Dream Bike: Another knockout Sportster 1200 street tracker by Mule

Richard Pollock has an enviable problem: a full order book. Just last week, we featured a stunning Harley Sportster street tracker in his signature Mule Motorcycles style. It turns out that he churned out a second Sportster around the same time, and it’s just as wild.

The project was conceived when Mule’s client brought him a very unique Harley-Davidson motorcycle—an early ‘iron’ XR750 flat tracker that had previously been owned by the late Allan Girdler. A lifelong racer, journalist, and former editor of Cycle World magazine, Allan was also a good friend of Mule’s. The bike’s current owner wanted it upgraded for spirited road riding, before the project unexpectedly took a sharp left turn.

“After some background research, he said that what he really wanted was one of my more straightforward Sportster street tracker builds, which I was only too happy to provide him with,” Mule tells us. “I wanted to build him something that would really stand out and use a few more exotic components.”

The old XR750 was shelved and a 2001-model Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 was dragged onto the bench instead. Mule’s client had been itching for a completely bespoke motorcycle since discovering Bike EXIF twelve years ago, and, after losing both parents several years apart to cancer, figured that it was time to make that dream a reality. So Mule pulled out all the stops.

The motor spec on this build is a slight departure from Mule’s normal template. Upgrades include large-finned Screamin’ Eagle heads and cylinders, Andrews cams, and a trick billet aluminum intake manifold from Hammer Performance, which allowed Mule to attach a carb to the normally fuel-injected heads.

Randy Troy’s Carb Restorations handled the requisite carb modifications. Meanwhile, Mule constructed a burly two-into-one stainless steel exhaust system using parts from Cone Engineering.

The Sportster’s chassis mods are subtle, yet impactful. Mule trimmed the rear end, modified it to support a flat track tailpiece, and moved the shock mounts forward on the swingarm. A custom battery tray sits under the seat, and the bike is propped up on a lightweight chromoly side stand.

Right-side-up Öhlins Blackline forks do duty up front, held in place by a set of Mule yokes. They’re matched to Öhlins piggyback shocks at the rear, with a full range of adjustability fore and aft.

The wheels are featherlight carbon fiber items from BST. Measuring 19” each, they’re matched to Mule hub adaptors and wrapped in street-legal Dunlop dirt track treads.

The front brake setup includes 300 mm EBC rotors (designed for the Yamaha MT09), with Brembo four-piston calipers mounted on GPS Racing brackets. A Beringer caliper on a Mule hanger grips a Braketech disc at the back. The brake lines are from Crown Performance, and both of the master cylinders are Brembo parts.

Anyone familiar with Mule’s work should recognize the bodywork. It’s standard fare for the American custom builder; a Storz aluminum fuel tank, a First Klass Glass seat unit, and a Saddlemen pad. If there’s a more quintessential Sportster flat track arrangement, we haven’t seen it.

A set of stainless steel Mule flat track bars dominate the control area, fitted with a Motion Pro throttle and a Buell clutch assembly. A Trail Tech gauge keeps things legal, while a chromed headlight on GPS Racing brackets lights the way. Lower down, you’ll find Mule’s signature CNC-machined right-hand side foot control assembly.

A sporty silver and black livery, executed by regular collaborator SBK Paint, takes this Harley Sportster street tracker over the finish line. “I had this paint scheme idea from a Ducati 916 I had built about 25 years ago,” says Mule, “and since very few people ever saw that bike, I thought this bike needed it. The new owner’s other bike is a Ducati too, so it was a good fit!”

Once again, Mule has balanced form and function in a way that only he can. As far as all-American Harley street trackers go, Richard Pollock is the G.O.A.T.

Mule Motorcycles | Instagram | Images by Olivier de Vaulx

from Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/xlCQg45

First Look: The new Royal Enfield Flying Flea electric bike

While we’ve been focussed on Royal Enfield’s steady expansion of their 650 range, the Indian motorcycle marque has quietly been cooking up an intriguing new platform. Get a load of Flying Flea—Royal Enfield’s new electric motorcycle brand within a brand.

Taking a page out of the Harley-Davidson/LiveWire playbook, Royal Enfield has launched Flying Flea as its own company, rather than as a new model range within their existing brand. Flying Flea debuts with the classically-styled Flying Flea C6 electric bike, with the scrambler-styled Flying Flea S6 set to follow.

