I chose a Puig over and above the other brands available to me because I had heard many stories about build quality and how the mounting holes would often not align with the fairing holes… Unfortunately I have to say that its close but not 100% which is a bit disappointing because one side does not seem to fit totally flush. Its hard to spot though and I doubt anyone would even notice so it’ll do.

Ive a track day booked for June 28th so its a timely addition to the R6…

Lets go back to the beginning and talk about the installation. I reckon it takes longer to read and digest the instructions that it does to actually install the oiler on your bike. You need to read the instructions because there is important safety information relating to the positioning of the oil feed nozzles. If you get this wrong it all go very wrong for you so take your time and read them…

On our test bike, a 2010 Kawasaki ER-6F installation was a breeze. We opted to work from the bottom upwards by installing the twin feed nozzle just above the rear swing arm lifting points. Its a bit tight but movement tests confirmed that the nozzle was not making contact with anything so for now thats where we’ve fitted it. Using the supplied tie wraps we placed the flexible hose at the bottom of the swing arm and tied it off securely. We used more tie wraps to keep the hose in place at the bottom of the swing arm until level with the foot controls. At that point we headed north up the frame to the point where we had decided to fit the reservoir unit.

The reservoir comes with some small sponge spacers that fit between the unit and the frame to keep things level, in place and to prevent scratching. Again we used tie wraps and one minute later the unit is fixed securely in place and ready to go. At this point we popped out for a quick ride on the bike to test things. We wanted to make sure the chosen location for the reservoir and twin feed nozzle was spot on before filling up. A couple of miles later and we’re ready to fill up.

Filling is easy because the kit comes with a small plastic device that allows you to suck oil out of its container and then fill up the reservoir. We used 10/40 engine oil for this particular installation. Initially you need to open up the valve fully and watch the oil make its way down the pipe to the nozzle. It takes approx 5 minutes to complete this. All that you need to do now is set your flow rate and ride off. We’ve gone for one click on the valve for now and this provides a slow drip rate which for a new chain is just right. The beauty about going manual is that if you’re out for a short journey only you can forget about lubricating the chain. If you’re on a longer trip of the weather is bad you can turn it on and ride off.

We’re running an automatic chain oiler on another one of our bikes so it will be a good comparison using real world riding to see how these units compare.

Heres some pictures to show you what Tutoro are able to supply. Please note that when ordering you choose either a single feed or twin feed kit and then add the option of the other nozzle if you want to have both available when installing…

Weblinks:- Tutoro Website

The Nomad 18v Portable pressure washer on review here is battery powered and totally self contained. The water is housed in a removable 3.2 gallon tank. The rechargeable battery has enough go in it to empty 4 full tanks and best of all it’s totally portable so it can be used anywhere at any time thanks to it’s small footprint and super quiet pump. I reckon the noise of the water hitting the bike makes more noise than the pump. I will say now that I’m not a fan of using full power mains operated pressure washers on a bike. At full tilt they can be so strong that you end up taking off more than dirt and that’s the last thing we want to do to your bike now isn’t it. The Nomad 18v washer is just right for bike cleaning. The pressure is down a bit on mains operated washers at 98 psi but this is perfect for blasting crud and road muck off of a hard working bike.

The unit comes with a 20 foot long removable hose and a nicely sized adjustable spray gun. This allows you to set a spray or jet of water depending on the jobs requirements. Both of these parts can be neatly stored in the zipped compartment on the side of the main unit. The water tank is removable and has a filter in the top of the filler so technically it could be dipped in a pond for a refill and nothing that may damage the pump will get past the filter. Well thought out I reckon.

Down the side of the main unit is a door for the battery compartment. This holds the main battery and has a space for a spare which is available from the Nomad Direct website as an accessory.

I’m also a keen mountain biker and having one of these available to place in the boot of your car to wash the bike down before coming home is a huge benefit. Most of the crappy stuff just flies off because it’s still wet. All you need to do once home is clean off any stubborn muck and lube up the chain.

This unit is so handy to have and even if you have a mains powered washer there is still a place for one of these units in your garage. Thanks go out to Nomad Direct for supplying Fatbiker with a press unit for review.

Lets start off with a bit of info on when us bikers should clean and lubricate our bike chains. The average bike user guide probable states every 300-400 miles or even as much as once a week of you are a long distance rider and its mid winter. For me, I tend to go over the chain once every two to three weeks making sure all is good. Here is a chart showing the ups and downs of manual lubrication.

