BIKE HUD is a new motorcycle heads-up display, brought to market by UK business Bike Systems, that shows speed, engine revs, gear selection, turn indicators and more using graphics, colour and sound on a display mounted in the rider’s helmet. Designed to be fitted to any motorcycle, the in-helmet display fits full-face and most flip-front helmets.
“Bike HUD is intended to work in the rider’s peripheral field of view and make riding safer”, said Bike System’s Managing Director Dave Vout. “In a high pressure environment an average person can only absorb three sets of information at any one time. Bike HUD typically shows three main data sets, for example speed, gear and engine revs.
“Bike HUD’s display and alerts provide the rider with important information without causing a distraction from the road and traffic conditions. Of course, if the rider wants to read the numbers on the display he or she can; the optics place the image at infinity so there is no need to re-focus when reading the display”.
Bike HUD offers three riding modes: commuting/leisure riding, touring and track day racing. Commuting mode shows gear selection, indicators, speed and engine speed, while touring mode adds GPS coordinates and mileage countdown. In track day mode, Bike HUD tells the rider if the last lap was faster or slower than the preceding one – it also gives faster/slower indication for user-defined sectors of the track.
When a GPS navigator app is installed on a smartphone, it can be configured to work with the Bike HUD heads-up display. Once connected, via Bluetooth, it can work in miles and yards or kilometres and metres depending on location. The overall route and overall progress is displayed, together with the ability to change route, taking in additional points of interest along the way.
If the rider is already a Bike HUD owner, he or she can get this sooner on the Bike HUD Tester Scheme, which is free to join.
An additional feature offered on Bike HUD as a monthly subscription is the ‘Bike Systems Safety’, which alerts users to the location of roadside safety cameras. More than 38 countries will be supported by the system, which will be updated on a monthly basis to ensure all fixed, temporary, red-light and mobile cameras are accounted for. It will also provide speed sensitive alerts; the faster the rider is travelling the earlier they will be alerted of a potential safety issue through either audio and/or visual prompts. Either or both types of alert can be turned on or off for each camera type.
Bike Systems is also currently working with a leading US radar/laser expert to modify Bike HUB (Bike HUD's on-board computer) to display laser/radar alerts on Bike HUD. By re-configuring two of Bike HUD's inputs, Bike Systems says it will be able to alert the rider of any detection of radar/laser speed traps and potential safety issues developing on the road ahead.
There are three components to Bike HUD: the in-helmet display, the controller (Bike HUB) and a handlebar mounted control panel. The in-helmet display can be moved between helmets. The Bike HUB controller is the size of a smart phone, it and the control panel can be installed on the motorcycle by any competent mechanic or auto-electrician.
BIKE SYSTEMS
Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK
Tel: +44 01782 815 818
www.bike-hud.com