Motorcycle historians should recognize the Flying Flea name. The original Royal Enfield Flying Flea was a skinny 125 cc bike developed during World War II. Weighing next to nothing, it was air-dropped alongside paratroopers (which explains the parachute in the new Flying Flea logo.)

Packaged as a compact, lightweight electric bike for short-range missions, the Flying Flea S6 takes visual inspiration from its ancestor. The original Flying Flea was notable for its elegant girder fork, so Royal Enfield has created a modern forged aluminum version of it. It’s connected to a forged aluminum frame, with magnesium used for the battery case.

The Flying Flea’s silhouette is graceful, with each part harmonizing with the next. The faux fuel tank feels less like an attempt to mimic a petrol bike, and more like a design consideration to create cohesion between the chassis and powertrain. Fins on the battery case follow organic lines, while tightly wrapped fenders recall classic Royal Enfield designs.

The finishing kit rides the line between modern and classic. A petite LED headlight sports a classic black-and-chrome bucket, while a classy Royal Enfield plaque adorns the left-hand side of the motor. It’s an electric bike, but it doesn’t look like an appliance.

Royal Enfield has packed miles of tech into the Flying Flea platform, with a claimed 28 patents filed in the last six months alone. The big takeaway is that the company has developed the brains of the Flying Flea in-house rather than simply buying in all of its components. Operated via a round touchscreen dash, the bike boasts myriad riding mode adjustments, onboard ABS, a connectivity suite, and over-the-air update capabilities.

There hasn’t been a peep about the Flying Flea’s power output, range, or weight. But Royal Enfield is clearly pitching it as an urban runabout, so we expect those numbers to be small. Given their track record for building accessible machines that offer decent bang for your buck, we’re excited to see how the Flying Flea electric range pans out.

Source: Flying Flea

from Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/vcFm3LG

First Look: The BMW Concept F 450 GS adventure bike

The last time BMW Motorrad released a 450 cc dirt bike, it was a wild off-roader that borrowed tech from the marque’s latest acquisition at the time, Husqvarna. The newly minted BMW Concept F 450 GS is nothing like that bike.

Unveiled just as EICMA is about to kick off in Milan, the “near-production-ready” BMW Concept F 450 GS is said to fill the gap between the Bavarian brand’s single-cylinder G 310 GS and twin-cylinder F 900 GS.

Styled like a scale model of the progressive new BMW R 1300 GS, it’s powered by a brand new engine from BMW; an inline twin that we’re guessing is in the region of 450 cc, capacity-wise. (We speculate because BMW has revealed precious few details.)

BMW claims that the new motor uses “a special, never-before-used ignition offset,” which is said to give the mill a rev-happy character. Output is listed as 48 hp, which puts the new 450 in the right bracket for Europe’s A2 license classification. BMW also says that the bike will weigh close to 175 kg [385.8 lbs], again, to keep the power-to-weight ratio compliant for A2 licenses.

According to the press material, the A2 class is a big target for the BMW Concept F 450 GS—but so is performance. The concept bike sports fully-adjustable upside-down forks, with a rear shock that’s adjustable for load-dependent damping.

The 19F/17R wheels look to be BMW’s proprietary cross-spoke tubeless tires, and while die-hard off-road riders will pine for a 21” front wheel, there does look to be a decent amount of ground clearance. Continental TKC80 tires hint at the 450’s dual-purpose usage.

A 6.5” TFT display dominates the cockpit, loaded with connectivity features, switchable rider modes, and ABS. But most of what the BMW Concept F 450 GS tells us isn’t in the press release.

For starters, we know that when BMW says “near-production-ready,” they really mean that we’re looking at a dolled-up version of the actual production bike. We also know that no company builds a new engine for just one bike, so you can count on seeing more 450 variants in the near future.

The biggest question is just how much of the BMW Concept F 450 GS spec will remain once it goes into production. BMW has hinted that it might lose a few inches in the seat height department, and that the laced wheels might be swapped for alloy hoops; neither option is particularly appealing.

It’s also unlikely that a bike with a fully loaded TFT dash, adjustable suspension, and an Akrapovič exhaust will make it to market at a price that’s appealing to anyone shopping for an A2 license-compliant bike. And given that the Concept F 450 GS already looks a bit toylike, removing its best features might kill its appeal.

