Cycling Camera use.

[RoubaixCube]

Funnily enough, long rides were probably another reason that I stopped using the go pro. Starting and stopping, plus not being able to review the footage (third gen gopro without a backpack) meant that I got better results from my hi def phone camera.
I feel like I should use the go pro as it cost so much to buy...but its just a bit of a faff.

I know of your pain - My hero4 Session records for 2hrs before it needs recharging, but it does have wifi so i could hook it up to a phone or tablet to view the footage.
GoPro's are so obnoxiously expensive - good peices of kit but so overpriced. Hence why i opted for an SJcam M10+ as a secondary/backup camera - It has wifi but ive been told the app is a bit crap but you can still view footage using it - All if not most SJcams allow charging on the go as one of the main functions of an SJcam is being used as a dashcam - so you can extend the battery life exponentially by plugging it into an external battery or 'juice' pack (10000mAh should technically get you around 15hours if not longer) I'll probably be helmet mounting my M10 for the dunwich dynamo while having it plugged into a small battery pack located in my small backpack

 

[double0jedi]

Some interesting views, very useful to hear peoples views on the subject.
I live and work in the (beautiful but sometimes secluded ) East Devon Countryside and my commute and pretty much all my cycling takes place on country lanes.
The thought of being clipped when people overtake in those narrow lanes does scare the hell out of me. Sometimes I can go miles and not see anyone but other times can be very busy. I hate watching cycle footage on youtube ( to be honest I find watching it from a POV very dull) so am not going to be pouring over footage all the time, its just if someone were to clip me or cause an accident it would be good to know that I have something that will back me up if it were needed. I genuinely hope that it is not something I would ever need!

 

[EnPassant]

I know what you mean and perhaps I should have been further out. It felt to me like the airhead driver of HV06 WKB would have walloped into me from behind if I had been further out. She was too busy chatting away to the other folks in the car & paying no attention to the road ahead as she mindlessly followed the car in front into the path of the oncoming BMW. She'd have had to brake very hard not to hit me up the bum as she was going a bit fast.

The Volvo which overtook just before her gave me plenty of space but caused the BMW to slow somewhat, the Renault really ballsed it up !

I do review dodgy moments after any ride where I remember one, generally though the recordings are all deleted.

In my view both drivers were wrong, if there is such a thing as shades of wrong the Volvo perhaps less so, but still wrong. If you cause a car coming in the opposite direction to brake whilst you are overtaking (whatever it may be, bike, car, tractor), you shouldn't be overtaking. Not sure of the highway codes exact wording but pretty sure that the gist of that is in there somewhere.
Typical mgif. Hey I'm guilty of thinking that whilst driving, but I no longer act upon it in a way I might have done in my callow youth and only partly because I cycle a lot now.

The Renault was, wronger? even more wrong? a larger percentage of wrong? Whatever , paying little attention to anything but following up the chuff of the Volvo and nearly causes herself and the BMW, or more likely you to come a cropper.
I was just conjecturing in my head, that had you been centre of the lane, the Volvo wouldn't/couldn't have attempted the move, and the Renault wouldn't have thought about it due to just trolling along behind the Volvo.

I'm still not experienced enough to know outright that that's where one should be, but it tends to be where I am these days until somebody in authority tells me I'm breaking some law. Or perhaps the error of my road positioning is pointed out to me here by the more knowledgeable.

Edit to say, sorry OT thread creep, I'll behave better I promise.

 

[winjim]

I just started using a headcam after various incidents,( kicked off bike by youths on a moped, recieved broken wrist and hand, young twat on a bike in another incident tried barging me off) before I was a fairly anti camera person and did not like to think I was being filmed going about my lawful business, but enough was enough after some guy nearly right hooked me and when I complained he turned off , changed his mind and came back for seconds . Some people will attack you if you don't have a camera, but if they do at least you have it on film.
I have gone for the stealth approach, my headcam looks like a torch ( Replay XD) . Arriving this week is a Fly12 and a Fly 6 to attach to the bike, which have lights built into them and also look like lights.
Last week I have chatted to 2 other cyclist as I pootled along for quite a while, neither realised I had a camera. Early days for me but no one seems to notice mine.

I quite like the look of those Flys. I'd be interested to hear how they perform once you've tried them out, particularly the front. I don't like dazzling lights so I always point mine downwards, but with a camera you'd want it facing straight ahead, so I just wonder how the relative angles of light and camera would work.

 

[RoubaixCube]

so am not going to be pouring over footage all the time

Another use for me personally Is so i can go back and have a look at an attractive member of the opposite sex I might have seen earlier in the day. There are quite a few clubs located around where I work so i get plenty of eye candy lol.

 

[jonny jeez]

[QUOTE 4333264, member: 9609"]I have had a dashcam in my van for 18month, I forget it is there, it automatically records ever single journey no matter how short. I soon got bored with reviewing the footage and don't even bother now looking again at idiotic pieces of driving that I may encounter, not interested in reporting others or uploading bad driving to youtube - I just like having the security should anything serious ever happen. I would love something similar on my bike, a fit and forget maintenance free system.[/QUOTE]
Yep, a bike cam that works the same way would be good, perhaps saving 3 hours of footage in the result of heavy braking or impact. Forgetting its there is the trick but I suspect even that type of bike-cam will need constant house keeping to keep it charged.

 

[Tim Hall]

Another use for me personally Is so i can go back and have a look at an attractive member of the opposite sex I might have seen earlier in the day. There are quite a few clubs located around where I work so i get plenty of eye candy lol.

Classy.

