This report has been condensed from the full report which is more product specific

This condensed report covers the following topics:

Audio Features/Products

Music/MP3/CD/IPOD

Satellite Radio

GPS

Zumo

Built in systems

Bike to Bike

Cell phone/PDA

Bluetooth

Music/MP3/CD/IPOD/Built in System

Introduction

Many of us believe that listening to music can be the single greatest upgrade to any motorcycle. The obvious pleasure of riding along your favorite road is further enhanced while listening to your favorite music.

For the last 14 years of selling communication products to motorcyclists it has become very evident that in general motorcyclists do not know what they want when it comes to communications and that the biggest problem from a vendors perspective is that the customer will often come up and say the magic words, “well tell me about it”.

The problem with this is that to “tell you about it” would be longer than War & Peace because, not only, is it a complex subject it often changes week by week or even day by day with new product systems and technologies coming onto the market weekly and that the person that is asking the question may well be a sports bike rider, a touring bike rider, an off road quad bike rider, he or she may wear a half helmet, an open face e helmet, a full face helmet or indeed no helmet. They may have a passenger, they may not have a passenger, they may use their bike for work, they may use their bike for racing, they may use their bike for touring. The list of the individuals diversified needs goes on and on and on.

Finding our own needs

Many of our customers and vendors alike have requested a report like this even a couple of magazine editors have asked us for a report like this. Most reports are written with the product as the star and the users are the extras. We believe this is what causes the confusion in the beginning and that a concise report where the users are the stars or the prime consideration is actually what is needed to make this market more understandable.

This report at no stage will favor one manufacturers products over another (you must read the full report it you want that detail) but will more realistically just explain the merits of a manufacture if applicable in that category.

So as you have probably seen from the index and the table of contents the report is broken down into categories, however, it is obviously impossible to pigeon hole people so although we believe that the sports bike rider would ride a crotch rocket and be relatively young his rides would be reasonably short, he would normally wear a full face helmet the fact is there are many older sports bike riders who would wear a half helmet and love riding an Iron Butt. So you have got to read all the categories that appertain to your style. Hope you enjoy the report and that it is helpful.

The categories we have used

The Bike

The Tourer

The Sportstourer

The Cruiser

Off road

The Sports bike

The Helmet

Full Face helmet

Flipopen helmet

3/4 helmet

1/2 helmet/no helmet

Features and audio products

Music

Satellite radio

GPS

Bike to Bike

CB

FRS

Bluetooth

The Bike

We consider bike categories as follows

The Tourer

Touring motorcycle is normally one that is primarily designed to travel long distances across country, examples of this would be The Honda Goldwing, BMW 1200 LT, Kawasaki Concourse, Yamaha Venture, a full dressed Harley or such like. Most of these bikes have systems built in at the factory and it is just a matter of buying a headset to take the sound from the bike up into your helmet or headset. Most of the major manufacturers will sell a headset which will allow you to plug into these systems, they range in price anything from $69 to $300. This will normally allow you to talk to your passenger and listen to some music such as your MP3 player.

Nowadays often long distance riders want more than that, they may well want to talk to friends, they may well want to listen to GPS or even Satellite Radio. When you want to do something like this no other manufacturer offers a range like J&M…….. However, it must be said in this particular market that many of the major players fall short when it comes to wanting more that just a basic headset and really the only manufacturer that puts the time and effort into making a full range of add on products to these bikes is J&M Corporation.

Primarily the systems built into these bikes are rigged to use CB communications. The main virtues of CB communications are really a superior range and the fact that truck drivers use CB extensively and let’s fact it if you are traveling long distances across country then the person who knows what is happening is the truck driver. It may also be said that even some truck drivers are migrating off CB and using cell phones more and more and more. Let’s face it it is very helpful to know when you are sitting in a long tail back what is happening ahead rather than being left in the dark so CB really shines on occasions like this.

