Best motorcycle gadgets and accessories | Improve your riding experience

We live in a digital age where we can’t really get by without technology. There are lots of gadgets and accessories on the market now that aim to make your riding experience easier and more enjoyable. Some are aimed to capture our experiences, others are designed to help us find our way, but with so many choices of each, what’s worth considering? We’ve tested and reviewed various accessories to help you choose.

Sat navs

Let’s face it, pretty much all of us rely on a sat nav to get around these days. If you like to adventure and ride outside of the area that you know well, a sat nav is a great piece of technology to help prevent you from getting lost. But with so many options to choose from, what should you be looking for?

It’s important that the display is clear and concise as you don’t want to be distracted from the road. Also consider if you require bluetooth connectivity for audio to an intercom system. Ultimately the choice will come down to your particular requirement of features but we have tested and reviewed some motorcycle sat navs to help you to decide.

If you are looking for something less loaded with features and more discreet, perhaps if you ride a vintage or retro styled motorcycle, then something like the Beeline Moto II might be more your style.

Another option that is very popular is to use a smartphone mount to fix your phone to the front of your bike and use an app for navigation instead. Quadlock are currently considered the best in this field, offering various options of mounting points, vibration dampeners to avoid damage to the internals of your smartphone and wireless charging options.

Intercoms

If you are not the sort of rider than thrives on the solitude of the silence that a helmet can bring, then you may be looking to get yourself a motorcycle intercom unit to keep yourself connected to your smartphone. Intercoms allow you to listen to music, hear navigation directions and communicate with others in your riding group.

Some intercom units are universal to fit most helmets, and others are a specific integrated fit for a particular helmet brand. Something to bear in mind is how many riders you may want to connect to as some units are limited are limited to two connection, or four and so on. Check the range too, some units are limited to around 1/2 km while others work up to almost 2 km.

Find the latest intercom from Cardo with the Packtalk Pro review

Action cameras

In this day and age, social media is a huge influence and more and more people are recording their rides to post online or simply as a second pair of eyes should there be an incident. Most action cameras record in 4K resolution but the Insta360 X4 now records in 8K.

Heated grips

If you are someone that feels the cold on those winter rides but don’t want to have to wear chunky gloves you should consider fitting heated grips to your bike. Wired directly into the bikes power circuit, once fitted these are a pretty hassle free alternative to heated gloves.

Other useful gadgets

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How MCN tests gadgets

At MCN, our team of expert journalists have decades of experience gained over hundreds of thousands of miles. We don’t test our jackets to destruction; we use it exactly how you do, in the real world and in all conditions. That means we can deliver impartial buying advice you can rely on.

Each of our writers has an in-depth understanding of the needs of today’s biker… because they are one.

To find out if a gadget is worth spending your money on, our testers use them in the way you will. That means listening to music, making and taking phone calls, using the app and everything else it’s capable of, using sat navs to explore and so on.

If you can’t see a review against an item on this page, it’s because we haven’t tested it yet. These items will only be included if we think they’re important and relevant in the market, and rest assured, we will be working on bringing you a review as soon as we’ve done the miles.

To find out more, head to our dedicated page explaining how we test motorcycle products.

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What our star ratings mean

When we review a product, we award it a score out of five. In the ratings tab of a given product, you may also find more specific scores for the different aspects of a product’s performance to help you make an informed decision. Here’s a guide to what each number score means:

• 1 star – Poor performance in this category or overall. A product with a single star rating has fallen below the expected standard and should be avoided.
• 2 stars – Basic performance in this area or overall. A product with a two-star rating has managed to perform to a barely acceptable level and there is room for improvement.
• 3 stars – An average performance in this area or overall. A product with a three-star rating has achieved a basic level of performance and is deemed adequate.
• 4 stars – A product has performed over and above the accepted averaged in this category or overall. A product with a four-star rating has surpassed expectation and delivered in a particularly impressive way.
• 5 stars – A product has performed at the highest possible level in a particular category or overall. A product with a five-star rating has delivered to the highest possible level, impressing the tester with its performance. We would happily spend our own money on it.

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