Bike to Bike comms

[duckman]

I've seen some ads in the motorcycle trader for bike to bike and rider to pillion comms units. I think they were produced by uniden which I believe has quite a good name in electronics.

My question is has anyone tried this product out ??
The ad states that the microphone is good up to about 100mph and that the bikes can be up to 3km's apart.

Anybody care to comment ???

[Antallica]

DSE has some as well for $50... I think they were good for 2km.

Not bad, I was thinking of getting some, but then my mate trashed his FXR

I reckon they'd be a bastard, especially with high winds coming in youre helmet. Too noisy I reckon.

[duckman]

Yea, I had the same concerns with the wind but apparently the microphone (which is voice activated) is clear up to 100mph.

I was thinking how cool it would be to have a mate give you the all clear 2-3 kms ahead of your current position, and then go hell for leather knowing there are no cops or cars to worry about.

Probably just a recipe for disaster

[Dave]

I had one a few years ago, not very impressed.They would have to have come a long way before i would buy one again.
it would probably have worked o.k. on a cruiser but sportsbike fairings are too exposed. Imagine your normal helmet wind noise-now stick it into a mike,amplify it and broadcast it into the ear piece sitting beside your unprotected ear drum.

The one i had had and auto on mic,which is only supposed to activate when you talk,problem on a sportbike is the wind noise is enough to switch it on.

-besides if you wanted to hear the misses-you'd be in the car.

[bluninja]

I also tried a voice activated thingy a few years back. No problem with wind noise as such, but it took a while to activate. So you'd miss the first few words. After a while I counted out loud to 3 (almost my limit for counting) before speaking so that I didn't have to keep repeating. Handiest thing is for saying you need to pull in at the next services, rather than riding past and pointing to your tank....or to say that you have a problem and are stopping, rather than wait till they notice you missing at the next services. I had an acoustic one for use with the pillion, which was cheap and very effective......however....my wife insisted on riding pillion on a parade lap around Mallory Park racetrack....."Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh....oh my god...aaaaargh" she said "Shut up, I didn't want you on the back in the first place" says I (or words to that effect)....wonderful things intercoms NOT

TTFN

[wkid_one]

I always think it would be interesting to have onboard mikes to the SBK/GP riders like they do the V8 drivers - would be interesting in a crash!!!

Waste of time intercoms - can't see the point - picture this......all is well, come fanging in to a corner, set the bike up, going 11/10ths in.....then your mate goes...."kkkkkchhhhttt (the static), WATCH OUT - cop ahead" or similar - nice way to feck up your concentration me thinks in the middle of corner...

Anyway - how long is it between most usual stops when riding with people  - 100km??  Hardly worth it....plus I sing to myself when I am riding - not a pretty sound one would imagine and best kept to myself!

 

[Duke of Rogan]

I wonder a how voice activated cell phone with a snug headset would work?
would require both riders to have one, and you can only speak to one other person.
expensive alternative too I guess, and the missus might call you half way during your ride! (which is cool if she's riding with you )

[SPman]

They do have the option of a handlebar switch.....

[Pickle]

A couple of us bought headsets thru Pinfold Health services in Rotorua, radios thru Dick Smith they are activated by a switch on the handlebars. we use them when adventure riding mainly to warn of 4 wheel drives or gates that creep up on you. Earlier this year when we went thru Molesworth & back thru Rainbow we had 4 radios & between us had a range of approx 10kms. Used them again on a trip thru the forgotten highway to Whangamomana & the bridge to somewhere. Very handy when deciding which way to go, so you dont have to stop & have a big discussion on the side of the road. On the road they were good up to 140km/h which is as fast as the bikes could go & still very clear. Havent tried them with the 600's yet.

[Daniel9002]

What do the cops use on there bikes, Im sure they use radios on there bikes but they probably have switiches on there handle bars and not the usless Voice Activated system.

[CrankyPants]

The cops use the polise radio fitted to the bike and a PTT on the left bar of the bike, which is better than voice activated. they wouldnt want everyone to hear some of the things that all bikers say from time to time!!

[prettybillie]

Just be careful who you use them with - my ex kept turning me off.....maybe I have a bad singing voice or something

[Gremlin]

Do not use Voice Activated features (or VOX for short). Known to turn on with wind noise etc.

Take note of how you store the radios, I have mine lying down under the seat, which really cuts down on the range. Don't necessarily need line of sight for it to work, I used mine extensively for 13 days, but found over 130kph ish, the other bike needed to be in the mirrors to hear enough.

Other person wasn't using uniden (I was) but a cheap brand, so maybe a uniden to uniden system might perform better?

For my setup, I'm using uniden sx65 (or summat) radios, wired into a baehr system with push to talk (PTT). Basic set ups with cabling coming out of radio, to speakers, ptt, etc, seemed less reliable. If you stored the radio on yourself, the buttons could be pressed, cables come unplugged etc.

With baehr, I have one cable out from under the seat that plugs into the helmet (which is wired up with speakers and mic), the rest is wired into the bike, so much less to go wrong. Well... I guess if it does go wrong, I just have to pull apart the bike