I reckon that I’m in the minority though because I see so many dry chains when wondering past the parked up machines in London on my way to work. I’m not talking about a slight lack of attention, I’m talking bone dry to the point that when said bike passes me later on in the day when its owner is taking it home for the night you can hear the chain shouting out for a drink of oil.

This is where an automated chain lubricating system comes in to play. I’ve steered away from these in the past because I did not really want to be chopping in to the pipe work around the fuel inlet side of the engine. Saying that, I did not even want to touch anything even close to the engine. I do understand things better now and do have a full tool kit so maybe my decision to snip in to a vacuum pipe would not be a problem now. When I came across the Cameleon Oiler and read its installation instructions I very quickly realised that this was the way to go. All you need to do is find a switched electrical supply and tap in to it to power the unit up and start feeding the chain with its life blood that is oil… You can then program the unit to supply your preferred amount of oil to the chain depending on your bike, riding style and riding conditions. You then sit back and leave it to do its dirty work and thats it. Maybe a monthly check to confirm all is good down below, maybe not… Thats up to you I suppose.

Lets go over what’s supplied with the Cameleon Oiler kit. You get the main unit with the reservoir pipework, power cables already connected, the flexible pipe work, lots of screws and some brackets, lots of tie wraps, some seriously sticky oil, the installation instructions and some stickers to advertise your oiler unit.

Installation is really easy, I spent as much time planning the installation as I did actually installing it. My particular bike does not have any places visible to tie wrap the unit to so I decided to hide the unit away under the riders saddle next to the battery. This isn’t really a problem having it tucked away because once setup you wont need to touch it again for a good while. I routed the reservoir pipe around the side of the rear frame inside the rear seat cowl all the way up to the top of the pillion seat making sure that the top of the pipe was sitting at the highest point possible to allow gravity to feed oil in to the oiler. For tidiness and because I’m pretty handy with a soldering iron I decided to route the wiring for the oiler along side the main loom towards the number plate light and then soldered the power cables to the socket for the plate light. This obviously comes on and off with the ignition and is perfect for the job. Cameleon do supply crimp blocks to allow you to just crimp the relevant cables in place. a quick check of the ignition confirms that there is life in the oiler…. Easy stuff… Seat cowling reinstalled and lets move on.

Moving to the other side of the oiler I then routed the flexible oil feeder pipe down the side of the frame and along the gear selector rod. The pipe was carefully cable tied in to place and was routed past the foot pegs on to the rear swing arm. At this point you now install the semi hard pipework. This pipe has a metal core to it that holds the position of the pipe in place once bent to the desired shape. I routed this pipe down the inner side of the swing arm and then clamped it in place using a couple of handy brackets that happened to be free on the under side of the swing arm. The two halves of the pipes were connected together. The semi rigid pipe was cut to length and hey presto the units installed and is ready for priming.

Its at this point where I had to just sit and go over the instructions a couple of times to make sure all was right. All you have to do is turn on the ignition, quickly press the button on the side of the oiler. At this point the unit starts flashing different colours. When you get to your preferred colour you then press and hold the button again. If you want the oiler to release oil for 5 seconds every three minutes you just hold the button down for 5 seconds and then let go. The unit quickly flashes again. You then select a different colour the previously selected colour and thats it. Sounds difficult but I can assure you its not. Switch off the ignition and then back on again and you will then see the unit display the oil light for the previously programmed time frame and that’s it, you’re ready to role.

Cameleon Oiler recommend you thoroughly clean down the chain as part of the installation to get rid of any previously installed lube oil and any crud that’s stuck to it. The initial prime takes a while to come through. I set my time to 30 seconds to help it along and went out for a quick blast. Once the end of the lube pipe was wet I wound the time back in and am currently running at 4 seconds every 3 minutes. This gives my chain a nice even coating of oil and is not flinging oil all over the place

I know this is a long review but it was worth describing the unit thoroughly to get across the ease of installation and use. The Cameleon Oiler gets a definate Fatbiker thumbs up.

Installation pics below:-

Let’s go back to the beginning. I went down to one of the London bike shows to get myself measured up for the jacket back in Feb 08. Keith, the owner of BKS was the chap I met up with. He went through the various options with me during the measurement process. I eventually settled on deer cow leather because it felt a bit softer to the touch and I liked the peterna (if that’s what its called) of this particular leather cut. I also went for one of the excellent back boards and the fleece liner for the cooler UK days.

It was a long wait but the jacket eventually arrived in mid June. Initially as predicted the jacket was a bit stiff and didn’t feel perfect when wearing it on the bike. It needed to be worn in so that the creases would fold accordingly around my special shape that is a fatbiker. After a month or so of use it eventually started to feel like it was mine. Due to the physical weight of the jacket its probably not the best jacket for wearing on a commute that involves walking or public transport like mine does. This means that the jacket is reserved for weekend or longer rideouts only. This is fine with me though because I wear a waterproof jacket when riding to work because I need to arrive dry and don’t want to be carrying a heavy leather when on the train.

