Thoughts on the Cardo Scala Rider G9 and NoNoise Motosport Ear Plugs

I could write an entire review of the G9, but I don't really see the point in doing so when there are reviews out there that far exceed what I could write.  So if you want a full on review, I would suggest you go read the excellent review over on www.webbikeworld.com.  Now it's been a while since I read the review, so I apologize if I cover anything that was already mentioned there.  So like the Shoei GT-Air, this is a fairly pricey bit of kit, but I think it's well worth it, particularly if you have someone who would be willing to go in on the G9 Powerset, which bundles two units for less than the cost of two separate units.  Unfortunately, I didn't have such a person, so I had to bite the bullet and purchase a single unit.  When I got mine, the going rate on the Internet was about $250 for the single, and $400 for the PowerSet.  So basically, you could get a second unit for $150 more, which is a savings of $100 or $50 per unit.  Fortunately, I was able to pick mine up at the IMS where I was able to take advantage of the show discount. As of this writing, I believe there's a new G9x out, but I have no idea what the enhancements are.  I make it a policy not to look at what the next generations of items I own offer so as to keep the feature-envy to a minimum.

UPDATE:  Cardo released a firmware update for the G9, which added some of the features of the G9x.  I believe the only difference between the updated G9 and the G9x is that the G9x has replaceable plug-in speakers, but don't quote me on that.  It would be best to verify that for yourself if that is something that is important to you.  To be honest, your only option at this time is most likely going to be the G9x anyway.

Cardo Scala Rider G9 mounted on Shoei GT-Air

The decision to get the G9 was pretty much made for me as you may recall from my IMS posting.  I had considered the Sena SMH-10, because it got great reviews, plus they make a headset that wraps around the back of the head like regular computer headsets, which I thought would be great for talking to my wife if we ever took a trip where I could ride the bike while she follows along in the car with our son.  I ultimately ended up with the G9, because my friends, Kari and Jess, had already bought the G9, and I wanted to be able to talk to them.  Wouldn't it be great if all of the headset manufacturers could get together and decide on a common frequency instead of everyone having their own proprietary frequency?  See also Cell Phone Providers.

The first hurdle I had to cross was getting the unit mounted.  There are two methods available: a glue-on plate and a clamping plate.  The glue-on plate is pretty much a permanent solution, but it just wouldn't work with the way the GT-Air is designed.  I think it's probably more intended for half-helmets.  That left the clamping plate.  On some helmets, it's a simple matter of removing the cheek pad, clamping it on, and replacing the cheek pad.  The GT-Air would not be one of these helmets.  There's the outer shell, and then the skirt of the cheek pad inserts between the outer shell and the inner EPC foam liner, which isn't really much of a space.  The thin end of the clamp is probably around 1/8" thick, which seems like trying to shove an elephant through the eye of a needle when you're looking at this brand new, perfectly flawless, really expensive helmet.  I admit it.  I put off mounting it for the better part of two months as I had to convince myself that I wouldn't totally screw up the EPC liner while inserting the inner part of the clamping plate.  On the bright side, I did try out various mounting locations to see where I would ultimately want it, so I had that decision out of the way.  I finally decided to experiment on my old RF-1000, which wasn't quite the same since the EPC liner already had quite a bit of play just from general use over 7 years, but it did fit without anything breaking.  After that, I gritted my teeth, and slowly inserted the backplate in between the shell and the EPC liner/cheek pad skirt.  To my surprise, it went in quite easily and settled right in.  I screwed in the mounting plate, and that was it.  No muss, no fuss, no bad cracking of brand new EPC liners.  I decided to mount the boom mic instead of the wired remote mic just to keep it simple.  Having ridden with it for a while now, I think I may just keep it this way, although I do need to check to see if the remote mic's foam is smaller.  The boom mic's foam rubs my chin, which can be annoying.  At any rate, the current setup works just fine, and Kari has no problem hearing me.

The speakers went in quite easily.  The GT-Air actually has these little pockets build into the EPC liner, so all you have to do is remove the foam placeholder, apply the velcro, and stick the speaker in.  Easy peasy.  You route the wire between the speakers as far over the top of the helmet as possible as it doubles as the radio antenna.  I have yet to try listening to the radio.  I should really spend some time with the manual...

After getting the comms mounted, I plugged the G9 into my computer to configure it.  This was about as quick and painless as it could be.  I was even able to add Kari and Jess to its address book, which made it really easy to pair up with Kari the next time I saw her.

