I post videos to YouTube of my eMTB and dual sport motorcycle rides pretty much every weekend. I posted an article about my setup here: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2025/01/my-action-camera-setup.html. The Insta360 X3 was a fantastic camera, and now they have come way down in price. I bought mine in 2023 and it has had heavy rough use since then. Earlier this year it stopped connecting via USB, but it would still charge OK. This was minor as I just popped the SD card out to process the video. More recently additional problems cropped up. Every once in a while it seemed to not interact right with the remote. Sometimes I would miss catching video. Then it started dating files wrong. The final straw was the video became jittery and blurry at times on rough terrain (most of my riding). I had been eying the X4 but decided it was not enough of an upgrade. Then the X5 came out while my X3 was having these issues. I was caught at a time of weakness so I bought the X5.
Friday, June 13, 2025
Action Camera Upgrade
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Make zippers smooth in dusty environments
I ride off-road in very dusty environments. One problem I have is with all the zippers on my riding gear, backpack, and storage bags on the motorcycle and bike. When they get dusty they are very hard to zip and unzip. They get jammed up with the layer of dust. I blow them out with compressed air and that temporarily makes them less bad but it does not take long riding for them to jam up again.
My storage bags on the bike are not waterproof. When I get done riding I rinse the dust off the bike before putting it away. When I do that some moisture gets into the storage bags. I decided it may help to Scotchgard the bags.
Sunday, February 9, 2025
Husqvarna 701 Enduro 5,000 mile update
- Replaced the Continental TKC 80 tires with Michelin Anakee Wild. I have also replaced the rear again with another Anakee Wild (front was about 80% still). Performance is very similar but the TKC 80's lasted almost twice as long (2900 miles versus 1700 miles). I replaced them when the center of the tread is down to about 4mm. The only reason I switched was due to availability of the TKC 80. I will be going back to TKC 80 when these wear out.
- Added a Garmin Zumo XT2 navigation system. My old smartphone navigation had some flaws, mainly screen brightness and size. The Zumo XT2 has excellent screen brightness and several other useful features.
- Removed the kickstand sensor guard due to intermittent issues with kickstand sensor faults. I also had the sensor replaced under warranty. Worked fine for over 1,000 miles but the fault happened again just once. It has been another 1,000 miles with no issues.
- Due to heavy dust on most of our rides, I went back to a factory paper air filter. No real evidence the K&N was not doing the job but just concerned it does not catch quite as small of particles as the paper.
- Replaced the front bag due to the other one failing the zipper.
- Seat Concepts Comfort XL seat. This does make a big difference. When you first sit on it you wonder if it was worth the $400. I long ride down the highway confirms that it is. Actually any ride where you are on the seat.
- I added an external mic and fuzzy wind socks. I put the mic on the front bag to isolate it from all vibration. Now the audio in my videos is drastically better.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
My action camera setup
I like to video many of my eMTB and motorcycle rides to share with others. This way people can see what the trails are really like before they ride them. I organize playlists around both rides and by locations/trails on my YouTube channel @jimroal (https://youtube.com/@JimRoal ).
Note: I upgraded this June 2025: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2025/06/action-camera-upgrade.html
I bought a Garmin Virb Ultra 30 back in 2017 and I use that for recording in-car videos. It is great and has GPS and accelerometers in it so I can get lap times, speed, acceleration, etc. I still use that today for in car video. I tried using it for bicycling and it worked OK but had it's limitations. The smoothing has limits due to the lens size, sensor, etc. Also, this camera is obsolete and no longer supported.
I researched the latest action cameras that were available at the time (May 2023), watching many videos comparing them specially for bicycling and motorcycling type recording. I settled on the Insta360 X3 which was new at the time I bought mine (May 2023). I was a bit disappointed that the GPS was not built in at first but bought their GPS remote which solved that problem. I used it on both the bicycle and the motorcycle and found the smoothing to be excellent, magical in fact. Some of my first videos were on my bicycle helmet which is of course the smoothest since we stabilize our head taking much of the roughness out already.
Here is an example shot in 360 so you can pan around while watching: https://youtu.be/77zYU4A2Rrc?si=qIAglyxqMXvBwMmI
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Husqvarna 701 Enduro 2,000 mile update
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- Rear luggage rack.
- Rear bag that I bolted to the luggage rack. I also have Velcro straps bolted in to keep any luggage from moving around.
- Front bag that I custom mounted between the seat and key switch area.
- Doubletake mirrors.
- Cycra hand guards and mounts.
- I tried 2 different windshields. First a small Puig. Later I installed a large Madstad (22" size). I would get the 18" instead. I also drilled a second set of hose so I can drop it way down out of the way when off-road.
- NiceCNC gas cap.
