Zox Primo Com Helmet - Review

As my regular readers will know, I had a bit of a wreck in December. Since my HJC helmet smacked into the ground fairly solidly, I had to replace it. Since I had the opportunity to upgrade a bit, I went with a Zox Primo Com Bluetooth helmet. I've had this helmet since the beginning of January, so I've used it for a little while and feel that I can give a good overview of the product at this point.

Finding myself without a serviceable helmet, I went down to Lancaster Honda. I wanted something with Bluetooth capability, but didn't have a huge budget, so I was willing to go with another plain old HJC. Then I noticed the Zox.

It's a bit nifty looking with some pointy bits and pewter colored accents, and it has Bluetooth capability. Yes, I like that. I can listen to music, talk on the phone or whatever. It is DOT approved, including the EU DOT equivalent, but not Snell rated due to the odd ridges around the top and back, those same things that give it visual character.

After using the helmet for several months I have some observations:

The positives

• It looks cool
• It's comfortable
• Speaker volume is good enough, so long as you don't have a loud tailpipe (oops)
• The shell seems solid enough as does the padding
• Inside padding seems to hold up well over time.
• Easy to talk over the phone

The negatives

• Somewhat obtuse button controls
• Microphone pickup started getting dodgy after about three months
• Stopped charging at all after about four months
• The visor pops off easily when open all the way

That's right, the electrical components failed after only a few short months, but a huge positive was their replacement policy. With absolutely no questions asked, they replaced the helmet with a completely new one. I was impressed by the level of service. This one seems a bit better on the fit and finish front, so I'm hoping the last one was simply a lemon. What with their replacement policy though, I think I made. Fairly smart purchase.

So to recap, the helmet is fairly solid, and when the Bluetooth components work, it is fantastic. When the electronics failed, they replaced it. That right there impresses me please by itself. I inspected the electronics and the wires seem more firmly attached where the charging cord comes out. On the original helmet, the two thin wires inside the heat shrink were visible where they connected to the bluetooth unit. This is not so with the new helmet.

If I had it to do over again, I may have purchased something a bit more expensive, but the replacement helmet seems to have been better put together than the original, so I'm thinking I just got a lemon. If this one goes bad, I'll report, but as I said, it doesn't appear to have the same flaws as the previous one. 

Spring in my step (NCY Shock absorbers)

It seems the stock shocks on my Honda PCX-150 have worn themselves out. In the last few weeks, I've discovered that they no longer kept the scoot from bottoming out over bumps, even a few I would consider minor. The back end was also starting to feel a bit less secure in the corners.

So I have replaced the stock shock absorbers with NCY shocks that fit the PCX. The folks at Scooterworks were helpful in verifying that they would work on my scooter. I was hesitant because of the price, but what choice did I have, the stock shocks were pretty well dead and well, the PCX is my primary transportation at the moment since I don't want to drive up the miles on the Piaggio before I sell it.

They came in a cool looking box, with no tools and no instructions, but this was not a problem. If you want to see the install process, there's not much to see. I did a video overview, which covers the highlights, but doesn't show any actual wrenching since I didn't have a camera man.

The install process was simple and only required the removal of the under-seat storage bucket. This didn't take very long at all but was hindered a bit by the way I have the LED auxilliary lights wired. I did have to remove the rear rack and wing as well as the seat to get the bucket out. A matter of about a dozen or so bolts all together. Once the bucket was detached from the frame, getting the old shocks off and the new ones on in their place was a quick job.

They do look nice, and adjusting them was easy. The pre-load for the spring is adjusted with the upper collar. There is also a damper adjuster, though I didn't mess with that, and a knob at the bottom to adjust rebound. I started out with the middle setting, and after arriving at work decided that just a notch softer might be good. This seems to have hit the sweet spot for me.

The new shocks look good and they don't bottom out like the stock parts. We'll see how they hold up. They are NCY's so I'm expecting quality. There was a bit of a snaffoo with the delivery. They were supposed to arrive Friday, but UPS delivered them to the Amazon building in Lewisbury. The folks at Scooterworks were very pleasant and put the screws to the UPS folks and got my shocks back to where they were supposed to be. I'm not happy with UPS, but I'm very likely to patronize Scooterworks again.

Having only just installed these shocks today, I'm going to withhold a final judgement on them until I've had some time to get used to them and break them in a bit.

