Chatting on the road

[PMC]

A few months into biking now, and we're really enjoying taking some longer trips out of London. Pudsey run last weekend, Wales the weekend before and Brands Hatch before that. I wasn't looking forward to taking a pillion for the first time... extra ponderous weight, responsibility for their safety etc... and indeed the first time was pretty sketchy, but from then on I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it.

Now I appreciate that for some biking is an escape, and to be made to listen someone else prattle while you're riding entirely defeats the point. However that is not me.

So following the recent addition of some excellent Hein Gericke Pro Sports luggage, an intercom was next up.

Decision number one: Decent kit or Cheap kit?

There is definitely another bike in our future, hopefully next spring, but for now we're 2-up. An Autocom or similar would still be useful when time comes to go bike-2-bike, but very expensive, so we decided to go for a cheap rider-2-pillion system.

I chose the Albrecht AE600 based solely on the BiKE review (Nov 2008).

http://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/11513/Albrecht.jpg

It came joint third with an Oxford system (which didn't get the triangle as its twice as much), below two Autocom sets which cost 3 and 4 times as much respectively. The one we bought is slightly different to the one above - ours is for a full face helmet, so the microphone isn't on a boom.

http://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/11513/helmet.JPG

The review mentioned excellent speech clarity - and indeed that is the case (though my only frame of reference is the poor and uncomfortable intercoms the bike schools use). We found however that the lowest VOX sensitivity picks up voices fine and hasn't once invaded with wind noise even on the motorway - so we leave it on that setting all the time.

Its also super simple to use

http://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/11513/Albrecht_1.JPG

Just one switch for On/Off and Hi/Med/Low sensitivity and a volume control for the music input.

The cable for whoever doesn't have the unit in their pocket is coiled so we had no problems being attached while getting on and off the bike.

http://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/11513/Intercomm.JPG

STOP... wait for me!

The main downside, which will be common to any pocket intercom, is the inability to pause or change the volume of music while its in you pocket - as soon as you're plugged in, you cannot talk to anyone not attached to the intercom. I wasn't expecting this to be much of an issue, but it is. We turned the music off on the Pudsey run, as people kept trying to talk to me, and all I could hear was The Fratellies!

A more minor gripe, is the fact it doesn't include a short 3.5mm-3.5mm cable for connecting an MP3 player. I'm lucky, I already have one, but if I didn't it might be a hassle to find one, mostly these sort of cables are 1-1.5m and I certainly wouldn't want all that extra cable in my pocket - its quite enough with the unit and MP3 player as it is.

http://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/11513/Albrecht_2.JPG

[nman1]

I chat to myselfe on the bike, no need for intercoms.

Normally phrases like fecking cager, do they put indicators on new cars, where`s ya flippin lights and move the feck over twohat.

Do I sound like an angry rider ???????

[Guest]

I saw this review too.

I currently use the Chatterbox which fails at around 55-60mph and as far as I can tell this is due to the fact it is a VOX or permanently live system.

Maplin's website FAQ states that VOX isn't suitable for motorcycle use.

So - what do you reckon to it?

I'm not going to be going flat out while two up, but 70-80 + is possible/likely so how is it at those speeds?

[Guest akey]

Ahhhh buddy,

Sorry its a bit late, but when you look at bike to bike, have a look at the starcom1 system, its a cheaper version of autocom and its what willow and I use (well when we can be bothered ).

[PMC]

I saw this review too.

I currently use the Chatterbox which fails at around 55-60mph and as far as I can tell this is due to the fact it is a VOX or permanently live system.

Maplin's website FAQ states that VOX isn't suitable for motorcycle use.

So - what do you reckon to it?

I'm not going to be going flat out while two up, but 70-80 + is possible/likely so how is it at those speeds?

 

I'm not sure what they mean by VOX not being suitable... many systems designed specifically for motorcycles use VOX.

Either way, the Albrecht uses VOX and it works very well, even on the motorway at 80. I haven't tried it any faster, but it didn't sound like it was starting to crack up. I guess this should have a caveat that we are using SHOEI RAID II helmets and I don't know how they compare to others with regard to wind noise. I guess it could be quite different with a open face/flip front (and they have a different mike for these helmets too).

[Guest akey]

the starcom1 has a VOX setting and it works well at speed, the mic is very directional so you get little background noise, I think the autocom is the same, its all down to the mic used by the system (cheap mic will pick up all the background noise which will cause problems with VOX but a decent directional mic will reduce background noise enabling VOX use).

Hope that helps