There’s a new heads-up display being launched for motorcyclists by a British firm www.bike-hud.com, which I think people will be interested in. It’ll be at the bike show at the NEC at the end of November.
It has three modes: track day, touring and commuting - each tailored for that kind of riding.
Would love to get some feedback from the LB community - I’ve got a line in to the engineering team and can feedback directly to them (disclosure: I work for the Bike HUD guys).
If I may fly the flag a bit, I think it’s great that the whole thing is designed and built in the UK too
What nivag said… needs to be smaller to make it working on the road.The biggest market is going to be the commuter I guess. You say:
Never worry about leaving your indicators on again or making sure you are in the right gear for pulling away at a junction, Bike HUD clearly shows you speed, engine revs, turn indicators, gear selector and time.
Bike HUD makes riding safer because it lets you spend more time looking up and being aware of the riding environment and less time checking your instruments.
That is not reason enough really to have something like that in your helmet… it looks like it’s obstructing the 360 view. Personally I rarely find engine revs, indicator or gear selector an issue. As you ride you learn not to really look at these things and just feel the engine. It feels like overengineering to me…
For touring, you’re likely to have a satnav anyway so that will show you where the next petrol stop is… not going to be constantly looking down at that and it’s not that difficult to do it.
For me the best application of a display like this would be to have like cars have in the dash the next instruction i.e. Turn left at 650 yards, XYZ road
Awesome, thanks for the feedback so far folks. Looking forward to hearing what others think too.
Some features will be more useful to riders than others, hence the three modes - for example, we’ve got BSB racers and track day folks who really like the track day mode.
On the visibility side, we’ve got some more graphics/video in the works that shows this more clearly, but it doesn’t actually obstruct your vision…the easiest way for me to describe it is if you put your fist on your cheek just below your cheekbone, you can sort of see the tops of your knuckles - that’s the amount of ‘obstruction’ to your viewing that you get (i.e. marginal) - ymmv of course.
One of the key goals is to make riding safer - in normal riding you ‘notice’ the colour change of the speedo in the periphery of your vision, so you’re always aware what your speed is while your view of the road etc. is unobstructed (you can of course look at the display, which has focal length set to near infinity).
Pricing-wise it will be less than £400 (significantly less we expect, though we haven’t announced final numbers yet) - and the team is really confident people will like it, there will be a 28-day no-quibble money back guarantee, if you try it and don’t like it, send it back. Plus, new software updates will be free for life and there will be a buy-back scheme for when (eventually) new Bike HUD v2 comes out.
If you like the idea, do sign up on the site (www.bike-hud.com) you could blag a free one and if you’re coming to the bike show at the NEC, come and try one out. Let me know if you’re coming and I’ll make sure someone takes care of you on the stand.
On the bashing side of things, we’re working with TRL - the guys who do the SHARP testing for helmets.
For track days, here’s some of the info you get:
Gearrevslap timeare you faster/slower on this lap than last lap?are you faster/slower on this sector of the track compared to last lap?coundown: how much time have you got left in your session
Plus: download your performance and analyse it offline after your day
Hope that helps - if there’s more/less you think it needs, please shout as I can feed that into the dev team.
I haven’t managed to get onto a track yet… So don’t quote me…
But as already mentioned. Revs/gears/engine noises become part of you once your used to riding… You never actually look at them, its just something else that could malfunction/distract you…
Out of curiosity… How are they powered?
I can see it might be useful when travelling at speed/on track due to the increased distanced travelled/time.
As Serrisan and Daws says, gears, revs, indicators etc are all second nature.
Current speed when passing speed cameras - handy.
GPS/sat nav would also be handy.
View doesnt seem obstructive to me.
Is it interchangeable between bikes/helmets?
Needs to be cheap!
(Low fuel warning would be useful for me. I spend more time looking at that, than anything else!)
Otherwise - nice.
The unit is powered from the bike - there’s a control computer (size of an iphone or so) that sits under your seat. You can consolidate all the wires for your satnav, mp3 etc. and get the audio via Bike HUD.
Went for wired rather than wireless to keep the weight in the helmet down (safety) and also to ensure that people riding all day can use it without having to remember to charge it up. The control computer itself has wireless capabilities built in so can link to other kit.
There are spare sensor ports on the computer too, so in future, you’ll be able to hook up to whatever you fancy - oil warning, fuel gauge etc.
Interchangeable between bikes/helmets - yes and no. Because the computer goes in your bike (something like 5 wires to attach), you probably want to have one of those per bike. The in-helmet display can be moved between helmets in a minute or two. If you have two setups on bikes, the in-helmet bit ‘remembers’ your settings so they work with the second bike automagically.