On the flip side, if BMW specs and prices the 450 competitively, they might be onto a winner.

Source: BMW Motorrad

from Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/J6UC3Vp

First Look: The 2025 Krämer GP2-890 XX hypernaked track bike

Based in Burghausen in Upper Bavaria, Krämer Motorcycles is a boutique marque with a singular focus—race bikes. Everything they create is 100 percent track-focused, jam-packed full of high-end engineering, and slathered in top-shelf components. Now they’ve applied that ethos to their first naked bike, the Krämer GP2-890 XX hypernaked.

Unveiled today at EICMA, the Krämer GP2-890 XX has much in common with the company’s GP2-890 RR track racer, but it’s more than just a GP2-890 RR without a fairing. Sporting upright ergonomics and a host of other tweaks, the GP2-890 XX is, as Krämer puts it, “built for wheelies, not podiums.”

“When we looked around the paddocks we were going to, we noticed that a little over 10 percent of the motorcycles on track were large-displacement naked models, which is an interesting trend developing in the industry,” says Jensen Beeler, who runs Krämer’s USA operation.

“Until now, no manufacturer has produced a hypernaked that is focused solely for the race track, even though the demographics are skewing more into this category with each passing year. The Krämer GP2-890 XX aims to give these track riders a more purpose-built motorcycle for this segment of circuit riding, in the same way our other motorcycles have done in their model segments.”

Like the GP2-890 RR, the Krämer GP2-890 XX uses a chromoly trellis main frame, with a rotationally molded plastic fuel tank out back that also functions as the bike’s tailpiece and subframe. The swingarm is a cast aluminum unit, featuring a progressive shock linkage that Krämer’s been running on the GP2-890 RR in the British Superbike Championship. The running gear includes full-adjustable WP APEX suspension at both ends, a full complement of Brembo braking components, and ultra-light carbon fiber BST Star Tek wheels.

Just about everything on the Krämer GP2-890 XX is adjustable, from the swingarm angle to the steering head angle, triple clamp offset, seat height, and the position of the rear-set foot controls. That level of adjustability is a boon for track riders who want to extract the maximum from their machines.

Powering the GP2-890 XX is the 889 cc parallel-twin motor from the KTM 890 platform, good for 138 hp and 100 Nm. Peek inside, and you’ll spot titanium connecting rods, high-compression Pankl pistons, titanium valves, a race-spec camshaft, and CNC-machined ports. Air is fed via two chunky carbon fiber air ducts, with stainless steel exhaust headers mated to a titanium muffler at the opposite end.

The bike runs off a Mectronik MKE7 ECU with a six-axis inertia measurement unit that manages the rider aids, which include traction and wheelie control. Riders can customize the ECU with their own settings, or with ones from Krämer. The dash is an ECUMaster ADU 5 unit, loaded with everything you’d need at a track day—including a GPS-powered lap timer.

What little bodywork the GP2-890 XX is almost exclusively made from carbon fiber. Stripped down to the basics, with number boards at the front and sides, it’s a gnarly-looking machine that would look just as good in street trim. It’s light too, weighing just 140 kilos [309 pounds] with 16 liters [4.2 gallons] of fuel on board.

Available for pre-order in extremely limited numbers, the Krämer GP2-890 XX will set you back $49,995 in the United States and €50,000 in Europe. It’s also the first motorcycle that Krämer’s offering with factory customization options, starting with the frame color and fairing decals.

Tempted?

Krämer Motorcycles Germany | Krämer Motorcycles USA

from Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/ce1EaJL

Speed Read: The new Royal Enfield Bear 650 scrambler and more

The annual EICMA trade show is about to kick off, but some major OEMs haven’t waited to show off their latest offerings. We look at the new Royal Enfield Bear 650 scrambler and the Triumph Tiger 800 Sport. On the custom bike front, we profile two retro-fabulous racing restomods; a Suzuki GS1200SS from Japan and a Yamaha RD350 from Spain.

2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650 Royal Enfield is back with another new announcement. This time it’s their beloved 650 cc twin that’s getting a new variant, in the form of the 2025 Royal Enfield Bear 650.

Inspired by Fast Eddie Mulder’s win astride a Royal Enfield 500 at the grueling Big Bear Run in the Californian desert in 1960, Royal Enfield has finally scrambler-ized the Interceptor 650.

