Quandry

Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
8
Location
Newark, Ohio
Bike
2007 ST 1300
I am looking to buy an action camera for next year's riding. However, I am loathe to mount it on my $600.00 Shoei GT-Air helmet. I bought this particular helmet because it is much quieter than others so I can listen to my music. So far the Sena 20S has add just a little extra noise but if I hang a camera off it, I am afraid it will really cause the wind noise to increase.

Any suggestions to mounting positions and which camera to get? I an kind of leaning towards a Contour because it look slimmer.

Thanks for the help!
 

jfheath

John Heath
Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
2,786
Age
69
Location
Ilkley, W Yorkshire, UK
Bike
2013 ST1300 A9
2024 Miles
000679
STOC #
2570
I use a couple of RoadHawk Bullet R+ Moto Edition bullet cameras. They come with a number of mounts, one of which allows for swivel and a small amount of tilt. They can be configured to be mounted upside down, so I have one attached to the underside of the outside edge of my offside wing mirror. (RH side here in the UK). It points outwards slightly to avoid filling the image with faring. The mount is stuck to the underside with the supplied fixing pads.

The camera records .MOV files on a 32GB Micro SDHC card - which records about 4 hours of video at 1080p. It has a tiny external switch to enable 720p recording to give 5+ hours. The internal battery will work for approx. 30-40 mins, but I have a hard wired kit so that it turns on and off with the ignition. I like the fact that it is compact, and easy to stow away in the faring pocket when I park up. Better in the USA, as it would go in the lockable one. The unit suffers a small amount of rattle in the mount, which is easily cured by lining the clip with tape. In the video link below, you can hear the plastic on plastic rattle before I discovered the trick of lining the cradle with tape.

I have another mounted on top of the offside pannier, pointing backwards and away from the bike to avoid filling the screen with an image of the top box. The view rearwards is also good. The pannier moves about a bit, but this is cured by fixing rubber washers on top of the pannier mounting cushions - which rest against the side panel mounting bolts.

The cameras have an infinite loop mode - recording numerous files of 15 mins length. When the SD card is full, it starts to overwrite the earlier files automatically. This feature can be turned on or off.

If out on a long tour, I carry plenty of SD cards and use the total moving time display that is available on my Zumo in order to give me an idea as to how long the camera has been recording and hence whether or not to change the card.

The view from the front mounted camera can be seen at this link youtube .com / watch?v=MWNXS9VdDW0 - copy it but remove the spaces - Ignore the quality - I had accidentally set it to record at 720p - normally I would use 1080p - it gives a rough idea of the view from that mount position. It looks rather odd - I'm in the UK, so the camera is mounted under my right wing mirror - so the centre of the video is roughly where the outside edge of the right hand mirror is located - ie in the gutter ! When you see the white line in the centre of the screen, that is where my wing mirror is. The camera is also pointing to the right, and I am riding on the right hand side of the road in the Alps. As a result, it looks as though I am much much closer to stuff on the right than I actually am.
 
Last edited:

pumper316

SaTx Speed Demon!
Joined
Feb 22, 2017
Messages
121
Location
San Antonio, TX
Bike
'04 ST1300A
I use a couple of RoadHawk Bullet R+ Moto Edition bullet cameras. They come with a number of mounts, one of which allows for swivel and a small amount of tilt. They can be configured to be mounted upside down, so I have one attached to the underside of the outside edge of my offside wing mirror. (RH side here in the UK). It points outwards slightly to avoid filling the image with faring. The mount is stuck to the underside with the supplied fixing pads.

The camera records .MOV files on a 32GB Micro SDHC card - which records about 4 hours of video at 1080p. It has a tiny external switch to enable 720p recording to give 5+ hours. The internal battery will work for approx. 30-40 mins, but I have a hard wired kit so that it turns on and off with the ignition. I like the fact that it is compact, and easy to stow away in the faring pocket when I park up. Better in the USA, as it would go in the lockable one. The unit suffers a small amount of rattle in the mount, which is easily cured by lining the clip with tape. In the video link below, you can hear the plastic on plastic rattle before I discovered the trick of lining the cradle with tape.

