Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Motorcycle TFT Dash Tech. Is it good or Bad?

A recent post from Warren at Motorcycle Paradise found here (wow that was back in may last year) inspired me to write this post where he stated his next bike will have a carplay/android compatible dash. I thought I'd elaborate on my own experiences.

My 2020 Africa Twin comes with a Touchscreen TFT dash which is Apple carplay and android auto compatible, just connect your phone via cable. Honda appear a little behind here as Ducati have wireless /bluetooth connection built in and you don't need a cable. But my bike is now 5 years old and tech advances at a quick pace.


When connected on the Africa Twin there is one button press with your left index finger to change between the main speedo screen and the android auto app screen or maps.

Main Screen


Android Apps screen

The first year trying to use it was an absolute nightmare with the screen constantly dropping out from Google maps/waze and it would flash up that you are disconnected and you cannot connect again, unless you stop the bike and press reconnect. That's absolutely ludicrous. Every time the phone loses connection to the screen you cannot reconnect unless you stop. Why? What the absolute fuck Honda? It's a simple press of the button to reconnect FFS.

I'd finally realised that the disonnections were occuring due to the cheap cable that came with my phone and purchased a better quality cable with dedicated power/comms capability. Things went much better from that point but not perfect.

Road riding after getting the new cable generally went quite well with the occasional drop out. However when riding off road I found quite a lot of drop outs. Why, not sure sometimes I think because I went out of a mobile service area. Pressing on the cable where it went into the phone caused the screen to drop out also. So I think the vibrations from riding offroad causes the screen to disconnect and then you can't connect again unless you stop, again ludicrous. Is this because the phone port and cable get vibrated loose?

Another downside is that when riding in the rain water got into the charging port on the phone and the phone shutdown, so you can't use the phone out exposed if riding in the rain.

All of these problems would be easily overcome with a wireless connection. Honda messed up with this. I decided to order an Android Auto wireless adaptor from Amazon.  Looks like I'm trying to fix a tech problem by adding more tech, yeah ironic right. It was only $50 so not much lost if it doesn't work. Perhaps if there is only 1 usb connection instead of 2 then there might be less connection dropout issues.



Mounting the wireless dongle to the bike was easy. Plug it in and stick the 3M tape down and done.


I can report that the wireless dongle works great, with no drop outs at all no matter what surface I'm riding on.. You just have to make sure that your phone is plugged into power otherwise your phone will go flat from using the gps & apps after not much over an hour, especially when using spotify. I've also noticed when using android auto if your phone battery is really low because you forgot to charge overnight running all these apps will flatten the battery even plugged in if its below 25%. If it's fully charged it will hold it at 100% all day but it doesn't seem to add charge whilst using the apps. When not using the apps it will charge the phone back to 100%.

Whilst making the video below my bro called me. I spoke to Dave on the phone via the helmet comms. I wanted to test it as I'd moved the left ear piece of my Cardo in the helmet as it was very hard to hear anything on the left side. I moved it forward and down.

Phone screen



ANDROID AUTO APPS
The best part about android auto is that it gives you the ability to add apps to your dash that doesn't come with the bike. You can purchase apps to use or just use free one's as long as they are android auto compatible. This gives you multiple apps to do similar jobs. I have Google maps, Waze, Gaia maps and Mapz.cz all loaded to my dash that I can swap out when I need them for a different purpose. This is great and something that a purchased GPS device doesn't provide. This will be the future of motorcycle dash technology within the next 5 years I think.

One other problem with the Africa Twin screen when using the maps in the middle of the day the screen isn't quite bright enough and can be difficult to see what's on the map. I think a GPS screen would be brighter.

