All That For This?

[PaulG]

So after my killer deal on some new Ion Air Pro cameras I was itching to try out some new perspectives.  Last weeks BBQ/Ride was cancelled, and though I was determined to go on a day tour alone if needs be, I wake up with a pinched nerve in my neck.     So That weekend was spent doing absolutely nothing.

Later on I managed to rig up a rear foot bracket mount by recycling some of my threaded rod used to extract the engine mounts earlier in the spring.




I also attached a suction cup mount to the windscreen to test it out.  I initially checked it out with a quick trip around the 'burbs.  Unfortuneately the vibes mad the image really warbly - like trying to watch the screen through a fish tank.  So I tried putting a piece of foam into the linkage to see if that would help.



Well it didn't work worth shit on the test run.  I also thought of mounting the camera on the left mirror stalk facing backwards.  But on the trip out I could see the camera shaking like a paint mixer at the hardware store.    With the stock mirrors this works fine, but these Emgo CBR/VFR ones have a rubber aero cover. plus I mounted the mirrors with a thin foam pad to reduce vibration.  That seems to work great for the mirror reflection, but allows for some flex in the stalk.  Add the wind, etc. and I didn't even bother filming with it.

So I took it off and mounted the camera backwards on the helmet mount.  There would be no vibrations there for sure.  And there wasn't.  Except the ball mount bottomed out before the proper angle could be achieved, so the view consisted of about 95% sky and trees. 

So cross my fingers. the only view left was from the "foot cam".  This turned out fairly good, so I was able to initially able to make a short 11 min video of Kushog Lake Road in the Haliburton Region of Ontario.

This is what it looks like in the fall of 2012 when fellow member akinc (Andrew) and I made a day trip.






The overall route follows my similar pattern to escape north-east.  But this time I deviated to try and save some time by going east on the 401 to try out the new 412 short link going north and hook up with Lakeridge Road.  Of course did I remember it was the Friday of a Holiday weekend?     Absolutely not, because I'm working the Sat-Mon night so I paid no attention.  That cost me about 20 min sitting in traffic smelling the aromas emanating from an overheating bike.  The two dots on the large map near Carnarvon is the portion that I videoed.



Realizing I was probably in for some more cottage-country traffic related delays, even with taking mostly sideroads up, I had to call up that thing called self-discipline that I'm usually not very good at.    The traffic was one worry, but then there was also the usual increased police presence on the road to be wary of.  These weekends are a major haul for their coffers and you usually won't catch a break if caught speeding.

So after 2 1/2 hrs I finally made it to the jumping off point:



It's not a fast road due to narrowness, and blind nature.  I don't think I exceeded 80 km/hr.  Think of it like an old wooden rollercoaster.  Not fast - but exciting - because it's a wooden rollercoater!  I also stuck to short shifting and torque. I wanted to keep the revs and noise down so as not to disturb the fortunate ones who have cottages or homes up here.  If allowed to, the Hindle pipes I have can let out a good roar and I didn't want to be chased down by irate soccer moms in their Sienna vans.  The view is from the "boot cam".

Seven hours on the road for 11 minutes of video.  Hence the posts title...


Kushog Lake Road


I have reviewed some other video from the day, From Dwight to Baysvilee and the boot cam is the only view good enough.  Undecided yet to compile another one, but if I do it will be here within another week or so.

Enjoy (hopefully)     I'm off for a nap then to work.   

[FJmonkey]

Good post, way better than my ride last week.... Cuz I did not get a ride in last week, or the week before. And not likely this weekend either. So I will watch it again and lean side to side and make engine noises. Thanks.

[Urban_Legend]

Great story.

Here is some more riding action for you,  Monkey.  I is the last video I can post for a while,  as my camera is now lost to the great road gods. My cheap ebay mount broke on a ride two weeks ago and I could not find it.

https://youtu.be/aGGcMfq6PVA

Mark

[Bones]

That's why I throw a lanyard around mine Mark, the mounts are normally pretty good but just to be on the safe side. The GoPros are too expensive to lose.