Straight away you’ll notice the upside-down Showa big-piston forks and the 19F/17R rear wheel combo. Shod with chunky tires, and sporting over seven inches of ground clearance, the Royal Enfield Bear 650 looks like an Interceptor in its health and fitness era.

Along with the suspension upgrades, the frame has been revised and strengthened. The scrambler-style seat is nicely contoured, and the rear subframe has been kicked up at the back.

The engine has been left alone, but the new two-into-one scrambler exhaust lets the 650 lay down its torque lower in the rev range.

The large LED headlight is backed up with a tech-heavy, but still classic, dashboard. The large round TFT display features Royal Enfield’s ‘Tripper’ navigation, which can be linked to a smartphone running Google Maps. There is also LED lighting all around, which is a first for a Royal Enfield 650 twin.

Even though the burly forks and chunky tires butter our toast, it’s the Royal Enfield Bear 650’s paint options that have us most excited. There are five liveries to choose from, and their names are wild; Boardwalk White, Petrol Green, Wild Honey, Golden Shadow, and the special edition, teal-framed Two Four Nine.

We’re having a hard time choosing between Petrol Green and Wild Honey [above], but the blue, white, and yellow stripes on the Wild Honey might have won us over. Prices in the US will start at $6,849 for the base model Boardwalk White and go up to $7,199 for the special edition Two Four Nine. Prices in the UK range from £6,749 to £6,949.

The big takeaway here is how fun the Royal Enfield Bear 650 looks. We’ve pointed the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 down a dirt road before, and came away thinking that it’s about the most fun you can have with 45 hp.

As far as we’re concerned, Royal Enfield has hit the nail squarely on the head. [Royal Enfield]

Suzuki GS1200SS by Iida Racing Factory Give us the choice of any inline four-cylinder Suzuki, and we’ll pick the Suzuki GS1200SS every time. Even though its two-year production run was short-lived, we can’t get enough of its retro endurance vibes—and it’s highly likely to appreciate in value.

This wild Suzuki GS1200SS belongs to Hiroki Iida, owner and proprietor of Iida Factory Racing in Kawasaki City, Japan. Iida-san has owned, modified, and raced his GS1200SS for over 20 years and he thought it was time to improve on his initial designs. Taking another GS1200SS from his workshop, he set about building this; the Iida Racing Factory “Demo-Two”.

The main focus was reducing weight and managing heat—but while the bike was torn down, myriad gussets and reinforcements were added in key areas, such as the frame neck and shock mounts. Carbon fiber bodywork from Custom Factory Tokaji adorns every surface, and it is perfection personified. An aluminum fuel cell is tucked away beneath the carbon shell, further reducing weight.

The 17” wheels are forged aluminum units from OZ Racing, which are slowed down (rather quickly) by beautiful Brembo calipers and Sunstar discs. The Öhlins FF521 forks are held in place by custom 7075 aluminum fork clamps and there are more Öhlins goodies out back, suspending a custom-braced swingarm.

Then there is the engine. It was torn down and reassembled with Wiseco forged pistons, Yoshimura cams, and titanium bolts, and has a balanced bottom end. It was also punched out to 1,216 cc (about 60 cc over stock) and features a TSS slipper clutch, a full brace of Yoshimura TMR-MJN carburetors, and a titanium exhaust system.

Even with all these mods, Iida-san has kept the big GS road legal with lights and turn signals. He also managed to shave a whopping 40 kg [88 lbs] from the overall weight, which means this thing would absolutely fly down the road. As far as retro sport bikes go, this might be the pinnacle. [Source]

Yamaha RD350 by Bolt Motor Co. When handed a box of bits and asked to make something go, stop, and turn, the team at Spain’s Bolt Motor Co. knew they had their work cut out for them. Somehow, that box of bits used to be a Yamaha RD350 that their new client wanted to look good while paying tribute to three-time 500 cc World Champion, Wayne Rainey. Oh, and it had to be fast.

Starting at the pointy end is a complete front end from a Yamaha R6. The wheels and swingarm came from the R6 too, and allowed for modern rubber to be fitted—including a 170-section rear tire. The client requested good handling and safe stopping, so the Bolt team sourced oversized discs and Brembo calipers to match the R6 suspension.