- Upgraded the headlight bulb to LASFIT high power LED.
- LED marker lights and driving lights to improve visibility.
- Upgraded the turn signal bulbs to brighter LED.
- K&N air filter.
- Rear brake master cylinder guard.
- Custom made a kickstand sensor guard and also bought a Vanasche side stand dongle I keep with me just in case.
- T-Rex skid plate and crash bars.
- USB charger.
- I bought a cheap 1.3G gas can with center mount. I had to modify the mount that came with it since it broke off quickly. I cover this at the end of my 1,000 mile review.
- I also added a cheap dash camera mostly for insurance reasons. It records all the time. I may upgrade to a proper dual camera motorcycle recording system later. With so many poor inattentive drivers out there I think it is important to record everything.
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Taken just after my license plate mount and chunk of rear fender broke off |
This bike has no problem cruising down the highway. The issues is the wind is noisy and fatiguing after a while. I tried 2 different windshields on the bike. The first was the small Puig.
The Madstad mounting system also has a significant amount of adjustment. In hindsight, I should have ordered the 18" windshield instead of this 22" one. I may trim several inches off the top later. I can also just remove it completely with the 4 thumbscrews depending on the type of riding I am doing. It takes about 2 minutes to switch the mounting position. I also added a Ram camera mount for my Insta360 action camera (photo above that last one).
Here is a video playlist from one of my more recent rides (before the Madstad windshield): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fbh594JYO5ftFDV-qHEImyT
- Excellent flexibility. Does both on and off road very well.
- Good fuel range. Can go about 165 miles on a tank with mixed riding, more if on-road.
- Excellent electronics. The traction control and ABS work well and can both be switched off for more aggressive off-road riding. I do turn OFF the ABS off-road.
- Rear fuel tank leaves the front seat area wide open. The more flat seat make it easy to move around as needed.
- Love the motor power! No need for any power upgrades in my opinion.
- Great having 6 speeds in the transmission.
- Love the clutch. Easy and smooth hydraulic operation and a very long engagement range.
- Love throttle by wire too. Easy and smooth.
- EFI is fantastic. Even after you drop the bike (which I have done plenty) it starts up immediately every time. I average about 50mpg with mostly off-road riding. The rev limit is also great especially since there is no tachometer.
- Great maintenance schedule for a bike like this. Oil changes are 10x longer than many dual sports.
- Weight. Although for what it is it is very light actually. Off-road we just always want lighter. This bike weighs about 350lbs full of fuel and gear.
- Engine noise. As many articles also mention the LC4 engine sounds like a rock tumbler. I have a friend with an earlier version of this bike but with an aftermarket exhaust which is loud. That really helps because the exhaust sound is great and covers over the engine noise.
- Seat height. It is a bit high but this is of course a trade-off. There are lowering kits but I don't want the downsides of that either.
- Seat firmness. It is to the firm side and the padding is very thin. Again, a bunch of trade-offs here because thicker padding would make the seat even higher. You can get aftermarket seats. I just added a cushion on top and that worked pretty well.
- Key and gas cap. The chipped key is great for anti-theft. However, I broke mine very easily and had to get it replaced, which is expensive. To make this worse, the key is needed for the factory gas cap and in that cap the key turns very hard. This is why I installed an aftermarket non-locking gas cap.
- There is no fuel level indicator and you cannot see into the tank. There is a low fuel light at least. I had it come on only 1 time after 154 miles of riding. I put 2.6 gallons in it to fill it after 154 miles.
- Very basic display with no actual gear indicator (only a neutral indicator) and no fuel level indicator (only a low fuel light).
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro T-Rex skid plate and crash bars install
After searching the internet for the options on skid plate and crash bars for my 2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro I decided to go with the T-Rex kit (Part Number: N167-16EG + N167-16SP). This kit did not claim to fit my bike exactly but rather KTM 690 Enduro/Supermoto and Husqvarna 701 Supermoto of years prior to mine. I contacted the company and asked about it fitting my bike. I worked out a deal to try it out.
- Skid plate - 53.5oz
- Left crash bar - 32.5oz
- Right crash bar - 34.7oz
- Attaching hardware - 22.2oz
While it would have been convenient to use the original sockets to catch the back of the skid plate, the T-Rex design is much more robust.
Between the skip plate and crash bars, the water pump looks well protected now.
I like the lower position of the crash bars, both to keep the weight down low, and since this is a much stronger design than other bars.
I like the design of these crash bars compared to many others I have seen. The cross bar is positioned well to prevent branches and other things from getting captured by the bars when riding. It will tend to deflect them away.
