Garmin has released in November a map update for Europe with version number 2017.20 for the devices supporting the NT maps. For the zumo series supporting the NTU maps, Garmin had already issued an update in October.
I am currently running the update of my zumo 660, and after that the option to install the new map on my iMac should be possible. In case Garmin changed something in this principle then I will add an update in this post.
FEMA,the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations, has published a summary on their reporting collected by different surveys related to motorcycle safety and accidents in Europe. 25,000 motorcyclists have participated in these surveys so that there is some credibility to it. Harold de Bock, member of the board of MAG Netherlands affiliated with FEMA, has written an 8 page summary report as a PDF which can be downloaded by clicking HERE. It is a nice read for those liking to tour through Europe as it lists relative safety of EU countries for motorcyclists as well as gives some insight in main accident conditions and ranking on quality of road infrastructure in the eyes of motorcyclists.
GoPro is the market leader on action cameras, but that does not mean that it is the only good action camera available. Garmin has been very active in the recent years in trying to catch some market share with its VIRB product line. The latest model they have added is a nice high-end model with a lot of sensors and possibility to use information from other Garmin sensors by linking them to the VIRB Ultra 30. Use of sensors like GPS and voice do take their toll on battery performance, so having a few spare batteries along with you can be recommended.
The video’s below from Garmin and from RIZKNOWS gives you an impression on the capabilities and on the pros and cons of this new action camera.
FEMA, the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations, wants to know how motorcyclists feel about subjects linked to emissions of motorcycles. Some city councils are seeking ways to ban older motorcycles (so motorcycles fulfilling lower than Euro 3 exhaust regulations) out of their cities or to toll them. Also increasing pressure to motivate or pressure motorcyclist to switch from older motorcycles to new ones meeting tighter emission regulations and delivering better fuel economy.
Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey which is available in 11 different languages on webpage: http://www.fema-online.eu/website/index.php/2016/08/01/survey-on-emissions/. The survey will be available for your input till October 31, 2016.
Colleagues of RideApart made a nice video showing their view on lane-splitting.
On my BMW R1200RT I have no need for a view on my iPhone 6S as I use it mostly for bigger trips, and for navigation I always use my Garmin (mount above my dashboard). On my Vespa, which I tend to use more for urban traffic and sometimes for longer tours, something to hold my iPhone 6S in view and occassionally have the ability to operate it would be great. Now I could run to the motorcycle store in town, but they ask € 59.95 / USD 66.00 for the likely superb Interphone Moto Holder iPhone 6 Tubular which I find way too much for the occassional use I have.
So I ended up buying a waterproof iPhone 6S case and mounting kit for bicycles and motorbikes at Geek.com, which only sets me back $8.00 / € 7.30 plus $3.00 / €2.70 for shipping. Now shipment takes roughly a month, but what else to expect for such low shipment cost.
Within a month after ordering, a package arrives out of China with my ordered iPhone case. 
Wrapped in protective bubble plastic, the product arrived in good order and is pretty complete. Aside of the waterproof case and mount for bicycle/motorcycle steering bar, it also has a arm mount for when going for a swim or for jogging, a little rope for carrying the case around your neck, and a clip for your belt.
In the picture below you can see all the different items when opening the packaging.
When reading the manual, the manufacturer claims that the case remains watertight for 30 minutes but the text is somewhat contradicting by using both 8m (which represents 25′) and 8′ (which represents 2.5m). Let me assume that the least depth is meant, and with my usage I am already happy that it is watertight at no depth but only against rain. So what better to test in a bucket filled with water for 30 minutes.
In order to test, I did not want to sacrifice my iPhone 6S on potential leaky case, so I filled it up with iron parts to take care that it stays under water. Tested depth is 1/10th of claimed water depth.
