Brand Victory Motorcycles ceases to exist as per today

Polaris Industries created and introduced the Victory Motorcycles brand back in 1997. Victory tried to compete with Harley-Davidson, but was never very successful in capturing considerable market share. Tryings with remarkably styled models, like the Victory Vision, did not move the share of market needle enough. After the take-over of the Indian Motorcycles brand, Polaris had 2 brands within their motorcycle portfolio competing for attention. With Indian Motorcycles, Polaris had brought a good brand-name and managed to introduce legacy-based motorcycles appealing the market successfully. This highlighted even more that the Victory brand was not an success.

According to Polaris Industries CEO Scott Wine, the Victory brand needed new investments on which it likely would hardly be able to earn back due to which it was decided that the Victory Motorcycles brand will be stopped as per today. For customers Polaris have promised to continue the delivery and service for the coming 10 years, and that they will help their dealers and importers to sell-off current stock of Victory motorcycles.

TomTom VIO has arrived

Yesterday I have ordered a black TomTom VIO at CoolBlue which should match well on my black Vespa GTS 300 i.e. Super, and it just got delivered 👍. As soon as I have gained some experience with it I will post a review. This will take some time as weather needs to play along, and the Vespa needs some care under warranty at the dealership as the engine is running inconsistent at highway speeds between 100-120 km/h (faulty throttle sensor?). So bear with me.

TomTom’s navigation for motorscooters, the TomTom Vio

So far there has not been a specific motorscooter navigation system on the market. One had the choice to go for normal motorcycle navigation system, which would be a challenge to mount on a scooter due to size / type of mount / power supply, or go for navigation via smartphone, for which a weatherproof bracket would need to purchased and again the challenge of providing power to your smartphone as continuous GPS usage drains the smartphone battery pretty quick.

TomTom just introduced the TomTom Vio which jumps into the (niche?) market of navigation systems for motorscooters. The TomTom Vio is visually different from normal motorcycle navigation systems by being round shaped, and with a flexible mounting system which enables, aside of handlebar mounting, a mount solution on scooter mirrors. The unit receives power via an internal battery which is able to approximately provide 5 hours of operation time, and can be recharged via a USB cable. By this no external power is required saving installation time and challenge. The housing is waterproof.

The mounting bracket enables to easily mount and remove the Vio, and the mount is sturdy enough. By putting the Vio on the mount and rotating it, it gets fixed. Only risk of loosening this connection is when you by accident hit is in such way that it rotates, but that likely will not happen too quickly.

For usage the TomTom Vio relies on availability of a smartphone (Android or iPhone) which runs the TomTom Vio app. In affect, the TomTom Vio acts more like an external screen of the smartphone.  Only limited operations can be done via the touchscreen of the Vio (which is designed to accept also input when having motorcycle gloves on): settings and entering an address needs to be done via the smartphone. In order to help preserve battery life on your smartphone, the TomTom Vio carries a GPS receiver and puts this information via Bluetooth available to the TomTom Vio app. The whole solution is made on simple user experience and for simple A to B navigation. This means that there are limited possibilities to influence the route from A to B. Via settings you can for instance set avoidance of highways, which is less of a driving domain for scooters. But you can not load, like with normal motorcycle navigation systems, a predefined route or a nice scenic route which you downloaded from the internet. The only way you could predefine such a route is via settings and via via-/way-points.

The TomTom Vio has no speaker, but you can use your smartphones audio system and when having a Bluetooth communication set in your helmet you can have audio navigation commands next to listening to Spotify or Apple Music.

Traffic congestion is overwatched by the TomTom Vio app on your smartphone and when necessary there will be a dynamic rerouting in order to achieve shortest travel time. The Vio also warns visually for speed check points.

In order to enable a nice match between the TomTom Vio and you motorscooter, you can order it in different colors and the backside can be changed to a different color over time by swapping the silicone rear cover. Colors available are: black, blue, green, white, pink, red and yellow.

So when you are in the market for a simple and elegant motorscooter or motorcycle navigation system which takes you from A to B, and you always have a smartphone with you when driving, then the TomTom Vio is a product to look at.

I have just ordered one TomTom Vio to mount on my Vespa GTS 300 i.e. Super, which I use to do smaller drives in and around the city and I take it occasionally on a little creative tour which often ends in places I have never been so that I need a little navigation guidance to get back home. When having the TomTom Vio I can keep my iPhone in the Vespa’s glove compartment which nicely hosts an USB charger / connector so that I can keep my iPhone fully charged while navigating around. And when you leave away with the TomTom Vio and forgot to take you smartphone with you, it will warn you when it looses the smartphone Bluetooth connection so that you can return to your vehicle to pick it up.

As soon as I have built some experience with the TomTom Vio I will write a review on this TourOn2Wheels blog.

 

Garmin City Navigator Europe 2017.3 NTU available

Garmin has released a map update for Europe with version number 2017.3 for the devices supporting the NTU maps which are the zumo 340, 345, 350, 390, 395, 590 and 595. For the zumo series supporting the NT maps, which are the older series, Garmin releases new maps in a lower frequency and 2017.20 NT is the last update which came available November 2016.