The sportstourer

Once we move into the sports touring segment of the marketplace bikes are not quite as defined. It would be reasonable simple to say that bikes like the Honda ST1300, the BMW RS’s and RT’s, the Yamaha FJ1300, however, you can also get the guy riding a Suzuki Bandit as a touring bike or someone that believes that the Harley Sportster is great for touring. So, in many ways, this category is more framed by the attitudes of the rider than by the constraints of the motorcycle and certainly from the perspective of which system to use it is much harder to categorize.

One of the strangest anomalies in the sports touring market is that if you ask most BMW riders they would put themselves squarely in the sports touring category, yet a lot of BMW riders aspire to be Iron Butters and the idea of riding 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 miles to a rally is often the norm. The anomaly is that these guys normally communicate with FRS radios rather that with CB radios so often in the dark when it comes to what is happening on the Interstates. However, things are happening in the market today which is helping to make information readily available to this category. I think this is a good time to move out of this section and read the section regarding audio features/products, if you have not already done so.

The Cruiser

The cruiser in many ways is like the sportstourer, it is a bit mixed up when trying to categorize the people who ride them. Here again it is important to read through the Products/Features section and consult with riding buddies and passengers and come up with a clear picture of what you would like a communications system to do, however, it is worth reiterating the point that if you want to communicate with friends you really need to find out what sort of equipment they are using, FRS, CB or cell.

Off Road

We have had a lot of enquiries lately from off road riders who seem to see Bluetooth as a great facility because it means they are no longer attached to the bike in the event of a crash so the bike can go one way and they can go the other way without the giant head tug and another customer thought it would be great while he was lying on the floor, unsure whether he had a broken neck or not that he could call 911 without removing his helmet. Ah, the pleasures of off road riding.

Off road riders fall off their bikes a lot more often than road riders, it is part of the fun of it, I am told.

The Sportbike rider

The Sportbike rideris reasonably young, doesn’t like a lot of clutter, wears a full face helmet and enjoys riding relatively short rides along twisty roads. When I think of sports bike riders and communications it normally conjures up the picture of a Chatterbox unit attached to the side of the helmet or more recently a Bluetooth pod attached to the side of the helmet.

Generally sports bike riders do not need too much sophistication, they do like to listen to their music, talk to their friends and occasionally take the odd cell phone call. I think as time goes on more and more will get into GPS mostly as a means of finding more interesting and exciting roads, these guys are not scared of technology so in many ways that is why we are seeing them as one of the first groups of customers moving over to the Bluetooth arena. In fact, quite a few of the customers we spoke to at the Southern California IMS Show in December 2007 all seem to be armed with either Iphones, Verizon Voyagers or the latest Blackberrys, all capable of pumping hi tech audio into the helmet for less than $150 (IMC Camos BH

 

 The Helmet

In all helmets regardless of type a major consideration should be keeping the speakers close to the ears and the mic close to the mouth. It is fairly easy to tell when you have the speakers in the right place over the ears because the bass will sound good. If the sound is tinny then the speakers are in the wrong place, i.e. too high or too low or too far away from the ears.

Full Face Helmet

The major consideration in helmets and helmet speakers is that the speakers must be close to the ears. This matters regardless of what type of helmet is being worn.

Many helmet manufacturers now are designing helmets with a big hole at the ear so it is easier to fit headsets but be warned a big hole over the ear just means that it amplifies all the ambient noise and in many cases will drown out the sound of the headset whether you wear ear plugs or not (we believe ear plugs should always be worn).

You will notice if you get your helmet fitted by a professional helmet fitter they will put a spacer between the helmet shell and the headset, this does 2 things, the first is to dampen the noise created on the outside of the shell and secondly it will allow the headset to be fitted very close to the ear.

I prefer, on all types of helmet, to fit a boom mic rather than a button mic as used in full face helmets for a very similar reason as the ear speakers, the closer it is the less ambient noise that can mess up the signal. With a button mic it fits in the front of the helmet and whether that is 1 inch or 3 inches away from your mouth you can not change it whereas with a boom mic you can move it so it is directly in front of your mouth.