The next order of business was to pair it to my iPhone 4S.  Bluetooth on, pair, done.  Can't ask for anything simpler than that.  The best part of it all is that with a press of the call button (top middle), I have Siri ready to take a voice command.  This, of course, requires that you set the phone to allow Siri from the lock screen, which isn't the most secure thing to do, but you can live with it or turn it on/off as you need to like I do.

At this point, I've only used the comm system for two things:  inter-bike comms and listening to music.  I've had a call come in on my cellphone, but I couldn't remember what to do to answer it, which is just as well, seeing as how I was riding a motorcycle at the time.  Kari tells me that when Jess has called her from the bike as a test, she wouldn't have been able to tell Jess was on the bike if she hadn't already known.  I think I would probably pull over to take/place a call anyway.

Lesson Learned #1:  Crank up the volume on the iPhone before riding off.  You want the phone to be at max volume so that the helmet volume is regulated by the G9.  If you don't, the iPhone (or any Bluetooth device, I would think) volume will be woefully low even with the automatic adjustment for ambient noise.

Lesson Learned #2:  Those foamy earplugs work a little too well.  Until now, I had worn noise isolating ear buds with my iPhone providing music.  Since this wasn't going to work with the G9, I switched back to my foamies.  These worked a bit too well, which made conversing with Kari a bit touch and go at times, relegating our conversation to something you would expect to hear between a couple of really ancient people using horns in their ears to talk.

"something something something something," Kari would say.

"I'm sorry, can you say that again?" I would reply.

Repeat ad nauseum

I didn't want to give up the ear protection, because I'm rather fond of my hearing.  I saw these NoNoise Motosport Ear Plugs at TwistedThrottle, which are supposedly tuned to kill frequencies most associated with riding a motorcycle while making it possible to hear things without them sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher.  I ordered up a pair, and I have to say that I'm very impressed.  There's still some muffling, which is to be expected, but the level of noise is way low even compared to the noise isolating ear buds, and I can talk to people with them in and the helmet on without constantly saying, "Sorry, I got my ear plugs in and can't hear a damn thing you're saying!"  They're probably the next best thing to custom ear plugs, which I would definitely get if there were some way to integrate them easily with the G9.

I do think that the volume of the G9 could be a little higher.  On windy days, the wind noise can make it difficult to hear conversations.  The set did come with some little pillows to put behind the speakers to get them closer to your ears, but I have yet to try it.

I have had some instances where the Bluetooth connections seems a bit flaky.  The nice comms voice-in-my-head will announce that the phone has been disconnected, but it never says when it's reconnected.  This happened over and over during one ride, but hasn't happened again.  Another time, I could not get the voice commands to work no matter what I did.  Siri would acknowledge, but the confirmation would always be "Music Off" or something like that.  Again, it hasn't happened again, so who knows?

Overall, I'm very pleased with the G9.  Its learning curve is pretty steep, but it seems to be worth it.  Coupled with the GT-Air and a set of NoNoise ear plugs, it's a great solution to a complex problem.

2013 Progressive International Motorcycle Show

This post isn't specific to the V-Strom 650, but it is motorcycling related, so I thought I'd throw it in anyway.  Besides, the weekend weather here has been absolutely dreadful lately, which has resulted in no riding for me whatsoever for almost 6 weeks now, so at least this is something I can do that involves motorcycles.

Last month, the 2013 Progressive International Motorcycle Show stopped in Dallas, TX, so I packed up the family and made the road trip to see what they had to offer.  I was really hoping to find some great deals on new riding gear.

The show was at the Dallas Convention Center, so we decided to check out rates at the Omni, which is connected to the DCC.  It just so happened that the hotel was offering a pretty substantial discount on a regular room, which made it cheaper than any other hotel that I checked in the downtown area right around the DCC.  The fact that we could walk indoors to the show made it all that much better.  By the time we finished eating breakfast, we could hear the rumblings of the many people who had ridden their bikes to the show.  I would have been jealous were it not for the fact that it was overcast, cold, and looked like it could rain at any moment.  Did I mention that we could just walk over there while remaining comfortably indoors?