Initially there was an issue with Garmin Express which caused only North Europe to be updated, but this issue is resolved with the latest version of Garmin Express. So please take care to first update Garmin Express to the latest version before updating the maps on your NTU maps compatible Garmin zumo.

Kawasaki refreshes Versys 650 and 1000 for MY2017

Kawasaki introduces little tweaks to their successful Versys line. Both the Versys 650 and Versys 1000 are now equipped with a gear indicator on the 2017 models. Also new colors and color schemes will be available for MY2017. For the Versys 1000 the accessory line now has a new touring windscreen.

Recall KTM 1190 & 1290 (Super) Adventure and 690 Duke

There is a recall campaign for the KTM 1190 Adventure, 1290 Super Adventure and 690 Duke. On these models there is a risk that the wire harness rubs against the ABS modulator causing the wire insulation to wear through causing the ABS function to cease. Brake function will remain available but without ABS. The dealership will check on affected vehicles the wire harness, will repair when needed and mount an additional strap.

New Schuberth C4 to come available at the start of new season

Schuberth is known on their well designed helmets with low wind noise. The Schuberth C3 and C3 Pro are benchmarks in the motorcycle helmet industry. For the new riding season Schuberth introduces its successor, the C4. Focus was again low wind noise and light-weight design, for which they continue to use fiberglass shell. The C4 is prepared to host a click-in communication system SC1 developed in cooperation with Sena, and already has 2 speakers, an antenna, and microphone build-in. You can order 3 different coloring schemes: Uni, Legacy and Pulse.

Ducati’s “budget” Multistrada 1200, the 950

The Ducati Multistrada 1200 is a very successful all-purpose bike, and has been very welcomed by biking community and by the press. With 160 hp it is a very capable machine to let speeding tickets eat your income, and for a good number of riders it is over the top performance. To be milder for your budget and maybe even more accessable for a bigger group of riders, Ducati has introduced the Ducati Multistrada 950. Donations from both the Ducati Multistrada 1200 as well the Ducati Hypermotard 939 enabled this bike to be created. Result is a Multistrada look, and a more “normal” performance of 113 hp. There will be 4 flavors to choose from:Sport, Enduro, Touring and Urban. Each flavor has style elements specific to its naming like off-road tires, hard cases, back rack, and engine protection.

Good thing is that, although the 950 is the “little” brother of the 1200, Ducati choose not to make it a budget bike as it has a fully adjustable suspension, 4 driving modi, ABS, traction control, and 19 liters of fuel tank to have sufficient touring range. With 226 kg the weight of the 950 is very similar to the 1200. As different tax rates around the world make it difficult to give exact differences in pricing between the 950 and 1200, you can roughly use the rule of thumb that the 950 is about 25% lower priced than the 1200.

Does autonomous driving technology in cars and trucks detect motorcycles well?

There are worries that autonomous driving technology in cars and trucks do not work well with one of the most vunerable group of road users being motorcycles. Norwegian motorcyclists organization NMCU had already send a letter with their concerns to Norwegian minister of transport Ketil Solvik-Olsen and to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Dutch MAG (Motorcyclist Action Group), KNMV (motorcyclists group), and FEMA have also asked questions to the Netherlands Vehicle Authority RDW whether autonomous driving systems are properly tested to deal with motorcyclists in traffic. A copy of this letter has also been sent to dutch minister of transport as well as to the House of Representatives.

Their concerns are backed-up by an incident in Norway involving a motorcyclist, a Tesla driving with ‘autopilot’ on, and 2 other vehicles. Tests executed by German company BASt concluded that Tesla’s system can potentially be dangerous for use in traffic.

Goal is to have homologation and related testing to properly consider motorcyclists in traffic, so that autonomous driving systems properly detect motorcyclists and take proper safe actions. Autonomous driving will be systems for the nearby future, but they need to be safe for all road users.

Belgium is going to use Mesta Fusion radar / camera combo

Belgium is going to roll-out new technology for checking a wide range of traffic violations. Meet Mesta Fusion, a standing pole which contains multi-target radar tracking technology and a high resolution camera. Sensor fusion technology brings the information flows of both radar and camera together to enable detection of:

• High &  Low instant speed enforcement
• Anticipated speed tracking and measurement
• Different speed limits enforcement per lane and per vehicle category
• Secondary speed measurement for post analysis
• Forbidden and authorized lanes monitoring
• Illegal lane crossing detection
• Illegal overtaking control, even for motorcycles
• Tailgating monitoring
• Live video and video file  for an additional evidence of the offense
• Non-intrusive red-light crossing detection associated with speed-on-red and speed-on-green measurements
• Smart turn-left or turn-right monitoring
• Stop bar crossing detection
• Not wearing of seat belts
• Use of mobile devices while driving
• Road traffic statistics collection

System is capable of tracking 32 vehicles over maximum 8 lanes, over 200 meters, during day and night. So a very capable system to detect traffic violations, regardless whether made consciously or not.