BikeHUD 2.0 Kickstarter - Skully for the rest of us?

[ilikefood]

1/. Statistically you're most likely to get knocked off or involved in a collision in urban area's - Those areas are also the more common areas of speed control - be those by camera's or police-manned radar. hmmmm now lets think this one through..... So in those area's you need to keep your wits about you AND monitor your speed more? If you don't have a HUD that means frequently looking down.

Just to play a bit of a devil's advocate: Sure, in urban areas you need to keep your wits about you because there is more traffic. But if there is traffic you don't really need to monitor your speed, because then you're just going at the speed of traffic. And if the road is clear so you're not following anyone, a quick glance at the speedometer isn't a problem. Accommodation isn't much of an issue either - the speedometer is pretty far away from your eyes. We're not talking about viewing something close up; a speedometer isn't tiny print on a restaurant menu in the dark. And most speedometers these days are digital and have large numbers.

If I'm riding a bit fast, I think it's better to pay more attention to what's going on around me, look far ahead, and keep an eye out for cops, than to monitor speed obsessively.

There are probably some good applications for HUDs on motorcycles, but I don't think speed and gear position are it. More interesting and relevant application might be, for example, a visual warning from a radar/laser detector, showing you where the radar/laser is located (like Valentine One). Or a proximity alert, warning you when there is a vehicle approaching from behind with a high speed differential (like a rear-end collision warning at stop lights). Or a rear-view camera. There are also plenty of potential track uses, like a shift light. Or time to the rider in front of you. Or your last lap time. Or fun stuff like 0-60 times, lean angle, etc.

Anyway, there is a lot of cool and useful stuff you could do with HUD, but showing speed isn't cool or useful.

 

[Lunch Box]

Just to play a bit of a devil's advocate: Sure, in urban areas you need to keep your wits about you because there is more traffic. But if there is traffic you don't really need to monitor your speed, because then you're just going at the speed of traffic. And if the road is clear so you're not following anyone, a quick glance at the speedometer isn't a problem. Accommodation isn't much of an issue either - the speedometer is pretty far away from your eyes. We're not talking about viewing something close up; a speedometer isn't tiny print on a restaurant menu in the dark. And most speedometers these days are digital and have large numbers.

If I'm riding a bit fast, I think it's better to pay more attention to what's going on around me, look far ahead, and keep an eye out for cops, than to monitor speed obsessively.

There are probably some good applications for HUDs on motorcycles, but I don't think speed and gear position are it. More interesting and relevant application might be, for example, a visual warning from a radar/laser detector, showing you where the radar/laser is located (like Valentine One). Or a proximity alert, warning you when there is a vehicle approaching from behind with a high speed differential (like a rear-end collision warning at stop lights). Or a rear-view camera. There are also plenty of potential track uses, like a shift light. Or time to the rider in front of you. Or your last lap time. Or fun stuff like 0-60 times, lean angle, etc.

Anyway, there is a lot of cool and useful stuff you could do with HUD, but showing speed isn't cool or useful.

I agree with much of the above post. I don't see the point of lean angle, as when I am deep in a corner at max lean, the last thing I need is to be tempted to look at my lean angle. Kind of like how I used to tape over the speedo and have "GO FASTER!" written on the tape back in my racing days. I figured that if I had time to look at my speed, then I should be going faster. :laughing

 

[frozenuts]

These guys were out at the LiveWire demo rides.

Not sure how they compare heads up to heads up.

I would love to do a review on each.