Back to the jacket. I also chose optional pure white stitching. This contrasts nicely with the black leather and really makes the jacket look the part. On the arms I have a BKS reflective logo, for a bit of safety and because I’m a bit of a label tart. You would too if you had splashed out over £1k on a bespoke jacket.

A few months back I was in my local triumph dealership having a look see at the bikes when one of the staff came up to me and asked to touch my jacket. It turned out that they sold the mass produced BKS stuff that whilst good does not compare to the cut and quality of my jacket. This chap stood there groping me in public. I felt a right plonker being mauled and other people were looking at me and this chap getting off next to me. This sounds weird but he was actually that excited about touching a real one!

Moving on. As with any leather, this jacket is hot when stuck in a jam on a warm day. Not a problem though coz the zip can be operated with a gloved hand and the flap can be fastened back to allow a bit if air in.

So is this jacket worth the price tag? If you can, go for it. This jacket will last a bikers life time and some. If you are unfortunate enough to have a spill BKS will repair it for you using the exact leather cut that they used to create it. Obviously this costs but atleast you can continue to use the jacket and rely on its CE approval afterwards.

I should mention the CE approval shouldn’t I. BKS are one of the few manufacturers that can advertise the actual jacket as being CE approved besides the armour. Most jackets only sport CE approved armour. It makes you wonder how the a normal jacket would hold out in a fast slide. The seems could burst and you could still end up with a bad dose of road rash.

Checkout the BKS website for more info. They are expensive but your skin is priceless…

Fitting was a breeze because the Stelvio comes with a sturdy rack and all I needed to do was bolt down the Trax base plate and slide the box on. The job took about 15 or so minutes to do. I reckon the Stelvio looks good with it fitted… Well as best as a bike can look when it has luggage fitted….

Rear Viewshowing the two seperate locks.

Side view

View from the underside showing the base plate and lock mechanism

In the recent past I have used my fantastic rex marsee tank bag but infortunately that bag will not fit around the sculpted shape of the Stelvios petrol tank. I’ve therefore had to rethink the way I keep my phone clean, safe and dry whilst on the bike. Step in the Ram aquabox. This is a £36 water tight box that comes in various sizes and can house anything from a cheap GPS thats not waterproof to your mobile phone or anything else come to think of it. It mounts on to a standard ram ball mount. The clear plastic screen allows you to press the buttons of your chosen device without having to remove it. Ive not confirmed that my iphone will operate through the screen just yet. I’ll confirm that soon. My HTC Desire seems to work just fine using an un-gloved finger. At the back of the box is a pop out hole that allows you to feed a power cable in to the box to keep your device juiced up whilst on the move.

Enough whittling on. checkout the pics below…

The grip-lock is a is a cracking lock that clamps your throttle AND front break together thus locking up the front wheel and stopping and turds from moving your bike without the use of something a bit more serious like a metal bar or the like. When you take delivery all you have to do is pack out the lock with the supplied rubber inserts so that its just tight enough to stop the throttle twisting. You then need to adjust the black insert so that it clamps the brake lever in place. This is one of the nice things about this lock, it’ll fit on to almost any bike…

The lock is made of plastic with metal inserts running down the insides of it. The lock mechanism is made of a good quality barrel type lock. As with all locks of this type, it wont stop someone nicking your bike but it should be used in conjunction with something like a chain. If you have a steering lock on, the grip-lock and a chain holding the bike in place I reckon the turd of  thief will pick the bike next to yours… Job done… Its saved your bike from theft.

The lock comes in a few different colours. I went for the loud yellow colour so that all can see that its fitted to my bike. Another thing to note about this lock is that you cannot forget its still locked to the bike. I have done this twice with a disc lock Luckily both times nothing serious happened.

Now to the key. The size of the key is tiny. I am no locksmith so I cannot comment if this is a good or bad thing but having a short key is a massive bonus for me. It means that I can have it on the same keyring as the ignition key and it wont scratch the bike coz it cannot easily make contact with it whilst riding the bike. Its a small thing but for me it was a nice touch.

Grip-Lock.com are based in New Zealand and you can only buy direct from them. Do not let this put you off purchasing from them because delivery is super fast. They posted the lock out to my on the Tuesday and I had it on the Saturday. They are great communicators too and will respond quickly to any emails you may want to send to them.

