soon.
Sadly I did not get to attend this rally last year because I heard about it to late.  I do hope to get the time of of work for this year.

The second annual Snowbird Classic is November 16th through the 18th.  Last year I understand some 90 scooterists showed up for the event and this year promises to be even bigger.  Sadly, do to my job (I work for a GPS company so I am pretty much "on call"), I was not able to attend last year's rally.  However I am providing a special door prize for this rally (more on that below).  So I plan on taking at least two of those three days off and attending this rally come hell or high water.   Orlando is also home to various Florida institutions that are to numerous to name here.   So when not on your ride you can certainly take advantage of some magic.

Recently I learned about the Cocoa Beach Scooter Rally, which will be held from February 22nd through the 24th.  This appears to be less of a riding event and more of a social event, due to the fact that it attracts many British and other Europeans to the event.  However that means that you will have the chance to chat with people that clearly have a more defined "scooter" culture than we have in the states.  There is also a Tiki theme meaning that you will finally be able to wear that coconut bra that is taking up room in the back of your dresser drawer.  Also being this close to the Kennedy Space center it's a shame not to visit.

As some of you may know, in addition to my work in GPS, I am also self employed.  Recently my company became associated with Angelic Imports which is the exclusive importer for the wonderful Goufrais Chocolates from Germany.   I am giving the readers (all 10 or 15 of you) the chance to have this product at a discount, but only if you order through me.  If you desire to go through the website please be sure to mention Trade Specials LLC  although I can not offer you the discount then.   This would make a great door prize at rally's and with Christmas coming up....well need I say more?

OK, that was the plug.

Roughly two or three weeks ago I caved in and bought myself a smart phone.   I have been a fan of CRADAR since I first heard about it and frankly, it was one of the reasons I upgraded to a smartphone.  Riding at night and having deer running around, it just made sense to me to have something contact someone in case of an accident or injury.
Recently I found another application for a smart phone that I wanted to bring to your attention   This is also a free application and has a similar function to CRADAR.    Guardian Angel is an application designed to save your life.  If you have earphones, and who doesn't, you attach them to the phone and then to the bike; or wear them.  In case of a crash the earphones will most likely become unattached  the phone calls your contacts and uses the phone's GPS function to give your location.

Safe riding and I hope to see you at a rally!