I see now there are a few android type devices now on the market like the Chigee AIO-5, Carpuride and the DMD-T865X Nav Tab (8″) which is developed especially for motorcycle navigation. You need to have a map subscription which is 19€($32 Aus) for 12 months which is much cheaper than gaia maps. The DMD2 allows you to download maps for whatever continent you happen to be visiting so would be great for Warren at Motorcycle Paradise who travels to every continent. The Chigee looks a little on the small side for my liking the DMD2 looks good with an 8" screen but is priced fairly high. The DMD2 app doesn't support Android auto so I can't put it on my Africa Twin screen but I can use it on my phone, obviously they want you to buy their touchscreen device.

It also seems much easier to load and use gpx files on these android devices, I hear a lot of nightmare stories about garmin devices not loading gpx files. I loaded some gpx files I'd made in Gaia straight into DMD2 app and it just worked.

Spotify App screen
If using a comms headset you can quite easily connect to spotify and listen to tunes. I find this to be great when your on boring highway stretches. Its very easy to navigate and usually starts as soon as I connect my headset.




Gaia Maps screen
I like Gaia maps for adventure riding, it shows gates on tracks etc. You can easily select a gpx file, or make one on the fly. Only downside is its $90 Aus a year so you can't download the offline maps on the free app. I usually hover over the entire area the night before so that maps get loaded into cache on my phone. Yeah I'm a cheapskate but it works, unless I forget.


Waze App
I use this when traveling along highways and byways as its similar to google maps and also has public interaction to show police/speed cameras on the side of the road, it shows the speed limit where you are and your current speed, very handy.




Turning off ABS, Traction Control and Wheelie Control on Africa Twin
Another benefit of the TFT dash tech is the ability to change all the electronics settings that your bike has. You have to be stopped to do the following which isn't the best, but distraction is also bad. Rather than writing how to do it a video will explain it much simpler.


There are so many different options for changing settings within the TFT screen it is good. You can change the power modes, the screen layouts, and set even the service intervals. These are specific to the Honda TFT dash, as each bike will have its own setup settings pages.



Conclusion

Is a TFT dash worthwhile?

When the TFT dash tech is working properly it's great.  When it's not, it's a distraction nightmare that can be dangerous taking your eyes' off the road for long periods of time trying to get stuff working. Honda's implementation of it on the Africa Twin leaves a lot to be desired and needs a lot of refinements to make it more user friendly. But I think this will be the future of all motorcycle dash screens within the next 10 years.

I've decided that when it stops working to not faff around with it and not stop and fix the tech issues and just change back to the speedo screen on the dash and ride normally until some point later when I come to a stop and then figure it out. That's damn annoying an defeats the purpose of having it. It's a real love/hate relationship, love it when it's working and hate it when its not which is far to often for my liking. Things were much simpler years ago before the tech and the issues that come with it. 

I think I'd prefer a dedicated GPS on the dash that didn't drop out. Depends on where your riding is going to take you. If it's all road riding based and not likely to lose phone reception then the android auto is great. Off road with little signal not so much. You can purchase Gaia maps and download offline maps to counter this but again that's yet another subscription to the list at $90 per year or dmd2 map subscription for $32 per year. I hate subscriptions, there are so many its like death by a thousand cuts. Subscription prices alway rise after a couple of years so once you are hooked they keep pumping up the price.




Thursday, January 9, 2025

Therapy & Maintenance

After our snowy ride my bike was in dire need of some maintenance. The chain was so badly stretched it was making clanking noises on the last day and was well beyond the red zone on the adjustment and it was still loose.


The rear tyre was also cactus, with less than 1mm of tread left. I got 12,256 kms from the Motoz Rallz which was less than the Motoz Adventure and it was noisier than the Adventure also, so I went back to the Adventure tyre on the rear.

I had two weeks off at christmas so it was time to get cracking. So the day I went to do it was surprise, surprise going to be 41°C. F*ck this heat. There's always tomorrow.

So next day I picked up a new rear tyre from Tyres for Bikes at Dural and started the process of replacing the tyre and the chain & sprockets. Plus the bike needed a good wash. 


I replaced the rear Tyre and rear sprocket first and put it back into the bike and then gave it a wash. 













