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Versatile and affordable instrumentation with Android!

a premise

We have always loved and believed that the road-book is a simple and effective tool for navigating, which has in itself the incredible charm of unravelling the horizon and allowing real immersion in the territory.

Since 1999, the Moto Club Umbria has linked his activity to the road-book and with stubborn passion continues to draw the notes by hand, to put in comprehensive directions, to try to make them easy to read.

During a Umbria rally, a Dutch multi-dakarian told us
” you guys are road-book poets“

Let's cut to the chase: Rally of the Umbria has now exceeded a thousand participants, also thanks to this event Adventuring is a complete and successful discipline, the interested public is increasingly diverse but many 'fear' road-book navigation for a number of reasons absolutely agreeable, concrete obstacles to the spread of our beloved roll.

  1. The greatest fear of navigating a road-book for the first time (only for the first time) is to find yourself with mileage and note that do not match: it can happen even on the right route, but if you take the wrong road, you no longer have any reference
    (nothing fits!)
  2. Specific instrumentation is expensive: an electric road-book holder, a tripmeter and a plate cost at least 800€.
  3. Rally equipment is only needed during events with a roadbook.
  4. It is difficult to mount the rally instrumentation on my bike: I have a fixed fairing, the tripmeter probes have to reach the wheel, I have to supply everything with 12V, the wired control panel is bulky and taking everything apart for normal use is inconvenient.
  1. If you only have the paper roadbook when this happens, it starts a backward hunt to a 'certain' note: navigating on a tablet, you can immediately switch to track navigation: with a dedicated app, an Android device is far better than an outdoor GPS
  2. With Android you can surf for as little as 40€, professional equipment costs between 300€ and 800€.
  3. Android is perhaps the most versatile system on the planet: detach the device from the bike and you can use it for anything!
  4. With an Android system, all you need is a USB socket under the key and a flying power cable.
    The Bluetooth handset has its own battery and only requires a bracket to be fixed to the motorbike.

This page stems from our personal experience, built on the desire to solve the above-mentioned problems and an irrepressible urge to experiment with new solutions. Qhe proposal has been field-tested with the devices mentioned in the article and represents efficient, non-professional possibilities.

The few times that one of our various Android configurations forced us to stop for a moment and take off the gloves reminded us of our tourist vocation, that we are in no hurry, that we are not in a race with anyone.

Anyone wishing to set up their own Android equipment must first be willing to experiment: the range of useful devices is endless, the characteristics of these extremely varied, from assembly to use each instrument is a bit of a one-off.
Experimentation also involves a bit of manual dexterity and imagination that will serve to house the device, install (if absent) a 2.1Ah USB socket to be connected to the motorbike's 12V circuit under lock and key, or a space to accommodate a power-bank of at least 8000mAh: again, every motorbike is a story in itself.

This page is 'in progress': we are happy to share our experience and anyone who wants to contribute, even with different experiments, is welcome: comments are enabled at the bottom of the page!

Two accounts, because the premise is to build efficient, more versatile and cost-effective equipment
of outdoor navigators as well as Android devices sold complete

  • Bluetooth handset20€ to 150€
  • Android device: from 0 to 500€, we paid around 140€ for the Samsung Active Tab 2 reconditioned and guaranteed, to which we added the RAM cover (22€) and a matt protective glass (10€).
  • Holder: from 15€ for a universal Smartphone holder up to 150€ for a complete RAM Cradle holder.
  • Spiral USB cable with 90° plug: approx. 10 €
  • Possible USB socket to connect to the motorbike's system: approx. 15€

The total may be below the €400 we set ourselves as a limit!

we have divided our suggestions into four sections!