Everytrail is a site where you combine your GPS tracklog and your digital photos to share with friends. The site is free; and the process of creating trips and personalizing them with your photos is simple. Used in conjunction with the iPhone (yes there’s an app for that) it’s a great way to share your rides. You will see a few of my rides that I’ve recorded with Everytrail right here on my blog. The best thing about using EveryTrail with the iPhone is just how easy it makes it, you simply open the app on your iPhone and hit the start tracking button. (You can also upload your routes directly from your gps no iPhone required.) Within the app, there’s a photo option so you can record all those great moments of your ride and Everytrail will actually place them on the map where they were taken. When you’re done you name the ride and enter a description/story then upload it, that’s it. You can also post it to your facebook and twitter accounts at the same time. This is usually a pretty quick affair depending on how many pictures you’ve taken and how long the route is. Also new for version 3 is the ability to find trips based on your location and download them to your iPhone. The trips are all categorized by activity such as motorcycling, biking, hiking, sking etc. Also stats are presented on a graph for distance, speed and elevation. The one thing you should be aware of is it sucks up your phones battery power pretty quickly so you might want to do as I have and plug your phone into an accessory outlet on your bike.

EveryTrail website and demo video (opens a new window)
Here’s a good example of an EveryTrail trip and how it might be used.

There are some things that will never be explained. The other day I went for a ride and as always I grabbed my Spot satellite messenger and attached it to the bike. It was a great day and everything was nice and green from the recent rains. Meandering along some of my favorite local back roads, I enjoyed a late afternoon ride and got home just before dark . I parked the bike and got off. It was then that I realized that the Spot was gone; it obviously had fallen off during the ride. Well since it’s a tracking device it shouldn’t be to hard to find, right? So I quickly went to the computer and brought up the tracking page to determine where it was. It had fallen off on a tight hairpin turn on a road called Harris Grade about 60 miles from home; I remembered the turn. My hopes were slightly dashed when I saw it hadn’t transmitted a message for over an hour. It usually transmits about every 20 minutes give or take, hmmm had someone found it and turned it off? Well, I had to go back and see. It was getting dark by now but my curiosity had gotten the better of me and I just couldn’t wait until morning. After two hours of driving I didn’t find it that night and had pretty much given up hope, I figured somebody had picked it up and it was gone for good. When I got home I looked at the computer one more time just for the hell of it…it had moved! It was now about .5 miles back up the road! I wasn’t going to drive back up there again; not tonight anyway, but I continued to monitor it on the computer until I went to bed that night; there was no other movement no transmission at all. In the morning I took another look on the computer, just in case. What the hell, it was transmitting again and had been since about 2am. Now I was really curious, I had to go check it out. I called my partner at work and told him the story and said I would be in later. I plugged the exact coordinates of the last transmission into my GPS and headed out. I half expected to find it with some crack head who had been up all night trying figure out what it was. I followed the gps to the coordinates and low and behold, I was directed to the same turn out I had stopped at to take some pictures during my ride , but there was no Spot to be seen. I had brought my laptop but as I figured there was no wifi up there so I couldn’t tell if it had moved or was still transmitting even. I decided to drive up the road a little carefully scanning the the roadside, nothing. Looks like I’m S.O.L. I turned around and headed back home. That was two wasted trips up here, damn! Wait a minute…Holy Shit there it is on the opposite side of the road about 500 yds before the turnout I had stopped at earlier, just lying on the shoulder. I’ll be damned I found it! Here’s the thing though when I looked at the pictures from the ride, I can clearly see that the Spot is still on my bike at the turnout, so how did it get 500yds back up the road?? Maybe the crackheads found it and gave up trying to call for a pizza with it. I’ll never know but I’m glad to have found it and glad to know if it had been me lying off the side of the road with it, someone would have found me.

I’ve always wished my bike had a tire pressure monitoring
system and now it can for $200.00 Ouch!

Summary
The TireGard wireless TPMS, or Tire Pressure Monitoring System is easy to use, light weight and accurate, but expensive.

