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Communicating While Riding in Groups


SpecialEd
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My Schuberth has Sena built in, but I use it for navigation and tunes..and sparingly. I do not communicate with other riders via electronics. I find that to be a distraction. Everyone I ride with is going the same direction I am and usually at the same pace. If I need to talk to someone, it can wait until the next stop. 

Plus, I spend time working shit out in my helmet. Rides are literal therapy for me. Nobody needs to hear what I have to say. 

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Been using a uclear and Sena for years and the only time I link up is on week trips with my buddy Ford in case of ohh shit moment. In for years and 6 or so big trips we actually connected one time. However they are awesome for tunes, gps directions, and not missing an important call. 

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I’m cheap. No communications here . I play my music via earbuds in my helmet and that’s it. I have a car gps (told you I was cheap) mounted to my upper triple for navigation. 

Edited by durk
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Ed, to be honest i am not with this motomacho men crowd on this one. :D 

One of the best investment was getting coms/ esp for me when riding two up. 

plus makes group riding safer and fun for me. Used to ride a lot with a late friend always linked up. It was another layer of safety,  calling out stuff on blind corners, way more safer to make passes,  easier to make last minute plan changes as needed, real time learning/ correcting riding, lines, feedback  etc  without having to stop take helmet off and waste time etc. 

to me motorcycling and by association group ride  should be fluid and graceful like dancing, following the beat and modulating modifying and changing the rhythm or route or stop etc on the flow. Comms give you that freedom, for eg: on a pre planned route you see some new exciting road, you feel like trying it, ask the guys on com, instant yes or no and booms its done. 

it cannot be like a military regimen and parade,  i mean it can be but kind of looses the fun part a bit. that is feeling of freedom and flexibility. Just following a pre planned rouTe to the T etc is okay and good but not exactly great. But different strokes for different folks 

i guess i will unfollow this thread before they gonna kill me with ridiculously funny and probably true counter arguments and puns. I dont even know why i typed all that above. I know they are never going to link up ever in a group ride haha 

Edited by NinjaDoc
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That’s the thing, literally all the anti-comm guys think it’s constant blah blah talk show in there. It’s not like that at all. You literally communicate some important stuff once or twice per whole  hour of ride at best. Like not every corner report or road kill is called out, only some extreme blind corner unexpected crap or a passing opportunity in a series of corners. If not the comm goes into a stand by silent mod and you don’t even realize it’s there. 

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You guys, dont worry, I'll get a sena and I will change nivin's mind for him.  He will tear his comm unit out after 12 minutes of off tune Journey between the "oooohhh neat house" and "oops, I'm supposed to brake" 

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There is some truth to what @NinjaDoc says, there are times when it is useful. I paired up with @ricer1 once, we were southbound on 148. At the very beginning of our run down it we caught this super slow old lady, I got a break with a straight to get around her but John got caught behind her. I was able to gap her and call back to John when it was clear for him to corner pass her.

Going back to my comment earlier about shooting people that pair with me. I would like to point out that the very next day after that ride John was dead. True story.

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3 hours ago, NinjaDoc said:

That’s the thing, literally all the anti-comm guys think it’s constant blah blah talk show in there. It’s not like that at all. You literally communicate some important stuff once or twice per whole  hour of ride at best. Like not every corner report or road kill is called out, only some extreme blind corner unexpected crap or a passing opportunity in a series of corners. If not the comm goes into a stand by silent mod and you don’t even realize it’s there. 

I am not anti-comm. I am anti-not being alone in my helmet. 

On a big trip? Maybe. On a 300 mile cannonball run? Not interested. Besides, if I do make a poor decision and smack into the side of a truck, nobody wants to hear me die in their helmet. Except Jinu, but he has weird fetishes. 

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4 minutes ago, Pauly said:

I am not anti-comm. I am anti-not being alone in my helmet. 

On a big trip? Maybe. On a 300 mile cannonball run? Not interested. Besides, if I do make a poor decision and smack into the side of a truck, nobody wants to hear me die in their helmet. Except Jinu, but he has weird fetishes. 

It would make me so very hard

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2 hours ago, Tonik said:

There is some truth to what @NinjaDoc says, there are times when it is useful. I paired up with @ricer1 once, we were southbound on 148. At the very beginning of our run down it we caught this super slow old lady, I got a break with a straight to get around her but John got caught behind her. I was able to gap her and call back to John when it was clear for him to corner pass her.

Going back to my comment earlier about shooting people that pair with me. I would like to point out that the very next day after that ride John was dead. True story.

That is a true story! After 37 minutes without a pulse most people would consider a person dead, it's going take more than 37 minutes and 8 days in a coma to kill me. Many of OR people supported my family while I was in the hospital and my wife and kids appreciated the effort to visit the hospital! 

I'm with NinjaDoc, I listen to tunes on the Sena the majority of time, but it is nice to communicate getting out of parking lots, through traffic lights and stop signs, passing cars and trucks. Riding over 45 years on the street and the last 10 years using the Sena has made it easier talking instead of communicating like monkeys when you need a bathroom break, gas or food. JMHO. 

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I used my Sena system in my Arai and linked with Danimal on a WV trip. It was a neat experience and made the ride more enjoyable, but I am not sure it wasn't the novelty of the day that made it neat. I like chatting with Dan about whatever is needling his noodle at the time, but most of you are too goddamn boring to even deal with..let alone humor all day long. No thanks. 

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I was always anti-comm until I did a couple ADV trips with some friends. On my bike at highway speeds the comm is not very useful but on trails and back roads it was very useful to provide trails warnings, make quick decisions on route/fuel/breaks and provide general safety when a member has a drop. 

Most of my rides are solo and I don't even do music but I definitely will use comms for group rides, especially off road.

Dan definitely is an interesting character and I'm sure he could be interesting for a full day of riding :D

 

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