Passes & Canyons Blog

My new Cardo communicator on my helmet.

Judy and I have a couple Sena communicators we use when we ride together but these guys I’m going on this trip with soon all have Cardos. My choice was to be the one not linked together or go get a Cardo. I got a Cardo.

We had a pre-ride get-together the other day to make plans and for those with Cardos to get all synced up. I didn’t have mine yet but immediately afterward I went to Performance Cycle and got one. I had the guy install it for me, which was a really good thing because he–with all his experience–did not find it an easy job.

I have two helmets these days, one a good Shoei that has the Sena in it. The other is kind of a cheapie I bought mid-trip when the RMMRC did its Great River Road trip in 2022. If I had other options this might not be the helmet I would choose to put the communicator in but it was what I had so I did. So now I have two helmets, one with the Sena, the other with the Cardo, and I’ll decide which helmet to wear at least sometimes by who I’ll be riding with.

I’m assuming having this communicator will be a good thing. Dave said it would be because he once did a ride in Spain where everyone else was linked but he was not. He said it was terrible. They’d all do something they had discussed and he’d be sitting there wondering . . . What? He said the other guys always forgot he was not in on their conversations.

What I hope does not happen is that there is this constant chatter that disturbs my solitude. I like riding alone and when I’m riding with other people I like the solitude of the ride where it’s just you. I hope turning this thing on and off is easy because I may do that a lot. Or maybe just turning the volume down will suffice. But then they may decide something and I won’t hear it and I’ll be the one saying “What?”.

I’m eager to see how this thing works and how well. From what people say, a lot of these guys in the RMMRC have tried Sena and have not been happy with them, which is why they switched to Cardo. And in the meantime, a box of Sena equipment that was no longer wanted has made it to me, which could be a good thing if the ones Judy and I have ever crap out. I try to keep them fresh by plugging them in every couple months, rather than letting the batteries drain dead, but who knows. Of course, the batteries in these ones I just got are probably dead and may not work all that well. Who knows.

Anyway, you can bet I’ll report here on how this thing works on this trip. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

A motorcycle can sing on the streets of a city.