Honda Roadsync - Why Bother?

[roadster]

Having just had the 1st service done at Farnham Honda I though it was time to look at online service history. This appears to be OK but only Honda dealers can enter data so its no long term substitute for my own notes etc. The dealer was good but I wasted an entire long morning travelling and waiting around for what is essentially an oil and filter change plus a few checks such as levels and tyre pressures.

I also decide to try the Honda Roadsync app. As I don't have a headset and don't want to provide a whole host of permissions to unknown third parties its of little use to me so I took it off almost immediately. It doesn't offer the one thing which could be useful which is remote tracking in the event of theft.

The ADV350 continues to impress and it almost has to be held back when taking off from rest. I had to rely on the ABS system when I pulled over in a short layby that turned out to be a slick of wet mud and it worked brilliantly. My EBC sintered front pads are now bedded in and give excellent and predictable stopping power for low lever effort. TCS sound like traction control system but is actually torque control system and it works in a smooth and seamless way unlike the kind of misfire effect on other makes.

[Andym]

Roadsync is just the gateway to allow controls on the handlebars to control other devices, no other real functionality, certainly none that aren't really available elsewhere. For a tracker you need a tracker, SIM card, GPS, landing page etc. It would be a poor design that connected a user interface with a security device.

It is a poor effort by Honda though. They've obviously let their Boomer dashboard designers at it instead of just licensing car play. The controls work but the menus are so slow and are laid out like a Betamax video recorder. I often choose to pull over and use the screen instead.

I accidentally discovered the one useful thing it does. It matches the dashboard clock to any device with a signal based clock. It resulted in me arriving in a rush at my hotel in Germany an hour earlier than I wanted to be, but come next weekend while everyone else tries to remember Honda's usual Casio based A&B, B with A, A, A, B.... sequence, or just takes the battery cables off a midnight, I'll just swipe OK on my phone.

The Old Girl had an argument with it . She texted. It replied that I was riding and would get back to her. She thanked it. It replied I was riding and would get back to her. She said she knew that. It replied I was riding and....

Andy

[mottza]

I find it works well to make calls, read messages, and skip the next track on my music. But I do have a headset.

[Greyerbeard]

Being a Grumpy Old Git who actually enjoys riding for the sake of it, without the distraction of music, phone calls etc, it's actually irrelevant to me!
Tbh, I far prefer the analogue instruments of the Forza to the ludicrously complex setup of the ADV. There's not even an engine temperature guage...

[Andym]

... the analogue instruments of the Forza ...

Maybe you know the answer to something that bugs me? Why the heck do Honda provide a rev counter? A massive amount of space wasted on the dash for something that I have no control over. Admittedly it's a more accurate speedo that the other one, but it's a lot of space for something that could be just two numbers. I'm guessing the dash internals are a leftover from a last century bike.

The current setup's are an interim. They've let old boys who'd like Smith's analogue act as gatekeepers. The end product is a fully user defined layout. No reason your display can't be an RPM needle and mine Google maps, just connect and select. Hopefully something like CarPlay becomes standard so every bike is the same access.

Andy

[roadster]

Andy has answered his own question in so far as it has an answer. When I am on a dual carriageway cruising at an indicated 7000 rpm I know that I am travelling at 70 mph rather than the inflated speedo reading. But its true that Honda have shown little imagination in their alternative display styles. When I am able to extend the experiments with full throttle acceleration it is the rpm readings which will tell me whether its worth trying some fancy weights in the variator; although to be honest I am probably too "mature" to bother!

[MrGrumpy]

Being a Grumpy Old Git who actually enjoys riding for the sake of it, without the distraction of music, phone calls etc, it's actually irrelevant to me!
Tbh, I far prefer the analogue instruments of the Forza to the ludicrously complex setup of the ADV. There's not even an engine temperature guage...

My complaint with the display is that there's far too much info, and its takes too much of my limited brain power to take it all in, apart from the speedo!

[Greyerbeard]

Maybe you know the answer to something that bugs me? Why the heck do Honda provide a rev counter? A massive amount of space wasted on
Andy

An often asked question - and my answer is always...
I use the rev counter as a power gauge! Around town, traffic speeds, I set it on 4k revs when starting off.
General use, if I want to take off a bit quicker, I set in on max. torque; 5,250rpm
If I want to hurry, I wind it up to over 6....