 

[HarryTheDog]

I quite like the look of those Flys. I'd be interested to hear how they perform once you've tried them out, particularly the front. I don't like dazzling lights so I always point mine downwards, but with a camera you'd want it facing straight ahead, so I just wonder how the relative angles of light and camera would work.

I got them last night and they immediately annoyed me. The rear one has had the design changed, due to people complaining that it tends to fall off, they have changed the clip so it wont fall off, and its so hard to get out of the clip that they advise removing it by taking the rubber mounting straps off which is a faff, pain in the butt if you leave the bike locked up and come to take the camera off. Also my old saddle bag now does not fit because the camera is in the way, ok if you are tall and have a foot of seatpost to play with. I got it to fit ok with a small saddle bag but its still just in the picture.The front one came with a bolt on clamp so have to unscrew the dam thing to get it off, again a pain when leaving it parked in town.when I looked at a review it had a quarter turn mount. Might be able to buy a mount to change that.
The other thing that annoys me is you need a iphone to set up the strava views on it no android app yet ( coming though) and also cant control from a PC, I have a works windows phone so will will have to borrow my sons iphone. ( same problem with the Replay XD prime camera though they have android app as well)
Yes the front light is very bright wont need a secondary and I can see it being a problem if pointed straight ahead, will report back later on the view I get with it angled down. The rear light is very funky and very bright wont need a backup light.

 

[GJT]

I got them last night and they immediately annoyed me. The rear one has had the design changed, due to people complaining that it tends to fall off, they have changed the clip so it wont fall off, and its so hard to get out of the clip that they advise removing it by taking the rubber mounting straps off which is a faff, pain in the butt if you leave the bike locked up and come to take the camera off. Also my old saddle bag now does not fit because the camera is in the way, ok if you are tall and have a foot of seatpost to play with. I got it to fit ok with a small saddle bag but its still just in the picture.The front one came with a bolt on clamp so have to unscrew the dam thing to get it off, again a pain when leaving it parked in town.when I looked at a review it had a quarter turn mount. Might be able to buy a mount to change that.
The other thing that annoys me is you need a iphone to set up the strava views on it no android app yet ( coming though) and also cant control from a PC, I have a works windows phone so will will have to borrow my sons iphone. ( same problem with the Replay XD prime camera though they have android app as well)
Yes the front light is very bright wont need a secondary and I can see it being a problem if pointed straight ahead, will report back later on the view I get with it angled down. The rear light is very funky and very bright wont need a backup light.

Hi, have you used this angled down yet? I'm seriously thinking of getting one of these.
Also, do you think the Fly6 would fit well on the rear stay. I use a Carradice bag on my commute and have no seat post showing at all.

 

[Arjimlad]

One advantage is when I arrive I can look back & ask myself whether the close pass really was a close pass, or was I being a wuss.

Like this one .. which was closely followed by another vehicle similarly close.

 

[mjr]

Like this one .. which was closely followed by another vehicle similarly close. View attachment 137711

That's not an argument for fitting a camera - that's an argument for fitting a rocket launcher! Or at least a flail!

The shoot most of you have to deal with

 

[marknotgeorge]

Funnily enough, long rides were probably another reason that I stopped using the go pro. Starting and stopping, plus not being able to review the footage (third gen gopro without a backpack) meant that I got better results from my hi def phone camera.
I feel like I should use the go pro as it cost so much to buy...but its just a bit of a faff.

Just saw this. I've used an app which stitches together the 3 minute segments my SJCAM records. Can't remember what it's called, but I seem to deal or was written by a Russian (they're big on dashcams over there).

 

[numbnuts]

For users of the SJCAM 4000 there is a waterproof case that will take a external battery, it makes the camera a wee bit wider.
You don't use the 12 volt cable ect, just use a mini USB to a power pack.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-W...33&sr=8-2&keywords=SJCAM+4000+motor+bike+case

 

[Nebulous]

I had an accident where a driver came through a giveway and hit me coming down a hill. He denied responsibility, the police were worse than useless, and if a motorist following me hadn't stopped and provided a statement I would have had great difficulty proving what happened.

Eventually with thanks to British Cycling I got a settlement and as well as a new bike I bought a Garmin Virb. I use it daily, on my helmet, on a very short commute. I rarely view the footage. Even where something has annoyed me I generally let it go and just delete it.

I've had three notable incidents in 18 months.

1. Van cut me up badly on a roundabout. Posted it on youtube, emailed a link to the company. A director emailed back, apologised and said the driver had been spoken to. I thanked him and removed it - same day.
2. A rubbish lorry ahead of me was behaving slightly erratically. I kept back. It pulled up alongside a fremale cyclist at a junction with traffic lights, pulled away at the same time as her then as soon as it crossed the junction it drew into the kerb causing a near miss, almost crushing her. I've kept the footage, but didn't post it as I didn't have her permission.
3. In a slow-moving queue, not filtering, a car pulled alongside me and gradually squeezed me into the kerb. I held my line. Passenger started shouting at me to get on the pavement. Driver then saw the camera and started ranting that if he saw his car on youtube I was dead. He then pulled back. I've never used the footage.

So 3 incidents in 18 months and a couple of thousand miles, only one which I have used. Generally I wonder why I bother keeping it charged and switched on.

 

[HarryTheDog]

@winjim and @GJT sorry I forgot about the angled picture stuff but I remembered yesterday, so with the camera angled as below

The road ahead looks like this , which I think is very good

with it flatter it looks like this, yeah he's a bit close isnt he.

The slight blurring in the foreground is probably due to me doing around the 25mph mark. (tailwind)