The clip-on handlebars are from Rizoma and are capped with Motogadget bar end turn signals. A Domino throttle speeds up the right wrist action and a KOSO digital temperature gauge monitors engine heat. The LED headlight wears a custom 3D-printed cover and the mirrors are from Highsider.

The tank is factory, but the rear end is a single-seat fiberglass unit meant for racing. It’s topped off with weatherproof suede upholstery. The red and white livery was specifically requested by the client as a throwback to the monster 500 cc two-stroke GP bikes from yesteryear.

Speaking of 500 cc monsters, that’s exactly how Bolt fulfilled the requirement that the bike be fast. The stock 350 cc twin was torn down and rebuilt to 500 cc with new cylinders, pistons, and crankshaft. The reeds were upgraded and a new pair of carburetors was bolted on for good measure.

The bike was then re-wired from scratch to ensure optimum performance and reliability, and a custom Turbokit exhaust was bolted on, complete with prerequisite enormous expansion chambers. From a box of bits to a work of engineering art that will out-accelerate most modern sport bikes, Bolt Motor Co. knows what’s what. [Source]

2025 Triumph Tiger Sport 800 The ever-growing ‘tall rounder’ segment has a new contender—the all-new 2025 Tiger Sport 800. Based on what we suspect is a bored and/or stroked version of Triumph’s 660 cc inline-triple, the new 798 cc engine pumps out about 113 hp and 84 Nm, and is wrapped in rather attractive bodywork (for an adventure-styled bike anyway).

Styled as a larger, more aggressive version of its smaller sibling, the new Triumph Tiger Sport 800 has a full-sized front fairing, an upright riding position, and a narrow tail. There is Showa suspension all around; the 41 mm separate function front forks are adjustable for rebound and compression, and the rear mono-shock is rebound- and preload-adjustable.

The matching lightweight 17” wheels are wrapped in Michelin’s Road 5 sport tires, and this gives away the intended use. Smaller wheels, adjustable suspension, and sticky tires—it all points to a road bike with the upright ergonomics of an adventure bike.

Speaking of adventure ergonomics, Triumph notes the 32.48-inch seat height as ‘accessible’, but it’s not. Knocking two or three inches off the seat height would make it more approachable for a wider audience. That said, the wet weight of 214 kg [472 lbs] will make the tall seat height more manageable – especially for a bike that will spend all of its time on asphalt.

Another letdown is the dashboard, which is simple, but a bit lackluster. An adjustable screen (with one-handed operation) and sleek daytime running LED save the day up front, as do the factory luggage options out the back.

The standard color is Sapphire Black, and it also comes in three premium colors; Graphite, Caspian Blue, and a very tasty Cosmic Yellow. We expect the new Sport 800 to be at the upper-middle level of the mid-sized touring segment, but the 16,000-kilometer [10,000-mile] service intervals might make it better, financially, in the long run. [Triumph Motorcyles]

from Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/B6FKOfQ

Road Tested: Motorcycle phone mount options from Quad Lock

Attaching your phone to your motorcycle is risky business. Every phone mount system out there claims to be the best—but you don’t really know how secure your phone is until you’ve tried it. And then there’s the infamous iPhone camera and its propensity for failing under vibration.

Many riders I know and trust swear by Quad Lock’s products. So I was pleased as punch when the Australian company offered to send over a handful of products to test. I sent Quad Lock a list of five or six items that I thought would work, and they responded by sending a huge box of goodies for me to tear into.

Straight away, the Quad Lock system’s modular nature speaks to the gadget nerd in me. Everything product that they sent me was designed to integrate with the next, creating endless options. But if you’d like to keep it simple, start out with the bike mount and phone case that best fit your needs, then fine-tune your setup with the company’s myriad add-ons.

At the heart of my personal setup is the relatively new Quad Lock Handlebar Mount Pro and MAG Case. Those are augmented with a vibration dampener for the mount, and a colored accent ring and MAG Wallet for the phone case. That’s enough to tick most of my boxes—with the Quad Lock Weatherproof Wireless Charging Head and 12V to USB Smart Adaptor adding wireless charging capabilities to my setup.

All of the parts are ridiculously easy to set up—and that starts with how well-packaged they are. Each item comes neatly boxed, with simple instructions, and every last part you need to install it is included. Every screw uses the same size Allen head and is pre-treated with thread lock, and every box has an Allen key inside.

