Well it is 9 degrees this morning in N Illinois, so nothing else to do but think about Sturgis. My situation is, we wear 1/2 helmets when on long rides that invlove interstate riding, so wondering about headsets to talk, 2 up and listen to music. I have a 12 Fugly Ultra,I know, she aint purty but she is mine. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but would like something functional. The bike came with a HD headset, I still haven't had that out of the box, I really don't want bluetooth, would rather use the bike set up. Thanks for any input,, Jim Also I know interstate riding sucks & yes I did look in the archives for an answer.

 

There is 3 grades, good better best....
Good , IMC helmetless headset , you can wear it without a helmet but the pressur on the head and ears may be irritating to some...sounds ok because the speakers are very close to the ears...
Better : Harley brand, sonds better but for me the speakers were a bit further from the ears that the music sound was acceptable so i use my fairing speakers when i use it..
Best : J&M perfomance or even better the Elite...Make sure you get a High Output Mic. Speakers sound best...and with J&M you can buy components from them or Sierra electronics...

 

Burrrrr....Man that's cold...We went with J&M helmet speakers and intercom but that's with our 3/4. Check out their stuff. I went through a couple different (cheaper) brands and finally bought some good stuff. I am not sure about the quality of Harley's equipment but if you have a new set in the box, give it a try.
Good luck....
http://www.jmcorp.com/

 

If just music, I use neckband headphones, Sony or Phillips, $20 on Amazon. Sound quality is outstanding and can drop them down onto your neck when fueling etc. Easy to use, work with all 1/2 helmets and can hear outside noise. Much more comfortable and easier to use then "the buds". Intercom I dont use with my passenger, we have been married for almost 40 years.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Has anyone tried the IMC motorcom? That product looks and is priced at what I had in mind. The one that has pockets for the speakers might be a little warm in august but I like the way it is contained in the helmet, the $80 model can be used with or without a helmet. Thanks again

 

They aren't that warm, the air still gets between the ears and the speaker...they work ok until you try the better ones....I have used the Helmetless headsets...IMC makes some of the BOOM stuff.... try www.sierra-mc.com

 

The wife and I use the H-D brand headsets in our helmets with great success. If you want you can always turn the intercom off and only listen to music.

 

u can use the headset with your half lid, u can either velcro to the strap or even sew a small piece to the strap,either way the closer to your ear the speaker is the better the sound.i like the cb with the aftermarkets everyone in the group must have the same to communicate.

 

You have a few options to keep the 1/2 helmets and headsets.
The first is the Harley behind the neck headsets. These are made by IMC Moto and you can get the same headset cheaper by not going through Harley:

Sierra Electronics

The other option that I tried is the pouches with regular speakers from JM. This option can get expensive. I have not been able to find that much of a difference in sound quality at interstate speeds to justify the higher priced speakers. Maybe my ears are shot but you are not going to get BOSE sound out of any speakers at 70mph. I stopped searching a while ago.

Another option is to get an adapter for the 7-pin plugs and get regular headsets like Plantronics for phones that have the mic and speaker plugs. They have the adapters on Ebay and I have 2 sets of plantronics headsets (pretty sure they make different ones).

I ended up just using the IMC moto set-up. They work really well especailly if your helmet straps hold the speakers onto your ears. My buddy uses a Bell Outlaw helmet and found that the straps DO NOT hold the speakers onto his ears enough and with his Roadglide and Windspliter shield he was getting way too much wind to hear anything.

 

We have the J&M headsets but you can also go online and find the pin-out for your plug and go to radio shack and buy the plug in the cb section and wire up a set of computer head phones for about $5 plus head phones, I made a set for us and they work great, just have to put a wind sock on the mic, I payed $25 for each head set at Wall-Mart and it took about a hour to do both, if you want I can send you the pin-outs, we must have been in a worm frount here in NW Indiana because it was a sultry 11 this morning