It’s not unusual for me to use the web to do research on the things I’m thinking about purchasing. Reading reviews of products is nice, but reading actual opinions from satisfied or unsatisfied customers is even better. So I set about making a list of intercom systems.

I quickly removed Chatterbox from the list, as there were a high number of complaints about it being unusable in situations where there was a lot of wind noise. Autocom looked good and had far more positive reviews than negative. J&M also had pretty good reviews. However there were a couple of newcomers to the block which were getting some favorable reviews; Starcom1 and Baehr.

J&M, while I’m sure they have a fine product, had more of an air of Gold Wing about it. Now I know that’s just perception on my part and I’m sure their unit would have done just fine. However one thing I couldn’t really ignore was the price. I also had a chance to look at one of their packages at the local shop and it struck me as a bit bulkier than I wanted. The GS is my mount and I needed something more compact to attach permanently to the bike without major modifications.

Autocom had a lot of favorable reviews, and a lot of people who like their product. It was a strong contender until I read through some of their product information. They consider their units to be perfectly tuned, and therefore requiring no external adjustments at all. I can appreciate why they say this; microphone and speaker placement in the helmet are absolutely critical to the proper function of any system. However, I don’t agree with the concept that an intercom system can be perfectly tuned at the factory for all bikes, riders and conditions. As I write this I notice that they have updated their product lines, so this may no longer be true.

That left me with Starcom1 and Baehr, both of which offered me the kind of adjustment I was looking for; separate volume and vox adjustments for rider and passenger, and a compact size. Starcom1 is a relative newcomer to the field so I had a hard time finding much user information about their product, but what I did find was positive.

Baehr was fortunate to have one of their units reviewed on WebBikeWorld. I ran across that review and it clicked with me. They offer several units with the features I wanted and then some. As I did my research into user opinions, all the information I read was positive. If there is a negative review of the equipment, I couldn’t find it. The only comment I found about Baehr that wasn’t glowing was the price. It definitely isn’t on the cheap side. The other downer was that it’s not really sold locally, so if something went wrong with it I’d be stuck. The review pointed to Challenger Motors in New Zealand and that’s where I went to order my unit.

Now I have to be honest. I spent 15K on a motorcycle. Why would I skimp on a feature that will let me and my fiance talk freely, no matter what the speed or conditions? Some guys don’t want to talk to the passenger. That’s fine. Me? When I’m setting up to pass someone, or take a set of curves with no mercy, I need to be able to tell my passenger to bunch up. So I spent about $800 US and wound up with a Verso Plus. The unit has separate adjustments for both passenger and rider, the best vox available according to the reviews I read, is fairly compact, water resistant and has additional connections for a CB/GMRS/FRS radio, push to talk button connection (for the radio), and a walkman connection that automatically fades the music when you talk.

I have to say, installing the speakers and microphone in the helmet was the worst part of the deal. That thing is there to protect my head, and here I was pulling it apart. The good news is that I was able to get it apart, install the equipment and put it all back together again without damaging it. I strongly suggest taking a walk over to Challenger Motors in New Zealand, they have a section describing how to take several different models of helmets apart. They have detailed pictures of it, so I didn’t bother to take any myself.

The next task was to get the intercom unit itself mounted to the bike. In my surfing around I had seen pictures of someone who had mounted the intercom in the tool tray of an 1150GS. So I can’t take credit for where I put it, unfortunately I can’t find that web page anymore either. The Verso Plus unit fits just nicely where the stock flat tire repair kit goes. Since I have a Stop ‘n Go tire plugging kit that I carry externally, there was no need for the BMW kit.

Step one: Power. I wanted to add an auxiliary fuse panel to my bike, and I wanted to make it switched so that it only had power when the bike was turned on. I bought a six fuse auxiliary panel from Blue Sea Systems that fit the bill nicely. It is a little bulky, but it still fits under the drivers seat on top of the air filter, includes space for six fused leads and has a built in grounding block . Instead of the drilling holes in the filter cover to attach it, I opted for some heavy duty velcro. I’m hoping it will hold up, but only time and the summer heat will tell.

