gel seat review

[klrspaman]

I'm looking for a MP3/ FM Tuner to use while riding. I'm concerned about hearing it in the helmet & not picking up Engine noise or static. I spotted a SanDisk Sansa M140 & Creative Labs MuVo TX FM players. Any suggestions???

[E.L. Green]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "klrspaman" wrote:

> I'm looking for a MP3/ FM Tuner to use while riding. I'm concerned > about hearing it in the helmet & not picking up Engine noise or > static. I spotted a SanDisk Sansa M140 & Creative Labs MuVo TX FM > players. Any suggestions???

The big issue here is going to be the headphones, not the MP3/FM tuner. Pretty much any el-cheapo flash-based MP3 player will work. You'll just need to buy good headphones to go with it. For the MP3 player, I recommend the ones that take a SD card (Secure Digital card), that way if you have more beloved tunes than will fit on a single card, you can take multiple cards with you and swap them out. I do NOT recommend a hard-drive-based mp3 player on the KLR (or any motorcycle), they are too sensitive to temperature and pressure variations as well as having a rechargable battery that is useless on the road after its charge runs out (unlike the AA/AAA batteries that can be bought at every gas station/convenience store you run into). The flash-based ones use little enough power to run off disposable batteries, which is what you want here. I have an el-cheapo one roughly the size of a hockey puck that takes SD cards and runs off a single AAA battery. It does the job. Note that SD cards are pretty cheap nowdays, I got a 4GB one for $99 the other day (warning! make sure your MP3 player will work with 4GB SD-cards before you buy one, most MP3 players are designed for the 1GB SD-cards and freak out with the 4GB card, even the card reader on my laptop freaks out with the 4GB cards). The headphones you want are called "noise-suppression" headphones. These are the type that fit inside the ear like an earplug. My Sony noise-suppression earphones cost something like $50, or almost as much as the MP3 player. Shure makes the "gold standard" in noise-suppression headphones (for $120 and up !!!), but they have a bigger driver piece that may or may not fit under your helmet. Also note that though I bought this rig for motorcycling (amongst other things), I've never actually used it for such -- turns out that music while I'm riding is a distraction, I prefer being in touch with the wind and what noise makes it through my earplugs. Sort of the zen of motorcycling. -E

[Rick]

My two cents worth. The wife and I just came in (about 2 hours ago)from a 31 day, 6400 mile trip through the pacific northwest, British Columbia and back home to Colorado. We had Sirius radio. Mine didn't work to well but the wife's worked the whole trip. I added a 12v cig plug which worked well on both bikes the whole trip. We also charged our cell phones and our digital camera batteries while riding or while parked. This charging never drained the bike's battery so it wouldn't start. We had Chatterbox communticators between the bike to bike. I hardwired the speakers and mic into our Arai helmets. This worked ok. One thing about the KLR and music, no matter what you do it won't be great at speed. The non-aerodynamic design of the KLR insures this. The music ends up being background music. The wife and I also wear 33db sound deadening earplugs and at speed with this type of ear plug, you will not get great sound but you will get background music. If you want awesome sound, buy a GoldWing.

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "E.L. Green" wrote: > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "klrspaman" wrote: > > I'm looking for a MP3/ FM Tuner to use while riding. I'm concerned > > about hearing it in the helmet & not picking up Engine noise or > > static. I spotted a SanDisk Sansa M140 & Creative Labs MuVo TX FM > > players. Any suggestions??? > > The big issue here is going to be the headphones, not the MP3/FM > tuner. Pretty much any el-cheapo flash-based MP3 player will work. > You'll just need to buy good headphones to go with it. > > > For the MP3 player, I recommend the ones that take a SD card (Secure > Digital card), that way if you have more beloved tunes than will fit > on a single card, you can take multiple cards with you and swap them > out. I do NOT recommend a hard-drive-based mp3 player on the KLR (or > any motorcycle), they are too sensitive to temperature and pressure > variations as well as having a rechargable battery that is useless on > the road after its charge runs out (unlike the AA/AAA batteries that > can be bought at every gas station/convenience store you run into). > The flash-based ones use little enough power to run off disposable > batteries, which is what you want here. I have an el-cheapo one > roughly the size of a hockey puck that takes SD cards and runs off a > single AAA battery. It does the job. Note that SD cards are pretty > cheap nowdays, I got a 4GB one for $99 the other day (warning! make > sure your MP3 player will work with 4GB SD-cards before you buy one, > most MP3 players are designed for the 1GB SD-cards and freak out with > the 4GB card, even the card reader on my laptop freaks out with the > 4GB cards). > > The headphones you want are called "noise-suppression" headphones. > These are the type that fit inside the ear like an earplug. > My Sony noise-suppression earphones cost something like $50, or > almost as much as the MP3 player. Shure makes the "gold standard" in > noise-suppression headphones (for $120 and up !!!), but they have a > bigger driver piece that may or may not fit under your helmet. Also > note that though I bought this rig for motorcycling (amongst other > things), I've never actually used it for such -- turns out that music > while I'm riding is a distraction, I prefer being in touch with the > wind and what noise makes it through my earplugs. Sort of the zen of > motorcycling. > > -E >

