Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories XM/Sirius Radio and Chatterbox/Starcomm Intercom

Has anyone put any of these accessories on your bike or have any experience with these systems on a motorcycle?

On those long trips, it would be nice to listen to music/talk and also to communicate with other riders in the group. I can't seem to find a way to do it wirelessly (if that's a word), so if anyone has and can explain how easy/hard it was and how it works for them, it would be appreciated!

Yes.
I had the Chatterbox bottom end of the line, something like an HJC 50.
Things to consider:

Communication device
Bike to bike
Operator to Passenger
Range
Com ports

Headphone
Sold separately
Type of: Ear Buds or not

To get a system that is adequate, you will need to lay out at least 4 bills. More if you are really above the adequate needs level. Quality headphones and quality transmitter/receiver are a must. Not for short rides under 50mph, but for long rides at highway speeds. You might consider a windscreen as well. The rigs that have a com system standard, Golden wings, etc, have sound dampening in a major way. Think of a Kenworth as a golden winged beast and a Nissan Frontier 4cyl as our ride. A radio is useless in the frontier, the KW man can hear the purr of Kitty in the sleeper. Get my drift?

Now re bike to bike, nice thought, but the biggest issue here is that the other bikes MUST have a com system too. If your concern that at times you get out of sight of your riding friends, then cell phones can bridge that gap. Chatting among the bikes. Why? Isn’t the reason we ride to get away from the talking heads? Let the talking commence at the latte stops.

So what am I saying exactly?

If you want to listen to music, OK. Get a good mpg player with some nice ear buds. You want to talk to others while you ride, break out the $$$ or take the cage.

Faye,
I understand your want of com/music. I have other hobbies where it's great to be able to communicate back and forth and motorcycling is no different. You might, for this question, try a forum where the riders are more experienced with the kind of technology you need, such as maybe a Goldwing site. My guess is that to do what you want and do it well will cost a few bills. The other thing is that bikes in the 'Wing class have enough bodywork so you can build in anything you want to protect/hide it. Our bikes aren't designed for that. Good luck.

Buddy of mine rides with a satellite radio through a chatterbox. He loves it.

These Earbuds from Sony are amazing. Silcon bud make a tight and comfortable seal.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHO...pia%2e%2fEarbud

I use a Sirius Starmate on my Cortech Super Mini tankbag. I runn a Motocomm headset from Radiogadgets.com so I can use my GMRS radio too.

I've used a wide variety of comm systems on different bikes. Bottom line is you get what you pay for. The Baehr, Autocom, Starcom, and J&M units will outperform the Chatterbox and Nadys of the world but their price reflects it.