Clutch hose upgrade and Innovv K3 Dual camera dashcam

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Venhill Powerhose Plus stainless steel clutch Job 1

I managed to get a couple more Capo jobs out of the way recently. Firstly, replacing the clutch line for a nice new Venhill version to match the shiny ones on the front brakes. The hose required uses:

  • 1x 90º Banjo
  • 1x 45º Banjo
  • 1x Venhill Powerhose Plus hydraulic line – 1125mm

It fitted perfectly, and while I was changing the line I also changed the banjo bolts and bleed screw for matching stainless steel units to complete the look. I have to admit, these are not cheap lines …. but I love the fit and flexibility with interchangeable ends. So for that I’m willing to overlook the extra hit on the wallet!

Job 2

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Innovv K3 Dual HD camera systemSecondly, I bit the bullet on an Innovv K3 dual camera system. As some may remember, I’ve previously tried the original K1 and the much improved K2. Unfortunately, the K1 DVR unit died after 12 months and the K2 turned itself into a brick with a failed firmware update. To be fair to the K2, it was leagues ahead of the K1 and (when it worked) was a truly fit-and-forget system. What went wrong I have no idea, I followed the update process to the letter and even had a few email exchanges with Rock Liu from Innovv, but they dried up when it looked like the unit was unrecoverable. I was lucky enough that the K1 and K2 had been supplied FOC, so nothing lost. This time however, it’s my own outlay. It’ll either be ‘third time lucky’ or ‘a fool and his money are soon parted’!

Certainly my first impressions on opening the box are:

  • Slightly smaller DVR with no buttons
  • Nice moulded waterproof connectors
  • Comprehensive fitting kit with stainless fasteners and anodised aluminium brackets instead of plastic/steel
  • Cameras physically identical to the K2 units but with different internals
  • Addition of an external microphone
  • Waterproof remote button for saving files and taking photographs as well as LED’s showing recording/GPS/WiFi status

Looking through the technical specification, it looks like the main upgrades over the K2 are:

  • Dual core processor for better image processing
  • Different camera internals ( Sony IMX291 LQR sensor)

Installation was of course, very similar to the K2. The power module connects directly to the battery positive and negative terminals and the yellow trigger wire went to the loom I still had in place that tapped into the rear lights/brake lights. As soon as the side/head lights are turned on there is a 10 second delay before the unit begins recording and when switched off, a 25 second delay before powering down the unit. The front camera comes with a 2m lead which is fine, but the rear has a 1.5m lead which for the Capo is way overkill. I only needed about 0.4m and hiding the rest away was a real pain.

To install the cameras I used two 15mm rubber lined stainless steel ‘P’ clips – the front one on the Aprilia headlight guard and the rear on the pannier frame. The included mounting kit parts fitted to these clamps just fine and it only took a couple of minutes to get a nice neat install and great picture being recorded! Oh but one bit of advice ….. the supplied screws don’t use any washers, so once happy with the install, I went back and put a dab of thread-lock on all the screws just to be safe.

 

INNOVV Power Hub 1 arrives

A huge thank-you to those that have donated toward the upkeep of this website, it is much appreciated!

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid INNOVV K1 camera cable support

A couple of parts finally arrived yesterday, having had an extended holiday in Milan courtesy of customs. These have been kindly provided for review by Rock Liu at INNOVV. The first is the Power Hub 1 and the second is a bracket to help support the four cables that go into the K1 camera system.  The delivery is well-timed actually ….. we’re about to get a good old dose of crap weather, so it’ll be an ideal time to fit the hub and write a review of it and the K1 camera system.

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid INNOVV Power Hub 1

Meanwhile I’m off to the 51° FIERA DEL RADIOAMATORE DI PESCARA (Amateur Radio 2 day event) sporting my nice new Italian callsign – IU6HXL – lets hope I can bag a bargain or two!

Innovv K1 motorcycle ‘dashcam’ system … and a little soap-box time!

bike-close-up1Twitter, Facebook, emails, texts … it’s a fact that the modern driver is ever more distracted and as a consequence, the one thing I hate most – rear end collisions, are on the increase. It’s the one direction I have little or no influence over what the driver is doing. The last incident I was unfortunate to be involved in dates back to July 2005. Sat minding my own business at a roundabout waiting for a gap, when in a heartbeat the day turned to s**t. White-van-man ran into the back of me …… Ripping off the panniers and exhaust of my lovely Triumph Trophy 1200, while at the same time bending the subframe and ruining the body work as it slid along the road. The drivers opening words were: “I didn’t think you were there”.

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Sony Video WalkmanThankfully he never contested that he was to blame and the insurance paid out pretty quickly. But it could so easily have gone the other way. None of the vehicles in the immediate vicinity stopped – they had a good gawp, then trotted on. If he’d argued that I’d cut him up or some other sob story, I’d have been hard pressed to prove otherwise and the case would have dragged on for ages. This is of course one reason why cameras make mighty useful tools for our defence!

In reality I’ve been using cameras on bikes for about 13 years now ….. First a 640*480 bullet camera feeding into a Sony Video Walkman (digital tape). Nowadays I use the GoPro 3+ I bought a few years ago, but it’s really not suited to the roll of ‘dashcam’ and of course, running two (forward/rear) is an expensive hobby! So I was interest to read recently about the Innovv K1 system.

inovvThe Innovv K1 uses dual cameras (1920*1080 full HD) that feed into a single recording unit and it is designed to be a permanent installation on the bike. Both cameras are recorded in full frame and can be played back as such or as ‘picture-in-picture’ on the recording unit built in screen. It also has a GPS unit that can overlay information onto the footage if you want. What I particularly like is that the cameras are fairly discreet and can be mounted out of the way of prying eyes and fiddly fingers. It has many more features that I’ll not go into here, but are well worth checking out on the Innovv website. Oh and the price is damn good when compared to many single-camera systems.

I really like the idea of an almost fit-n-forget system that starts and stops at the turn of the ignition key. Other than keeping the lenses clean I should be able to go about my daily business, smug in the knowledge that should something untoward happen, the Innovv K1 will have probably captured it and (if it detects excessive g) will have locked the video file to prevent deletion.

duc_instruments

Of course common sense says that if vehicle manufacturers reduced the number of eye-candy gadgets and driver training were improved then the number of distracted idiots might reduce and I wouldn’t have to worry so much ….. but that’s not going to happen any time soon. Unfortunately the same is now happening with bikes, just look at the latest offerings. Colour LCD dashboards with more information, entertainment and interconnectivity than you can shake a very long stick at.

Above is a classic example of the latest sort of offering, also can anybody reasonably explain to me the obsession about knowing which gear you’re in and why it has to dominate the dashboard! It also appears that ‘neutral’ is so important to Ducati they show it you twice…… WTF! 😯

Easy RiderNo siree Bob, none of this information overload for me thank you very much. I’m going to fire up the Capo, fiddle with the GPS for a minute, turn on the GoPro from the wireless remote, plug into the Autocom, kickstart the music and make sure the phone has Bluetoothed itself to the GPS/Autocom just in case someone phones,  then I’m all set to ride around the corner for a nice loaf of bread ……….

……… The new breed of riders just don’t have a clue how simple life is with older bikes! 😉