Most motorcycles have a side stand with relatively small foot which secures the bike nicely on a pavement but if you try to park on a gravel or muddy terrain, you may experience problems. The side stand may sink into the surface and the bike may fall. I used some kind of side stand foot enlargements on all my bikes since 2014 but this time I wanted it for my new Triumph Rocket 3 Storm R and I couldn’t find it. The aftermarket accessories for Rocket 3 2500cc are quite limited. After some searches and inquiries on forums, I finally found it. Fortunately, Italian company XRay offers few Rocket 3 accessories and among them is also a side stand foot enlargement.
D3O is a protective material made by D3O Labs , British company specializing in impact protection technologies. It’s a flexible and pliable material which solidifies in the event of collision. It is used as a low-profile impact protection for phones, laptops and other electronic devices, motorcycle riding gear, defense products like helmets, body armor and footwear, etc. Held has it’s own palette of D3O based protectors in association with D3O Labs and we are going to review most of them in this article. I want to mention that this article is not sponsored by anyone and I bought all the stuff myself. I kept just protectors that I liked and needed and returned all the rest.
Is Akrapovič sport exhaust just a nice add-on for BMW K 1600 GT or does it do something more? What kind of sound does it make? Does it change the behavior of the bike? It was quite difficult to find these information online but I still decided to give it a try. Hence, let’s share some more information about it.
After unsuccessful try to use SW-Motech Daypack Pro tank bag on my K 1600 GT, I searched for an alternative and found a new series of tank bags from Wunderlich named CLICK BAG. They offer 5 different sizes, 3L, 6L, 13L and finally 16L. CLICK BAG 3L is not extendable, but remaining sizes expand to 8, 16 and 19 liters respectively. 3L bag is the only one that comes with the rain cover while other bags come with internal waterproof bags. This second solution also keeps your goods dry but I find it not that practical. First, it occupies some space inside and second, it’s more difficult to put the stuff in and take them out. Anyways, the bags are really good quality and they attach to appropriate tank rings very easily, just one click. This attachment system is very similar to SW-Motech Pro but without magnets. Wunderlich is an expensive brand but some of their CLICK BAGS are basically the only safe options for BMW K 1600 GT, namely 3L and 6L. Unfortunately SW-Motech Pro tank bags collide with the fully turned handlebars and random switches might got pressed. Besides that, this may limit the movement of the handlebars to the end which may make turning the bike around more difficult. But let’s see how Wunderlich tank bags fit on K 1600 GT and which one I chose for my bike.
I am not sure if I have previously mentioned, but my previous bike was K1300R which I owned from 2013 till 2023, quite 10 years and I was very happy with it. There were no particular reasons to sell it except that I wanted a new bike and I couldn’t keep both of them because of the space in my underground garage. I got SW-Motech tank ring and Daypack bag on this bike and it served very well, great quality. The same tank ring fits on K1600GT, but none of the SW-Motech bags fit. You may ask what’s the reason for this and the answer is simple, when you completely turn handle bars they collide with the bag and some buttons may be accidentally be pressed. This is obviously not safe even you don’t have to completely turn the handlebars during the ride, but just at stand. I searched the web and found out that there is just one more quick mount and release tank bag option this time manufactured by Wunderlich. Unfortunately, their tank ring was not available until few days ago, but I have ordered it almost immediately and mounted it on my bike, so here you can find out the installation instructions and my experience with it.
Like promised in the previous blog, we will discuss here more about the newest Sena communicator for the newest Shoei helmets Neotec 3 and GT-Air 3. After installing SLR3 into the helmet, the main impression is very seamless integration. All cables safely routed, virtually invisible, speakers fit exactly to the sockets, everything is so clean. Great work both from Sena and Shoei.
After quite a while, I decided to blog about my other hobbies, namely motorcycling. In the future, I will more about my past, current and future motorcycles, but the reason for this blog item today is the new generation of the Shoei GT-Air helmets, GT-Air 3 Realm TC-5. I just received this helmet and it looks amazing. Since today, I have been using GT-Air 1, which is a great helmet, but after 5-6 years of usage it was time to get the new one.
