Bike to Bike Comm Overview

GoldenSTeed

I am looking for a review of the pluses and minuses of the various bike-to-bike communication devces. I ride an ST1100 and my wife an unnamed, but reliable cruiser. If this has been in another thread already, please reference as I have not seen it. She actually said, "please buy these things now". How's that for a license to farkle?
:)
GoldenSTeed
 
GoldenSTeed said:
I am looking for a review of the pluses and minuses of the various bike-to-bike communication devces. I ride an ST1100 and my wife an unnamed, but reliable cruiser. If this has been in another thread already, please reference as I have not seen it. She actually said, "please buy these things now". How's that for a license to farkle?
:)
GoldenSTeed
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What ever you choose it will do the job fine

But if you want the job done right then use an Autocom

Check out the website autocom.


Now I know it aint cheap But quality rarely is and the aftercare service (if required) is superb

A few years ago i did some searches on various sites looking for opinions regarding different intercoms and found it difficult to find anyone that did not like the Autocom

So go on buy the best you will not regret it

Regards

Peter
 
Thanks for asking. Don't need much range so either FRS or GMRS would work for us. Need to plug MP-3 or wife will disown any knowledge of me. I have radar unit and cell phone that would be nice to accomodate. But after that, not too fussy. Price is a consideration when equipping two bikes.
GoldenSTeed
 
From what you're saying... Autocom.

I have the Autocom Active-7-Smart. Autocom is by far the quietest. It uses very good connectors and cables. And best of all, it really performs.

I say these things because I had a GoldWing. It's intercom sucks by comparison. I had a Hondaline CB/intercom (for a Valk). The CB part was nice, the intercom was as bad as GoldWing and I couldn't hook up an FRS radio. I tried a Starcom. I had to return the inferior piece of crap because it was so bad. A friend bought the Motocom. He says, "It works great up to about 60mph." I consider that useless.

What I'm trying to say is, you won't be disappointed with the Autocom.

Ray
smile04Bikerwheelie.gif
 
This is my standard reply to plug the IMC MIT-100 as a cheaper alternative to the Autocom however if Autocom still has the half off price that might be the better pick at this point. The MIT-100 is still cheaper if you compare it haed to head with what the equivalent will cost from Autocom.

Just search for MIT-100 and my nick if you want a full write up.

Here's one with some links in it:
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5380&highlight=MIT-100

Curt
 
Al

Never had much to do with Starcom, as far as I am aware, they are not as popular as the Autocom System.

There is another one in the UK and can be found:

http://www.intaride.com/index.html

I can comment on these to a degree, and funnily enough, they do resemble the Autocom Unit !!!! I have also had them down on an airfield to test the systems, and I was not impressed. There ordering system is very bad, they do not seem to be able to cope with some orders, the order seems to go to someone else rather than the person ordering! I cold imagine them trying to send a unii to the States!

They aslo sell illegal radios on PMR (446Mhz) fequencies. The one radio they sell has a detachable antenna, that is illegal here in the UK, all antennas on PMR equipment must be fixed. That radio can also be tweaked up to 4 or 5 watts, again, ilegal in the UK.

My opinion is the same as has already been posted, I have yet to fault Autocom, and I have been using them for about 12 - 13 years now.

Mick
 
Jeez,I wish someone would get on the stick and make wireless applications for all the communications equipment. (Bear,Autocom,etc.)
Why is this market lagging in the advanced technology dept. ??

Moby
 
Moby said:
Jeez,I wish someone would get on the stick and make wireless applications for all the communications equipment. (Bear,Autocom,etc.)
Why is this market lagging in the advanced technology dept. ??

Moby
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Couldn't agree more!
The Starcom1 offers a Bluetooth adapter for a cell phone.
Also the TomTom Rider GPS uses Bluetooth for a wireless mono headset but, I think the industry can do much better than that.
 
Bike to Bike Radios

We have looked at different systems ie Autocom and Starcom etc.

But, if you are running bike to bike, a lot depends on the radio you are using.

I ran a lot of tests some time ago for bike to bike communications. The balls of the units were Autocom Systems which have a 5 star rating as far as I am concerned.

We then went to the radio used for the bike to bike communications, and what a difference this made.

We ran the cheap radios such as Goodmans and others, for recieve, they are pretty good, but for transmit they were terrible. Background noise, breaking up on transmit signals and so on.

The result of the tests were that you really need a pretty good transmit radio that has a narrow band, the cheap radios are wide band and you can hear anything and everybody even though they are on a differnet channel.

The more expensive radios are narrow band and also have CTSS capabilities should you wish to use it. The tests ended with the purchase of Icom PMR 446 frequency radios for transmit, and at ?160.00 or about $300 they are expensive.

I do a lot of motorcycle training over here, so I needed a good transmit system from my bike. Using the cheaper Goodmans and so on is fine as the student does not need to talk back to the instructor.

For bike to bike, when we ride and use bike to bike, all of us are using the Autocom systems with either the Icom or Kenwood transceiver. By using these, we find that transmissions are clear up to about 60 MPH, and there is no 'Bleed Over' due to the radios being narrow banded etc.

So, if you are looking for bike to bike coms, then go for the best transmitter you can afford, Icom or Kenwood are fine as are a few others, but you start going down to cheaper radios for bike to bike, you will find problems. Finally, if you are running communication systems on the bike, use bike power if possible, as I can flatten the battery of any radio within an hour due to the commentary I do during training, so battery power is not good for long hauls with bike to bike comms.

My opinion, but I have done a lot of testing with bike to bike communications over the years.

Mick
 
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