Insidebikes Christmas Gift Guide
Added on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Insidebikes Christmas Gift Guide
Mention it quietly, but there are just 15 shopping days left until Christmas and if you haven’t picked up those gifts to the bike fan in your life, time is running out.
Judging by the amount of bulging shopping bags at the NEC Bike Show last week, the bargain hunters were out in force over the two weeks but if you still couldn’t find the ideal gift for that member of your family who seems to be impossible to buy for (and let’s face it, most of us have at least one), we’re here to pick out some of the more interesting and some of the more bizarre Christmas gifts for 2010.
Toys
For the big kid in the house, motorcycle toys are all that they are really after and this year, whether they are a MotoGP fan or more of a stunt rider, they’re more or less covered.
Fans of MotoGP can pretend to be just like Casey Stoner, riding through the hills of Laguna Seca or the forest around Brno, expect they’ll be riding across the kitchen floor with this Ducati Desmosedici R/C Bike. This remote control bike even leans into the corner like a real MotoGP rider, making it the perfect inspiration for any budding Valentino Rossi.
If you prefer your motorcycling with more of a “gravity defying” edge to it, then the Evel Knievel Rip Pull might be more to your tastes. For less than a tenner, you could pretend to be the late, great stuntman himself, launching yourself into the air, jumping through the ring of fire and, most likely, crashing into the skirting board. The bonus however is that you won’t have to worry about explaining that on your motorcycle insurance claim form!
Cameras
Bikes aren’t just a case of getting from point A to point B, they’re a licence to explore the world. So if you’re touring the country, if not Europe and further afield, why not document your travels on video?
Bike-mounted cameras have become big business in recent years, primarily due to the increasing affordability and reducing size of digital camcorders. Today, it’s relatively cheap and easy to fit a small digital camcorder to your motorcycle, record your travels and then download the footage to your PC, without having a clunky box getting in the way.
If you’re looking to capture where you are going in real time, then a front facing camera mount that sits behind the front visor is the obvious choice. If however, you watch the MotoGP coverage from the cameras that point directly at the rider’s backside and think “that’s what I want to see on my bike”, then you’re also catered for.
Sat Nav
If you are going touring with your bike rigged-up with cameras, then you don’t want to have hours of footage of you getting stick in dusty fields in the middle of nowhere or the thrill ride that is taking the wrong turning on the North Circular.
The market for bike satellite navigation systems still isn’t as competitive as it is for car-based systems but the two major players, Garmin and TomTom, both offer systems that tick all of the right boxes.
There’s little to choose between the Garmin Zumo 660 and the TomTom Rider although riders planning a trip to Europe in the near future may lean towards the Garmin.
Gadgets
So what else is there for the biker in your life? Well, given almost every website on the planet now has some mention of the iPhone, we better mention the iBike.
This nifty little case takes care of your iPhone or iPod Touch whilst it’s strapped to your sleeve, allowing you to keep your phone protected whilst still allowing you to use the GPS functionality, if you have any mapping or navigation software installed.
If you’re buying iPhone and camera based products, the chances are that you’re constantly searching out any spare USB ports on your PC. Yes, you’ve guessed it, there’s even a motorcycle themed solution for that.
The USB Motorcycle Engine Hub fits firmly into the “novelty that will soon become quite irritating” category but for a few hours at least, your resident computer genius won’t be able to help himself from pressing the throttle and making it rev. Don’t believe us? This video will prove it:
Other ideas
Still stuck for ideas? What about tickets to this year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone? Despite the decision to switch from Donington not being the most popular decision ever, Silverstone are working hard to win motorcycle fans over, as anybody who visited their stand at the NEC Bike Show will testify. Race day tickets are priced at £55 whilst weekend tickets, covering Friday practice, qualifying and the race, start at just £60.
Don’t forget to visit our New Products section for even more inspiration this Christmas and whatever you buy, have a very Merry Christmas from everybody at Carole Nash.
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