After fixing my steering bearings I can ride again!!
I tried already on monday (22nd of December) but there wasn’t enough juice in the battery. So I had to charge the battery full and now I’m hoping it will still be ok at least for this winter (and spring – summer) because it’s already 2 years old battery.
So this morning (The morning of 24th of December) I took a ride with my motorcycle! It wasn’t too cold but it was little bit slippery because of the light snowfall. Everything in steering was working as it should! Video here:
In January all the snow melted and in february we got only few cm’s more and that didn’t stay long… So before the March was even in the halfway…. I was riding!! Season 2025 is now started.
I was riding again on sunday but the footage from that ride is not very good. So there’s no video coming from that one. But later this spring and summer… there will be more!
The winter started very early (last november!) And quite many years lately the spring didn’t come early or not even in the ordinary time (around mid march). But this year maby it’s early? At least I was actually doing a proper motorcycle ride already in 24th of February!
My ride was mostly about testing the Sena Spider ST1 helmet phone as the microphone. But I was also testing the remote controller (GPS Preview Remote) which is very easy to use and it gives also the GPS data to your video if you want to use it. A week later I was riding again!
This morning (06th of March 2024) it was -8° so maybe we still need to wait?!
This is mind blowing! It’s revolutionary. Until now everyone who wanted to talk to the video while riding a motorcycle had to install either a mic with the wire (so called Lavalier microphone) or somekind of wireless microphone inside their helmets. I was using one of the best ones (RØDE wireless Go II) and I did find a place for the microphone inside my helmet but then there was the problem of the reciever and the adapter on the side of the camera.
The sound quality from this RØDE microphone was very good! But because of the rain I did brake 1 mic adapter last summer. Then on december 2023 they released this new Insta360 Ace Pro camera and it has bluetooth connectivity!! I didn’t even realize this when I bought it. But about in the same time when I got this new camera the DJI Osmo Action 4 shared new firmware update that allowed it to be connected to DJI Mic 2. That was the first time when I knew something quite important was about to happen! In DJI’s version you still need to install this microphone inside the helmet. Only few weeks later Insta360 released new firmware that had already more than 5 different helmetphone Brands and models that was supported by Insta360 Ace Pro camera!! I had Sena 30K and it was not on the list…. So I sold my helmetphone and bought the new one! It was Sena Spider ST1 and to pair it with Insta360 Ace Pro you do like this:
I knew that when you are using helmetphone microphone they have this “Advanced Noise Control™” that will block all ambient sounds (sounds from the outside of your helmet). So I started testing how can I easily disconnect the helmetphone from the camera so that camera’s own microphone will record all sounds when I’m not talking to the microphone. It can be done but it’s not very easy.
Finally today (3rd of february) it was so warm weather so I decided I will install the battery to my bike. And because my bike’s engine started like it was not winter at all… I decided to go for a ride! And ofcourse test how this Sena Spider ST1 will work as a microphone in insta360 Ace Pro camera. Here is the video:
As a result I can say that yes, you can hear the engine sound on the video. But it’s not too loud. Actually if I will use music on the video it will cover pretty much all engine sound… So I will try to remember to disconnect the helmetphone (microphone) when I don’t want to talk to the video. And when I want to talk again I need to stop recording and connect the helmetphone to the camera again. And start recording again (Sounds little bit complicated here! But it isn’t.)
The winter motorcycling is quite challenging! First you’re collecting the best and warmest clothes to put on you. You get dressed up for 1 hour (or something) and then you go out without even knowing if the bike will start?
I was really waiting this kind of weather! The frozen ground makes the gravel roads little bit slippery (Or too slippery like you will see later in this post!) and the riding is more challenging! I took this kind of route yesterday:
I wanted to ride the forest roads near that Iso-Kisko lake and I wanted to see the swimming place and fire place of that lake. I only saw that place once and that was in the middle of the winter -at least now it would be little bit earlier!
Here was the first crossroads where I found the road that I didn’t ride before.
That road had some beautiful views right under the powerline that has no electric current! The line comes from Inkoo Powerplant that was demolished few years ago.
Then I was in another city (Salo) and district (Varsinais-Suomi). That road was just maintained and plowed so there was loose gravel and stones on the surface and right under this loose surface there was frozen layer… It was very slippery! And even I said to myself many times “Be careful, It’s very slippery!” This happened:
For a second I was little bit frightened that I was hurt! I was winded and it felt like there’s something wrong. But it lasted only few seconds and then I pulled myself up and started to my move my hands and shoulders. It felt like everything was ok! I had to ride to the gas station because I needed to fix the foot peg that was stuck on the “Up position”.
