April 20, 2018
INTRODUCTION
I hope your bike is polished and ready to hit the pavement because motorcycle season is in full swing! We wrote the second Moto Intel Report to supply you with the latest and best on what we love so much: motorcycles, touring and adventure riding.
As Guido is working long hours on updating Scenic and making it fit the entire iPhoneX screen, I will introduce this second edition of the Moto Intel Report. My name is Jasper and at least once a week I take my 2010 BMW F650GS out for a spin. 23 years ago, I started my motorcycle journey on a 50cc Puch, which was quickly replaced by my beloved and indesctructible 70cc Zundapp which the Dutch police subsequently confiscated for not being road worthy. ☹ Over the years I slowly worked my way up to the gentle 800cc beast I ride now.
In this Moto Intel Report we give you this week’s maintenance tips, discuss the benefits of leather and textile outfits, compare the new Honda Gold Wing with the BWM K1600 and we talk about weatherproof iPhone cases. We also briefly touch upon the mother of all passes: The Stelvio Pass in Northern Italy.
Now, without further ado, let’s get rolling…
Jasper
GADGETS
Weatherproof iPhone Cases
If you want to see (and touch) the screen of your phone you’ll have to attach it to your motorcycle somehow. You can do this case-less or with a case. The iPhone 7 and above models are waterproof, so you could go case-less from a ‘rain’ perspective.
However you might still want to consider buying a good case and mount for your phone anyway. First of all, Apple’s official documentation states “Liquid damage is not covered under warranty”, but secondly, a case also helps against vibrations, dust and accidentally dropping your phone while wearing your clumsy motorcycle gloves. (happened to me a few times)
In my most recent blog article I give a quick overview of available options for the motorcycle.
Guido
MOTORCYCLES
The 2018 Honda Gold Wing or the 2018 BMW K 1600 GTL?
Did Honda hit the mark with the new Gold Wing, or is it a dud? According to RevZilla they didn’t halfass the redesign and with the new smart key as well as great on board satnav being one of the best improvements, Honda does not fail to impress. The Honda flat-six changed displacement this year by one little cubic centimeter, up to 1,833. (About 111 cubic inches, for those of you comparing to Harley-Davidson and Indian.)
If you want hyperactive touring speeds, the 2018 BMW K 1600 GTL might be a better choice. MotorbikeTrend did a product review and came to the conclusion that this elegant monster with its legendary six-cilinder in-line motor is a unique experience: Trendy, Strong and Luxurious. Don’t forget about its massive 160HP output (118kW) and maximum torque of 129 lb-ft at 5,250 RPM and its ability to attain 70% of torque at 1,500RPM. Hard to beat that!
Jasper
MAINTENANCE
Chain and Sprockets
So now that you pulled your motorcycle out of winter storage and did some ‘start-of-season’ maintenance, perhaps even put your first miles on it during Easter weekend, let’s talk chain and sprockets.
This is probably the most discussed topic on motorcycle maintenance, but since it’s also the most crucial and easy maintenance you can do yourself within minutes, I wanted to touch on it here nevertheless.
We all know, or at least heard, that regularly maintaining these parts is vital to safety and endurance of your motorcycle. Recently I even heard someone say: If you have to ask others about chain maintenance, you’re probably not doing it often enough. I agree!
Now, I usually lube my chain every 400-500 kilometers / 250-300 miles, especially in rainy season here in Mexico. However, I know guys who only lube every 500 miles. They tell me their bikes with modern sealed chains need much less maintenance. While true, my take on this is ‘better too much than too little’. There’s no such thing as cleaning and lubing your chain too often. Better safe than sorry.
Either way, I wanted to share this handy tutorial by Stonewall Craftworks on how to clean, lubricate and wax a motorcycle chain. It’s very detailed with some great pics.
Next time, we’ll be comparing motorcycle chain lubricants to see which one gives you the best bang for your buck.
Tom
MOTORCYCLE CLOTHING
Leather or Textile – the age old question
If you’re an experienced rider you problaby made your choice on this topic already. If you’re just starting out and/or are still not sure what’s best… keep reading. First of all, there is no ‘best’. Yes, there is ‘safest’, ‘most comfortable’, ‘best weather protection’, ‘temperature and isolation’, etc. Throw that in the mix with personal preference, your geographical location as it relates to weather, and you’ve got a whole lot of things to consider. And then, once you decided for leather or textile… you are thrown in on the deep end once more as there are numerous brands, materials, price ranges etc. to chose from within each one of those categories.
Having said this… I prefer textile. As, for me, it’s most all round, can handle rain a lot better and yes, I’m willing to sacrifice a bit of protection for that (although the hi-end textile garments can measure up to leather from protection perspective).
This article by Marc Cook on MotorcycleCruiser, although 1.5 years old, gives a very good overview of the options, positives and negatives.
Guido
ROUTES / RIDE REPORTS
The Stelvio Pass
Most of you probably know the mother of all routes in Europe: The amazing Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps. For those that don’t, let me begin with some stats:
Country: Italy
Elevation: 2.758m/9.049ft
Length: 49km/31mi
Hairpins: 87
Dramatic scenery, stunning views and an incredible elevation gain of over 1800 meters (5900ft) make it hard not to mention it here. MotoTrip did a very informative write-up with recommendations, real life experiences and they threw in some history in there too, while they were at it.
Next time another continent!
Jasper
SCENIC NEWS
Android Version and iPhoneX support
By far the most asked questions about Scenic are “When Android Version?” and “Why still no iPhoneX support?”. So I thought I’d answer them here:
I’m afraid an Android version is going to be a while. I’m currently focusing on a big update for iOS. After that I will point my attention to Android again. This big update is also where I’m going to add iPhoneX support. I’m aiming to release that big update by June/July.
Due to the way I originally designed Scenic three years ago it’s a tremendous amount of work to support the additional screen size of the iPhoneX. Therefore I’d rather include this in the big update where I’m redesigning the whole User Experience anyway.
Guido
