RiderSite.com - Motorcycle Forums

... Finally sorted my shit in my own inimitable fashion and am contemplating a 2250ish mile round trip on the Falco next thursday to see ma & pa in Hungary. Rode to Czech a couple of years ago on the blue thing with the front fairing held on with a coat hanger, knowing less, without any of the statutory triangle and hi-viz, clueless about local speed limits etc. on many levels, I'm better prepared, with a much better bike, but several times more nervous. Last time I used google map printouts - this time I'm trying 'skobbler' budget sat nav on the iPhone. May yet choke and look for a cheap flight lol.

I drove to Osnabruck, Germany on the directions on the back of a fag packet, absolutely no prep and had never been abroad before.

Im sure youll be fine but for Czech i'd use 2 fag packets.

I'd lend you my zumo 400 if you need a sat nav, it'd need wiring in though and you'd have to guarantee you wouldn't leave it on the bike when you went for a pee/fag/eat etc. the maps are current for the whole of europe

Gio wrote:I'd lend you my zumo 400 if you need a sat nav, it'd need wiring in though and you'd have to guarantee you wouldn't leave it on the bike when you went for a pee/fag/eat etc. the maps are current for the whole of europe

Gio - omg - only on this forum would I get an offer like that - much love your way! However, while happy to wreck my own shit (like the blue thing in Wales) I will respectfully decline the kind offer and try and sort out the iPhone - never know , could be a winner.

Tim - I will try to chill and just 'ride dammit' (the t-shirt slogan of one of kiwi-land's numerous riding groups! Lol

k1w1boy wrote:

Gio wrote:I'd lend you my zumo 400 if you need a sat nav, it'd need wiring in though and you'd have to guarantee you wouldn't leave it on the bike when you went for a pee/fag/eat etc. the maps are current for the whole of europe

Gio - omg - only on this forum would I get an offer like that - much love your way! However, while happy to wreck my own shit (like the blue thing in Wales) I will respectfully decline the kind offer and try and sort out the iPhone - never know , could be a winner.

Tim - I will try to chill and just 'ride dammit' (the t-shirt slogan of one of kiwi-land's numerous riding groups! Lol

If you do go the route of the iphone - you defiantly need to sort out an on-board charger, the batteries are not great at the best of times and using the gps kills them in a matter of a few hours.

Try looking at Waze as well for an navigation app - it is a "social network" where the data from real users on the road make up the traffic warnings and average speeds for the routes.

One thing to watch out for if you use your phone for this is the possibility of extortionate roaming data charges. You can probably avoid much of this if you download all the maps you need before you leave home .... but stand alone pnds do score well against phone-based solutions in this respect

Have they scared you enuff?

Offer stands and I see you're in greater london, it'd take about 30 mins to wire in (no not ignition barrel)

I have the fittings for a Falco as well just need to search for them.

Andy is right about the data charges for the iPhone so watch that. I generally just have a list of the main towns on the fag packet and only use anything else as a last resort. Used a PSP once with maps saved as images you could do this with the iPhone too.

Admin - maybe this belongs in a different section of the site?

...am going to be persistent with the iphone thing. Have sorted the charging with an accessory socket - less than £10 for a basic fused socket and the plug in USB bit I needed (20% discount at Hein Gericke's closing down sale). Am actually looking forward to putting it on. Could've got a socket with a switch and everything for double, but this is only an experiment at this stage. Another £10 got me a bluetooth clip (Maplins) that will take my in-ear earphones - slightly worried about how long their battery will last, but if worst comes to worst, I'll always be able to go a few hours disconnected from the charger, with my headphones directly into the phone.

Most expensive thing to sort will be a reliable, waterproof case/mount. I did try putting the thing in my tank bag map pocket, but it was too dangerous to glance down at. Playing with the sat nav app (Skobbler's 'sat nav 2') today I reckon I can get by with just the audio instructions however. The maps for all of 'Europe' only cost £5, so I should be able to navigate data-free! If this is the case, I could just chuck the thing in a plastic bag under the back seat!

Andy - I did look at Waze - but the distinguishing features of it do depend on data.

ill move it for you..

This will relate more to Kwackerz, an unnamed soldier was in Germany and told his wife to drive over from UK, and follow the signs saying AUSFAHRT as soon as she hit the German border. Suffice to say, 7 hours later she was near Frankfurt screaming blue murder at him in Münster

Tis true too!

My other half tells about when they were oin exercises and the orficer turned up late - he'd been trying to find some place called UMLEITUNG (not sure of the spelling)

Yeah, that sounds about right, never done that to an officer, honest
we also told them tankstelle meant they could park up there too.

The best one was telling the officers, that if they got caught by the polizei to ask if they were geheimstdatpolizei as officers were accorded special treatment

Falconihlist wrote:Yeah, that sounds about right, never done that to an officer, honest
we also told them tankstelle meant they could park up there too.

The best one was telling the officers, that if they got caught by the polizei to ask if they were geheimstdatpolizei as officers were accorded special treatment

hahahaha you're evil, but surely its spelt geheimstdat polizei and wasn't that the East German state police?