First up I scored a new camera. I’ve been obsessive over the years about action cams and capturing good rides. I’ve tried quite a few over the years; an Oregon STK-3, a Venom Snakeyes micro, a Contour ROAM and my latest addition is a Crocolis HD Extreme Cam.
I’m impressed with initial results. I hooked it up to the bars and shot the quick vid below, testing the difference between internal and external mic settings but I hadn’t properly sussed out the quality settings and YouTube crunched it pretty hard.
With the external mic tucked in behind the dash it captures the induction roar from the WaspWorks PUK it’s done the best job of capturing quality video and natural audio so far.
Stupidly though you have to flip the LCD down to plug-in the external mic removing its waterproof capability and making it impossible to see the LCD screen.
Design fault number one.
But it does come with everything; helmet mounts, straps, adapters, bar adaptors, HDMI out, and it shoots in 1080P at 30fps, 720P at 60fps, plus has a neat time-lapse mode.
It looked good on paper as I said and it has delivered the goods with a low investment and a really simple thing to get up and running with no permanent mods to your ride. For under $200 I thought that was good value compared with the top end stuff like Go Pro and Contour.
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The other thing I have noticed is that if you fill up your card, the OS freezes and the only solution I’ve found is to remove the battery and restart it. If you want a comprehensive break down of its tech spec and capability check out Techmoan on YouTube, he does excellent motorcycle video reviews of most of the cams on the market.
Here’s a link to his review of the Crocolis (btw what a stupid word for a camera).
Next up, I’ve always wanted to change the 2012 Corse Livery, partly because it’s damn expensive (and pretty), partly because I really wanted a black one but it wasn’t released in 2012 in black, but mostly because I just can’t help myself.
I love changing shit up on my bikes, it’s a huge part of what I love about motorcycling – the evolution. Long story short I scored a full set of genuine body panels but alas in pearlescent white.
This kit is new and has never been fitted (the bike got binned then sold) and would easily add up to a $2k AUD retail, so picking up the lot for a quarter of that, I am seriously stoked and stinging to change those panels over and see what it looks like in white.
Only problem is you may notice there is no tank cover in the pic above, so I’ve decided to score a matte black petrol cover from a stock 1100 or 1100S which will complete the set.
Eyeing off a few overseas on ebay.it and ebay.uk it turns out heaps stacks cheaper than trying to find them here in Oz. This one would do the trick.
From there I’m still undecided about where I’m taking it. I’ve got a strange notion in my head that I’d like to go complete matte black with the red trellis. I’ve tinkered with the idea of a ‘wrap’ – a cheaper alternative to two pack which is also permanent, so there are a few major aesthetic options being explored soon and sharing with ya’ll.
I also have a notion to make a time-lapse video of the panel swap over, using the new camera. It’s a really neat feature of the Extreme Cam that allows you to capture a jpg every 3 secs at 720P producing a really wide-angle fish eye effect and hundreds of frames that you then chuck into a compiler for a neat Time-lapse video. Time Lapse Assembler does this really simply – stay tuned for those results too.
This is the other camera that has also been on my radar for a while – it’s a cheap lipstick style POV camera that has received great reviews and i can land one pretty for around $250 AUD. More cameras, more angles, more mounting options, more video, more fun.
Heaps of advantages with this style in my opinion, the controller would easily mount with a GPS cradle and the POV cam itself would sit nicely on a front fork which I’m thinking would produce some interesting footage using the fish eye 720P mode, maybe some footpeg action and a rear view as well – very adaptable and all very easy with this style of cam.
I’m still crushing on the idea of an STM Slipper Clutch, a Leo Vince cat eliminator and a HM Quickshifter on the performance side of things but to be honest the bike is such a torque monster as it is I’m happy enough for now to tinker with these bits n bobs while I get used to riding it again. There is a definite art to mastering a Hyper and the bike is so much better than me, I’m right for now for increasing power or performance… but I could argue with the GFC that a Slipper Clutch is a safety upgrade so we’ll see how that flies.
Last on the list for the now was an impulsive late night-eBay-therapy purchase. The wrap and hold the overflow and fuel lines neatly along the crank case – I’ve seen them on other Hypers and they tidy up that section nicely with a dash of carbon fibre.
I’m such a sucker for bling.
In other news the weather has sucked predominantly in Melbourne over the last few weekends I’ve had off, so there hasn’t been much adventure hooning, just your regular commuting tooting’, but summer is just around the corner and the corners are calling me.
Lastly thanks to everyone who has taken the survey and I hope you like the stickers, You comments and encouraging feedback to my first survey inspires me to keep pumping out content for you to enjoy. If you want a sticker the offer is there, free to anywhere in the world if you complete the survey!
So that’s it from me for now, but there is plenty of Ducati news coming up soon with EICMA, Oil Stained Brain, and the Melbourne Motorcycle Expo 2012 just around the corner.