Products like the wiring charging head even come bundled with multiple USB charging cables in varying lengths and head angles, plus cable ties. Installing and configuring the mounting system literally takes minutes, with no need to crack open your tool kit. It really is idiot-proof.

Quad Lock Handlebar Mount Pro

The Quad Lock Handlebar Mount Pro is a rugged CNC-machined aluminum mount (an upgrade over their base model nylon option) that clamps directly to your handlebars. It takes a one-size-fits-all approach, by using ‘collars’ that can accommodate diameters of 22 mm, 25 mm, 28 mm, 32 mm, and 35 mm. That means it’ll fit anything from regular 22 mm handlebars to tapered bars, and even some oversized options.

Fitting the mount to your bars involves figuring out the diameter at the spot where you want to install it, popping the heavy-duty nylon collar onto the bars, and then clamping the aluminum bracket over the collar. Notches in the aluminum clamp match nubs on the collar, ensuring a flawless fit.

The clamp itself is hinged on one side, with a single fastener on the opposite side to lock it down. Cleverly, the upper edge of the threaded hole in the bottom half of the clamp is countersunk, which helps to guide the securing bolt into place.

An aluminum arm bolts to the clamp to add some height and distance to the setup, with Quad Lock’s patented spring-loaded mounting head perched at the top of it. Both the head and the extension arm can be rotated 360 degrees, with fine teeth clicking them into place. Their teeth and threaded holes are identical, so you can just as easily ditch the extension arm and bolt the head directly to the clamp for a slimmer setup (my preferred configuration, as pictured below).

Rotating the extension arm and head, and rolling the actual clamp forward and backward around the bars, gives you a fairly decent range of positions to place your phone in. You do need to pick a fairly level section of the handlebars though, because there’s no way to pitch the mount left and right without adding Quad Lock’s optional $9.99 Knuckle Adaptor. Quad Lock sells spacer kits too, if you need a little more height at either of the Handlebar Mount Pro’s connection points.

Neither the knuckle nor spacers were needed to run the Quad Lock system on my Triumph Bonneville, nor a BMW F900GS that I had in my garage for a bit. Swapping the mount between the two bikes was easy enough too—although it did reveal that the black anodizing on the aluminum parts is prone to scratching if you fiddle with them too much.

The Quad Lock mounting head uses a simple press-and-twist method to attach your phone, while depressing the lever on the right releases it. Finding the right angle and amount of pressure to lock your phone in place takes a fair amount of practice—but the trade-off is that it feels hella secure once attached.

The Handlebar Mount Pro hides one more crafty feature—a small notch on the inside, filled by a removable rubber plug, that helps with cable management if you’ve added a charging kit to your setup.

[$69.99 | Available in black or chrome | More]

Quad Lock Vibration Dampener

The vibrations from some motorcycles are known to fry the image stabilizers in some smartphones. Quad Lock has a handy list of known culprits on the website, which includes my bike. So I installed the Quad Lock Vibration Dampener right out of the gate.

The Vibration Dampener mitigates high frequency vibrations by using twin ‘chassis’ plates, separated by silicon grommets.

Once again, setting it up is a doddle; remove the Handlebar Mount Pro’s standard head, bolt the Vibration Dampener on, and bolt the original head to the Vibration Dampener. Once again, everything you need is in the box, and setting it up takes less than two minutes.

The Vibration Dampener does add a few millimeters (and some visual heft) to the overall mounting system, and there’s a slight bit of bobbing while on the move. But if the alternative is a wrecked phone camera (I wasn’t about to mount my phone without it to find out), those are worthwhile tradeoffs.

[$19.99 | More]

Quad Lock MAG Case

The Quad Lock mounting system is useless without having something on your phone for it to interface with—so their MAG Case (or one of their universal mounts) is a necessity. I’m that guy who deliberately chooses older, cheaper, and smaller phones (I’m currently using a third-generation iPhone SE), which can make it hard to find a suitable case. Luckily Quad Lock’s range is pretty extensive.

The MAG Case features Quad Lock’s signature twist-mount ring on the back, plus a magnetic ring that works with the brand’s range of snap-on magnetic mounts. Mounting functionality aside, it’s a damn good phone case too.

The design is slim, but buff enough to handle abuse. There’s a soft-touch lining inside, bumpers along the top edge to protect the screen, and an extra protective lip around the camera lens. The phone’s edge buttons are easy to operate, and the charge port is easily accessible.

