Just came across a brilliant hint for iMove (iLife 09).
There is a nifty little feature where you can create maps showing your route when on a trip. The only downer is that a lot of places are not in the ready-made database.
On previous trips, I have used small point and shoot cameras that have video capabilities. In fact, on three trips, I have had four Canon Powershot cameras - a boring story I´ll tell you another time.
But on this trip, I want to take the best photos I can - after all, the scenery is so stunning. So this year I am taking my Nikon D80 DSLR with a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 prime lens and a Sigma 18mm - 200mm 3.5 - 6.3 zoom. The Sigma isn´t the best of lenses but does do wide angle to a good zoom without being hefty or long. The Nikkor lens just takes great, sharp photos in relatively low light.
But this leaves me short of any video-capture capability (well, not quite - more about that later). So the web crawl was back on. My very first choice was a Sony HQ1 bullet camera from Dogcam. It sound really great; waterproof, rugged, almost broadcast quality video and can be mounted anywhere on the bike for great action shots. But to use this, you need something to record to, which in turn needs wires and this and that.
The package of one camera and one dv recorder from dogcam is good value, but ultimately, in our budget, an expense we can do without.
I did have a Canon MX3i camcorder that cost around $800 five years ago, but it is a big thing with terrible battery life and needs DV tapes; in other words, a dinosaur and a hassle. So I sold that.
Now, many camcorders are petite and use SDHC cards. I looked at reviews for Flip Video, Vado, the Panasonic waterproof cam and the Xacti. But, according to the many reviews of each, none have particularly good video quality and many of them are not Mac friendly. Accepting the fact that you get what you pay for, I decided something cheap and cheerful - at least I´ll get some video footage and adjusted my sights a little.
Then I came across the Kodak Zi6 HD camcorder.
It is small, uses rechargeable batteries - it even comes with two of those and a charger - it can take up to a 32Gb SDHC card and is simple to use on a bike. It will work with both the Asus netbook and my Mac OS. You can also upload video directly to youtube. Sounds promising. It costs less than 100 pounds - cheaper still if you go for the pink one. I´m such a cheapskate!
Breva 750 i.e. (744 cc) (2002–): a Standard motorcycle formally introduced to the press at Intermot 2002, Munich — Like the Nevada features the 'small block' engine derived directly from the engine Carcano designed for Guzzi in the mid-sixties and Tonti refined: the 750 cc V-twin, rated at 48 bhp (36 kW). With its ease of maintenance, durability and even, flat torque curve, the engine design remains suitable to everyday, real-world situations. To mark the rejuvenation of Moto Guzzi, the first Breva 750 was delivered to its owner on April 7 2003 in a special ceremony at the Mandello works. Likewise, the first 100 Breva 750's were delivered to their Italian dealers in a special ceremony on March 26 2003 at Mandello del Lario headquarters on the occasion of the company's anniversary.
Although on the small side, it has coped incredibly well with two-up and all our luggage - including camping gear.
We bought it brand new in the UK and had it flown (on the same flight as ourselves) to Toronto, Canada.
You cannot imagine the fear of riding a bike for the very first time out of a major city such as Toronto - on a busy Interstate (the 401). I kept thinking, ìf we´re gonna die, please make it quick and painless´.
However, we survived that and went on to ride the bike 9,400 miles that year (2007) and 9,600 in 2008.
We made it all the way across the USA to the Pacific coast - what a shock that was too; foggy, freezing and fires - and then all the way back across.
So all in all, we are very proud of this terrific little bike and consider the Breva to be aptly named - maybe it should be spelt Braver.
I had a heck of a job deciding on which netbook would be best for the trip. Since Asus brought out these small portable laptops, many, many others have jumped on the band wagon. The Asus is still the smallest. But then you have to decide on Winows OS or Linux. As we already have software conflicts - motoguzziman has Windows, I have Mac, we decided not to introduce a third complication so I chose the Windows XP (Lite). If you are undecided which of the available netbooks to go for, this is quite a good review of four of them side-by-side.
I am very new to this blog stuff. Perhaps many other `older´ potential bloggers, or frustrated bloggers, or `given-up´ bloggers were / have been put off by trying to get images into their blog.
So was I. I have loads of photo-hosting sites that I have signed up to and, despite their popularity `fame?´ have frustrated the heck out of me. Flickr - couldn´t find where to embed; Picasa - despite being as much part of Google as is this Blogger, will NOT give me the full or correct embed code to post slideshows onto my blog.
So I spent the whole evening trying various others and, after much disappointment and frustration, have come across one that really integrates with blogging / websites /emails etc.
With our own bike in Canada, we tend to suffer withdrawal symptoms and look wistfully on others riding. Thankfully, we have been adopted by the local Moto Guzzi club. They took us down to Maspalomas a few weeks ago to check out some beautifully restored classic bikes and some new bikes too - a local group meeting up for a Sunday ride.
There are many possible`what if?´ situations but one of them, we can do something about; what if we get a puncture?
In 2007, with this particular `what if´ in mind, we bought an emergency aerosol tyre inflation kit. Some sort of stuff in a can that contained a kind of green slime (turned out it was actually for use on dirt bikes) and little syphon bombs to inflate the tyre.
But on our first day out on the 2008 trip, one of the bolts holding the soft panniers on worked its way out and the bag fell down onto the red hot exhaust. This was despite the Loctite used on all the screws and bolts.
The first we knew about it was a big bang and a load of smoke at the back of the bike. We thought we had blown a tyre. But the bang was caused by our emergency tyre inflation gloop and the Sterno cans for the camping stove exploding with the heat! What a mess that was! So we have explored other solutions and this year, we have bought a decent puncture repair kit and this is how it works:
