Cycle to cycle communication

[FrenchMarigold]

My husband and I (in our 70s) have just have bought electric bikes and are getting out far more (and going further) and have realised we could do with a bike to bike communication system. Everything online seems to be produced abroad, costs an arm and a leg and even more in custom duties. There is definitely a gap in the UK market. I have read similar comments on other forums but they are always based in the US or Australia where several system are available. Can anyone on here help?

[zenitb]

Depends what you want it for I suppose. You could use a £40 pair of Motorola walkie talkies. These are short range (1km?) and as standard you need a hand free so you can "push to talk". You could put one in/on the barbag and then grab it when you want to make contact.

Helmet earphones and microphone booms (with voice activation a.k.a VOX) are available for the Motorola walkie talkies as an extra. I have used these while skiing but unless you want to be constantly nattering to one another they are overkill. I just grab the "walkie" and press the button. There is no need to press anything to hear stuff the other person is saying..it just comes straight out of the loudspeaker.

Clarkson and May use "push to talk"walkie talkies on Top Gear while driving a car so I am assuming their use is legal. Push to talk is what lorry dispatchers and delivery drivers have been doing for years.

I have never used mine for cycling though (only to keep a group together while skiing) so its just a suggestion..not a firm recommendation.

[zenitb]

...if you just want to keep track of where your cycling partner is then Google Maps on your mobile phone has an option called "Location Sharing" available on the main menu ("hamburger" symbol at the top left). On Sunday I was on a charity ride and got too far ahead of my group.. using Google Maps I could see where they had stopped further back on the road and could track them catching me up again. I had to stop to get the phone out though...and you obviously need mobile coverage for this to work. So more of an insurance policy but surprisingly useful for meeting up during events.

[Abu Milhem]

My husband and I (in our 70s) have just have bought electric bikes and are getting out far more (and going further) and have realised we could do with a bike to bike communication system. Everything online seems to be produced abroad, costs an arm and a leg and even more in custom duties. There is definitely a gap in the UK market. I have read similar comments on other forums but they are always based in the US or Australia where several system are available. Can anyone on here help?

Anything labelled PMR446 will be legal in the UK and in many other CEPT countries. They work well but have a limited range. Commercial ones are heavy as they are designed for rugged use; consumer ones are lighter and cheaper but the only issue I have found with them is that the displays are, as a rule, tiny so it is hard to see what channel you are on.With these it pays to RTFM!

[Abu Milhem]

https://www.apexradio.co.uk/product/motorola-tlkr-t80-extreme/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwz93cBRCrARIsAEFbWsgvfDBgAinUpSE12QA7tEjHrx_yApBic4ZPpyncPUByDO8Nj6vxHg4aAi-pEALw_wcB

These are a typical example

[Airsporter1st]

If you both have mobile phones then why not take advantage, if you haven't already, of plans with unlimited minutes. You can then use the earpieces/mics which come with most phones these days and simply stay on the line for as long as you need to. Some providers time out after an hour, but its no big deal to re-establish connection as required.

Assuming you have suitable phones already, this represents no additional cost if you have the unlimited plans, relatively small additional cost if you don't and you will not need to buy or carry any other equipment. Furthermore, you have no range limitation and you have duplex communication - no 'push to talk'.

[mjr]

Assuming you have suitable phones already, this represents no additional cost if you have the unlimited plans, relatively small additional cost if you don't and you will not need to buy or carry any other equipment. Furthermore, you have no range limitation and you have duplex communication - no 'push to talk'.

Or if both phones can do wifi and one can be a hotspot (standard on Amdroids for some time), then a push to talk app will work if you're close enough, will be free and doesn't depend on phone signal.

But why not just ride alongside and talk?

[FrenchMarigold]

Thanks for the replies. The lanes we cycle along are twisty and narrow and fairly pot-holey so riding two abreast is not feasible. My husband goes faster than I do. I do know where he is, he's ahead The mobile signal is poor or non-existant (countryside is hilly to mountainous). We are looking for a hands-free solution similar to Vertix velo, Terrano or Cardo BK-1 duo that is actually sold in the UK. We have to operate the thrust switch of the e-bike with the left hand, and the gears with the right hand and we only have two hands each. Arthritic hips and backs means we find going for a bike ride easier than walking but it would be nicer to say "look at that hare!" than to shout it, hoping the other one will hear!

[meic]

Years ago, on the motorbikes we used walkie talkies with a microphone headset system.
You could have it on voice activated, which worked even above a motorcycle engine but not above windnoise over around 60mph.
The microphones had a push to transmit button which had to be pressed to work the voice activation, so we just clamped it to be permanently pressed.

We quickly gave up on the whole system because the range of licence exempt walkytalkies was too short to be of much use and it was all a big hassle.

[gazza_d]

2 way radios are generally dirt cheap. as little as £20 in Argos http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3279450 . Perfect for your use case
We used to use a similar pair when we owned a motorhome, and I have used them for marshal communications when leading Sustrans rides

[zenitb]

Years ago, on the motorbikes we used walkie talkies with a microphone headset system.
You could have it on voice activated, which worked even above a motorcycle engine but not above windnoise over around 60mph.
The microphones had a push to transmit button which had to be pressed to work the voice activation, so we just clamped it to be permanently pressed.

We quickly gave up on the whole system because the range of licence exempt walkytalkies was too short to be of much use and it was all a big hassle.

umm...yes ..if you clamped the press to talk button down then you would be constantly transmitting on that frequency..hogging the channel and no one would ever be able to reply to you. Maybe this is why you had issues. You have to remember to let the button go to let others on the same channel speak.

[zenitb]

locate this near one of the handlebars...maybe on the gear shifter side. https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_xu ... n7707.html

Alternatively get your husband to cycle just behind you

[zenitb]

You can clip this somewhere near your lapel/collar. any messages from your husband will just come straight through.

https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_xu ... leproducts

If you want to talk you could set the walkie talkie to "VOX" mode. This means as soon as you start talking it will automatically transmit, without having to press a button. This can be dodgy of course since while I was skiing I could hear my brother in law humming to himself. Also my sudden swearing went straight out to all our skiing group. hmm.. if your husband has a private moan you will probably hear that as well. Be careful what you wish for

[zenitb]

...they seem to be advertising the Cardo BK-1 ... that was one of the specialist systems you mentioned ?

https://www.swinnertoncycles.co.uk/acce ... TbEALw_wcB

[meic]

Years ago, on the motorbikes we used walkie talkies with a microphone headset system.
You could have it on voice activated, which worked even above a motorcycle engine but not above windnoise over around 60mph.
The microphones had a push to transmit button which had to be pressed to work the voice activation, so we just clamped it to be permanently pressed.

We quickly gave up on the whole system because the range of licence exempt walkytalkies was too short to be of much use and it was all a big hassle.

umm...yes ..if you clamped the press to talk button down then you would be constantly transmitting on that frequency..hogging the channel and no one would ever be able to reply to you. Maybe this is why you had issues. You have to remember to let the button go to let others on the same channel speak.

It was clamping the button on the microphone of the headset not on the walky talky, so it was not transmitting unless activated by the Vox. That is how the Vox worked.
The reasons why it was a pita were nothing to do with that, the vox was only an issue when wind created too much noise.
I hope you dont feel too foolish about having made a condescending post like that when not really having a full understanding of how it works.