I have another mounted on top of the offside pannier, pointing backwards and away from the bike to avoid filling the screen with an image of the top box. The view rearwards is also good. The pannier moves about a bit, but this is cured by fixing rubber washers on top of the pannier mounting cushions - which rest against the side panel mounting bolts.

The cameras have an infinite loop mode - recording numerous files of 15 mins length. When the SD card is full, it starts to overwrite the earlier files automatically. This feature can be turned on or off.

If out on a long tour, I carry plenty of SD cards and use the total moving time display that is available on my Zumo in order to give me an idea as to how long the camera has been recording and hence whether or not to change the card.

The view from the front mounted camera can be seen at this link youtube .com / watch?v=MWNXS9VdDW0 - copy it but remove the spaces - Ignore the quality - I had accidentally set it to record at 720p - normally I would use 1080p - it gives a rough idea of the view from that mount position. It looks rather odd - I'm in the UK, so the camera is mounted under my right wing mirror - so the centre of the video is roughly where the outside edge of the right hand mirror is located - ie in the gutter ! When you see the white line in the centre of the screen, that is where my wing mirror is. The camera is also pointing to the right, and I am riding on the right hand side of the road in the Alps. As a result, it looks as though I am much much closer to stuff on the right than I actually am.
Been looking into something like this for a while. How long have you had this unit and how reliable has it been?

Thanks.
 

jfheath

John Heath
Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
2,786
Age
69
Location
Ilkley, W Yorkshire, UK
Bike
2013 ST1300 A9
2024 Miles
000679
STOC #
2570
Been looking into something like this for a while. How long have you had this unit and how reliable has it been?
I have 2.

One is the original unit which I believe was designed and developed by a company here in the UK called DogCam.

This had a few issues which were resolved around the same time that the unit started to be marketed by RoadHawk.

In particular, with the early DogCam and a couple of other units that I have had - although the unit itself has been sturdy, the mini-usb type connections have been fragile, and it is these that have failed.

However, with the RoadHawk R+ Moto, this has been sorted. The hardwire kit to the bike battery comes with a special cap. The power lead plugs into the rear of the camera, and the cap holds it in place. However, it is designed with a locating pin which locates in its hole before the Mini USB makes contact with its socket. In this way, no strain is ever put onto the USB socket when the cap is being put on or removed.

One issue with the earlier DogCam unit came about by turning off the ignition before the camera had finished initialising, and then turning on again. It happens sometimes when starting out on a ride. The camera would freeze and stay frozen until its reset button had been pressed. Mine did it to me on Friday for the first time in ages, but the RoadHwak R+ Moto continued recording. I have both cameras switch on with ignition whenever i go out. So I am pretty sure that this fault with the original dogcam has been fixed. Certainly the RoadHawk has never frozen on me.

Picture quality is pretty good - better when the way ahead is lit up in strong sunlight, but not bad at other times either. There are some models around that are better quality though - at a premium price. With the better quality comes larger file sizes, greater expense in larger memory cards, and extra time processing the files afterwards. You pays your money an takes your choice.

For me, I'm perfectly happy with them. They are compact, work on internal battery and with battery power, the auto light balance is pretty good, and the sound records OK even with the waterproof cap on the rear.

Disadvantages - you cannot see what you record, nor can you delete files from the camera - you have to access the card, or remove the card, and use a computer. I looked at options to provide this facility, but decided that the cheapest way was to buy a whole load of 32Gb Micro SDHC cards for long tours. I just switch them out every day.

To answer the question directly - I bought the DogCam version about 4 years ago. The RoadHawk 2 years ago. I had issues with the Mini USB socket, and that camera was replaced - but as already noted, the RoadHawk unit has solved this issue.

I put them both on the bike every time I go out, and apart from that glitch with the usb socket, they have both served me well . I take the cap off each time I return and replace the memory card. They have both remained completely waterproof, and the units themselves are very sturdy - both having been dropped from seat height onto concrete and tarmac many times without any ill effects.

