LONGTERMER KAWASAKI NINJA 1100SX SE

We live in a world, it seems, where everything has an app for our smartphones to connect to.

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From a fridge that can let you know when food levels are getting low to bathroom scales that rudely announce via your phone that your body fat percentage from all your midnight snacking is the reason why the fridge is most likely empty.

So, naturally, it makes sense that a brand-new motorbike should also have an app - and, as it happens, there is one for the Ninja called Rideology.

This is one app I did allow myself to get a little excited about, but at the risk of sounding spoilt, I was left feeling that there was room for improvement. After you download the app and do the usual scrolling through the T&Cs to agree to everything, syncing the phone to the bike was quite straightforward through the settings on the bike's screen. What I did find after pairing was a log of information, such as miles covered, speed/fuel averages service history and a few other bits. Most of this is, however, available direct from the bike's display. There is also an option to log rides, which I have not opted for as a live location from your phone is needed for this to work and I already suffer with crappy battery life. When it comes to shorter rides, I don't want the faff of plugging it in to keep it charged.

On the bike's display is a notification when you receive a message or call by way of a small icon in the bottom right - but that is all, really. What would have been a massive bonus is the option to have some navigation, even just a simple turn-by-turn function. As it is, I'm not really missing anything and so despite how it may appear, I'm not going to dwell on this... but let's just say it could be a little better.