High-powered motorcycle vibrations might impact iPhone camera
support.apple.com
support.apple.com
(*) Edit: I was assuming that damage to the camera accumulates over time. If it happens on short time scales or as a single event as nicce's reply seems to suggest, this renders the notification idea moot ofcourse.
I used to like the sound of engines, still do, but I never understood the farty exhaust tbh.
Obviously higher speeds=higher wind noise; you might be fine < 35mph (~ 55kmh) in a city, but anything above that hearing protection is advisable.
"Measurements of motorcycle riding noise levels vary, but are generally around 85-95 dB at speeds up to 35 mph, climbing to 110-116 dB at 65 mph"
There was one who lived over the road from me a few years back who would rev his broken exhaust bike at 5am and wake everyone up. About three weeks later his motorcycle mysteriously caught fire in the early evening. There were people smirking out of their windows enjoying the schadenfreude. There’s still a puddle of aluminium melted into the ground where it died.
It's a lot like rolling coal[1]. No actual safety purpose, people do it simply to project insecurity and irritate others. Sometimes I think society is too tolerant of purely antisocial behavior, but I guess in the US everyone has the freedom to be a donkey.
Also, aftermarket exhaust systems for motorcycles (99.9% of these being much louder than stock/OEM) are a huge business: I'd guesstimate that 50% of motorcycles sold in the USA soon (< 1 year old) end up running aftermarket exhaust systems; it's a standard first modification done by almost all enthusiast owners.
Since laws are unenforced, it's also possible for dealers to upsell louder exhausts without even needing to visit a 3rd party shop.
Not ppl on motorcycles. As someone who has run straight pipes across two major cities never had an issue. A bunch of motorcyclists don't even have licenses lol.
Yes, but they're surprisingly recent, so most vehicles are grandfathered into "may still make a shitload of noise" levels.
Anecdotally, the people I’ve known with loud exhaust systems are not what you’d call “safety conscious”.
"It's okay honey, that man needed a psychological safety blanket.'
Ultimately, the best thing a rider can do is take total ownership over our safety - full protective gear, constantly taking advanced riding training courses, and above all - always riding at a reasonable speed for the road, visibility and traffic conditions.
I've known many conscientious motorcycle drivers but it's people like this that lead to emergency room doctors referencing "donorcycles".
>distracted by their phones
Have the roads gotten more dangerous in the past 15 years?
Also the issue people have with loud exhaust is not that it draws attention on the highway; it's that people use it as a tool to be obnoxious. When I lived in a small town I would regularly get woken up at 2am by some shmuck opening up on main street. The entire town would be woken up. I had the urge to chase them down. It's not good for anyone.
The comparison to toddlers is apt because we expect adults to be aware of the effects their actions have on others, and take steps to mitigate them in social reciprocity.
Throwing away the idea that people in cars don't impede their own hearing with radio stations and music; sound produced by engines is not fantastically directional to hear and mostly trails behind bikes (due to that being the location of the exhaust).
A motorcycle with loud pipes filtering right passed me fast in a two lane road while I was on the left lane, I was in my car. I am a former enduro rider myself and don't react when I hear a loud one, but the driver in front panicked as he was most probably didn't see him coming from his mirror, did a hard left, came dangerously close to barriers and did a hard right to correct, hit the motorcycle pushing him to the right lane. Motorcycle barely fit the space there and luckily didn't crash, but it was all happened on a very straight road with no one was turning or doing any movement, just straight driving.
After 15 years, I have enough confidence that being muffled or not does not make any difference to safety, people hearing the thunder but not seeing the source is equally lethal to a rider. I'd rather have proper training, constant wearing full body armored motorcycle clothes and a much lighter/cooler riding attitude (not saying you didn't have / do any of this).
The louder is safety is just a myth to not comply. Most of it is ego and show off in my oppinion.
The accident stats also fail to backup this idea, and even suggest that loud pipes might be giving some riders a false sense of safety and leading to more accidents than otherwise. https://canadamotoguide.com/2016/07/29/the-truth-about-loud-...
