I decided to upgrade my Autocom Active Rider 200 to the latest (and hopefully greatest) wired system out there.
The old unit has served me well, when I bought it I had no idea how indespensible it would become, when two-up having easy comms is amazingly handy, music helps with the boring bits such as motorways and traffic jams, and clear sat-nav directions / scamera warnings are also a blessing.
The last unit was supplied by Chainspeed, and on the only two occasions I had issues they resolved it over the phone at no cost (let alone suggestion of buying a new one) in 4 years all it suffered was some distortion (loose earth screw) and stopped working (short in lead to helmet - probably caused by my rather aggressive cable-tying)
I am sure it would last another 4 years, but fancied new / shiny toy, so shot down to Chainspeed, a quick chat to make sure a wired system still best suited me, which it seemed so, and after the wonderful performance and service last time it had to be another Autocom from Chainspeed.
Sam sorted my new headset (as the pro has different rider headset) and then "serviced" the old ones, the one in the Mrs helmet got a new mic cover, as did my old one, so when I flog it on E-Bay it has 2 lovelly headsets with it.
I noticed some questions about size and fitting with GS earlier, well it fits a treat!
Autocom in 1200GS Tray
An on the bike it looks like this, pretty easy to do as I am not the tidiest / most patient person when it comes to doing this sort of thing!
I just stick the rider lead to the tank cover:
And it is conveniently hidden when the seat goes on:
The pillion lead is tied to the frame on the LHS and hangs nicely downward so should not fill with water (the last one has been fine for many months) the other connector is for her heated inner gloves.
I have also fitted an Ampli-Rider, so I only need one lead into the Autocom so use Aux 4 which provides a 50% mute when talking, the 3 units I use all go into the Ampli-Rider which fits neatly in the lower tray (along with the Autocom suppressors to stop any interference when other items are also bike powered)
I have done some lashing-up of the GS cockpit as well:
1. As I use a car sat-nav that mounts elsewhere I have used to sat-nav bracket for my (rather wonderful) Novus GPS Scamera detector and have a cable ready for the audio in place.
2. On the RHS I have put Velcro for sticking a variety of cheapo MP3 players to, this is handy for music at anytime, these things often will run for 15+ hours, also they are dirt cheap so no worries about them getting wet / nicked (although my main one has been in use for 20k and seen mucho rain - and the odd jetwash when I forgot to remove it)
3. On the LHS is the Ampli-Rider volume control, this is very handy as the Autocoms volume is buried under the seat, so the ability to alter it on the move is very handy, the Ampli-Rider takes 3 inputs, which is enough for me, it also boosts signals, handy as some units have low outputs, and when using suppressors can lose even more poke making them hard to hear at speed. Also as the many unitsI hook up have differing sound performance the easy to reach volume is double handy.
4. I have butchered a couple of holes through the sat-nav holder so I can stick a double pwoer socket on the LHS rail - although the angle of the picture hides the lower socket. This means I can power up to two items at any one time, or power the sat-nav whilst I charge someing else in the tankbag (phone / MP3 Player / nintendo etc) using one of those cheapo USB charing kits that fit everything you find on E-Bay.
If you do a lot of tow-up and have not got a comms system I can highly recommend one (and will have one for sale shortly)
If you want to buy new and are looking for a dealer who knows their stuff, can fit for you and will provide good aftersales I would definately recommend Chainspeed.
The old unit has served me well, when I bought it I had no idea how indespensible it would become, when two-up having easy comms is amazingly handy, music helps with the boring bits such as motorways and traffic jams, and clear sat-nav directions / scamera warnings are also a blessing.
The last unit was supplied by Chainspeed, and on the only two occasions I had issues they resolved it over the phone at no cost (let alone suggestion of buying a new one) in 4 years all it suffered was some distortion (loose earth screw) and stopped working (short in lead to helmet - probably caused by my rather aggressive cable-tying)
I am sure it would last another 4 years, but fancied new / shiny toy, so shot down to Chainspeed, a quick chat to make sure a wired system still best suited me, which it seemed so, and after the wonderful performance and service last time it had to be another Autocom from Chainspeed.
Sam sorted my new headset (as the pro has different rider headset) and then "serviced" the old ones, the one in the Mrs helmet got a new mic cover, as did my old one, so when I flog it on E-Bay it has 2 lovelly headsets with it.
I noticed some questions about size and fitting with GS earlier, well it fits a treat!
Autocom in 1200GS Tray
An on the bike it looks like this, pretty easy to do as I am not the tidiest / most patient person when it comes to doing this sort of thing!
I just stick the rider lead to the tank cover:
And it is conveniently hidden when the seat goes on:
The pillion lead is tied to the frame on the LHS and hangs nicely downward so should not fill with water (the last one has been fine for many months) the other connector is for her heated inner gloves.
I have also fitted an Ampli-Rider, so I only need one lead into the Autocom so use Aux 4 which provides a 50% mute when talking, the 3 units I use all go into the Ampli-Rider which fits neatly in the lower tray (along with the Autocom suppressors to stop any interference when other items are also bike powered)
I have done some lashing-up of the GS cockpit as well:
1. As I use a car sat-nav that mounts elsewhere I have used to sat-nav bracket for my (rather wonderful) Novus GPS Scamera detector and have a cable ready for the audio in place.
2. On the RHS I have put Velcro for sticking a variety of cheapo MP3 players to, this is handy for music at anytime, these things often will run for 15+ hours, also they are dirt cheap so no worries about them getting wet / nicked (although my main one has been in use for 20k and seen mucho rain - and the odd jetwash when I forgot to remove it)
3. On the LHS is the Ampli-Rider volume control, this is very handy as the Autocoms volume is buried under the seat, so the ability to alter it on the move is very handy, the Ampli-Rider takes 3 inputs, which is enough for me, it also boosts signals, handy as some units have low outputs, and when using suppressors can lose even more poke making them hard to hear at speed. Also as the many unitsI hook up have differing sound performance the easy to reach volume is double handy.
4. I have butchered a couple of holes through the sat-nav holder so I can stick a double pwoer socket on the LHS rail - although the angle of the picture hides the lower socket. This means I can power up to two items at any one time, or power the sat-nav whilst I charge someing else in the tankbag (phone / MP3 Player / nintendo etc) using one of those cheapo USB charing kits that fit everything you find on E-Bay.
If you do a lot of tow-up and have not got a comms system I can highly recommend one (and will have one for sale shortly)
If you want to buy new and are looking for a dealer who knows their stuff, can fit for you and will provide good aftersales I would definately recommend Chainspeed.
