Got a pillion, want to talk to them

[JohanR]

Now that I have a bike capable of carrying a pillion, I'd like be able to talk to them.

Sets seem to range from £20 ebay specials, to £300 Autocom perfection

I'd like to be able to:
1. Listen to music/GPS (from phone)
2. Talk to my pillion
3. Talk to another bike

I'd like 1 and 2 now. It would be nice to have 3 in the future without having to buy a whole new system.

What are my options? If I have to spend £150 to get something that will work well, so be it, but if there's something good for less...
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[UrbanRacer]

Sing and Shout

[Polarbear]

After a while you will wish you hadn't. Having someone jabbering away in you ear - 'oooh, look at the pretty sheep' 'I'm hungry' & 'are we there yet' is not condusive to relaxed riding.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[J.M.]

What kind of roads? At 30-40mph shouting works okay... it's the cheapest option by far!

Commonly used by me when asking for directions from my pillion.

I usually just get my pillion to listen to music on any long journeys. Then I just ride as if I was solo.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[JohanR]

Tried that, it was a bit limiting.
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[U_W v2.0]

well, the way i see it. you can always get a standard 2 ear peice into a box commication thing.

then take a 3.5mm audio Y splitter or make ones that go female to 2 male

plug ur phones into the female and 2 males into comm port on the box and use another splitter to plug your mp3 player into each of the 2 remaining males. (one per headset port)

so 2/3 splitter cables should enable you do get the comms and mp3 player.


failing that, buy one with an auxilary input that outputs to both headpeices?

something like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-New-Motorcycle-Motorbike-Intercom-Communication-System-/251023290635?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item3a7227710b

use a splitter cable to plug in your mp3 player and your gps. although you'd need to adjust volumes and lots of wires it could get fiddly
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BCF's biggest cunt list: Cansa, Pits, Rob

[Teflon-Mike]

I have a VERY old Oxford Bike-Mike... its basically just a sterio amplifier, running off a PP3 battery, like the hobby-kits you get in maplins, only CH1 is amplifying mic 1 to earpeace 2 and CH2 is amplifying mic 2 to earpiece 1.

A 3mm phono jack is fed to in parallel to both ear-pieces so you can port a walkman or MP3 I guess these days into both headsets, and it has a single gain control for the volume.

I did wonder about getting a Maplin hobby kit and having a play... they are only about a tenner...... with a bit of messing, could probably use a balence control to set different volumes on each head-set....

Anyway, I dont know what the modern sets are like; the old oxford though has done me well for oh, almost twenty years, and really was good for unfamiliar and possibly nervouse pillions, especially porting some soft rock to lull them from a walkman.

Only niggle I had with it, was that the ear-peaces & mics were hard wired to the amp-box, and attached inside the helmets with velcro.

Meant that you had the box in teh tank bag with teh walkman, and then wires from that to both hats and had to take your hats off and remove mics before getting on off the bike, and vica versa getting on, get on, put headsets in hats, then put hats on.

Eventually I chopped the wires off the box and added sterio phono connectors, made life easier.

Later I removed the microphones and ear-phones from thier material pouches, buried them in the helmet lining, and added a second pair of phono-connectors to make short flying leads that ticked into the lining when the set wasn't in use, and a pair of patch cords to connect to the box when they were.

More recently, (as in probably some time early this century!) I bought a pair of PMR446 walkie squalkies with VOX... for bike to bike comms, which were almost useless.... but mucking about with them, makde up adaptor cords so I could plug the helmet headsets from teh oxford into them, rather than the anoying plastic ear-piece things that came with them.....

And more recently, copied a proprietry Push-To-Talk headset circuit, to work with them.....

I DID think that independent radios for 'wireless' rider to pillion communication would be easier... but? TBH it wasn't much cop, for all it saved a couple of wires.

Given how 'simple' the old Oxford system was.... I would hazard that the cheap e-bay devices aren't much different....

End of the day, depends what your expectations are, and how much you reckon its worth, and how much you want an off teh shelf does the job solution, or how much you want to mess.

ONE thing I will say is that like bike to bike comms.... DECENT well fitted head-sets make ALL the difference. (link in profile to bike to post on bike to bike comms & installing a headset permenantly, if you want to peruse)
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Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Spangle2k4]

Probably not the answer you're looking for but me and my wife use the Sena SMH10 Bluetooth headsets - they do everything you ask and more. The catch is they were £300 :-S If you can run to that sort of budget they really are impressive.

The biggest problem with Bluetooth communications is the older models have less range than the newer ones. You can get them for a bit less money, but it will be a trade-off.

I can't really comment on radio-based communications (which don't look too dear on the face of it) but I'm pretty sure that they can't be used for rider-to-pillion, only for bike-to-bike. Something to do with the radios interfering at such short range. I stand to be corrected on that, though.

[P.]

[chris-red]

I have a Scala Q2 it does all what you ask perfectly (except 3) at speeds of up to 100mph


It will do other bikes but I don't think the range is that good. However the newer G4's will probably do it better.
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[Peirre oBollox]

to do 1,2, & 3 you are going to need to look at equipment at the upper end of your price range, the cheaper stuff just doesn`t cut it, at speed. Without VOX wind noise will kill all ledgable sound
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I accept no responsibility for swearing, drinking, motorcycle riding or your pregnant teenage daughter.

[hedgehugger]

We use the Scala Q2 for bike to bike and have used it for pillion.

It is OK but you do have to be within fairly close distance and line of sight gives better signal. Going over hills and round corners can cut the signal.

No doubt the newer ones have a stronger signal, but we aren't going to fork out loads more when these do the job.

I do agree though. I way prefer riding without someone bleating in my ear about the speed limits!

[ukdiceman]

[ukdiceman]

Maybe useful:-

https://www.ride.co.uk/upload/Ride%20Magazine/Product%20test%20pdfs/11%20Nov08%20Intercom%20test.pdf
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FZ6 Fazer

[bikertomm]

Cheap mobile phone?

I remember yonks ago I used to go mountain biking with my mate, I got free o2 to o2 minutes, hooked up our phones with headphones in and mic's dangling about, it was epic!


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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!

[truslack]

[J.M.]

[TytAndreas]

Hi, im just wondering what is the difference bethween a Yamaha YBR 125, and a SYM XS 125 ?? plzzz answer cause i shall buy a Yamaha YBR 125

[truslack]

A) Make a new thread
B) Yamahas are good, Syms are shit.
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Current: Suzuki RG 125 Gamma, Honda H100, Triumph Tiger 800XC, Suzuki SV650 (minitwin)

[bikertomm]

[JohanR]

Lots of replies, thanks.

That intercom test was useful, thanks for pointing that out.

The Albrecht 600 was joint 3rd (behind the autocom units) with the bike mike 4, got a 'recommended' and is £50. That looked good, and when I chased it down there is a 600S version for £100 that you can plug PMR radios into. Presumably CB too? Yes, I read Teflon-Mike's post about intercoms.

Not quite up to autocom standards, but apparently not far off, and less than 1/2 the price. £75 on ebay, £100 in online shops.

I'm not too keen on the bluetooth options.
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[Louise]

[J.M.]

[ws4936]

I use the BT on my helmet, but there is always this which hasn't been suggested.
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[CaNsA]