snaggletooth
Registered
Hey guy's. I'm a Fing New Guy that has been lurking on this site for some time now. Early this year my old friend and trusty commuter(Zx11) finally started to kick the bucket so I upgraded to an 07 Busa. Dreaming of the Busa brought me to this site so here I am. I'm glad I found you guys.
Like a good FNG I have kept my mouth shut until I had something useful to say so here it goes.
I have all ways rode (25 years)with tunes in my helmet. The last five years have been with a Sat radio. It's a must have for my 120 mi round trip commute. The Sat radio was a big plus for me because even with lots of memory and a good shufle in an MP3 / Ipod I all ways seemed to anticipate the music or get that feeling that I'm listening to the same song over and over again. The Sat radio is like listening to an FM radio station that plays most all of the songs that I like to hear. Just like a normal radio station, if the song that I'm listening to at the moment isn't my favorite, it make the next song more enjoyable. I love that, "right on, I haven't heard that song in years," feeling that I get from Sat radio. Plus no comercials. My commute is so long that I have to change FM stations several times with a normal radio. Sat radio put and end to that!
I started with XM but found that it didn't have as good as a rock selection as Sirius. The MX seems to favor R&B/Rap like Sirius favors rock. I went to sirius after a month with MX.
The older Sat radios were the best! The problem with using the Sa-rad's on a bike is volume control. My old sirius unit had external manual volume control buttons on the side and it played my ear buds very loud. It was so nice to have a unit that never needed batteries once wired to the bike. That old unit died after a couple of years so I got a new'er one.
The new units require you to go into a couple of programs starting with the menue button to adjust the volume. This doesn't work well at all while ridding. I bought an add on volume conrol for my head phones. That didn't work because the volume out put on the new units is to weak to drive the head phones above bike and road noise.
I have an old Koss three band EQ / mini amp that fits perfectly velcro'ed on my clutch reservour(sp?). It boost's the volume very well and also acts as a volume control. The only bad thig is that it uses batteries. They last a long time but they cant be canged while ridding. I have to get off the freeway for that. Not good if your running low on time.
Another issue with the new units are that they don't transmit to FM stations as far as the old units. I would often take the unit off the bike and listen to it in the truck while going on a dirt bike trip. While at camp I would tune the trailer radio and portable radio the same chanel and listen to the sat-rad. In fact every one in my circle could listen to it on their radios also. This can't be done as easly with the new unit. Now I have to have the receiving FM radio all most on top of the SA-Rad to pick up the signal.
Any way, a sat-rad that isn't intended for portable use can work fine but you need to figure out a way to boost and adjust the volume. BTW, the remote that comes with it will work the volume externaly but it will never get that loud without a booster. Just add a portable booster like I did and your good to go for a decent price. I have the same sat-rad as nofearspear, it's just mounted a little different.
I think that the best option, if you have the cash, is to mount a sat-rad that was designed to be portable. They come stock with the proper volume control and should be plenty powerful to drive your head phones. My gripe with those units is that the only ones that I like are made for MX radio only. I don't care for XM but they have the best selection of radios! I hope this will all change with the merge.
Oh, one more thing. The docking system on the new unit (like nofearspears's) is realy cool. It makes it easy to pop on and off while keeping the wires in place. It was a pain to un-plug every thing form the old unit just to run into a store or put it in another vehicle.
Do your research for the right unit and mount and go sat-rad!
Snaggletooth.
Like a good FNG I have kept my mouth shut until I had something useful to say so here it goes.
I have all ways rode (25 years)with tunes in my helmet. The last five years have been with a Sat radio. It's a must have for my 120 mi round trip commute. The Sat radio was a big plus for me because even with lots of memory and a good shufle in an MP3 / Ipod I all ways seemed to anticipate the music or get that feeling that I'm listening to the same song over and over again. The Sat radio is like listening to an FM radio station that plays most all of the songs that I like to hear. Just like a normal radio station, if the song that I'm listening to at the moment isn't my favorite, it make the next song more enjoyable. I love that, "right on, I haven't heard that song in years," feeling that I get from Sat radio. Plus no comercials. My commute is so long that I have to change FM stations several times with a normal radio. Sat radio put and end to that!
I started with XM but found that it didn't have as good as a rock selection as Sirius. The MX seems to favor R&B/Rap like Sirius favors rock. I went to sirius after a month with MX.
The older Sat radios were the best! The problem with using the Sa-rad's on a bike is volume control. My old sirius unit had external manual volume control buttons on the side and it played my ear buds very loud. It was so nice to have a unit that never needed batteries once wired to the bike. That old unit died after a couple of years so I got a new'er one.
The new units require you to go into a couple of programs starting with the menue button to adjust the volume. This doesn't work well at all while ridding. I bought an add on volume conrol for my head phones. That didn't work because the volume out put on the new units is to weak to drive the head phones above bike and road noise.
I have an old Koss three band EQ / mini amp that fits perfectly velcro'ed on my clutch reservour(sp?). It boost's the volume very well and also acts as a volume control. The only bad thig is that it uses batteries. They last a long time but they cant be canged while ridding. I have to get off the freeway for that. Not good if your running low on time.
Another issue with the new units are that they don't transmit to FM stations as far as the old units. I would often take the unit off the bike and listen to it in the truck while going on a dirt bike trip. While at camp I would tune the trailer radio and portable radio the same chanel and listen to the sat-rad. In fact every one in my circle could listen to it on their radios also. This can't be done as easly with the new unit. Now I have to have the receiving FM radio all most on top of the SA-Rad to pick up the signal.
Any way, a sat-rad that isn't intended for portable use can work fine but you need to figure out a way to boost and adjust the volume. BTW, the remote that comes with it will work the volume externaly but it will never get that loud without a booster. Just add a portable booster like I did and your good to go for a decent price. I have the same sat-rad as nofearspear, it's just mounted a little different.
I think that the best option, if you have the cash, is to mount a sat-rad that was designed to be portable. They come stock with the proper volume control and should be plenty powerful to drive your head phones. My gripe with those units is that the only ones that I like are made for MX radio only. I don't care for XM but they have the best selection of radios! I hope this will all change with the merge.
Oh, one more thing. The docking system on the new unit (like nofearspears's) is realy cool. It makes it easy to pop on and off while keeping the wires in place. It was a pain to un-plug every thing form the old unit just to run into a store or put it in another vehicle.
Do your research for the right unit and mount and go sat-rad!
Snaggletooth.
