Don’t look back

The Zona rear-view camera promises to change the way you ride your bike. How does it work?

IT’S A BOLD claim: “The way you ride your bike is about to change. Forever.” That’s what’s emblazoned across the Zona website and the box in which the device arrives. It’s a rear-view camera that wirelessly sends images to a display arm you fit inside your helmet.

I first saw it at the Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show: I arrived at the Zona stand, brimming with scepticism. Which lasted until I put on the demo helmet, which had a loop of a road view playing on the display arm. It didn’t interfere with my forward vision, wasn’t distracting as I wandered about the stand, but if I glanced at the display, there was a clear film of traffic following a bike. It was only a tiny 7mmx5mm screen, but it fooled the eye into thinking it was a good display, Maybe they’re onto something, I thought…

The first test

A few months after the show, I took delivery of a pre-production prototype. Fitting was effortless: a couple of minutes to attach the camera to a bracket behind the number plate and wire it directly to the battery, then a minute or two putting the eye-piece into the helmet. Job done.

Except, two problems: first, I was really

The second test

struggling to adjust the position of the eye-piece so I could see the display. I got it kind of set up but it shifted as soon as I set off and I did a 30-mile ride without getting much of a view. When I got off the bike, I found the second problem: the plastic number-plate bolts had released and I was left with the camera swinging on its power wire, rubbing on the back tyre. This hiccup turned out to be a good thing: the prototype was replaced with a production version. I repeated the set-up process, though this time I replaced plastic number-plate bolts with metal ones and nylock nuts and some threadlock

Now I got off to a better start. The camera stayed in place, sending its images to the receiver unit on the back of the helmet. It uses a tiny, closed wi-fi network and adjusting the camera was a doddle.

As before, though, the hard part was setting the position of the eye piece. I was using a Shark Spartan – the same helmet as the demo units at the London Show – but I found it hard to get the arm in the right place. When I did, I’d drop the internal sun visor, knock the arm and that was it… no visible images. I’d been trying to set it too far forwards: having it closer to my glasses helped and now I found I was able to actually use the Zona.

Except… Even when I thought I’d got the eye piece in the right place, I’d set off and find it had moved very slightly – but

enough to hide the image. It took a week of experimenting so I could use it for most or all of a 30-mile commute.

The third test

Once I was getting a degree of consistency with the Zona in one helmet, I switched to a new one. First my trusty Shark Race-r Pro – a race helmet without a dropdown sunvisor. Positioning was easier but the eyepiece still moved. This may have been because of the 20,000-mile liner so I replaced it with a new one: less movement and with more practice, decent results.

Then I tried it in a flip-front Shoei Neotech. The rigid arm was fine but there was little point setting it up before closing the chin-bar: too easy to knock. However, it worked well when riding with the flip up and when adjusted after closing the flip.

Up to now, I’d been positioning the eyepiece on the right. I tried moving it to the left and found it easier to set up, though I was now aware of it cutting into my peripheral vision slightly (I hadn’t noticed this when it was on the right). The screen detects it’s upside-down on the left and it corrects automatically, though I found it cut out a few times while riding, taking about two seconds to reboot.

The night test

The camera adjusts to light levels and headlights don’t dazzle but I found reflections on large expanses of tarmac made it unpleasant to look at.