It's the Journey

Published: Sep 5, 2008

Royal Enfield 500cc Bullet Deluxe Motorcycle

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BULLETPROOF BIKE Ever since 1955, when Royal Enfield opened its Chennai, India, factory, the rugged, easy-to-repair Bullet has been the go-to Himalayan touring motorcycle. (In 1997, after adventurer Renata Chlumska summited Tibet’s 26,289-foot Shishapangma, she rode her 500cc 1963 model 6,200 miles back home to Sweden.) But the last time Royal Enfield updated a bike was in ’55, which is why the arrival of the 500cc Bullet Deluxe, only a few hundred of which are available in the States, is reason to bust out the champagne and leather. In 2006, emission laws required the 107-year-old company to either stop production or revamp the powerhouse, which it did, switching to a more efficient, 80-mpg AVL Lean Burn engine—and leaving the rest as it’s always been. $5,000;

Hi-Def, Low Fat

Sony HDR-TG1 Handycam

Sony’s ten-ounce, titanium-shelled HDR-TG1 Handycam is one of the smallest hi-def video cameras you can buy. With its Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 10x-zoom lens, it captures 1920×1080 hi-def video and 4MP stills—and still makes your first digital camera (wow, a million pixels!) look obese. $900;

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Tough Cell

Neonode N2 Phone

The world’s smallest, most indestructible smartphone? We think so. The rubberized, smaller-than-a-deck-of-cards Neonode N2 is built to take a beating that would kill other phones and not miss a beat. Just insert any SIM card and you’ve got a two-ounce phone with media player, 2MP camera, Bluetooth, GSM tri band, and a shatterproof, vibratory-feedback touchscreen. $535;

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The Incredible Shrinking Camera

Sigma DP1 Camera

The Sigma DP1’s engineers had a vision: Elegantly cram the technology of a pro-level camera into a ridiculously small package. Witness their success: This king of compacts easily outguns the competition with built-ins like a wide-angle 16.6mm f/4 lens and an SLR-size (20.7×13.8mm) 14MP image sensor. Itchy trigger finger? $800;

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Moonglasses

TAG Heuer Night Vision Sunglasses — (Mark Wiens)

TAG Heuer’s titanium-framed Night Vision specs aren’t the first of their kind, but their pedigree is unsurpassed. Developed for 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance-race drivers, the ophthalmic, anti-glare lenses amplify contrast and reduce eyestrain at night, for superior depth, clarity, and safety on the road. From $430;

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It’s the Journey