My bicycle isn't very loud though; should I be attaching a subwoofer t9 it because I'm around the same cars and trucks? So far, bicycling has been plenty safe without the loudness
So it sounds like you're saying that if your neighbor's bike can shake your walls at that distance, then the same sound could/would damage the phone at a smaller distance? I'm not confident either way on that, other than believing that resonance probably plays a large part when it comes to the acoustic vibrations. Apple also did not say that the phones would be damaged just by being near the bike, so they may not be affected by it (or Apple is omitting that part, which wouldn't surprise me)
https://www.quadlockcase.com/products/vibration-dampener
https://hondogarage.com/products/buzz-kill-vibration-isolato...
But I also had a quiet stock exhaust?
Probably the vibration in that situation didn't match the resonant modes of the camera components. It's probably a fairly rare event where everything lines up just right.
Though I do use a rubbery holder with good damping properties [1] and only recently moved over to a fixed one out of aluminum [2] for one of the phones, which could start causing this issue.
Yeah they actually go into more interesting detail than expected from a support article and detail how (not an expert so it could just be wool over my eyes Apple BS but doesn’t smell that way here) the OIS and closed loop AF work in that article.
Basically sensitive gadgets shouldn’t be exposed to certain frequency / amplitude combinations because sensitive gadgets rely on well, not being shaken out of whack.
Source: personal experience
Before someone asks if this could be "fixed": This is a desirable trait. It improves the frame stiffness of the vehicle, resulting in better handling.
You could trigger this on any oscillating “body” if that body is oscillating at a certain frequency and amplitude combination.
It just so happens motorcycle engines produce that combination. There would certainly be others. tHe sustained nature of the shaking would also be cause for concern but I didn’t see any mention of duration in the support article
No superbikes for you Apple users :D - recoils in anticipation of onslaught of downvotes -
In all fairness I expect it's going to be difficult to design anything with such small delicate moving parts to be invulnerable to arbitrary frequency vibrations. It can also be challenging to accurately model the resonant frequency response of composite "stuff" prior to manufacturing it (many bridges have failed). Better luck with the next model I guess...
(To be fair, my most preferred navigation method on long trips is to tape a piece of paper with handwritten notes to the fuel tank anyway.)
Nice to know I'm not alone. This is how I drive cars long distance (but without taping it to a fuel tank), smartphones are handy for quick short navigation, but I feel uncomfortable trusting it for longer journeys - I want to know where i'm going and how i'm going there.
The funny thing is that the act of writing down a summary of the journey, even with diagrams is usually enough for me to remember the whole thing.
This is well known.. planning navigation by reading maps engaged our brains actively.. following navigation basically makes us dumb spatially
Like, does the iPhone internally log strong vibrations sensed through the gyro/accelerometer to invalidate warranty claims?
I'm asking since most phones also have moisture stickers inside to invalidate warranty claims to to water damage.
I would lean heavily towards "yes".
The why, I guess we'll never know the real answer, but I remember rumours, years ago, of manufacturers denying warranty claims based on "dropped" devices thanks to the gyro data.
I hear people use amalgamation all the time, when the word they actually meant is amalgam, the result of amalgamation.
However, language is democratic, and the preference of people like you and me will be pushed into the proverbial footnotes over centuries as similar sounding words amalgamate into synonyms.
So why bother correcting people ;)
Well you may not be far tho.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/motorbike-riders-risk-impote...
On the camera side, a GoPro is fixed-focus and has a fixed aperture of (usually) f/2.8 and varies the exposure, shutter speed and frame rate unless set. There is no autofocus to damage. However, there are also no navigation apps for GoPro.
Oh boy I can see it now: Apple to unveil $500 All Aluminum Motorcycle Mounting Kit with vibration dampening sensors and hyper shock absorbing rubber.
Then we watch them do something incredibly stupid like pair the mounts to phones so you can't just unhook it and let a friend borrow it.
The segment and vehicles themselves are small enough that this changeover can be made fairly easily, with immense benefits for noise pollution in cities.
