what to expect from wife , when doing two up ? should I ?

I enjoy my Moto adventures with my wife completely. She rides shotgun, snaps pictures and helps navigate (we don't own a GPS unit yet!) I realized recently that I miss camping but that was a compromise I was willing to make so my passenger was comfortable after a long day. Of course things are coming full circle and we will camp on our next trip.

By the way I am taking her to places that I think she will find interesting and amazing and my reward is being able to do this for her.

Yours does that too? At least I know I'm not the only one. We have the Sena SMH-5, and they cut out occasionally. They usually come back on in a second or two. However, after about 3 years of use, something is wrong with one of the mics, so I'll have to order another. I have also thought about just replacing them with the new Sena model that has the built in video/camera, but need to research more. I'd love to have something that just snapped photos at the touch of a button, but would probably use video very rarely.

We use the Sena SMH 10 trouble free other than a very infrequent drop of signal.

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Trouble shared is trouble halved.... substitute "trouble" for the tasks of camping and I find it much easier to camp with two than one.
And I'm usually the one who would rather go in a cheap hotel (somtimes).

If a couple haven't worked out a routine for making and breaking camp in the first few days then maybe it won't happen. Ours is very similar to Tuckers. I pull the plug on the air beds when I get up for a piss. She takes out the sleeping bags and turns them out to air. I get back and make coffee, while boiling, I roll the mattresses. After coffee, everything gets packed and tent dropped. We have a side case each -for everything personal incl bedding, so we are not taking much. Intimate clothing gets washed each night, pants and shirts go in a launderette occasionally. Works for six weeks holidays.
Bike packed and away. It helps us to not have lots of crap to pack or bungee on.
We have had youngsters come over and watch.

For now, I'll probably just buy a new $20 mic to get my SMH5 working. Sena has a new model coming out called 10C EVO that has an HD camera that will do still shots, video, and short video clips. It says communication goes to 1 mile. My SMH5 is only good for about 1/4 mile.

I'm going to wait and see some of the video quality on the EVO myself,I've got 2 SMH5's that me and the wife used once . I bought a Harley and they have their own system and I use the stereo on the bike now if I want music or directions from my phone.

I bought a wasp camera but don't like it,crappy video while in motion.

Our 10’s bike to bike only work approx 100 yards, is this normal?

I think I know why my 10s work while others don't...mine only need to communicate 24"...we ride two up!

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We've had the SMH-10 for years and love it. My GF has it, both of my sons have them, ad my granddaughter has one.
My GF rides with me occasionally, more to humor me than anything else, but it really isn't her thing. I'm trying to talk her into accompanying me to the Montrose CO ride next June, we'll see how that goes. My granddaughter Haley (16) on the other hand is always a willing passenger and ready for a road trip. (Vashon island)

Both had complained about lower back pain on my ZRX1100, so I got a Valkyrie but sold it six months later. It just seemed too big for what I was doing with it.
(Las Vegas)

Now I have an FJR1300 with hard bags and box- I learned with the Valk that the top box and back rest are critical to the passenger's comfort.
The bags and box are great because we can stop someplace and not have to carry around our helmets and jackets like we did with the ZRX.
Also both the GF and the GD love the top box for stashing girl stuff- anything from a hat to a purse to a change of shoes. (Prescott AZ)

We love our Sena intercoms... it's so much fun to have a running conversation about everything rather than waiting 45 minutes for a gas stop to ask "did you see the deer?"
Some riders prefer to ride in silence. Some prefer to ride alone. I like having company, riding is a social thing for me.
When i ride with my 2 sons, we have open mics for a constant running commentary on traffic, danger warnings, gas level, food stops, route changes, and everything else. We help each other pass, clear lanes when changing left or right, block for each other when needed, and it just makes it all better.

What distance are you getting with S10

Line of sight. It changes depending on a lot of things, but probably a quarter mile or more.

Wow, we get 100 yards

Agree. Also not having to slow down at every possible rest stop to shout "do you need to stop?" over the wind. If I get the word that it`s time, I`ll stop. No word and I feel good myself, just keep rolling and know that I`m not torturing the old lady.

FTL, did you ride two-up all the way from Vegas to Seattle?

