Motorcycle Intercom Helmet Systems

A motorcycle intercom helmet system is a great way to enhance the quality of your biking trips.

Riding a motorcycle is, by nature, a solitary and private experience.  Riding alone is a good way to clear your head or get your thoughts together.  The ride can also be more pleasant when you can listen to your favorite tunes. Then there are times when Mama wants to ride along or you’re riding with a buddy or a group on a run. It is those times that, inevitably, you will want to talk to them.

Motorcycle intercom helmet systems are available to enhance your riding experience, but the problem is that there are so many to choose from within a wide price range. It makes it hard to decide which one to choose. Motorcycle intercoms have to work in an very difficult environment so choosing the right one can make the difference between enjoying your new purchase or hating it. This review site for motorcycle intercom helmets will hopefully make your decision easier.

Let’s look at a broad overview of the types of motorcycle communication systems available.

The most basic form of a motorcycle helmet intercom is the acoustic intercom. When I say acoustic I mean that electronics aren’t involved at all. It just uses hollow tubes that your voice travels through,  like the old ships where the captain yells, “Full Steam Ahead!” down a tube to the engine room.

These systems have rubber-tipped tubes that insert in your ear the same way an earplug would. There is also a mouthpiece tube for you to talk into and all the tubes connect into a junction box.

Having no batteries or electronics to mess with makes  them very dependable. The downside is that there is no amplification capability so you can’t adjust the volume or filter out wind noise. So at higher speeds, it will be more difficult to hear. Another problem is that some people find the “earplugs” uncomfortable in their ears for long periods.

Obviously these acoustic intercoms only work for rider-to-passenger and not bike-to-bike.

The next step up is a wired motorcycle intercom system. These systems have wires that run from the rider and passenger into a central control box that houses the electronics and battery.

Similar to an acoustic intercom, with a wired system you don’t have to worry about any external interference like you do with wireless technologies. One of the issues some people have is that the wiring can be a little bit of a pain. Every time you and a passenger get on and off the bike you have to remember to unplug the units.

Wireless communication technologies have made huge advances in recent years so it is no surprise that it has been adapted to motorcycle intercom helmet systems.

In the U.S. there are four types of radio technologies used in motorcycle intercoms. They are GMRS, FRS, FM, and Bluetooth.

FM or Frequency Modulation communication devices are similar to the FM radio you listen to, but for motorcycle intercoms a narrower frequency is used. Like FM radio, these systems can produce clear sound, as long as the distance between them isn’t too great. FM radio works best when there are no obstructions such as hills between the transmitter and receiver.

The Family Radio Service (FRS) and the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) are the modern equivalents to the old walkie talkies you may have had when you were a kid. FRS radios typically have a maximum range of two miles with few obstructions in between, while GRMS radios communicate up to several miles. Like FM, these are public frequencies so other people can hear your conversations and vice versa. Also GMRS radios require an FCC license for legal use.

Bluetooth is the latest technology to hit motorcycle intercoms. Not only can these systems communicate totally wirelessly from rider to passenger, they can be used to communicate from bike to bike. Although with these systems the range is not in miles, it is in hundreds of feet. Since you are likely riding close to your buddies, this is not usually a problem and the range limitation can be an advantage in controlling the amount of outside interference you will get.

Also, since you must program two units to work together, you won’t pick up conversations from other people with Bluetooth devices…and they won’t be able to hear you.

This website offers reviews of some of the best motorcycle helmet intercom systems on the market today and I hope you find the right motorcycle intercom for you because it will really make your ride  much more enjoyable. You’ll wonder how you got along without it. You typically get what you pay for when you buy motorcycle intercoms, but even a bad motorcycle intercom is better than none at all.