Flip front helmets

Flip front modular helmets are very similar to full face helmets but should always be fitted with a boom microphone. If the rider has a tendency to ride with the helmet open (which we do not recommend) then a thicker mic sock to protect from wind noise may be necessary so, therefore, the same consideration as full face helmets will apply.

The major consideration in helmets and helmet speakers is that the speakers must be close to the ears. This matters regardless of what type of helmet is being worn. Many helmet manufacturers now are designing helmets with a big hole at the ear so it is easier to fit headsets but be warned a big hole over the ear just means that it amplifies all the ambient noise and in many cases will drown out the sound of the headset whether you wear ear plugs or not (we believe ear plugs should always be worn).

You will notice if you get your helmet fitted by a professional helmet fitter they will put a spacer between the helmet shell and the headset, this does 2 things, the first is to dampen the noise created on the outside of the shell and secondly it will allow the headset to be fitted very close to the ear.

Open face helmet/ ¾ helmets

The definition of open face or ¾ helmet is that the ears are enclosed within the helmet and it is very important that the helmet cheek pads fit very snugly to the face.

The major consideration in helmets and helmet speakers is that the speakers must be close to the ears. This matters regardless of what type of helmet is being worn. Many helmet manufacturers now are designing helmets with a big hole at the ear so it is easier to fit headsets but be warned a big hole over the ear just means that it amplifies all the ambient noise and in many cases will drown out the sound of the headset whether you wear ear plugs or not (we believe ear plugs should always be worn).

You will notice if you get your helmet fitted by a professional helmet fitter and yes I do know that all professional helmet fitters are not professional they will put a spacer between the helmet shell and the headset, this does 2 things, the first is to dampen the noise created on the outside of the shell and secondly it will allow the headset to be fitted very close to the ear. One of the biggest considerations with an open/¾ helmet is wind noise relating to the microphone. A good quality thick mic sock is often needed to stop excessive wind noise. This is not so applicable with bikes with large screens but on bikes with virtually no screens this is much more relevant.

½ helmets or no Helmet

The major consideration in helmets and helmet speakers is that the speakers must be close to the ears. This matters regardless of what type of helmet is being worn. This problem is even more difficult when it comes to half helmets or no helmets. The half helmets with a leather curtain or skirt which is usually zip on zip off, is often the obvious way to go. The problem with this is that the speaker pockets on these skirts are normally lower than the ears so it is important to keep the speakers as high as possible in the skirt. The microphone can then either be fitted to the helmet or through the skirt whichever is the most applicable to your type of helmet. The easy answer is to buy a half helmet/no helmet headset from IMC, it is the IMC H designation headset. This is a headset that fits around the head independently with the headset going around the back of the head and the headset speakers therefore being directly over the ears and a microphone to the mouth.

The other two possibilities are firstly to fit ear pods, these are triangle pods that has an extending piece which fits between the shell of the helmet and the Styrofoam and then Velcro’s to the straps and these can be the vehicle for the speakers, the mic would connect to the helmet in the normal way. J&M have just brought out a similar purpose built skirt with the headset and mic built in, again this just slides up between the shell and the Styrofoam and is perfect for using withy J&M systems

Features and audio products

In order to understand what you want from a audio system you need to know whats available ton you, the work out what you need, remember the more features you want the more it will cost.

Music

Many of us believe that listening to music can be the single greatest upgrade to any motorcycle. The obvious pleasure of riding along your favorite road is further enhanced while listening to your favorite music. Most people try to get music in their head first of all by putting their ear buds into their ears, connecting it to an MP3 player, unfortunately the first time you turn your head one of them will half pop out and you are in for a very annoying and uncomfortable experience from then on. A more comfortable approach to this is to use purpose made ear plug speakers or more commonly used helmet speakers (see helmets for your specific type of helmet).

Some sports touring bikes and indeed touring bikes have built in systems and they allow you to listen to Cds, your own MP3 and local radio stations. Although these systems are handy in their own right it is our experience that a lot of these systems are non expandable and upgrades are often costly and complicated, however, as a form of getting music into your head they can be quite simple/useful.