After a little more than 30 minutes I picked up the case from the bottom of the bucket. From the outside it looks like not water has ingressed. Opening and removing all the metal parts and the paper with an iPhone printyed on it reveals that the inside stayed completely dry. The dark areas are behind the silicon shell and the case … a place in which it is OK that water gets to as it is not on the phone compartment. I think that this result is not bad for this kind of cheap case!
Next on is to assemble the iPhone case to the mount so that it can be placed on first my bicycle, and after that to my Vespa. I was a little afraid to apply too much force, so it took me some time to snap it together. After applying more force it snapped right into place, and the connection between mount and case is well fixed.
On my Vespa the only round shape I have to which I can mount this case is the one of the mirrors. As there might be occassions in which I need to quickly tap the screen, I choose for the left side. The iron bar of the mirror is too small in diameter, so I had to cut a few rectangle rubber sections to fill up space. 2 rubber strips were enough to fill up the too much space and to make it fit the Vespa mirror bar. The additional rubber makes the mount very flexible which can be little disturbing when standing still with idling engine, but when driving it is sturdy enough. I think the solution does not look bad at all.
Now is this the perfect iPhone case? No, it is not. There are some shortfalls:
But, all in all I think it is a great buy for occassional use and way more value for money than a high prices / (persumed?) high quality iPhone case and mount from a respectable brand. So thumbs up when you, like me, need a case for occassional use and which will keep your iPhone dry when mounted on your Vespa / motorcycle while the weather gods are not that kind to us.
Urs Pedriata, nicknamed Grizzly”, out of Switzerland broke the world record by driving 76,267 kilometer (47,667 miles) in 72 riding days and 13 hours on a customized Victory Cross Country Tour. On his tour, Grizzly toured through 5 continents. Previous record was 119 riding days and 21 hours.
More information can be read in the press release below, and on Grizzly’s website http://www.grizzlyracingteam.ch.
Grizzly rode away from Daytona International Speedway on March 11 flanked by hundreds of owners of Victory motorcycles who joined him to ride one lap of the Daytona 200 road course and escort him out of town for the first part of his journey. He returned to Daytona on July 10, greeted by Victory riders at Volusia Motorsports.
From Daytona Beach, Fla., he traveled 3,971 miles in six days and 14 hours to complete the first leg of the ride in Panama City, Panama. He then continued traveling south 6,269 miles for nine days and 23 hours to reach Ushuaia, Argentina, at the tip of South America. From there, he returned 2,088 miles to Santiago, Chile, loaded his bike onto a plane and transferred to Australia, where he spent six days and five hours riding 4,604 miles west across the continent from Sydney to Perth.
From Perth, Grizzly and his Victory were flown to Cape Town, South Africa, and awaited clearance through customs. Thereafter, he took 13 days and 23 hours for a 7,509-mile journey from Cape Town to Cairo, Egypt, and a ferry to take him across the Mediterranean to Tarragona, Spain. From there, he rode 5,447 miles in six days and 23 hours from northern Spain to Gibraltar to North Cape (Nordkapp) Norway.
Grizzly then turned his wheel east, riding through St. Petersburg, Moscow, Irkutsk and Vladivostok during an 11-day-7-hour, 7,280-mile journey across Russia, a 4-hour and 249-mile tour through South Korea, and a 5-day-11-hour and 2,989-mile ride through Thailand and Malaysia.
From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Grizzly loaded his bike onto a plane and traveled to Anchorage, AK, before resuming his tour across North America through Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Chicago and Santa Monica, Calif. to his finish in Daytona Beach.
Time and position measurement for Grizzly’s record-setting ride were done via GPS and satellite tracking. Timing was not stopped on overland routes (i.e., when waiting to pass a country border or when the rider is sleeping). However, timing was stopped for air and sea transfers between continents and restarted once the bike arrived on the new continent.
Moto Guzzi is turning 95 this year and with that it is one of the oldest motorcycle brands in Europe. Moro Guzzi will celebrate this on September 9th till 11th during the Moto Guzzi Open House in their hometown Mandello del Lario at Lake Como in Italy.
