Givi 3-Case Locks replacement

Last year, when I bought my “MiG”, one of the very first purchases I made was the Givi Monokey V46 topcase to address my storage needs for commuting. The case fits my helmet and jacket, but when touring I found myself wanting some additional room for my stuff. This is why in the beginning of this season I also purchased Givi N21 sidecases. I don’t carry them often, but when I do, I end up carrying two identical-looking keys for my luggage, which sometimes causes confusion.

As it happens,  Givi sells a 3-case lock set with 6(!) Keys included. It’s only about $20, so I eventually pulled the trigger and got the keys shipped to me by Twisted Throttle.

The locks look almost identical to the ones installed in sidecases – the only exception is that the weather cover on the key hole is red in color as opposed to the usual chrome of the original locks. I had no problem replacing the locks: open the case, remove the retaining rig from the inside of the lock, replace the lock, and replace the retaining ring (the lock set comes with 3 retaining rings, in case if you lose the one you just removed)

The topcase turned out to be a little more difficult. The topcase lock is about 13.5 mm in diameter, while sidecase lock is about 12.4.

Luckily, a sidecases lock can still be used inside in topcase ( it wouldn’t work the other way), but it introduces some “play” and makes the lock feel less solid.

Additionally the base of the lock cylinder (near the key side) has a different pattern of protrusions ( they serve as stops for the cylinder when it rotates) which makes it so that the sidecase lock cannot be fully set in place which, in turn, translates in the cylinder not coming out enough on the other side of the lock assembly. This means that the face of the rotating latch had to have about 0.5 – 0.8 mm filed off before I could put the retaining ring back in its place.

Overall, I am glad I was able to fix the incompatibility of the new locks with the topcase, bit it would be nicer if the 3-case lock set came with compatible locks.

Indiana Putin – The Treasure Hunter

[should be read with balalaika playing Indiana Jones theme on the background]

Putin finds amphorae while scuba diving in archeological site. There is even a video. The amphorae were laying there for 15 centuries, waiting patiently until the Russian Super-Premier Vladimir Putin, who in his spare time performs heroics, such as shooting tigers and saving lives, would be around. They skillfully escaped all other archaeologists and divers saving themselves for the one and only – The Russian Leader, and at the right time, exposed themselves (which shouldn’t be surprising – they are not the only ones exposing themselves) to Him, from under layers of sand and/or sea life. They even prepared themselves by cleaning up, lest He swims by them without noticing.


Yeah, and those 1500 year-old amphorae are so solid, you can easily lift them by their handles.

My god…. unabashed, shameless example of yet another Potemkin Village. Or should we call it Putinkin Villages?

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ATC9K Review – Follow Up #2: Mount Options

It looks like Oregon Scientific realized where the weakness of their ATC9K camera is – the mount system. This morning I went to their site to look for a spare battery, and saw that they started selling two additional mounts!

UltraClamp Camera Mounting Kit

and

Fat Gecko Camera Mount with suction cups

Additionally, they’ve added an external battery charger and a standard mount kit which is available separately from the camera.

This is great news. As I wrote before, I believe that the mount options were the Achilles’ Heel of Oregon Scientific’s camera system. What I still would like to see is stronger connection between the Camera Clamp (the “hugger” that holds the cylindrical body of the camera) and Base Mount. They both are made of plastic, and I am just a little nervous about how well they will hold in more extreme conditions of Down Hill riding, or exposure to high airflow of motorcycle riding. If only the Camera Clamp was made of more substantial plastic and had a standard photo tripod screw thread!

What I also like about the setup is that the connection is the standard connection for photo equipment, which means that when you are buying the UltraClamp, it’s compatible not only with ATC9K, but also with other cameras, so you can use a point’n’shoot as well.

Additionally, it would be great if Oregon Scientific came up with sticky mounts like he GoPro’s which you could stick to places like car’s bumper or motorcycle’s swingarm for impressive video angles, leaving the mount there, and attaching camera to it when you want to make a video.

Original Review

Review Follow-Up #1

Wings & Wheels 2011 Salvaged Photos

I learn from my mistakes. One of the rules of event photography is always thoroughly test equipment before the event. Yours truly was too lazy to put a brand new 32 Gb card through its paces before CT Wings & Wheels shoot, and sure enough, the card failed and took good 80% of pictures. The previews of CR2 files indicate that files are ok, but the files themselves are corrupted.

Here are the few shots i was able to recover and pull off the previews: