Bike Intercom

Anyone who knows my OH and I knows we can talk the legs of the hind of a donkey once we get going. This, for obvious reasons, isn't possible on a motorbike, so the search for rider to pillion communications began.

In the past my OH had bought an Oxford rider to pillion coms set. Oxford are a manufacture of bike accessories. This he managed to kill within 1/2 mile, despite the fact that it was not actually connected to the bike - it had its own, independent, power.

So, the search for something a bit more reliable began. We discovered there are 2 main manufactures of bike coms available in the UK - Autocom and Starcom. Both have sets which start from a power unit and headphones for the rider to, for example, listen to music. They then can be upgraded to allow the rider to pillion to talk up to bike to bike coms. The main difference was the price. For the rider to pillion option, Autocom are about £100 more expensive.

Just to make sure, my OH had a good look on-line at bike forums etc, to check Starcom seemed reliable. From that research, other bikers seemed to love Starcom. So, as you may have guessed, we plumped for Starcom.

My OH spent time setting the unit up. This involved positioning the headphones and mikes in our helmets, sewing the cables out of the way and setting the levels. Setting the levels was the most fiddly. He made the major adjustments in the house, using a 12v supply, but we had to go for a proving run, as road and wind noise make a considerable difference to the way the system works. Following this proving run, there were a couple of stops necessary to make small adjustments, but once those were made, the system appeared to work really well.

The following day, we were on a Pan Clan run to Lindisfarne. About an hour into the run, I heard a small crackle and shortly afterwards, my OH said something and was much louder than he had been earlier. About a mile (if that) afterwards, a terrible very loud screach came from the unit. We were on a roundabout and it was all my OH could do to prevent the bike going off the road. It was very painful and even I could barely think. I wasn't having to drive. We pulled over and unplugged from the unit; carrying on our merry(ish) way.

The following day, my OH contacted Starcom direct. They asked if he'd send the unit direct to them, as they don't get many returned with the full background. About a week later, we received the "new" unit. The had replaced the motherboard (to which everything is attached), so all we got back was the box the originally came in. We think Starcom did that as my OH had put velcro on the underside, to attach the unit to the bike. Given how well Starcom deal with the problem, we just put the issue down to experience.

Unfortunately, we had to set the levels again, but everything seemed to be going okay, until today. We were leaving work and I was having difficulty plugging into the unit. My OH noticed 1 of the connector pins were bent. Although this was a bit of a pain, he wasn't too worried, as he could unbend the pin or get a new connector cable, as it is a standard fitment.

When we got home, my OH realised that the pin was bent as a bit of plastic from the main unit had broken off into the connector. Consequently, we now aren't was impressed with Starcom as we once were. Although we will give the benefit of the doubt on 1 occasion, we won't twice for the same product. So, it's back to the shop the unit will be going, for a refund. Looks like we will be getting Autocom after all. Now, I'm thinking that this proves that you do get what you pay for.