To automotive marketers this type of customer falls under "status seekers"
Around here, every cowboy with a V8 Challenger, Charger, Mustang, Camaro, or Pickup truck seems to have stripped off any semblance of "mufflers" because they want to "hear" their powerful V8 motor.
I live near a freeway entrance (and by "near" I mean at least 1/2 mile away), and out here, at night, when the freeways are more clear it's not too uncommon to have the silent darkness shattered by one of these cars opening up the throttle on the on ramp and racing to Vegas. Down the road is an interchange, and I've heard them start near me and just roar down the freeway, across the overpass and down the other freeway.
These cars are everywhere around here. Not to say the motorcycles aren't participants, but down here, the cars prevail.
Electric motorcycles have been here for years, nobody is adopting them because nobody wants them. They are closer to electric bicycles than they are motorbikes.
When I jump on my motorcycle, it is about the experience - not anything practical. The startup ritual, the heat of the engine on a cool day, the symphony of sound and vibrations, the weight of what is under you, the absolute bliss you feel shifting through the curves of the road, the adrenaline of masterfully coordinating lean, angle of attack, rev matching, and counter steer.
There is something incredibly dull about an electric motorcycle comparatively. They are practical, and I will admit the linear acceleration is fun, but with so much sacrificed I could never see myself owning one as a recreational vehicle.
The loudest motorcycle this year when in motion? An electric motorcycle.
This obviously not including aftermarket exhausts.
If you refer to e.g Asia where motorcycles are possibly your only transport, then sure; your argument is valid. But this is HN, and in Western countries a motorcycle is basically a hobby. Heck, they are often even more expensive to run than cars.
So as to why EV bikes are not even close to being ready:
(a) The range is abysmal, and the availability of charging simply isn't there in areas that many bikers venture (away from traffic, hundreds of miles into the hills). Motorcyclists try to avoid the interstate and main highways if possible. You rarely see a Zero bike for this and many other reasons. A proper ride may be 12 hours per day for hundreds of miles, for days on end.
(b) Battery mass. The energy per mass unit in even the best batteries make it very impractical with motorcycles that really need to be as light as possible.
(c) Longevity. A lot of bikers own not just one, but many motorcycles. You may have the latest BMW R1250GS, but also a garage littered with anything from KDX 200 to DRZ 400 and Honda CBR1000RR. Those bikes can still be used for years to come, and it doesn't make sense to scrap them. PS - bikes are generally not that reliable though, but that doesn't necessarily affect longevity too much as owners love to tinker.
That being said, I’ve only ever seen one EV motorcycle in China once (not just a big electric bike), it had unreal acceleration, I’m not sure it would be safe to ride.
But as (or if) the liquid fuel demand drops, you'll probably see the density of stations drop too. Both fewer pumps per station and fewer stations. But I suspect most areas will have some gasoline availability for at least my lifetime. Worst case, auto parts stores will carry 5 gallon jugs prefilled with stabilized gasoline. That would get a motorcycle around quite a bit.
For old-timers who hang onto their classic gasoline powered cars, they might need to plan trips around fueling stations, like natural gas drivers and EV drivers currently do. (EV is easier, you can always bring a 110V charger and wait a long time)
Bikers keep their rides for decades and
ICE motorcycles can last just as long and cars, if not longer, and
The price for entry on a new electric motorcycle is so far away from the price of ICE motorcycles it financially can not work for owners. And
There is little benefit to the environment to switch. Modern motorcycles have been sold with catalytic converters for decades, and they also get 40+ MPG.
Previous emissions standards for motorcycles were much lower than cars. To the point where a bike getting 50mpg and carrying one person output more pollution than a sedan getting 25mpg and carrying an entire family.
This has been fixed with Euro4's introduction for the 2017 model year (which is why so many bikes were redesigned that year with huge exhausts.)
Here's a 9 minute video that rebuts your 10 second unresearched, uninformed statement, with real data. Please watch it and become more informed about real ways we can improve motorcycles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2zlYpy6QCM