My stoker has detemined that we'd be better off with an intercom. I have my doubts, but I'm always willing to humor her. When she forced me to think about it I assumed I could find a nice wireless Bluetooth intercom that would suit our purposes. But after an extensive internet search, I find that while Bluetooth intercoms are available for motorcylists, I find nothing for bicyclists.

Am I missing the obvious? Is anyone aware of anything in the marketplace? Shouldn't these be the lightest, smallest alternatives?

I'd settle for something that required the use of our cell phone to drive the headsets. But again, I'm finding nothing.

Are we the only tandem team in the world looking for this? Any opinions appreciated.

Google TandemTalk . . .

There is also another tandem intercom called Tandem-com. Here is the URL.

https://www.precisiontandems.com/homepage.htm

As far as I know, there is no BlueTooth tandem setup.

I think it is a good idea. How about Bluetooth enabled throat mics?

Dave Bohm

+1 We have friends that have the wired version of tandemtalk and love it. We do not talk while riding except for really simple stuff. Generally, the wind is too noisy and I rather stay focused on the road. The same is true on road bikes. If we want to talk, we stop.

Dang... caught me. I had posted, then rethought my comments, and then deleted my note.

BlueAnt is importing a bluetooth intercom for motorcycles. It is fairly new to the market, not a lot of reviews. I have been studying it for a while trying to decide if it will work on a bike helment or not. It is a little too $$ for me to order 2 just to try. https://www.myblueant.com/interphone-...helmet-kit.htm also at amazon

Jack

There is this one but I've never tried or seen it in person. I'd be concerned about draining my cellphone battery. We're content with our Tandem-com.

Jeff

We have not used a communication device on our tandem in our decades of riding as a duo.
When it gets noisy out, we just talk louder! (. . . can you hear me now . . . ?)
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

This made me realize we may already have such a setup, sort of: my wife/stoker and I have cellphones with bluetooth headsets, and on Verizon's "family plan," all calls betwixt our phones are free -- seems like this ought to work as an intercom, we'll try it this weekend....

(Obviously this would be an absurdly expensive solution to teams not already having this stuff, but since we do it's free, in the sense the costs are already sunk.)

-1 We do not care about intercoms but we have very good talks/comunication while riding. Of course not on the hard/fast rides but on the long, base-buliding, rides. We also love to talk to other riders on singles or tandems... we have made a few friends that way.

Thanks to all who replied. I've seen the Tandem Talk and the Tandem Com - too much wire. The motorcyclists have a decent selection of Bluetooth intercoms to choose from - but they're all designed to fit inside a motorcycle helmet.

I tend to agree with all who don't feel the need for an intercom. I just thought a tiny bluetooth headset might be unobtrusive enough to consider it an option. I guess those technology providers haven't yet invaded our little market niche just yet. Similar to no1uno's option, I've wondered if it's possible to connect two headsets to a single cell phone and create an ersatz intercom.

Meanwhile, I'll just speak up when I need to convey important data to the stoker (and aren't all my comments to be considered important data to the stoker?).

Yes!... but if your stoker is like mine... when I say something she does not care for... if she is in a good mood she'd say: "no puedo oir nada! el viento/trafico esta muy fuerte; (sorry dear, the wind/traffic was too loud!)" otherwise she'd just ignore me.

Hello Everyone,
This is stelin lindsey and according to my opinion is that Bluetooth and the Bluetooth logos are trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc, USA and licensed to
Tality Corporation. Use of the Specification by anyone who is not a member of Bluetooth SIG or a party to any Early Adopters Agreement (such person or party, a “Member”), is prohibited. The legal rights and obligation of each Member are governed by their applicable Membership Agreement, Early Adopter Agreement or Promoters Agreement. No license, expressed or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights are granted herein.

sena smh10

This device, while fine for motorcycle helmets, is not practical for a bicycle helmet. Much too bulky, and no place for the ear pieces to be housed. Not sure what your purpose of putting the trademark warnings in your post is either....