The free motorcycle parking lot filling up in front of the Dallas Convention Center

I hate to admit it, but I didn't really take too many pictures while I was there.  For the most part, I had already seen most of the new bikes that were there.  The main ones that I wanted to see but hadn't already were the Star Bolt cruiser, the new Suzuki V-Strom 1000, and the Yamaha FZ-09.  I'm not really a cruiser kind of guy, but if I were to get one, I'd give the Bolt R-spec serious consideration.  I found the V-Strom 1000 to still be a bit of an odd duck aesthetically speaking, but it was very comfortable and did not feel any bigger than its 650 sibling.  I liked the FZ-09, but it actually felt a bit on the small side.  I am curious, though, to hear how its triple cylinder engine sounds compared to the Triumphs.  I apologize for the lack of eye candy, but I was more focused on sitting on the bikes and helping my 5 year old son on and off the bikes without knocking anything over.  I really would have liked to have had the opportunity to sit on the Moto Guzzi Stelvio 1200 NTX and KTM 1190 Adventure back to back with the likes of the V-Stroms, Triumph Tigers, and BMW GS, but neither Moto Guzzi nor KTM were there.  If they were, I totally missed them, which is not entirely impossible.

They had some stunt riding demonstrations as well, but because they were inside the same hall, it was extremely loud, and my son wanted nothing to do with it.  Sorry.

We did enjoy looking at all of the custom-built motorcycles that were displayed throughout the hall. Again, cruisers and choppers really aren't my thing, but you could not help but be impressed by the craftsmanship involved with these one-of-a-kind machines.  Very impressive!

Progressive had a really cool slot car racetrack set up, complete with lap timers for the cars.  My son wanted to give it a shot, so my wife stood in line while he watched the races from trackside.  They even had cameras set up around the track which were displayed on overhead screens.  When his turn came up, he drew the middle car and ultimately came in second.  Not bad, considering the car came flying out of the slot on the first turn, and he had to wait for it to be rescued.  It was all worth it for the prize -- a lollipop.

By this time, he was starting to lose interest, so we headed over to Al Lam Honda.  They had a big shop set up and were offering a show special of 25% Off all inventory.  I was encouraged as there were some specific items I wanted to get.  The primary item was to get my wife a riding jacket so she could go riding with me.  We bought her a helmet last year, but she wasn't able to find a jacket that she liked.  The secondary item I wanted to get was a new helmet.  My Shoei RF-1000 is now seven year old, which is well beyond the recommended 5 year lifespan for a helmet.  While we can debate the merits of this 5 year limit, I am convinced that helmet technology, design, and materials has improved a bit over the past 7 years.  Plus, Shoei had just announced the new GT-Air and RF-1200, so I was hoping to try them on and maybe even get one at a discount.  Finally, I wanted to get a 3/4 length high-viz jacket.  There wasn't really anything wrong with my Tour Master Intake Air jacket, but if I could find a good deal and make myself that much more conspicuous, then that could only be a good thing.

We were able to find my wife a high-viz armor mesh jacket by Fly.  While not a mainstream brand, I've read about them, and they seem to get good reviews.  Hopefully we won't ever have to test the armor and fabric durability (knock on wood).  I tried both the GT-Air and the RF-1200, and while both fit pretty well, I decided to go with the GT-Air, which actually seemed to fit more like my RF-1000 than the RF-1200 did.  Plus, it has an internal sun visor and has received great reviews for its ability to move air within the helmet, which is pretty crucial for the Texas summer heat.  They only had the GT-Air in S/M/L and one graphics style, but they not only ordered the size and graphics style I wanted, they also gave me the show discount.  While I was browsing the jackets, I came across a single high-viz Tour Master Sonora, which is basically a 3/4 version of my Intake Air, including separate wind/rain liner and quilted liner, and it was the right size.  Score!  As we made our way to check out, I spied the Scala Rider G9 comm set, which also was discounted for the show and priced lower than anywhere else I had ever seen it.  My wife scored big points by telling me, "Go ahead and get it.  It's a great price!"  Now I'll be able to talk to my friends Kari and Jess when we go riding.  Jess had already researched comm sets and decided on the G9, so it was either get the G9 or not be able to talk to anyone!  Seriously, though, it's a great headset with a very robust set of features.  All I have to do now is figure out how I want to mount it.  Overall, it was a good haul.  The guys were very helpful and friendly, and they saved me a lot of money.  Or should I say they enabled me to spend a lot of money?  Cha-ching!

Got to see a lot of great bikes, share one of my hobbies with my family, purchase a riding jacket for my wife, and upgrade my riding gear all in one afternoon.  Not too shabby.