Bit of a polling, here. I recently got my parents back into riding, and they're amping up their involvement as time goes by, building up for longer trips and the like. Right now they're looking into a bike to bike communication system. They have a Midland handheld model with a belt clip, and they're going to get the Midland motorcycle headset with PTT to go with it. (May have a post from my Dad to put in the Product Reviews thread in a week or so)

Anyway, I'm curious what, if any, systems people are using for bike to bike communications? I know all about the hand gestures!! Use a few myself... But what about electronic solutions? And how do you feel about the brands you're using?

Thanks,
Heath

 

Last year I decided I wanted to explore bike-to-bike and rider-to-passenger comms. I already had some decent Motorola Talkabout GRMS units I use for hunting, so my search was for mic/speaker options. I primarily wear a half helmet, so the many boom mic and speaker units were not an option. Long story short, I ended up buying the IASUS Concepts, Noise Terminator 2. The unit is a throat mic (like a half a choker collar) and an in-ear acoustic coil speaker. The unit has PTT and VOX capabilities.

Things I like: Price; Last year I bought 2 of these units on ebay, I think I paid $38 a piece. You get zero wind/ambient noise from the throat mic. I wear the whole unit; I don’t have to plug-in or unplug when getting on or off the bike. Small size; you could store this unit in a double CD size case.

Things I don’t like: When really rolling on the throttle it is hard to hear. Although, with the SE IIs and a half helmet, I’m not sure I could hear any like unit. Sometimes the wife can get a little chatty. [sm=icon_blah.gif] Ohh, sorry baby. [sm=icon_beat.gif]

IMHO, 2 thumbs up for this unit.

John

 

My retired neighbors are atv enthusiasts and they use frs 2-way radios with ear pods and mic. They are very happy with them. You can check out a product called the "chatterbox". Its a top of the line communication system. I have talked to people who own them and they are impressive. Be prepared to pay dearly for them though. Here is a link, http://www.hjc-chatterbox.com.

 

Good ol' CB...you can have 20 bikes on the same channel and no freq. probs between brands.

 

Already had a pair of Kenwood TK/250 Transceivers from previous job so decided to try and use them as Bike to Bike. I found a site on the internet that would make me two complete headsets (Microphone, two earphones & PTT Button) all for £59.98 ($103)

I went to a local electronics shop and bought some more coiled cable & 6pin mini DIN plugs & sockets etc for approx $15 to slightly modify the set up and now have a good system thats cheap, works great and you can just remove the radio set as the wiring is all fixed discreetly to mine & my mates bikes.

It saves a lot of mis-understud hand signals and we have a good laugh over the airwaves when out riding and we both run SE11's but the exhaust noise does not pose a problem.

 

My other hobby is Ham Radio. I use portable with a headset when riding with other hams ,and by using a repeater we get all the miles we need.

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