The camera needs fast memory cards - Class 10 or up really. It also responds well to having the cards formatted rather than just deleting the files. Quick format is good enough. I don't know why, but it does.

Let me know if you would like video in different conditions, or what else comes with the kit, I'll see what I can do.

(Nb - looks like the Roadhawk USA site doesn't list the R+ Moto camera. I found a couple of Amazon sites that claim to have it at around $250.)
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
emerye100
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
8
Location
Newark, Ohio
Bike
2007 ST 1300
Wow, thanks for all the info!

I watched the video. It looked like a really wild ride. I would have to ride up into the Rocky Mountains out west to get a ride like that.

How fast were you going when you were in to the hairpin curves? Also, was that graffiti on the highway?
 

jfheath

John Heath
Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
2,786
Age
69
Location
Ilkley, W Yorkshire, UK
Bike
2013 ST1300 A9
2024 Miles
000679
STOC #
2570
Found the camera on Amazon. Talk about sticker shock! $504.42 USD
Yes, I saw that - but there were a couple of other places selling it cheaper - but looking again, one of the places has had only 4 sales.
Maybe get in touch with RoadHawk - if you are keen, maybe they will post out. It would be subject to import an taxes of course. UK price is £139.99.


How fast were you going when you were in to the hairpin curves? Also, was that graffiti on the highway?
Don't worry about speed going into such corners. Enjoying the ride and staying on the tarmac is always my priority. This was taken in the Alps on the 'Route Napolean' - southern France - which links together a good number of classic climbs. The one in the video was the Col d'Izoard - we were riding in a group and I was towards the back, so as you can see, although I tried to keep my distance, the group ahead bunched up on some bends - presumably as they encountered vehicles and cyclists coming down.

But it's an interesting question. The answer is, I don't know how fast I was going - but I can understand why you ask. I am certainly no hero and I always like to give myself plenty of room for manoeuvre or for the odd occasion when I might mess it up. These bends aren't taken quickly though - I'd say 12, maybe 15mph for the tight ones, but I am guessing. Anyway, I dug out the satnav logs from that glorious day in September 2014 to find out. Attached is the speed profile of that ride. The first red line is the double Right - left on the video starting at 1:25. The middle red line is the summit. The end of the plot is the end of the video.

Now I don't believe that these speeds are accurate for a moment. I am surrounded by hills, so poor satellite reception, and speed is calculated as the time to travel between two points, and since some of these hairpins are very tight and since when you have gone round the tight bend you are literally a few metres from the road you have been on, just below you. So its taken 20 seconds to travel a few feet - it is easy to see how the satnav may get this calculation a bit on the slow side. I watched my speedo tonight as I went around a wet roundabout - it felt about right at 20-25 mph.

The markings on the road are from spectators of the Tour de France. These roads often feature in the tour's itineray. If you are ever thinking of riding in the Alps, find out when the tour is on and where the route is. And avoid it. But going after the tour isn't a bad idea, as any defects in the road surface will have been sorted.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

sky.high

Site Supporter
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
599
Location
Calgary
Bike
The Honda of the day
STOC #
9052
I just got a GoPro hero 5, I've not used it much so far just once on my dirt bike on some twisty gravel and a couple of times skijoring both times using a chest strap it works great and they are on sale in Costco for 300CAN
 
Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Messages
3,508
Location
kankakee
Bike
R1200rt
Found the camera on Amazon. Talk about sticker shock! $504.42 USD
AT AMAZON SEARCH ACTION CAMERAS, HUNDREDS WILL SHOW UP. 25 TO 500 DOLLARS. LOOK FOR ONE WITH SONY OPTICS (SUPOSE TO BE THE BEST) AND THEN SEARCH IT ON YOUTUBE. GOOD REVIEWS WITH ACTUAL VIDEOS. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ONE AND WAS AMAZED AT PRICE DIFFERENCES WITH SAME QUALITY
 
Top Bottom