Fatbiker are going to award this lock a very healthy 5 out of 5. We back this up because its a great looking lock, fits easily under your saddle when not in use, sticks out like a sore thumb when locked to the bike and saves you getting brake dust on your person when fitting or removing it.

Thanks go out to Tracey @ Grip Lock for her assistance in providing us with a lock for review.

www.grip-lock.com

To cut to the chase I’ll confirm now that its an excellent bit of kit if you have a compatible helmet and are in the market for an expandable wireless comms system. This system allows pretty good quality phone calls within legal speed limits with the added bonus of full stereo audio to relax you whilst out on a cruise. If you have a pillion with the right bits installed in their helmet you will also be able to share your audio feed AND chat to them whilst aboard your bike. For me it’s been a liberating experience having the ability to receive inbound calls and listening to music. I rarely have to make calls on the bike and generally either stop or schedule my riding around such calls but again, having the ability to make a call is excellent.

Now that you have read the basics lets get in to a bit more detail about the kit. The box contains the following bits. A mic, helmet speakers, battery module, control unit, cables and the externally mounted stick on keyboard.  The instructions are detailed BUT confusing so you’ll need to read them a few times before getting down to installing the bits and pieces. It goes without saying that if you are reading this stuff then you obviously have a compatable X-Lite helmet. If not, click away back to Google and continue your searches for other bluetooth kits. Sorry, back to the installation. You have to strip down the helmet before fitting. It does look a bit scary with all the padding spread over the table but don’t panic. Its a really basic jigsaw puzzle once you’ve looked at the bits. The relevant components fit nicely into pre-shaped compartments within the padding of the helmet and don’t really require fixing due to the exact fit. The mic is pretty well thought out. It slides into a recess within the chin guard so it doesn’t  get in the way when you put on/remove your helmet. A nice touch. The control keypad sticks to the outside of the helmet and is nice and tactile through a glove whilst not sticking out too far and creating a load of wind noise whilst going fast. This is a criticism I have of most of the after market units which have a massive bolt on part that sits on the outside of the helmet.

Now I’m gonna fast forward on a bit. If you want to know how the rest of the bits are fitted you can download the user manual from X-Lites website.

Usage….  Firstly you need to pair the helmet with any bluetooth units you plan on using with it. In my case  i’m  using an iPhone. Its bluetooth support is ok but not perfect. If your phone is capable of voice activated dialling  you will be able to use this feature whilst inside your helmet. Unfortunately for me, the crappy bluetooth implementation on the iphone does not support it. So my outgoing calls are limited to the last dialed number. Better than nothing. Incoming calls are great. If you are listening to music it gently fades out as the ringer fades in. You then just press any button on the keypad on the helmet and the call is answered. When the call ends the music fades back in. Cool! Volume is very good, almost too loud without ear plugs. With ear plugs you’ll need to just slow down a tad whilst on the call. All of my callers noted the total lack of wind noise even though I was pushing on. It goes without saying that as a user of this kit, you should be mildly sympathetic to the cause and appreciate that sometime you do need to slow down just a tad whilst on a call.

Lets move on to music now. Again, due to the crappy bluetooth implementation music controls are limited. This is not a limitation of the x-series unit. If you were connected to a capable device you would be able to select your track, start and stop your music. All I can do is start and stop a track. Better than nothing though. Playing a relaxing track whilst out and about relaxes me and if anything slows me down a tad. Again, Cool!

There are a few other functions that the N-Com X-Series Bluetooth kit supports of which I cannot report on yet. One of those is rider to pillion comms. I hardly ever carry a pillion let alone one with the right kit in their helmet. The other function is voice guided GPS. MY research so far says that I should be able to be listening to music AND accept voice instructions from a GPS device at the same time. I don’t have such a GPS device but am hoping that either TomTom or Navigon will allow me to test one of their products on my iPhone soon. That’ll be the ultimate setup for me…

What are the downsides? There are a few. If you are off touring you obviously need to pack a charger to keep things energized but I reckon the battery life of this kit is definitely good enough for a FULL days use at a minimum. For me its lasted a week because i’m commuting on the bike so am not having it switched on for hours at a time. Thanks go out to Mike @ Ultimate bike gear for arranging this review and installing the kit in to my helmet.

So to round this one off I’ll say that Fatbiker is gonna give this kit a 4* out of 5*.

Likes. System integration, usage, battery life, noise cancellation

Dislikes. Price. Saying that, all these kind of systems are expensive so you get what you pay for…

Below are some pictures of the kit fitted in to my helmet.

Web Links

Nolan’s N-com website

Ultimate Bike Gear