Versatile and affordable instrumentation with Android!
A preliminary remarkWe have always loved and believed that road books are a simple and effective tool for navigation, offering the incredible charm of revealing the horizon and allowing you to truly immerse yourself 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 veteran of the Dakar Rally told us:
“You guys are road-book poets”
Let's get to the point: many people “fear” road-book navigation for a number of perfectly understandable reasons, which are concrete obstacles to the spread of our beloved road-book.
This page It stems from our personal experience, built on the desire to solve the problems outlined below and on an irrepressible desire to experiment with new solutions.
As you might expect, our passion is alive and well, and we continue to experiment with the many possibilities that technology offers, with an approach that we want to be pragmatic but scientific.
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.
- 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!) - Specific instrumentation is expensive: an electric road-book holder, a tripmeter and a plate cost at least 800€.
- Rally equipment is only needed during events with a roadbook.
- 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.
- 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
- With Android you can surf for as little as 40€, professional equipment costs between 300€ and 800€.
- Android is perhaps the most versatile system on the planet: detach the device from the bike and you can use it for anything!
- 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.
These guidelines are obviously general and do not address the many aspects of customising your equipment and mounting it on your bike.
There are many possibilities, and they can best be addressed with a friendly approach to experimentation, inventiveness and manual skills.
For example, if we have a motorbike with fairing, mounting the instrumentation requires a truly unique solution, whereas mounting it on the handlebars is much easier and more universal. Furthermore, some motorbikes, such as the two-stroke models of yesteryear or the Honda XR600 and Yamaha TT 59x, have alternating current systems: in this case, the simplest solution is to power everything with a power bank of at least 8000 mAh.
Two accounts, because the premise is to build efficient, more versatile and cost-effective equipment outdoor navigators as well as Android devices sold complete.
- Bluetooth handset20€ to 150€
- Android device: ranging from £0 to £700, Samsung Active Tab 2 tablets can be found refurbished and guaranteed for less than £100, to which we have added a RAM cover (£29) and a matte protective screen protector (£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!
To facilitate the construction of instruments based on Android or iOS devices, we have entered into agreements that offer our participants the 15% by discount on online shops 7Solid for Joymap Bluetooth commands and motogps.co.uk, importer for Italy of the extensive RAM Mount catalogue.
IT
EN
FR
DE