This picture I took little bit later when I was already riding back home. The whole adventure video you can see here:
YES! Spring is NOT around the corner, it’s here finally! So many plans made and so many routes to check. TET Finland will be even better soon! But lets start with the local roads and tracks. First ride was on Good Friday (Pitkäperjantai):
Good Ride on Good Friday
Second ride was on saturday:
Saturday with some more OffRoad parts
And on that ride we had a good laugh (I fell with the bike)!
Notice: Insta360 selfie stick is not made for enduro riding! Ihave now had it 3 times in my bike and it’s now bended. I can hardly open it or close it. I wonder is there any better ones?
Finally got out with my bike and this interesting camera Insta360 was attached into it. First ride I made a week ago. The camera was in handle-bar and I wanted to check only how it will look? Editing a good video was quite easy (Ok, I dunno about good but it looks quite ok to me!)
Insta360 One X2 attached in handlebar
Second ride I made yesterday. Now I had 2 cameras and my microphone with the wire (I couldn’t find my Rode Wireless!!) My DJI Osmo Action was in the normal place (handlebar) and Insta360 was on the tip of the stick behind me. You can see it from this picture:
Editing with 2 different cameras is much more complicated than you first think! They have dirrent picture style and colors. And my microphone with the wire mostly doesn’t work! I need to find my wireless mic -it has much better sound quality. Here’s video from yesterday:
Riding with 2 different cameras!
3 times in this movie there’s a cut from Osmo Action to Insta 360 when you should “understand” that this is the same place, same time and same ride. But if you don’t get it… It doesn’t matter! You can still watch the video. Maybe I can adjust the cameras so that the picture will look more similar? And maybe I need to make more “sharp cut” to make it more obvious. And the battery of Insta360 lasts much longer than DJI Osmo Action!
Every now and then there is a question which navigation system is the best for Adventure riding? I don’t have the correct answer but here are some features to check. Especially if you want to ride TransEuroTrail (Finland). I’ve been using Garmin GPSmap 62, Garmin Montana 600, Last summer Samsung Active Tab 2 & Osmand App and now I have Garmin Montana 700. I did a testride with both of these navigation systems attached to my motorcycle. I also had my camera (DJI Osmo Action) attached to my helmet -this I didn’t have in a very long time. And Rode Wireless Go II microphone was connected to my camera and the microphone itself was inside my helmet. Here is the video:
I’m not saying which one is better. They both have some cons and pros. Samsung Tab can be a little bit tricky to keep the batter fully loaded. It is very delicate part of the tablet this USB gate where you should connect the charging wire. I was using the magnetic type of wire where there is an extra connection just after the plug that you should push to the USB gate. The power that comes from my motorcycles alternator is not quite enough to keep the battery 100% loaded all day. But in novemeber when we were riding 9 hours it took only about 30% of battery power… So I could easily ride 2-3 days without recharging the tablet. It has also a small problem about the maps. You can get along with them but they are not as accurate than the maps in Garmin Montana. Every now and then I was little bit confused with Osmand maps. Why this track or that road is not on the map? Garmin Montana 700 biggest drawback (so far) is that you can’t change the thickness of the saved track’s line on the map! This makes it little bit tricky to see the line on the map that you should try to follow. The strangest thing is that it was possible in Garmin Montana 600!! (And also in Osmand App!) There are a lot of other devices and other apps to use. Especially this whole Apple -thing! I know nothing about them. But for android this Osmand is very good choice because it’s free or it’s not expensive to buy (full licence) where you can have unlimited amount of downloads (maps). I hope this helps you to choose a good system that serves you the best!
Week after our very nice November ride we got the first snow! And soon there was more and more coming all the time… At the best there was more than half of meter of snow on the ground. And it was also very cold all the time. -Until Christmas! In Christmas week it was over zero temperatures and even little bit of rain every now and then so almost all snow melted. And then again the last 2 days of the year it was very warm. On NewYears Eve we had +5° So I decided to go riding!
And while I was riding little bit of TET route I was hoping I could find a spot where there was no ICE. And I found…
I don’t have spikes in my tires so I can only ride on tarmac or in soft snow. I’m not that big fan of winter riding… But ofcourse if the weather is ok I can go. Next ride in 2023!
Soon all the snow will be gone! And I haven’t done almost anything to my KTM yet. Ok, yesterday I did install the protection shield by touratech under the engine, but it was easy installation!
Then today I was at the garage again and desided to take a short ride even there’s some ice and snow on the road! I rode about 5-600 meters and took one short video of the sounds. Remember it has the LeoVince silencer now!
Before the season really starts I still need to install the extra tank. After that the bike is ready for all the adventures to come… in the season 2017!
GoZa Mite 