I was fearing the front sprocket change as I remember how hard it was on the R1, but in actual fact is was quite easy. I Jammed a screwdriver through the chain from underneath, then undid the nut. I came off quite easy. I was surprised to see that it was heavily rust stained. inside where the shaft contacts the sprocket. I put the new sprocket on with some marine grease to hopefully stop the rust. We shall see how it looks at 60,000kms. Front drive sprocket 54nm. Rear drive sprocket nuts 100nm. 


I'd bought the new DID 525 Chain and sprockets before the trip but thought it better to put them on after the trip. The chain didn't get oiled the whole trip as it was coming off anyway. I'd bought a chain breaker previously when I was at AutoOne and time to actually use it. I ground the head off the pin with a grinder The chain breaker made quick work of pushing the pin out.



I was wondering what the f*ck a x-ring chain actually is. To the naked eye the x-rings look quite like o-rings, but on closer examination you can see they are actually made in the form of an 'x' or a '+'. Probably easier to say x-ring than +ring.

Using the chain breaker to make the new link was also easy, I've not used one before so I searched the University of  Youtube for knowledge. Pretty easy really once you know how. I used the rivet link as I don't trust using the circlip link. 


This is the 4th rear tyre I've put on the bike now with 33,600km on the dial. I would have been on the 6th on the R1 by now. Hopefully I'll get another 15k from this tyre.

I must say that working on the bike was quite therapeutic, not as good as riding it but just spending time on the bike was good for my soul. A well earned beer was required during after a job well done.


Scottay & Joffrey and I went out for the last ride of 2024 just to test out the new chain and tyre. How good does the bike handle with a new tyre eh?




Cheers Everyone hope you had a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Sadly it's back to work....

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

My Favourite Photos of 2024 - A Photo Challenge

I thought I'd kick off the year with a photo challenge. Post up your top 10 motorcycling photos of 2024. They could be places you have visited, your bike at a spectacular location or anything motorcycling related. Photo must be taken by you and tell us why you like them, heck even non motorcycling photos would be fine. Post away everyone.


Here are mine - in no particular order;

1. This first photo was taken at Rnd 4 of the Australian Superbike Championship at Morgan Park, QLD. Max Stauffer during qualifying got caught out by the cooling track temperatures and had a massive crash at turn 3 where his bike flipped the fence and almost went into the crowd.



2. This next photo was taken on the Turon Gates road, I love the road snaking away down the hill with the mountains in the background.



3. This photo was taken in the Capertee Valley on the Glen Davies Road. The Capertee Valley is the second widest canyon in the world and its right on Sydney's back doorstep.


4. This next photo was taken at Rnd 2 of the Australian Superbike Championship at Sydney Motorsport park. Bryan Staring#67 during the Q2 qualifying at night under lights.



5. This next photo was taken on the Wisemans Ferry Road just north of Sydney in our Autumn. Its such a beautiful ride year round but especially in Autumn when the leaves change colour.



6. The next photo was taken at McKillops Bridge, Victoria on our last group ride in November 24. It was such a hot day and we had lunch under the shade of the tree's overlooking the Snowy River.



7. This next photo is why I like Adventure riding in Australia. There are so many great places to see away from the main roads. Exploring these with good mates is great fun.



8. This photo was taken at Sydney Motorsport Park at the St George Motorcycle Clubs Summer Night Series 4 in January. Glenn Columbines R1 was not in a good state after this incident. Glenn was ok thankfully.



9. The man, the myth, the Legend,  Joffrey. Every group needs a Joffrey in it. If for nothing else but the entertainment value alone.



10. My last photo was taken as we made it to our accomodation in Majors Creek just on dusk during one of our adventure rides that went a little pear shaped during the day.


Happy new year everyone and have fun with this photo challenge. I know I did, it took a while to whittle it down to just 10 photos. Post up yours in the comments below and put a link on your blog.