Read the full review from Web Bike World. http://www.webbikeworld.com/r4/tiregard-wireless-tpms/

Odyssey Bags & Top Box

108 liter Jesse Odyssey Bags and 45 liter Top Box provides significantly more storage than stock BMW bags.
The Top Box mounts onto the Jesse Rear Compartment, which itself holds 6 liters.
The Top Box makes a decent backrest for the pillion, and the extra space it affords makes 2-up travel and camping a bit more doable.

In keeping with this year’s theme of comfortable motorcycle camping, it’s important to note that comfort does assume one important capability: carrying all the stuff that makes you comfortable. As a Jesse aluminum bags owner for over 5 years, the new Odyssey product line came immediately to mind for a new product review. This test covers the bags designed to fit the oilhead GS models, however, almost everything here can also be said about the bags for the airhead GS bikes as well. And stay tuned for announcements about models for the F650 and other BMW models. Al Jesse has been very busy over the winter!

Say what you want about them – beautiful/ugly, functional/funky, boxy/big – in my mind, the primary benefit of Jesse Luggage Systems’ aluminum bags is the ability to carry a lot of stuff without compromising the handling dynamics of your motorcycle.

A key benefit of Jesse bags is that they fit closely to the bike and place the weight as low as possible.
This allows them to hold more while actually being narrower than the BMW factory luggage.
Note: the Top Box latch shown is pre-production. Shipping units will use the same latches as the boxes

The reason for this is a well-rationed design that keeps the weight of your gear as close as possible to the bike’s centerline and as low as possible without affecting cornering clearance. Jesse’s new products carry on this tradition, and feature a number of evolutionary improvements that make your life as a motorcycle tourist much easier.

To read the entire article go here:
BMW Motorcycle Owners of America | Jesse Luggage Systems.

“Garmin and BMW are known within their respective industries for providing high-quality, high-end products with superior customer satisfaction and support,” said Roger Jollis, Garmin’s director of OEM and mobile marketing. “By equipping BMW motorcycles with the BMW Motorrad Navigator IV, riders can let the GPS device deliver spoken turn-by-turn instructions while they focus on the road and enjoy a worry-free ride.”

Read the full article here Garmin | Newsroom | Press Releases.

Check out this new ultra lightweight carbon fiber helmet. The Akuma Phantom II is one of the lightest helmets on the market and the first helmet to come with a genuine Solfx photochromatic visor that changes darkness based on the amount of UV light and the ambient temperature.

Available at HPC

Click on the link below for the full review.

Akuma Phantom II Helmet – webBikeWorld.

Oversized Fuel Tank Kit for BMW F800GS and F650GS

Saturday May 30, 2009

Seattle, WA – Touratech-USA introduces an oversized fuel tank kit for the BMW F800GS and F650GS twin cylinder motorcycles. The kit includes the additional tank, supply lines and fittings for a gravity-feed connection to the stock under-seat tank. The tank is crafted from nearly indestructible Polyamide Nylon, the same material used for car bumpers. The combined volume of 9.5 gallons (36 liters) more than doubles the mileage range over the 4.2 gallon stock fuel capacity making the F800/650GS motorcycles capable of long distance adventure riding.

The tank installs in the normal position of a motorcycle tank, replacing the front body panels on the bike. This kit matches the styling of the bike while dramatically expanding the fuel range making the F800/650GS motorcycle capable of serious adventure distance riding.

• Increase fuel capacity to 9.5 gallons (36 liters)
• Range is extended from 210 to 475 miles at 50mpg
• Complete kit includes all mounting hardware and fuel line connections
• Durable Polyamide Nylon available in Black, Dark Magnesium or raw paintable finish
• Fits BMW F800GS and F650GS (twin cylinder) Motorcycles
• Locking fuel filler cap with two keys
• 100% Made in Germany

Black or Dark Magnesium Finish: $1,985.50
Complete Kit in Raw Paintable Finish: $1,355.90

For more information on oversized fuel tank systems or anything for your next adventure, contact Touratech-USA: www.touratech-usa.com andwww.cycoactive.com.

sales@touratech-usa.com
1 800.491.2926
P 206.323.2349
F 206.325.6016

Oversized Fuel Tank Kit for BMW F800GS and F650GS | RoadRUNNER Magazine.