The only time I rode with communications between me and anybody not sitting right behind me was a couple months ago with my cousin in the Mendocino hills, both with 10 series Senas. Most of the time it was curvy and we had no problems over the short distance between one curve and the next, though they cut out whenever we got a hunk of mountain between us. On the brief sections of freeway we hit, I don`t remember ever losing signals, but I don`t think we ever got more than about 100 yards apart either. I guess that ain`t very helpful, but its the best I can do- sorry.

We've run Cardos for years and have found them to be pretty good. Our original Scala Q2 is probably 8 or 9 yrs old. One unit fail after 4 yrs bit the other one is now on my dirt bike helmet for radio and phone calls, still works perfectly. We bought another set of the same thing but didn't find them to be as good, though they are still on the street helmets. One isn't holding a charge anymore and with a big trip going up in Feb I ordered Cardo's latest backtalk duo; FedEx just dropped them off this evening. First impression is they Seem like quality units. Better tactile feeling for build quality then the las set we bought and the phone app is pretty slick to remotely control the unit. What I've always liked about the Cardos is that they are weather proof but like most comms set the speakers were always a bit weak. At least with this new unit the speakers connect to the unit via a standard jack and I could use ear buts with noise cancelling if I wanted to.

OK, I guess the short range on the SMH5 isn't that unusual. Our cut out around corners too.

I watched a review of the Sena 10C (not the 10C EVO) and the video looked really good. The guy had edited an ongoing video of his ride while he discussed the unit, and he was going back and forth with 2 other cameras mounted on the bike. One was a GoPro, and all of them had about the same video quality.

I plug molded earplugs in to my SENA 10 so the sound is incredible. BUT the distance is abysmal.....you can't be even be a football field apart. It's quite dangerous at 80mph..trying to get close to communicate without drop offs. I've contacted SENA and they said go to the store and get replacement units. I hate this crap......'just' go to the store...like I have fuck all else to do...then sit around whilst they install the new units. We have 10EVO I think on the box it says one or two miles can't remember.....NO WAY...we even got off the bikes and walked apart..line of sight in a clear area...it dropped off around 100 yards. We used to have wired AUTOCOM with Kenwood radios..it WOULD work 2 miles apart...even in the city or mountains. I'm quite disappointed at $500 for the pair......a pair in one box mind you...you'd think they would work.

Communications equipment at this level is always a compromise given the demand for long battery life, compact units, multifunction capability, lightweight, weather proof etc. Some big advances in software have helped but this is a niche market given we all want more than unit to unit comms.

Anyway, the Cardo Packtalk duo that I just picked up should do the trick for group rides and comms between wifey and I. All Mrs CdnX wants is to pillion dance like Groot rocking out to her tunes and be warned over comms before I do something like a full throttle pass or to tell me to go back to look at bird houses someone is selling on their front lawn or some such shit. Whatever my time is well spent and my purposes well met on these kinds of trips.

Negatory, I have not attempted anything that long. I trucked my bike up there 3 summers in a row to ride Washington and Oregon with my boys and the granddaughter, and last time I left it there so now I can just fly in and ride. I have the ZRX1100 and the truck at my son's house in Seattle, and an FJR1300 and a Mini Cooper at home in Las Vegas.

Sweet! I`m not much of a coast guy, but I LOVE the Puget Sound.

My wife had never ridden on a bike until this past summer. She encouraged me to get back into street riding so I went and bought something that would be comfortable for the both of us and picked up an old used Harley couch. She loves the thing, it's her throne and she's actually fallen asleep on it. I joke that it's her bike, I'm just the pilot and mechanic.

A couple things that I learned. Ride more conservatively than you normally would. I have a faster, better handling bike for me to blast around on solo so I use that bike to get that stuff out of my system.

I pack minimally so she can bring more stuff. It's no big deal for me but we're spoiled with all the space we have.

We usually stop every 150 miles which works out well for us because I'm going to need gas soon anyways. And we see stuff we normally wouldn't when in a car.

We stay in hotels.

If she complains about the ride of your bike, don't take it personally. I upgraded the shocks on mine and it made a huge difference.

Since we started riding we've found we enjoy spending more time with each other and we travel a lot more. It's a lot more fun heading out on the bike than piling into an SUV. This summer we have a 5 and 10 day trip planned and we can't wait.

Good gear helps a lot.

We're probably going to get some Sena's to try out this summer.

It's a lot of fun and the best thing about her going with is you get more time in the saddle.


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