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Off-road Trails in Southern Nevada
I ride electric mountain bikes and a dual sport motorcycle in southern Nevada. Luckily, over 85% of Nevada is public lands, and there is lots of off road riding available for both motorized and non-motorized machines. I wanted to create this blog post to make others aware of some great resources to find all these available trails. While many of these resources claim to have maps for both, coverage of motorized versus non motorized varies quite a bit within each of the apps/websites. Some have free access levels and others support both subscriptions free access levels. I will say that none of these mapping tools has complete coverage. Most are less than half the actual trails in most areas.
I also use an old smartphone for navigation for both mountain biking and motorcycling. It is very important to keep your eyes on the trails to avoid an accident, like this one: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2024/02/oops.html . Stop to view the navigation.
Update 1-2025: I now have a Garmin Zumo XT2 which is much better for navigation. Much brighter, larger, and clearer screen as well as some great navigation features.
Apps & Websites
Trailforks - This is my go to app for Electric Mountain biking, and any mountain biking. While it also supports motorized off road trails, it is not particularly good at that. For mountain biking, it is great because crowdsourced trails are available. I have found the coverage in my area to be better than any other apps I have found for mountain biking. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range. Part of Outside+. Here is my Trailforks profile.
GAIA - This is a pretty decent app in general for finding trails. I have used it for both motorcycling and electric mountain biking, but I tend to find other apps a bit better and so it is not my go to app. GAIA is more of a mapping utility and navigation tool than a way to find existing trails. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range. It is one of the few that support off-road turn-by-turn navigation. Part of Outside+. Here is my Gaia profile.
OnX - There are several variants of OnX. I use the off road version. It seems to be the best in my area for motorcycling. It is a subscription only app and website and has no access without a subscription. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.
AllTrails - The AllTrails app and website claim to support all kinds of off road trails and activities. It does but I have found the coverage to be not as good as trail forks for biking or for onX for motorcycling, at least in my area. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.
Kamoot - Supports hiking and biking.
Strava - This is more of a social networking app for bicyclers, but you can look up other people's ride segments and find some routes this way.
Garmin Explore - Garmin explore is an application used with many Garmin products. Garmin has other similar apps to Garmin Explore as well, depending on the product that you are using. It supports offline maps, navigation, and integration with several Garmin products such as InReach satellite messenger.
Google Maps - Google Maps actually has features for navigating off-road too. Well, somewhat anyway. It has biking and walking modes that include trails. While it is not a main feature it can work surprisingly well at times. Often you will need to put it in biking or walking mode and also add some stops along the way to enforce your desired route. Here is an example taking a Jeep trail over Wheeler Pass.
Google Earth - Google Earth has some great tools for searching the Earth for all kinds of detail. It also includes some great measurement tools that will show you the elevation profile. Another great feature is tilting the map to see a perspective from ground level or anywhere in between. You can also import GPS data from Garmin Connect and other trip trackers. The satellite imagery is good enough to spot many trails that may not yet be mapped.
RideWithGPS - created as a bicycle route planner it is generally a pretty good route planner.
Local and national government sites
Related Resources
Friday, February 2, 2024
Oops - I crashed
I had a fun motorcycle ride plan mapped out. We would start at Apex (a.k.a. Nellis Dunes) and ride across to the Old Spanish Trail which connects to Bitter Springs. Basically the route in purple on the map below. A big loop that returns to Apex.
OnX link to North half of planned route: https://webmap.onxmaps.com/offroad/share/content?share_id=01HNNZ4MSD8Z9VKDXGFW01MHRP and South half: https://webmap.onxmaps.com/offroad/share/content?share_id=01HNNZ6R78S90W9A76WT85QXR3 .
The weather was perfect. We got to Apex which is a large open riding area of mostly sand dunes. We needed to get across Apex to start on the Old Spanish Trail (blue arrow on map below). We started at the left of the map below.
Apex is a web of trails and dunes so not so clear to navigate through. Since we were on off-road focused motorcycles, the obvious route was as straight as we could go, sort of. The blue trace below is from my Garmin Messenger which sends updates every 10min. We made it to somewhere in that red circle below.
I do not remember much past pulling off Rt 604 where we started off-road. The next memory I have is riding home passing the I215/I95 interchange. This would be about an hour I have no memory of now, including the entire accident.
We got home and removed my riding gear. At that point Jeff finally got a better look at my shoulder. I do remember this. The look on his face when he saw my shoulder was not good. It's that kind of look you never want anyone to have when they are looking at you. It was that "of man that looks really bad" look. Kelly got home shortly after and took me to the hospital. They found several cracked ribs, a concussion, and a broken Clavicle bone (a.k.a. collar bone).I had not ridden the Old Spanish trail or much of the rest of this route. When I rode Bitter Springs before we had taken I15 all the way to Crystal. Bitter Springs itself is a fairly easy ride.