8 great apps for bikers

If you don’t go on a ride without your smartphone, you might as well put it to good use with one or all of these eight handy apps

Eat Sleep Ride

Eat Sleep Ride (ESR) is widely regarded as one the handiest apps for riders. It’ll record your speed, your lean angle and your elevation and regurgitate the info in maximum, minimum, current and average formats. It synchronises with your phone’s in-built maps function and saves routes along with the corresponding data, but probably the most impressive capability is the CrashLight function. This feature uses your phone’s accelerometer and gyroscope to detect if and when you’ve been involved in an accident, and then notifies up to three pre-selected contacts in your phone. You’ve got three minutes after the crash to deactivate the CrashLight feature before it alerts your loved ones or colleagues of exactly where the crash has occurred by voice, SMS and/or email.

iBoom

If you’re a rider who likes to stay connected while riding, either by phone, music, comms or navigational instructions, you’ll probably also understand that there are just some scenarios — usually of the higher-speed variety — where in-helmet sound quality greatly reduces. iBoom is an app that will boost your device’s volume capabilities by up to five times that of its standard function. And while there’s plenty of free sound-boosting apps out there, this one has a built-in sound recording function which can be exported later, that may or may not prove handy during a side-of-the-road altercation.

Dark Sky

If there’s one thing we’re probably all guilty of having too many of, it’s weather apps. But the Dark Sky weather app will ping you real-time weather notifications based on your current location. Gone could be the days of watching the ominous big black cloud and having to guess when will be the best time to pull over and don your wet-weather gear. Dark Cloud knows which road you’re on and in which direction you’re heading and at what speed. It has the same information, too, on that dirty big cloud up there and will send you a notification telling you exactly how long you have before you ought to be wearing your wets.

CoPilot

Between external GPS devices and the in-built and sophisticated maps software on modern-day phones, the old navigational apps have been a bit neglected. But if you don’t have an external GPS unit, then CoPilot can do something that your smartphone’s maps app can’t do – and that’s access maps when there’s no phone coverage. The maps within the app are downloaded directly to your device, which means a few things: it’s cheaper; it works in the middle of nowhere; and it’s not draining you battery as quickly. There are a few other cool features, too, like live traffic updates, speed camera notifications and the ability to share your location with friends and family — but you need to have phone coverage to ensure accuracy on these.

Track Addict

This is the track-day goer’s ultimate bragging tool. What was once a printed photograph from Eastern Creek’s Turn 2 or Phillip Island’s Lukey Heights is now a full-colour Point of View video with GPS information and telemetry data laid over the top. With over 800 circuits loaded into the app, you don’t even need to search for the circuit you’re at — the GPS already knows — and it’ll record speed, lean angle, acceleration, and braking during both sector and full lap timing. It’ll give you more stats and analysis than you’ll know what to do with, right down to analysing the consistency of the lines you’re taking. You’ve even got the option to live stream the telemetry data back to your garage, too, for that full-factory feeling.

MotoGP Live Experience

If you love MotoGP but can’t justify forking out for the all-singing and pricey all-access subscription, then maybe you ought to consider this. For a fraction of the price you get live timing of all testing, sessions and races, pre-season videos and interviews and, instead of actual race footage, you get to watch 20-something coloured dots moving around the track-shaped graphic. You can change your view, focus on a particular rider or set of riders or simply opt for an all-track-all-riders view. So it doesn’t give you that same edge-of-your seat anticipation that watching the real thing does, but it keeps you in the loop when you’re not in front of the telly.

Road Trip

Here’s one for the number-loving nerdy types (like us) who like to arm themselves with all sorts of useful and useless information when out on the road. The Road Trip app is aimed at passenger vehicles first and foremost, but it’s comprehensive no less. So as well as tracking info like your journey, time, speed and various associated statistics, it will keep a record of your fuel consumption at specific sections of your ride, breaking down the areas where you’re using more or less. It’ll keep your vehicle’s servicing and repair logs and alert you when your bike’s due for a service, it can track your expenses and break them down into a cost-per-day figure, and even tell you what your trip is costing per kilometre.

Bikesales

A blatant plug maybe but, all things considered, when it comes to handy apps for riders the Bikesales app is up there. Not only will it keep you in the know in terms of the latest news and information on who’s who in the two-wheeled zoo, it’s the best place to get your hands on a new bike – and who doesn’t love that? It doesn’t get much easier than snapping a pic of your bike and uploading it straight to our high-traffic classifieds section in order to make room in the shed for the new addition either. And if you’re not sure which bike you might like, check out our huge archive of comprehensive ride reviews.

ise Store will let you follow suit – there’s a wide range of jackets, fleeces, polo shirts, caps and more, along with all the regular Honda gear including the recently unveiled vintage-inspired range of clothing.

8 great apps for bikers

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