[Blake Sobiloff]

On Jul 31, 2006, at 4:43 PM, rick wrote:

> If you want awesome sound, buy a GoldWing.

Or use in-ear monitors like Etymotic or Sure... -- Blake Sobiloff http://sobiloff.typepad.com/blakeblog/> http://sobiloff.typepad.com/klr_adventure/> San Jose, CA (USA)

[Fred Hink]

Glad you and Chris made it home. We expect a full trip report soon. Fred www.arrowheadmotorsports.com

----- Original Message ----- From: rick To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 5:43 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: What's a good MP3/FM tuner for riding? My two cents worth. The wife and I just came in (about 2 hours ago)from a 31 day, 6400 mile trip through the pacific northwest, British Columbia and back home to Colorado. We had Sirius radio. Mine didn't work to well but the wife's worked the whole trip. I added a 12v cig plug which worked well on both bikes the whole trip. We also charged our cell phones and our digital camera batteries while riding or while parked. This charging never drained the bike's battery so it wouldn't start. We had Chatterbox communticators between the bike to bike. I hardwired the speakers and mic into our Arai helmets. This worked ok. One thing about the KLR and music, no matter what you do it won't be great at speed. The non-aerodynamic design of the KLR insures this. The music ends up being background music. The wife and I also wear 33db sound deadening earplugs and at speed with this type of ear plug, you will not get great sound but you will get background music. If you want awesome sound, buy a GoldWing. --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "E.L. Green" wrote: > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "klrspaman" wrote: > > I'm looking for a MP3/ FM Tuner to use while riding. I'm concerned > > about hearing it in the helmet & not picking up Engine noise or > > static. I spotted a SanDisk Sansa M140 & Creative Labs MuVo TX FM > > players. Any suggestions??? > > The big issue here is going to be the headphones, not the MP3/FM > tuner. Pretty much any el-cheapo flash-based MP3 player will work. > You'll just need to buy good headphones to go with it. > > > For the MP3 player, I recommend the ones that take a SD card (Secure > Digital card), that way if you have more beloved tunes than will fit > on a single card, you can take multiple cards with you and swap them > out. I do NOT recommend a hard-drive-based mp3 player on the KLR (or > any motorcycle), they are too sensitive to temperature and pressure > variations as well as having a rechargable battery that is useless on > the road after its charge runs out (unlike the AA/AAA batteries that > can be bought at every gas station/convenience store you run into). > The flash-based ones use little enough power to run off disposable > batteries, which is what you want here. I have an el-cheapo one > roughly the size of a hockey puck that takes SD cards and runs off a > single AAA battery. It does the job. Note that SD cards are pretty > cheap nowdays, I got a 4GB one for $99 the other day (warning! make > sure your MP3 player will work with 4GB SD-cards before you buy one, > most MP3 players are designed for the 1GB SD-cards and freak out with > the 4GB card, even the card reader on my laptop freaks out with the > 4GB cards). > > The headphones you want are called "noise-suppression" headphones. > These are the type that fit inside the ear like an earplug. > My Sony noise-suppression earphones cost something like $50, or > almost as much as the MP3 player. Shure makes the "gold standard" in > noise-suppression headphones (for $120 and up !!!), but they have a > bigger driver piece that may or may not fit under your helmet. Also > note that though I bought this rig for motorcycling (amongst other > things), I've never actually used it for such -- turns out that music > while I'm riding is a distraction, I prefer being in touch with the > wind and what noise makes it through my earplugs. Sort of the zen of > motorcycling. > > -E > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Robert Chay]