[fj1289]

I like that rear foot peg mount - good video from it too!

[FJmonkey]

Crap!!! I am on the wrong side of the road... Really nice looking road, still on the wrong side, gotta get over before I bug splat into a truck. Nice and green, healthy looking country side. Did that truck just run past on the other side of the road???  Where am I? I must be enjoying the land we call "Down Under".

Thanks.

[Firehawk068]

Cool Video View Paul.........

At the very least, you are out figuring what works, and what doesn't as far as camera mounting goes.......................
I like the left-foot view.
Nice road! I like little rollercoaster roads like that. 

[Charlie-brm]

I would hang on to the last sequence of rolling to a stop and putting your foot down. It would make a good closing to a future video.

No scratches to the lens when mounted that low to the road?

[PaulG]

No scratches to the lens when mounted that low to the road?

Nope - not yet.  That was my first tryout with that mount.  I left the camera mounted on it for the whole ~600km and not a scratch.  Now that you mention it, I'll have to remember that the next time I go down a gravel road  .  Or if it starts raining.  The camera is waterproof but the road spray would probably ruin the lens.  I think I can still get a plexi case for them - they had them for other models which weren't waterproof.  Maybe that would cut off the wind noise enough to actually hear something.  That's why I'm always dubbing music overtop.

The lens on the Ion camera is supposed to be replaceable.  I've never priced one, and I probably should have bought another 1/2 dozen cameras anyhow at the price I was getting them for. 

But then it would start looking like a Dalek.

[PaulG]

I have reviewed some other video from the day, from Dwight to Baysville and the boot cam is the only view good enough.  Undecided yet to compile another one, but if I do it will be here within another week or so.

So I guess I'll let the cinephiles out there decide whether another boot cam was worth it or not.  South Portage Road looked a good candidate on the map.  It was smoother and actually wide enough for a centre line, and had some squiggly bits.  It may not look it, but there was a fair concentration of cottages along here, so prudence was the order for the rest of the ride.

It was nice, but.....  It's like comparing Godfather III to #'s I & II.  Okay on it's own, but a bit deflating compared to previous ones.  So I guess that means the quest for the Grrrraaaiiillll continues.

Near the end of the road I pulled over to adjust the camera with the suction mount on the windshield.  It was vibrating like one of those Pocket Rockets I've seen in some "movies".     That explains the aquarium look to the image.  So I've been thinking the last few days about how to absorb the vibes.  Some R&D into a homemade vibrinator system is in order.

On the way home I chose the "back" route south down the east side of Lake Simcoe.  Highway 400 is the usual major N/S route on the west side but it's usually a +100km traffic jam on holiday weekends, (plus construction where it joins the 401 in Toronto) and it only takes one accident to plug up both directions - which is unusually common.  I hadn't been down this route in a while and never on a holiday weekend.  Highway 12 is only two lanes wide going through some small villages.  Luckily since I was going south, there was minimal traffic.  But going north, I had never seen traffic like this.  It was a 60km conga line due to the occassional stop light - oh, and the multi vehicle accident at one of these intersections with a light.

One had to be wary of people pulling out and making U-turns to get out of the jam.  I made great time too, exactly 2hrs from Gravenhurst.  I don't think I've ever got back that soon from that location.  Something to remember for the future.

I also found out that two of my previous videos have been muted by YouTube due to copyright.  I learned to make up a soundtrack vid and load that first - only takes a few minutes - and leave that up for a while to make sure there are no issues, before deleting it and loading the whole video.  That usually works, but then a few months or even a year later it might get muted.   This has happened to two or three previously.

So if you have seen any of them and theres no sound, that's why.  I have pulled them down before and re-edited them with other music, and they're ok, only to realize that the link is different.  So an old link on my previous posts may not work, but I think I figgered a way around that to keep the original link.

Or you could torture yourself by looking at my YouTube page

Paul G

'Til the nex one.   

[Mike Ramos]

Re: Video

The lower, left side rear mount works well.

Here is an older video that may still be of interest - from far Northern California.

https://youtu.be/z8MRTZOjJFA

Ride safe.