C 400 GT: Ride Videos Thread, Anyone?

wspollack

Active member
I've posted a separate video or two before, but I thought maybe it would be better to start a single thread for videos.

So I'll start with one I made during a goofing-off day yesterday on my '22 C 400 GT. I did a loop (clockwise), dropping in for a visit to some friends in Poland (that's the squiggle in the upper left):

Screenshot 2023-05-10 at 6.40.13 PM.jpeg

I returned through part of the six-million-acre Adirondack Park, and here's a chunk of the ride south in there:

 

wspollack

Active member
Okay, I'll add some more -- trying to encourage some of you other scooter riders here.

Yesterday, a shortish ride to lunch in Middleburgh, NY, a couple of counties west of me.

Screenshot 2023-05-11 at 5.52.05 PM.jpeg

And here are a couple of after-lunch videos:


 

mzflorida

Active member
You're hitting it pretty good Bill! Looks like a lot of fun. Seeing some of your lean angles and speeds really is convincing that this is the right one for me. The one I have a deposit on is also calysto gray.
 

wspollack

Active member
You're hitting it pretty good Bill! Looks like a lot of fun. Seeing some of your lean angles and speeds really is convincing that this is the right one for me. The one I have a deposit on is also calysto gray.
Thanks for the kind words.

But wait a few minutes -- I have a sad maintenance issue to post.
 

wspollack

Active member
What camera are you using?
I'm using a GoPro Hero11 Black this season. I have a two mounting pics in my gallery, starting with this one, that show the pieces involved:


The pics show a Hero9, but the mounting is exactly the same with the 11 this year.

I got the 11 in late Oct. last year, so had my choice of the 9 or 11 (or, on one ride, both) at the end of last season. This year, I'm just using the 11.

Ur, um, this may seem like overkill, but I have a Hero4, 7, 9, and 11 now. The jump from 4 to 7 added telemetry (GoPro added a GPS chip with the 5 series), the 9 added a direct-reading gravity vector (lean angle) sensor, and the 11 added a quicker locking-on GPS chip and a better video sensor (and GoPro made me offer I couldn't refuse on that one, as a prior customer -- $200 off). Of course, there were other assorted improvements along the way, but those were the driving factors for me.

And I use Telemetry Overlay (TO), https://goprotelemetryextractor.com/telemetry-overlay-gps-video-sensors , for adding the gauges from the embedded GoPro data, and Movavi Video Editor for transitions when I chop out chunks, etc. TO is the cat's whiskers, highly recommended, as I've used older software from GoPro and HP Tuners, but nothing comes close to the sophistication and ease of use of TO, in my opinion.

And, in terms of hardware, I've been using a PanaVise suction mount for half a dozen years or so. And one of my favorite, little-known, pieces of hardware in the middle is an Ulanzi quick-release gizmo; this allows me to remove the camera for lunch stops, etc., in approximately two seconds, and then, after lunch, put it back in exactly the same position in another two or three seconds.

If you don't want to record the entire day, and want to create some very interesting effects, you might want to consider a 360° camera. Take a look at this 15-minute video from Scooteria, a scooter vlogger I follow (and if your German isn't top-notch, just turn on the translate/CC option):


Those 360 cameras require even more post-processing time and effort to get what you want, so I don't see them in my future. But they certainly can generate some nice effects, and show side views (and lots of other views), etc. It's a well-made video, demonstrating all those capabilities.
 
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mzflorida

Active member
Thanks Bill. I like the speed and angle data elements.
Thanks for the kind words.

But wait a few minutes -- I have a sad maintenance issue to post.

I saw your other post about the coolant leak. I can imagine how frustrating being without the bike must be for an enthusiast like yourself. I get it completely.
 

wspollack

Active member
Thanks Bill. I like the speed and angle data elements.


I saw your other post about the coolant leak. I can imagine how frustrating being without the bike must be for an enthusiast like yourself. I get it completely.
Thanks for the thought.

I'll get over it. If it really takes a month*, that translates to only about a dozen rides for me, because I only ride weekdays, and then never five days per week, what with rain, rest days, and so forth.