I used to use a iPod shuffle but the battery life wasn't good for more than 12 hrs and you can't charge it unless you have a computer with you. I replaced it with a Creative Labs Zen Nano 1gb. It doesn't have removeable memory but it shuffles and 1gb is more than enough for me. It uses AAA batteries and I bought 4 rechargeables so I can swap out during a ride. I've been using it for a couple of months now and it works great. For the speakers, I used to have motorcycle specific helmet speakers but they weren't very good. When they broke, I bought a cheap set of Koss titanium headphones from Radio Shack for $20 and ripped off the headset part and installed it into my helmet. They sound so much better even with 31db ear plugs. I've been thinking of trying some 20ish db ear plugs so I can hear the music better but still have hearing protection. -Bobby

> -----Original Message----- > From: klrspaman > > I'm looking for a MP3/ FM Tuner to use while riding. I'm > concerned about hearing it in the helmet & not picking up > Engine noise or static. I spotted a SanDisk Sansa M140 & > Creative Labs MuVo TX FM players. Any suggestions???

[Thor Lancelot Simon]

On Mon, Jul 31, 2006 at 09:37:16PM -0400, Robert Chay wrote:

> I used to use a iPod shuffle but the battery life wasn't good for more than > 12 hrs and you can't charge it unless you have a computer with you.

Sure you can. Don't you folks have power pigtails off your batteries? The 12V charger plugs for any kind of iPod run about $20.

[Robert Chay]

OK, you can but what a pain in the ass. Especially when you're on a bike with no power connections (my R6). Much easier just have a couple of extra batteries or being able to buy them just about anywhere. A 4pack of rechargeable AAA's are under $20 and you can use them for more than just one device. I've used the iPod for about 8 months and the battery life went down to about 4-6 hrs from over 10 hrs, same type of useage. Not being able to replace batteries sucked. -Bobby '89 KLR '04 R6

> -----Original Message----- > From: Thor Lancelot Simon > > On Mon, Jul 31, 2006 at 09:37:16PM -0400, Robert Chay wrote: > > I used to use a iPod shuffle but the battery life wasn't > good for more > > than > > 12 hrs and you can't charge it unless you have a computer with you. > > Sure you can. Don't you folks have power pigtails off your batteries? > > The 12V charger plugs for any kind of iPod run about $20. >

[Thor Lancelot Simon]

On Tue, Aug 01, 2006 at 09:49:38AM -0400, Robert Chay wrote:

> > OK, you can but what a pain in the ass. Especially when you're on a bike > with no power connections (my R6).

Can you really ride your R6 for more than 6 hours at a stretch? Iron Butt indeed! (Of course, it'd take all of 5 minutes to add a pigtail with an SAE plug to the battery, but if you're not using it for long rides, why bother.) Thor

[Robert Chay]

Of course . I did a (short) 8 hr ride last Sunday. 3rd time taking the R6 out since I got the KLR 1.5 months ago. I got a corbin seat after a 580 mile day last year. It was one of a very few times I actually wanted to get off the bike. I usually go out on 12+ hr day rides at least twice a month. I have a plug for a battery tender and a separate attachment for a cig lighter but I don't bring it with me all the time. I'd rather just carry a small case that holds 2 AAA batteries than a bunch of wires. -Bobby

> -----Original Message----- > From: Thor Lancelot Simon > > On Tue, Aug 01, 2006 at 09:49:38AM -0400, Robert Chay wrote: > > > > OK, you can but what a pain in the ass. Especially when you're on a > > bike with no power connections (my R6). > > Can you really ride your R6 for more than 6 hours at a > stretch? Iron Butt indeed! (Of course, it'd take all of 5 > minutes to add a pigtail with an SAE plug to the battery, but > if you're not using it for long rides, why bother.) > > Thor