Go and get a RooTED

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#1
Roo Technical Electronic Device or RooTED (for want of a better name)

Some of you may have read this on FarRiders forum a month or so ago.

Philmor mentioned in his recent post that he might be tempted to try this device when his bike is repaired after hitting a Roo at the weekend down at Wilsons Prom. This is what he was referring to.

When wildlife is around while riding I use to sound the horn a lot and it does seem to influence some roos to rethink which way to jump, and usually they will go away from the bike.

About 2 years ago I had a thought if a reverse beeper (the beep beep type) would have any influence on wildlife. So I mounted a reverse beeper to a bolt onto the front of the engine but it faced the left side (more sound to the left than right and behind fairings which seemed to muffled the noise output). I was never happy with where I had mounted it but gave it a go over a few rides. Both Lynne the Pillion and I did notice that Roos on the left did appear to hear it and move away, less so on the right although I remember 1 just stand there and shake his head, as if his ears were aching. I ended up removing the reverse beeper and went back to tooting the horn.

Now, some of you may remember back when I got mild Hypothermia whilst riding into Roma last winter. The next night we spent at Cunnamulla and we got talking to a local Farmer about riding in roo invested areas like Cunnamulla. I jokingly said I think a Rifle mounted on the front of the bike would do the trick and the bang would make them bounce away. He doubted the noise of the rifle would, as he said he has tried many different caliber rifles over the years but the roos tend to get use to the noise and just stand there. He then began to tell us that he hasn’t hit a Roo with his ute in 20 years out that way. My ears pricked up when he mentioned he put 2 reverse beepers on the front of his ute, he was surprised I didn’t laugh at him, in fact he said I am the first person he has told this story to who hasn’t laughed in his face. I told him of my earlier experience with a reverse beeper but that I had taken it off. He said his theory is that you need to emit a sound that roos don’t hear all the time.

So fast forward to the Davo Memorial Trail we rode late last year. I mounted the reverse beeper again, this time facing straight down the road next to my left top driving light, with a rocker switch operated by my left thumb.

I mounted the RooTED near my top driving light



The rocker switch mounted here. I used a switch I already had, the plastic is to try and keep water out of it.



Since then this is what we have found when I have the beeper turned on. Note I still back off or brake if necessary when wildlife is around.

Roos that have been close to the edge of the road have all bounced away for the bike.

Emus have all turned away from our path also. We have seen a probably a few hundred Emus do this, but they did have chicks in tow, not sure if that makes a difference?

Flocks of Birds that come at us from the edge of the road especially in the morning or later in the day do some funky flying to get away from the bike. Both of us have been impressed with the bird reaction.

Last Saturday on the way to the GFR at Marlo with Hackle close behind and our RooTED switched on there was a Deer very close to the road, he only moved away when I had braked to about 20kmh, not sure if he would have anyway?

Would I trust the RooTED system and not brake if I saw an animal that I felt could come in our path. No.

Do I think it will stop a Roo that is coming from the side at full speed. No

Cost is very low, simple to mount and wire up and if it stops 1 contact, well could be worth a try.

With the RooTED switched on, I find that I can concentrate more of what’s going on around me than when I have to make the effort to press the horn button.

I leave the RooTED switched on for long periods now at sunrise, sunset and at night, and I don’t hear it over the music I always have playing. I turn it off in towns.

So if you want to get RooTED, get yourself a loud reverse beeper and a water proof switch from your local Automotive store, wire it up (only a positive and a negative required, I suggest you run an inline fuse on the live wire ( you could run it through a relay if you want) and try it for yourself and let us know your findings.
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#2
Update, last weekend

Call me stupid but I wanted to find an area with lots of Roos in one place and ride in it with the RooTED switched on.


But where to go? Then I thought of Philmor and Joymor's unfortunate recent impact with a Roo on their way to the green FarRide at Marlo. This occurred down at Wilsons Promontory on the main road between Yanakie and Tidal River, this is Kangaroo heaven down this area.

I was joined by Philmor and Macca who both decided to come along for a bit of fun!


We arrived down the Prom around 5.30am just before sunrise, perfect timing for this test. I had the RooTED turned on and were riding up to the speed limit of 80kmh and I passed many Roos, maybe 20 -30 within 4-5 meters from the my bike? Each of them were on the side of the road and they either stayed still where they were or jumped away from the bike.

Ironically as I approached the Tidal River camping area doing approx 15kmh, I switched the RooTED off so I didn't annoy the campers and within 50m a Roo bounced from my right side in a leisurely way across the front of my bike missing me by a meter or so.

