Just Ride.

Should this ride thread be just a.... well, thread? Or should there be a dedicated Forum topic?

  • Yes, it's own topic in the Forums

    Votes: 19 90.5%
  • Nah... threads good enough.

    Votes: 2 9.5%

  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
Yesterday, I spent a little quality garage time tuning up my ‘77. I had already reinstalled my freshly cleaned carburetors, so I went through the carburetor ritual, synced and balanced and set the air screws and idle.
This morning I gave it a quick clean up and pushed it outside to go for a ride. 65 degrees and sunny this morning.
I rode South along the edge of farm fields,
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I swung through the mountain foothills community of Verrado and had a gourmet Mexican lunch on the windy patio of Taco Bell. :laugh2: Then I continued on to the town of Buckeye, filled up with gas, and then took a long looping ride home. 80 miles round trip and my bike is running like a top! Had a great day out. :)
 
How 'bout some ride videos?

Got lost in the deep/dark labyrinth of action cams and microphones.

Been obsessed about getting decent quality ride videos, with sound that replicates what I actually hear while riding. This project is absolutely littered with land mines, technical problems abound.

Started with an old smartphone, mounted on the handlebars. Purposely wanting to capture both scenery and speedo.

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Image stabilization not good enuff (jitter/jello), wind noise, capturing wrong sounds.

Acquired a new action cam, with better 6-axis image stabilization, and provision for external microphone. It produces stunning HD video, stabilized 1920x1080p 60fps.

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Nightmare scenario, these action cams don't disconnect their internal microphone, injecting noise with the external mic. Brain surgery to get in there and fix that. Then find that these things don't process audio signals the same as normal stuff, so had to design no less than 2-dozen various microphone and interface circuits, just to start getting decent sound capture. (*gasp*)

This latest mic is a specialty kick/bass dynamic cartridge, sound-packed in a metal tube with an experimental lop-sided 2-stage butterworth filter interface. Mounted just below the rear turn signal.

20211119_DynamicMic.jpg

The sound is getting close to accurate.

The catch: At least 80% of the sound energy is in the region below 200hz, and will sound like crap on tiny/cheap smartphone, tablet, laptop speakers and ear/headphones. Fortunately, there's a good 20-200hz bass sound test on YouTube.


My stoopidphone, tablet, and laptop speakers are dead-silent until about 150hz. I have a pair of Samsung wired earbuds, a bit better, start producing sound around 70hz. My supposedly "bass-enhanced" bluetooth earbuds are dead-silent until 50hz.

Found the Walmart branded "Groove ONN" bluetooth earbuds work well, sound starting around 20hz, giving a more realistic sound of the beast.

Fully committed, bought the Skullcandy "Crusher EVO" bluetooth over-the-ears headset.
*There* it is. This headset delivers deep bass, starting just below 20hz. The ride videos are now starting to sound more like what I actually hear on the rides.

So, here's a couple of remote ranch road rides, part of the run to one of my favorite BBQ joints. These vids were uploaded in the original Hi-Def 1920x1080p 60fps format, and will need a good network connection to get this resolution. Otherwise, like in my primitive world out here, YouTube will degrade the images. They come to me at 360p, unless I go to town and latch onto a good WiFi network. Fortunately, the audio doesn't get degraded.


 
How 'bout some ride videos?

Hey Steve! Good to see you around here again! Your Victory seems like such a great bike, you absolutely nailed the sound capture with that microphone set up, boy your bike is soooo relaxed. I happened to notice either a deer or an antelope ( do you have those there? ) running away from you in the first video.
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Testing the audio and stabilization during hard acceleration.
Got some distortion, more work...

2M: “Uh Houston I seem to be picking up some audio distortion”

Houston: Roger that Steve, umm…you are aware you’re traveling at 115 mph right? “
:laugh2:
Great stuff Steve, I especially like the camera angle that shows the speedometer to the side. :thumbsup:
 
I’m posting this here, just because I thought the video was so mesmerizing to watch. Forget the bike , it’s irrelevant,
fast forward through the video until you see him riding around in town, he uses something called an invisible selfie stick to hold the camera away from him and then somehow it digitally erases the stick from view. You then get an image that looks as though he’s being filmed by a third party. It’s pretty amazing and there are links in the video to all the equipment used.
 
I’m posting this here, just because I thought the video was so mesmerizing to watch. Forget the bike , it’s irrelevant,
fast forward through the video until you see him riding around in town, he uses something called an invisible selfie stick to hold the camera away from him and then somehow it digitally erases the stick from view. You then get an image that looks as though he’s being filmed by a third party. It’s pretty amazing and there are links in the video to all the equipment used.
Here's a good explanation on how it works. Cool stuff!!

 
Wow, what a deserted road system. You met two vehicles up to the two-lane and the trip was mesmerizing. You should try that test at night!
'TT'
@Tinker Taylor, I have much or maybe most of my riding experience in your territory. The roads here in Mississippi aren't as exciting as East Tenn, it is a lot like what is portrayed by @TwoManyXS1Bs. I have no traffic to contend with here. Empty back roads are great for my mental health.
 
@Tinker Taylor, I have much or maybe most of my riding experience in your territory. The roads here in Mississippi aren't as exciting as East Tenn, it is a lot like what is portrayed by @TwoManyXS1Bs. I have no traffic to contend with here. Empty back roads are great for my mental health.
This is not the place to sightsee for sure. Everyone is in a hurry, and God forbid you slow down to read a sign more than three words. I have been thinking of the Tiftonia to Cloud Canyon day trip, but I live near Signal Mtn and to get past Lookout puts me in the heart of congestion. :woowoo:
 
"Euro" bars on virago risers (1" up 1" back) quite comfortable for the tall guy. Colorado siligrips keep the hands from going numb.
V-star mirrors.
I like the risers, are they direct bolt on? I see some on E Bay for $18-$40 or so. Any year that doesn;t fit? V Star mirrors? Do the work well? What I mean is do you get a rear view or an arm view?
 
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Carburetors seem happy after I finally quit making blind adjustments. I took the time to follow the correct procedure and it’s much happier now. ( Funny how that works ain’t it?) :laugh2:
I am in the "setting the carbs" mode now with my "new to me XS650". Please point me to the Tech Section thread that will give me the best guidance.
 
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