Now it’s right next to the battery. So a short negative lead went to the negative pole on the fuse panel, and I ran a separate wire with an in-line fuse on a positive lead from the battery back to the built in fuse box on the bike. This was where I planned to put the relay to make the whole fuse pannel switched with the bike. I then ran another positive wire from the same location back to the positive pole on the fuse panel.

Where to get the switched power? I had two fairly obvious choices. I could run a tap from the parking light up front, or from the brake light in back. Since space was more cramped up front, I opted to go for the tail light. With the simple 12v circuit tester I had, I turned the bike on and tested each of the leads attached to the brake light housing to find the one I wanted. I then tapped into this using a tap from the auto parts store. Now getting the cable back to the relay was a bit of a challenge. I didn’t realize that the brake and tail light wires went through two different rubber grommets; one through the rear plastic fender, and a second one into the brake light housing. I wound up removing the entire rear frame assembly, which is just a single cast piece. Once I got the wire through the grommets, I zip tied it to the rear sub-frame and routed it up to the relay.

For the negative portion of the relay I simply ran a short wire back to the grounding block on my fuse panel. Keep in mind I was testing every stretch of wire as I went along. It’s a real pain to button everything up only to discover that you have a short, or a bad connection somewhere. So the relay was tested and power only came through it when the bike was on. Great! The biggest worry I had was taken care of. Now on to the intercom installation.

Step two: Mounting. I removed the tool tray from the bike, set all the tools aside and decided where I was going to run the cables. I drilled a hole through the side of the tray where the end of the tire wrench normally goes. I drilled out a few smaller holes and then used a utility knife to cut out the excess, till a 3/4 inch rubber grommet fit in the hole nicely. Now keep in mind that all of the cables will fill that little hole pretty quick, so I put the cables through the grommet first, then through the hole in the tool tray before I secured the grommet in the tool tray.

The Baehr unit includes an in-line fuse on it’s power cable. I had installed the fuse block to handle that need, so I removed the in-line fuse holder and ran the remaining wire to the fuse panel where I inserted the 1 amp fuse provided by Baehr.

I wrapped the ends of the radio and PTT cables with electrical tape to keep out moister and dust. Then I just coiled them neatly between the rear catch for the drivers seat. I always have my seat in the high position so I’m not worried about the cables interfering with the seat latch, and they’ll stay out of the way till I decide to add a CB or GMRS radio to the mix.

Step three: Where to put the plugs? So you need a place to put the plugs for the helmets. I did some preliminary mounting for the driver and the passenger in location I thought would be good. I was wrong. Sometimes trial and error is the best way to do it and on the first ride I figured out that I had got it wrong. You definitely want to be able to plug and unplug yourself while seated on the bike with little difficulty. The drivers plug I wound up placing towards the front of the seat, with enough slack in the end to let me easily plug in. The passengers plug is near the front of the pillion seat, and has a bit less slack in it to keep it from contacting the muffler when it’s not in use. That makes it a little more inconvenient for the passenger to plug in, but with the driver steadying the bike it works out okay. I may make some adjustments to that in the future.

Results: I have to say this is one of the best things I could have done to the bike to accommodate passengers. The intercom works wonderfully. communication is loud and clear, even when I’m wearing my earplugs. The vox sensitivity adjusts nicely, and it cuts out wind noise from the communication. While I haven’t wired up the music cable to it’s permanent location yet, I did do a little preliminary testing with it. Lets face it, you’re not going to get the same quality of music out of the this little box as a home stereo but it’s good enough for me, and the automatic fade in/out when you talk is wonderful. Overall I’m very happy with their product.

I think Baehr now has a US distributor, but I haven’t dealt with them at all. I won’t hesitate to send you to Challenger Motors in New Zealand. They were friendly, helpful, and they delivered what I wanted on time.