What a fun morning..
 

tj189

Premier Member
#3
An interesting result from your experiment.....now to confirm your findings, you may need to ride to a number of other roo infested locations ;) Thanks for posting this up Fatman, things like this offer a different viewpoint for others to discuss. :)
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#5
An interesting result from your experiment.....now to confirm your findings, you may need to ride to a number of other roo infested locations ;) Thanks for posting this up Fatman, things like this offer a different viewpoint for others to discuss. :)

Always happy to do more riding in the aid of Roo science. :confused:
 

Marls

Well-Known Member
#6
RooTED good info.
"...Now, some of you may remember back when I got mild Hypothermia whilst riding into Roma last winter. The next night we spent at Cunnamulla and we got talking to a local Farmer about riding in roo invested areas like Cunnamulla. I jokingly said I think a Rifle mounted on the front of the bike would do the trick and the bang would make them bounce away. He doubted the noise of the rifle would, as he said he has tried many different caliber rifles over the years but the roos tend to get use to the noise and just stand there. He then began to tell us that he hasn’t hit a Roo with his ute in 20 years out that way. My ears pricked up when he mentioned he put 2 reverse beepers on the front of his ute, he was surprised I didn’t laugh at him, in fact he said I am the first person he has told this story to who hasn’t laughed in his face. I told him of my earlier experience with a reverse beeper but that I had taken it off. "" He said his theory is that you need to emit a sound that roos don’t hear all the time."" ....."
BUT I'm with the farmer, and if we all had them, then what? sounds like they'd need to be individual.
 

John negus

Well-Known Member
#7
Hi all..i wonder if a hee-haw claxon (like french police cars) would be a consideration..obvious problem would be how to tone down the volume. I have a screaming Banshee horn fitted and on the night trip cobar to broken hill to the muster stopped using it as the roos just scattered everywhere..(RPM's were off the scale that night). I found that night that slow and steady was the best result as the roos in my sight didnt panic or run all over the place..im giving this beeper system a trial ln my newly acquired tenere..cheers and yippee..jn
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#11
Also watching with interest, anything that helps reduce strikes is a winner for me, I'm sick and tired or either knocking em over or running over them!
Interesting. Seems like reasonable logic. Will keep watching with interest.

For the low cost, why not go and buy one and stick it on your bike and try it for yourselves, that way we get feedback from a range of riders.
 

John negus

Well-Known Member
#14
Hi All..have ordered a reverse beeper kit...watch this space ..my riding buddies are all falling about laughing..we'll show em..cheers and yippee..jn
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#17
RooTED Update:

Last Saturday was the FarRide to Lightning Ridge NSW, now that is a good test for Roo defences I thought to myself.

Lynne the Pillion and I went up from Deniliquin to Cobar Friday which saw lots of Roos (Hundreds) each jumped away from the bike, none went in front of us, I was probably down to as low as 60kmh at some spots. I had to brake for some Emus that didn't know which way to go.

Then from Cobar to Bourke at dark oclock on Saturday morning, we saw approx 100 each jumped away from us. Big Mama Pig and her 4 little Piggies made a run from our left which I had to brake hard for to allow them to live another day. Nev followed us in this section, I think we cleared the road for him.

Now the big test was Sunday morning when we left Lightning Ridge at 4.30am. There were thousands of Roos bounding everywhere you looked. Only 2 jumped across approx 60m in front of us making me brake, 1 other jumped into the light path and followed the light up the road, he eventually exited after being fried by our 4 Ericas.
All the others jumped away from the bike and I think they would have kept bouncing into the paddocks but for the fence line 50m from the road on both sides which they jumped along as we went past. I found my speed though here was comfortably around 80-90kmh and occasionally dropping it down as necessary.

We are both very happy having RooTED on the bike. Try one for yourself. Hackle spent $35.00 for the reverse beeper, waterproof switch and all required to wire it up, not a lot of money that may safe 1 hit, or many heart in mouth moments.
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#20
Ok what brand of beeper you got and do you have photo of where you fitted it?
Brian, not sure what brand mine is as I removed it from my ute to try on the bike. The reverse beeper is at least 10 years old.

If you look at the pics in the earlier post, I mounted the unit near the top LED light, only because it was easy to bolt on there. As the beeper sound seems a lot louder if you stand in front of it as opposed to the side, I made sure mine is pointing straight down the road.