In the Netherlands (I was not able to get confirmation for other countries so far), Moto Guzzi is already giving presents to its customers: all EU3 models get 1 Euro rebate per cc of the engine swept volume when ordering before September 1, 2016. An Moto Guzzi California 1400 Touring will have a €1400 lower price tag, which is a nice 7% price down! So when looking out for a new Moto Guzzi, then check whether there is a special promotion at the Moto Guzzi dealerships in your country.
Getting on top of the news after my recent motorcycle round trip through Netherlands-Belgium-Luxemburg-Germany-Netherlands, I still had to write about updates that BMW Motorrad has shown during last BMW Motorrad Days 2016 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen / Germany on July 1, 2 and 3.
For the model year 2017, BMW Motorrad is updating the whole range of R1200 (motorcycles with boxer engine), F700GS and F800GS. Shipments of MY2017 models will start next month August 2016.
One important technical update to the models using the Liquid Cooled (LC) boxer engine are adaptations that make this engine EU4 compliant. EU4 compliance is not only limited to tighter emission control, but also the addition of reflectors and an OBD (OnBoard Diagnostics) indicator light on the dashboard. With the engine update, also different elements in/of the engine get improvements: cylinder-wall, transmission shafts plus transmission shaft bearing, revised selector drum actuator, and the mounting of a judder damper on the transmission output shaft. Let me continue to summarize the model specific updates to the boxer engine models.
The dashboard of the BMW R1200GS as well as the Adventure version has been redesigned. For the GS the list of accessoiries got extended with for instance a new crash bar. As of model year 2017, the color Ocean Blue metallic matt is no longer available for the Adventure. The Adventure “Triple Black” edition gets a new black seat with eye-catching GS-logo at the passenger area.
The BMW R1200RT, R1200R and R1200RS needed a minor update of the dashboard to accommodate the OBD warning light. On the safety side, optional extended functionality gets introduced linked to ABS: inclusion of the banking-optimized ABS Pro and the dynamic brake light (both in conjunction with the Riding Modes Pro option). The list with color updates is extensive on aforementioned 3 models. The R1200R gets with Red Racing a new color option, the R1200R “Style 1” is rebranded to R1200R Sport and has the color combination Light White/Cordoba Blue (new frame color), while the colors Cordoba Blue and Light White gets discontinued.
On the BMW R1200RS, similarly to the R1200R, the R1200RS “Style 2” gets a new name being R1200RS Sport with the color combination Light White metallic/Magellan Grey metallic matte. The color option Gratine Grey metallic matte gets sacrificed.
To close the line of boxer engine models updates, the sport tourer R1200RT continues to be available in Platinum Bronze metallic. The color options Ebony metallic and San Marino Blue metallic will make way for new color options Carbon Black metallic (my favorite) and Alpine White (which is classy, but does look close to a police motorcycle).
The F700GS and F800GS models also get the closing in mandatory EU4 compliance, which touches as mentioned before engine, dashboard (OBD warning light) and the need for reflectors on fork slider tubes and fixed fork tubes. Mentioned models get throttle-by-wire for improved response and control, and to support last mentioned riding modes “Rain” and “Road” as standard. On the F800GS models you can get optionally the riding modes “Enduro” and “Enduro Pro” to improve off-road capabilities. Three paint finish/style variants are available for each of the new F700GS and F800GS, and there are two additional paint finishes for the BMW F800GS Adventure fitted with new galvanized radiator trim elements, a new intake silencer cover and a new ignition lock casing. The stainless steel tailpipe got newly designed, and the optional HP sports exhaust by Akrapovič has also been redesigned.
As images tell more than text, find below the video that BMW has made during the preparation of the BMW Motorrad Days 2016:
Again back at home. All went well, a lot learned – about which I will blog soon -, all things unpacked, cleaned and stored/parked. Was a great experience and more over an awesome time.
On to the next tour with colleagues!
Tour On 2 Wheels 