If you'd like to watch the video, you may find it below.

Ram Mounts, X-Grip IV Follow-up

With the various devices and accessories that I've reviewed in the past, it seems a good idea to come back to them after I've used them for a while, to give an idea of how well they have held up to use and abuse. Today we shall start with the Ram Mounts X-Grip IV cell phone mount.

Yesterday when I arrived at the YTI-MTC campus, my odometer rolled over to 8,000 miles. This is since August of last year. I purchased the RAM mount shortly after purchasing the scooter, so a fair portion of those miles have been accompanied by my HTC One M8 firmly ensconced in its perch above the handlebar.

Firmly indeed. I use the X-Grip almost every time I ride as my phone serves many purposes, from GPS, to music player, to camera. It has never slipped, not once. The rubber fingers on the spring loaded grip seem to bond with the rubber otter-box case, which means my phone doesn't budge.

The only small issue I've had is with the u-bolt slipping slightly at times, despite being as tight as I can reasonably fasten it for fear of crushing the handlebar or breaking the plastic bumper inside the U-bolt.

So, this is very short and to the point as my blog posts go, but if you need a sturdy option for mounting your phone to your scooter or motorcycle, the Ram Mounts X-Grip does the job and does it well. Certainly, there are other phone mounting solutions out there, but this is the only one that seems truly universal and with nearly as many miles of use as the PCX itself, it's never let me down.

The original review can be found here:

http://scootinfool.blogspot.com/2015/09/get-grip-ram-mounts-x-grip-iv.html

The fart can and you! (Leo Vince Corsa Exhaust)

Anyone who reads this blog will know that as a rider, I try to make myself noticeable. I often wear bright clothing while riding, have LED lighting on my scooter, and even wear a goofy muppet helmet cover, but in all this, something has been missing. Certainly, being visible is good, but what about being audible? This is something I have tried to remedy.

Enter the dragon. Ok, it's not a dragon, it's a Leo Vince exhaust. It was delivered on Wednesday and I installed it Thursday. I tried to do an install video, but due to some logistics, it didn't work out. I also tried to do some tunnel blasting to get a good sampling of the sound, but that didn't work out either because my phone picks up too much wind noise.

Just the same, the exhaust was successfully installed on my Honda PCX. It came with all the necessary parts, including a new exhaust gasket and a removable baffle/decibel reducer. Following the installation instructions was rather simple and once the bolts were torqued (not quite to full torque just to be safe), it was time to try it out.

I'd go over the list of good and bad with it, but I've already done so in my little YouTube video. Feel free to watch it below:one thing I will add, and I'm sorry for not mentioning this when I first posted this blog entry, the  fuel economy has improved just a hair, which is probably due more to the difference in weight from stock to aftermarket. The stock exhaust is a beast.

A tired old subject

It seems that every time you think you've done all you need to for vehicle maintenance for a while, something else comes up. Last week, I happened to look at the front tire on the Honda and noted an interesting tread wear pattern. 

For those who are unaware, this is called "cupping" or "scalloping." For more information on this phenomenon, there is a good discussion of it here. For those who do not at this very moment wish to follow the link, cupping occurs due to the force of the tread against the road surface, which pulls the edge of the tread surfaces up or otherwise forces the tread to be moved around. The close-up below shows this in better detail on my old Dunlop. 

Cupping on the front is generally caused by the stresses of braking, particularly heavy braking, while on the rear it would be caused by the stresses of acceleration. This can be worsened by improper inflation, though in my case, I've kept the air pressures fairly consistent, checking them at least once a week. The most frustrating thing about this is that the tire still had less than 7,000 miles on it when I noticed the cupping. 

So I bought another Michelin to replace the Dunlop. I have to say, I like my city grips. Even before the resin wore off the new front tire, the difference in grip and lean-ability of the scoot was evident. Just replacing the rear last month made a difference, but with the front changed now as well, the scoot feels noticeably different.

Tire condition and quality doesn't seem to be the focus of many motorists. Most people only get new tires when they absolutely have to. For a motorcyclist or scooterist, we have such a small contact patch on our tires "where the rubber meets the road" that overlooking tire condition can be life threatening. This is important, especially on the front where the rubber patch is generally the smallest and the braking force is the greatest. 

So, it's safe to say I'm sold on Michelin City Grips. They seem to be a very good tire. Dunlop, not so much.