There’s room for personalization too. I swapped out the magnetic ring for a red one to differentiate mine from my wife’s phone (which uses the same case)—a process that involves popping the old ring off with the supplied tool and clicking a new one into place.

I also added Quad Lock’s brilliant MAG Wallet. Made from a synthetic material that vaguely resembles leather, it’s a spring-loaded slimline wallet that can take up to three cards and attaches to your phone magnetically. It’s also small enough to pop into a pocket when you need to mount your phone to your bike.

The fact that the MAG Case works with both twist-lock and magnetic Quad Lock mounts is a boon if you’re using multiple systems—such as the mount and magnetic head that I’ve set up in my car.

[$39.99 | More]

Quad Lock Mirror Stem Mount

My Triumph Bonneville shares garage space with a small, Taiwanese-made scooter—my go-to for errands and short-range missions. Handlebar space on a scooter is at a premium, so Quad Lock also sent me their new Mirror Stem Mount to try out.

Quad Lock makes more mounts than you can shake a stick at, including a fork stem mount, brake or clutch perch mount, handlebar clamp mount, and a bunch more. The Mirror Stem Mount is their newest, and it saves space by bolting to the same spot that your mirror does.

Unbolt your mirror, use the supplied washer and spacer (which lets you fit it to both M8 and M10 mirror mounts), bolt the Mirror Stem Mount in place, and refit your mirror. The mount uses a die-cast aluminum arm with an offset to put space between it and the mirror. It ends in a gimbal head that offers a range of positions, with Quad Lock’s standard twist-lock mount bolted to it.

Like the Motorcycle Mount PRO, it can be upgraded with a Vibration Dampener (or any other Quad Lock parts). And like its fellow mounting systems, it’s dead easy to set up and use.

[$44.99 | More]

Quad Lock Weatherproof Wireless Charging Head

The Quad Lock Weatherproof Wireless Charging Head replaces the regular mounting head on any of the company’s brackets, making it an all-in-one mounting and wireless charging unit. There’s a USB version that plugs into your bike’s USB socket, or a version that can be wired directly to your bike.

I’ve used the USB version here, which comes with three different USB-A to USB-C cables—including one with a right-angle USB-C plug that helps when mounting the charging head in tight spaces. Yet again, installing the head is quick and easy, with clear instructions and all the bits you need bundled with the unit.

The head itself is constructed from a mix of reinforced plastics and die-cast aluminum parts, with a finned rear aluminum housing designed to help manage heat. The whole thing feels sturdy—but it’s also chunky, especially when mounted on top of the Quad Lock Vibration Dampener. So I’ve opted to only install it when I’m going on longer rides and want to keep my phone charged.

When it is installed, it works just like the regular mounting head; twist to lock, and press the edge of the charging head to release (albeit with a little more force). Once your phone is mounted, you benefit from wireless fast charging (up to 7.5 W with iPhones, 10 W with Samsung Galaxy phones, and 15 W with Google Pixel devices). I haven’t benchmarked the charging time, but I’ve started a long ride with an almost dead phone and ended it with a full one, and that’s all that counts.

[$74.99 | More]

Quad Lock 12V to USB Smart Adaptor

Since my Triumph Bonneville was built before putting a USB charging port on every motorcycle was a thing, the final piece of my setup is the Quad Lock 12V to USB Smart Adaptor. It’s a relatively compact unit, with a waterproof USB port on one side and a standard SAE plug on the other. Plug it into your existing SAE cable if you have one installed, or install the cable that comes with the adaptor directly to your battery.

The unit is, as I’ve come to expect by now, simple to install and use, and comes bundled with everything you need to set it up. The biggest hassle is finding a spot to stick the adaptor and routing the cable to your bike’s cockpit. I managed to find a spot under my seat, and used some adhesive hook-and-loop strips on the unit and my electronics tray to hold it in place.

A three-way switch lets you turn the unit on and off manually, or set it to an automatic mode that only sends power to the USB port when the bike is running. Of course, if the whole wireless charging caboodle is at odds with your bike’s sano handlebar space, the USB Smart Adaptor is a quick way to add a USB port to your setup for regular cable-assisted charging.

[$39.99 | More]

from Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/br7JBlg