Bike 2 Bike

[ukaloon]

I'm looking for a bike to bike system to use on a charity ride I'm doing with a mate from Lands End to John O'Groats on the 21st June this year.
I can get a top of the range Autocom, Kenwood 2 way radio and blue tooth connection to link in my phone and TomTom for just under £500. I'd have a range of 0.75-1.5 miles and could communicate with anyone with a compatible radio. It comes with rider and pillion stereo headsets.
I've found these new bluetooth 'Interphones'. They will communicate with my phone and TomTom, plus with each other over a range of 150-500m. They get some excellent reviews, but have a few limitations compared with the Autocom set up.
You can only pair two together, they use a single speaker each (albeit with quality duplex sound) and they are not bike powered (although they have a 7 hour talk time and 700 hour standby).
On the plus side they are much cheaper (under £300 for two instead of £1000)


I'm after a few opinions and suggestions from those with any experience or knowledge of such things. My mate has got the ok from his wife to go for the expensive option, but then they aren't short of money. I'd need to buy two of the Interphones to make it worth my while, so I could give one to any pillion I take or anyone I ride with to get future use of it beyond instructions from TomTom etc.
The Autocom could benefit me in the future for listening to music and the pillion set would be fitted to my wifes helmet, plus I'd get stereo instructions from TomTom etc.
What do you think?

Here's a review of the Interphone. (PS they have offerred me a special price as part sponsership.)
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcy...th-intercom.htm

 

[st13phil]

... They will communicate with my phone and TomTom, plus with each other over a range of 150-500m.

My experience with bike-to-bike radios over the last 12+ years is that this range will be inadequate - especially when you're travelling at any sort of speed. Go the Autocom/Kenwood route. It's more dosh but it'll be money well spent IMO.

 

[Mike Werner]

Go the Cellularline Interphone route (I did a review myself, and ahve to say that the unit is very good, but the distance of 150 meters can be too short, though I did get higher distances in my test, it'll depend on obstacles and meteo). But what you can do is an the Midland BT walkie-talkie to your setup. The unit is Bluetooth dirven, so you should be able to pair it to your Interphone. (don't know what happens with the BT phone tough).

Check out my BT report. clicky

 

[bluepassat]

Hi

I have just setup my bike with

Autocom Kit 200 (clear sound at 70mph)
Garmin 2610 GPS
Nokia Phone (hardwired)
MP3 Player (hardwired)
Bike – Bike communication (tested good for upto 1 mile range) battery life 26hrs

When looking I came across this site for 2-way radios…may be useful?


http://www.lineoutshop.co.uk/index.cfm?event=catalogue.product&productID=1000544&categoryID=0


Hope it helps

 

[leman]

Interphones

I have purchased & used a pair of celluar line interphones i did find the single speaker not quite loud enough for me with ear plugs so i added an extra speaker problem solved, the other issue i have is when i have a pillion & my Nav3 connected the interphone needs to break the bluetooth connection with the GPS, this enables two way conversation with the pillion, when you end the conversation the Nav 3 will not auto reconnect so i have to manually reconnect from the menu screens this is a Nav 3 issue & not the interphones, if i have my Nokia phone connected & i break the connection to speak to the pillion or bike to bike then the nokia & interphone reconnect as soon as i press the button to end comms, i am very happy with the interphones the voice dialing works fine the sound is excellent without earplugs & as for battery life i have done about 500 miles riding making & receiving calls talking to pillion & getting GPS prompts & i still have not recharged them yet, if you want to get some i would just check if your tom tom will auto reconnect if the bluetooth connection is dropped, also the price of these units are exaggerated in this country i got two from germany (Ebay) insured & signed for delivery £220 for a pair, a bit of insider info the shops can buy them from the Uk importers for £90 each if they buy 10 units so they do have quite a nice mark up when they try & shift them for £149 each or £275 for two

 

[JayGee]

Try Interide, about £100 per bike (that's for B2B only) and they seem to work quite well for B2B. Several of the people I ride with have this kit and are pleased with it.
I use autocom + Wintek as i reckon the radio is better than Kenwood, and it's cheaper.
Try searching for a recent thread on B2B radios.

 

[ukaloon]

Thanks all. It's still a hung jury. I'll need to decide soon I recon.

 

[Mike Werner]

I have purchased & used a pair of celluar line interphones i did find the single speaker not quite loud enough for me with ear plugs so i added an extra speaker problem solved, the other issue i have is when i have a pillion & my Nav3 connected the interphone needs to break the bluetooth connection with the GPS, this enables two way conversation with the pillion, when you end the conversation the Nav 3 will not auto reconnect so i have to manually reconnect from the menu screens this is a Nav 3 issue & not the interphones, if i have my Nokia phone connected & i break the connection to speak to the pillion or bike to bike then the nokia & interphone reconnect as soon as i press the button to end comms, i am very happy with the interphones the voice dialing works fine the sound is excellent without earplugs & as for battery life i have done about 500 miles riding making & receiving calls talking to pillion & getting GPS prompts & i still have not recharged them yet, if you want to get some i would just check if your tom tom will auto reconnect if the bluetooth connection is dropped, also the price of these units are exaggerated in this country i got two from germany (Ebay) insured & signed for delivery £220 for a pair, a bit of insider info the shops can buy them from the Uk importers for £90 each if they buy 10 units so they do have quite a nice mark up when they try & shift them for £149 each or £275 for two

Did you use the "turbo" volume ? When I have it on, and have earplugs, it's far too loud for me, and need to take it off. I now only use it when listening to music in the earplugs.

 

[leman]

Did you use the "turbo" volume ? When I have it on, and have earplugs, it's far too loud for me, and need to take it off. I now only use it when listening to music in the earplugs.

Yes tried it with the turbo volume i think it is mainly my helmet & the gs causing so much wind noise that i needed the extra speaker & maybe my hearing is not as good as it used to be

 

[Andy B]

Maplin

If this is a one off, and you want a real cheapo solution, take a look at Maplin's website.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/search.aspx...446+2+WAY+RADIO&worldid=5&FromMenu=y&doy=24m4

It's a couple of years since I did it, but for well under £100 I bought a pair of walkie talkies, two headsets for helmets and rigged it up for a holiday with a mate.

We were never that far apart on the bikes, but I seem to remember the range being a good 2km plus.