* I hope to hear from the local GM on Tuesday, and maybe he can bump up the service schedule. In any case, I'll have a full blast of riding in July, because I'm booked for https://www.edelweissbike.com/en/touren/?c=CUA then.
 

mzflorida

Active member
Thanks for the thought.

I'll get over it. If it really takes a month*, that translates to only about a dozen rides for me, because I only ride weekdays, and then never five days per week, what with rain, rest days, and so forth.

* I hope to hear from the local GM on Tuesday, and maybe he can bump up the service schedule. In any case, I'll have a full blast of riding in July, because I'm booked for https://www.edelweissbike.com/en/touren/?c=CUA then.
What are you going to ride while you're there? They seem to have a very nice fleet.
 

wspollack

Active member
What are you going to ride while you're there? They seem to have a very nice fleet.
Edelweiss does indeed have a very extensive fleet, but I won't be riding any of the 30 or so bikes listed for that tour.

Instead, by special arrangement, I'll be riding a C 400 X. See this post from a few weeks ago for my explanation:

 

wspollack

Active member
2022 BMW C400GT - 100 Mile California Coast and Mountain ride - Shot on Insta 360X3
I love those 360° cameras, and all the effects you can do. I think you demonstrated them all pretty nicely, even that effect that looks like a little globe. I also get fascinated by being able to see the shadow of the support stick on the road, yet the stick itself is rendered invisible.

Nice demo, and it looks like you had fun!
 

wspollack

Active member
I had completely forgotten about having started this thread half a year ago.

Since then, if anyone's interested, I have put up a lot more -- 73, I believe the count is! -- videos of my riding not my C 400 GT but instead riding a rental C 400 X this (2023) past July.

I was on an eight-riding-day Edelweiss "Ultimate Alps Tour" (not to be confused with their five-riding-day Alps Touring Center tour, which I did in 2019, on a Niken), and badgered Edelweiss into letting me ride one of their C 400 X scoots. That bike is normally available (along with a Vespa 300) only on one their four "[Such and such] By Scooter" tours (two of which I did, with my wife riding pillion, in 2022 -- this time I went solo, because my wife would not have enjoyed this non-tourist-stop hardcore tour).

In any case, I recorded the full ride each day, on the C 400 X (see camera suctioned to the windscreen):

2023-07-20_07-26-45.jpg

Then, I extracted a few "highlight reels" from each day, and put them up in a gallery of videos and photos (which I just finished a couple of weeks ago):


The videos are nowhere near as slick and interesting and well-edited as the 360° one that @rafgram just posted. Nor can you see what's to the side of or in back of the camera, which is part of the trickery that the 360° cameras can perform (at the expense of a dealing with a lot of data, requiring a lot of dedicated editing time and effort). In fact, my videos might be considered downright boring compared to that 360° one, except that the scenery in the Alps is absofreakinlutely gorgeous.

If you want to start with a couple of 20-minute ones, and see what you think, two of my favorites are the Up and Down versions of the Furka Pass (which are in the Day 3 group).
 

byee

Active member
The front protective cage on the c400x is very sharp looking.

Would you happen to know the manufacturer? It’s definitely not Wunderlich
 

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wspollack

Active member
The front protective cage on the c400x is very sharp looking.

Would you happen to know the manufacturer? It’s definitely not Wunderlich
Yes, they're a genuine BMW part. Scroll way down on this page:


Here's a screen grab:

Screenshot 2023-11-22 at 8.14.11 AM.jpg

That is, for some reason, BMW offers crash bars for the front end of the C 400 X but not for the slightly different front end of the C 400 GT.

In addition to the Ultimate Alps Tour this past July, in May of 2022 I also rode C 400 X models for the Edelweiss Tuscany and Vienna tours, and those scoots had the same OEM crash bars. That is, it looks as if Edelweiss equips all of its C 400 X scoots -- they probably have half a dozen of the C 400 X, but none of the C 400 GT -- with those crash bars.
 

wspollack

Active member
If anyone's interested in wasting a few minutes, and to continue this thread that I started about a year ago ...

I went out for my second ride of the season two days ago, backroads down the west side of the Hudson River, and then backroads back up the east side:

Screenshot 2024-03-15 at 9.53.02 AM.jpg

Here are two consecutive snippets of that ride, shortly after heading back north:


 
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