Ha Ha I agree with you though. If my stoker wants to get my attention she just tickles my butt. What could be better than that?

Wow, an old thread resurrected. The Blueant Interphone has worked fine for us, but Blueant no longer manufactures a monaural version. Assuming that the stereo version can be made to work there are excellent instructions hereabouts for modifying the Blueant stuff for bicycling. The issue with using ordinary cell phone gear is the lack of noise cancellation specifically regarding wind noise.

The new Bose earpiece is interesting in this regard, given Bose's experience with noise cancellation. Anyone tried one?

Merlin, it was my experience, (from a couple of years ago when I did the research for my BlueAnt article), that when a manufacturer of bluetooth cell phone headsets talks about noise or wind cancellation, they are talking about a noisy mall or a slight wind between buildings that you can turn your head away from. What they are NOT talking about is the ability to held a normal voice conversation at 25 mph in heavy traffic when you can't turn away from the wind.

What drew me to motorcycle headsets in general, and the BlueAnt in particular, was the similarity of use, and the 80 mph communication claims. (Maggi & I still don't know about 80, but they work OK up to 45!) It's a shame they discontinued the mono earpeice, and I haven't had time to talk to them to find out if one side of the stereo could just be cut off.

If anyone wants to talk to them and buy a set to try it, here's a link to the directions I wrote for making your own headset/neckband for them.
https://billnmaggi.tandemrides.com/20...nt_interphone/

So, is this what we are talking about?

I e-mailed Blueant asked about a mono version of their new model (or conversion of the stereo model). They responded with and 866 number for their technical support which I'll call tomorrow. Worst case we could build up a stereo version with the captain putting the outboard earpiece next to his/her ear.

This website purports to see the original albeit for more than the new model, but I have no further information
https://www.interphoneuk.com/Original_IP.html

If one of my helmet-mounted units fails I'll no doubt buy the new model. Stoker and I rode 66 miles on 1 January sans intercom and it was sorely missed although the way I was feeling it's best my mutterings went unnoticed

Correct. That is the new unit, although this pic gives you a better idea of the full assembly.

Ehhh, I would tend to say that the worst case basis could be handled by some amount of splicing or soldering to combine the two channels. Little more work probably, but a cleaner solution in the end, I think.

Bill, I agree on your worst case, but I'm just not enthusiastic about working with these tiny cables and wires. I'll see what their tech support has to say. I don't understand how a stereo headset can be legal in a motorcycle helmet, but perhaps tech support can shed some light on this. Maybe California is unique in prohibiting stereo in-ear devices? It's hard to believe that Blueant wouldn't have a product legal in such a large market.

No argument there, Rick. I got older, my fingers got fatter, and the audio wires got smaller!

Keep in mind that BlueAnt is an Australian company. Believe it or not, they may not even KNOW what the law is in California.

Secondly, for it's intended use in motorcycle helmets, the speaker does not actually sit on the motorcyclists ear, so it may well be technically legal even in California.

Lastly, although we think of motorcycles as being "big" in the US, they are primarily recreational use vehicles here. In other parts of the world, (like most of Asia), the motorcycle is a common form of transportation. So I think it is at least likely that a given state in the US is small potatoes compared to their global market.

Course, I could be dead wrong about any/all of that!

I did speak with Blueant tech support today. The fellow was not bullish on modifying the stereo system to mono. He said that a connector to permit the conversion had been brought up, but nothing had been done to forward this notion. He also put forward Bill's theory that the ear pieces are not really in contact with the ears in the case of a motorcycle helmet; I don't have recent motorcycle experience, but I would think the helmet to be pretty snug in that area. Anyway, my plan remains the same; namely, go stereo if I have to. For all I know there is a balance control and, frankly, my left ear hearing ain't all that good anyway. My stoker and I both use mirrors which is really more reliable than sound since overtaking cars can be seen before they are heard.