Intercom Rider to Passenger

Intercom is the second most sort after feature after music, it is great to be able to share the experience with your passenger, to tell them whats happening and discuss what next. Touring bikes often have this feature built in however its quite inexpensive to but a basic intercom on your bike

Satellite Radio

Many long distances riders do enjoy the features offered by Satellite radio as well as the obvious music and talk stations there is also weather broadcasts and news products. We are not here to argue the good or bad points of radio stations but I believe mostly there is something on satellite radio for everyone. The only restrictive points I come across on a regular basis is the subscription costs may be a little irksome if you are not making full use of the facilities and the power output from the 2.5 mm socket is a little low, often requiring amplification.

GPS

The word GPS is on everyones lips at the moment. One of the main considerations that it is important to give to when looking at GPS is its ease of functionality while riding both day and night and waterproofing. The big flavour of the month at the moment is Zumo and its very high functionality, it is very easy to use. It’s a techies dream allowing the user to be connected wirelessly from his helmet to the Zumo and the Zumo pumping GPS, music and his cell phone back into his head. However, with a street price of $700 it is quite expensive. We do believe that the ability to get turn by turn directions and up to date traffic situations is worth the time and effort of finding a GPS that will give you these 2 features.

Bike to Bike

This is perhaps the most rapidly changing area of motorcycle communications, up to not so long ago there was only really two choices, CB or FRS.

CB

The main virtues of CB communications over FRS are really a superior range and the fact that truck drivers use CB extensively and let’s face it if you are traveling long distances across country then the person who knows what is happening is the truck driver. It may also be said that even some truck drivers are migrating off CB and using cell phones more and more and more but, however, let’s face it it is very very helpful to know when you are sitting in a long tail back what is happening ahead rather than being left in the dark so CB really shines on occasions like this.

FRS

Generally FRS units are smaller than CB units sometimes making them easier to use, however, this isn’t always true and if you were to look at the J&M handlebar mounted CB and the Chatterbox FRS you would see there is very little difference in size between these 2 units.

Whether you use FRS or CB may be a matter of personal choice or quite often it can be dictated by the group you ride with, examples of this would be if you ride with a lot of friends who ride Goldwings you would need a CB system to talk to them. Or if you ride with a group of friends on BMW who have Autocom systems then you may be left with no choice but to use an FRS system to communicate with the group. But as Bob Dylan said “The times they are a changing” and we should all be aware of the power of our humble cell phones.

Nowadays if you have your cell phone with you generally at any time you can talk to someone in Alaska, Baltimore, Charleston, London, Hong Kong or the guy next to you on his Harley Softtail and, of course, it’s getting cheaper all the time especially with free nights and weekends, free family minutes and rollovers galore. Everyday cell phones get more and more sophisticated and even the most basic phones nowadays have memory slots for your favorite music, voice commands to enable you to talk hands free as well as being able to talk to anyone you want anywhere in the World.

For less than $100 we can plug a set of headsets into our cell phone and have access to the World. The latest generation of Bluetooth phones with A2DP profile now allow us to wirelessly communicate with our phone and listen to our music or even the phones built in GPS all for less than $150, now with the advent of Bluetooth intercom we can talk to our passangers or other riders using this technology

Bluetooth

Just to clarify the principles of Bluetooth although we have added much more in depth look at Bluetooth elsewhere in the report Bluetooth is simply a means of us connecting electronic components together without wires. The maximum distance of this is normally considered to be 30 feet. The biggest benefit of Bluetooth to us motorcyclists is that we do not have to have a wire connecting the bike to the rider and, of course, because of the 30 feet range it lends itself nicely to two way communications with our passengers. The best example of this around at the moment is the IMC Camos BHS600 system which allows us to communicate with our cell phones, our music output and our passengers all for less than $200 per unit (passenger needs a unit as well).

Frequently asked questions

Most of the questions we get asked are about peoples phones however

Here are a few of the more general ones