Finally, a little request if I may - if you think it is interesting, please mention it to other bikers you know. Bike Systems is a small British startup stealing a march on the rest of the world and every time someone mentions Bike HUD it really helps. Thanks.
“The in-helmet display can be moved between helmets in a minute or two. If you have two setups on bikes, the in-helmet bit ‘remembers’ your settings so they work with the second bike automagically”
Thats neat. Again, depends on cost of having several bike based hubs though.
I think the principle idea of this unit is very good and as a first release of this as a platform it looks impressive, however, I’d need to see a much more detailed navigation layout before I parted with a few hundred pounds. the rest of the info is the kind of stuff that would make me buy your sat nav unit instead of anyone elses, but otherwise it wouldn’t be a draw for me on its own. I have it all on my dash after all, and looking down is not a £400 inconvenience.
And that mount had better be good, because if it flaps about or that image wobbles it will find itself in the gutter.
As people are feeling cuts in many areas I really can’t see the warrant of £400 price tag. I wouldn’t pay it for something that I deem as not being essential but more a luxury.
In regards to not looking down it just reminds me of a hands free kit. If your not concentrating on the road it’s near the same. At least with my instrument panel I have to physically look down however, with this it is constantly there so could be even more of a distraction.
I’ve followed this thread quietly for a day or so… And I have to commend the guys for building this. On a daily basis I use an iBike Rider V2, to play my music handle my phone calls and even for sat nav from my phone. On track I use a Qstarz Gps unit and software to analyse my riding, including things like gear, speed, line etc. I’ve also worked a bit with the Leanometer guys on their product.
I’m a software designer by trade, and I’ve designed in car systems for Aston Martin, porsche and Ferrari, so I know I’m probably a bit over geeky about this stuff, but I do thnk there is space in the bike market for something like this.
Ok I completely accept that you learn your gears, rev etc. and that looking at your dashboard isn’t that hard. But actually, annoy info you can get is potentially useful in both road and track situations. I think this system has some merits, such as the fact it can be moved between helmets, and the fact it can give you data. There are a few pitfalls, size and obstructiveness namely, but it’s a brave step.
So how about we think about this in a constructive way and help the guys out here. Consider this user feedback forum:
What would be useful to you as a rider in a heads up display?
I’ve followed this thread quietly for a day or so… And I have to commend the guys for building this. On a daily basis I use an iBike Rider V2, to play my music handle my phone calls and even for sat nav from my phone. On track I use a Qstarz Gps unit and software to analyse my riding, including things like gear, speed, line etc. I’ve also worked a bit with the Leanometer guys on their product.
I’m a software designer by trade, and I’ve designed in car systems for Aston Martin, porsche and Ferrari, so I know I’m probably a bit over geeky about this stuff, but I do thnk there is space in the bike market for something like this.
Ok I completely accept that you learn your gears, rev etc. and that looking at your dashboard isn’t that hard. But actually, annoy info you can get is potentially useful in both road and track situations. I think this system has some merits, such as the fact it can be moved between helmets, and the fact it can give you data. There are a few pitfalls, size and obstructiveness namely, but it’s a brave step.
So how about we think about this in a constructive way and help the guys out here. Consider this user feedback forum:
What would be useful to you as a rider in a heads up display?
Thanks Ben, it’s good to get some encouragement that said, we’re really keen to hear what people think (+ and -). Really keen to hear what people think.
You can actually choose what appears on the display - don’t want gears on there? Just switch it off. Prefer green rather than white when your speed is under 30mph? You can change that too.
The obstruction thing, we’ll it really doesn’t, but I totally understand how that might be hard to believe just by looking at pictures of it - we’ve got some people on camera talking about this issue which will be on the bike hud site soon.
In fact, we’re so confident that once you’ve given it a go you will love it, there’s going to be a no-quibble 28-day money back guarantee :w00t:
I think you could be onto something in the longer term and good luck with the venture.
Riding in town I have on occasion glanced down at my clocks to check my speed and looked up only to find I’m rapidly approaching the rear end of stationary traffic/ a pothole/ a u-turning taxi and I have thought wouldn’t it be good to have a heads-up display.
I think some others have hit the nail on the head with their feedback.
I can understand why you would target a premium market for the track version but why not have a base model if you want to get your message out there? £400 will only be affordable for a few.
A sub-£100 model just showing speed (set-able to go red if you exceed the limit) I reckon would sell. Not so sure about the benefit of seeing the indicators…it’s usually other peoples indicators (or lack of) you have to worry about.
As said, if you could do a budget model with speed and a link to a satnav with direction arrows as you approached a junction IMO you would be onto a winner.
