By Mike Berger
Photos by Mike Anderson

A while back I reviewed the Scala Rider Team Set, a Bluetooth-enabled helmet communication system that enables the rider of a motorcycle to communicate with his passenger (as well as answer a cell phone while riding, if the person feels so inclined). When I first saw the device displayed at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas a few years back, I commented to the folks in the booth that what I was really waiting for was a true Bluetooth bike-to-bike communication system. With a sly wink and a nod, they hinted that such a system was indeed in the works. So this spring, when the Scala Rider Q2 system hit the market, I was pretty anxious to finally put the system I had been patiently awaiting to the test.

The Scala Rider Q2 headset (about $200 per unit) is a small, arrow-shaped electronic device that clips to the side of your helmet. It’s outfitted with two helmet speakers – check with your state’s laws to see if it’s legal to operate both speakers within your helmet or if you need to only use one – and a microphone on the end of a flexible boom. It maintains contact through Bluetooth connectivity to not only two other “buddy” headsets at a range of up to 1640 ft., but with up to three other additional Bluetooth-enabled devices such as a cell phone, a GPS or a Bluetooth iPod. (It even has a built-in FM-radio receiver.)

Testing the radio
I was really jazzed about having the radio feature to play with, as I’ve longed for tunes on my bike for far longer than iPods and earbuds have been in existence. In the metropolitan area of Minneapolis where I live, the radio was great (although setting the station pre-sets in my opinion is a rather arcane procedure), and the stations came in surprisingly clear and strong. But don’t expect to pick up anything out in the rural or more desolate areas (like in most of South Dakota, as I learned on my ride out to Sturgis this year). My only real complaint aside from the station pre-set issue is with the size of the auxiliary buttons that control the station/volume-up and station/volume-down functions – too darn small when you’re wearing heavy gloves. But because the overall small size of the Q2 unit necessitates some pretty small buttons, I’m not sure how it could have been designed any better.

Testing the Intercom
For me, the full-duplex intercom function is what really sets the Q2 apart from the others. While previous versions such as the Scala Rider Team Set could be separated by about 30 ft. or so, the Q2 promised to provide true bike-to-bike communication.

For our first test, I installed the Q2 units on a pair of full-face helmets – one a Nolan N100 and the other in an HJC SyMax II. The best clarity and ease of operation came from this set-up – no accidental activation of the intercom from road or wind noise and very little extraneous sound conveyed through the helmet speakers. I could hear my riding partner (who happened to be my wife, Mary) on her ’04 Sportster 1200 clear as a bell, and she had no trouble hearing me (even with the Python 3 exhaust system that’s mounted on my Softail). One item of note, however, is that, once an intercom call is initiated by simply speaking into the microphone, it may take a few seconds for the system to activate, so be patient. But even at speeds over 70 mph, the transmissions were clear and concise.

For our second test, we left one Q2 headset installed on my HJC full-face helmet, but we moved the other to Mary’s ¾-face Nolan N42, and that’s when the troubles started. Granted, both of the headsets still functioned properly. But because of the increased exposure of the microphone to the wind, the headset on Mary’s Nolan N42 would not deactivate from the intercom mode – in essence, the increased wind noise tricked the unit into thinking that she was continually speaking. What I heard in my helmet was, when Mary was not speaking, the sound of the wind rushing past her microphone and being transmitted to my speakers. If I attempted to manually terminate the intercom call, her headset, due to the microphone picking up the wind, would simply reactivate the intercom call. Granted, we could still talk to each other, but at any speed over 60 mph, the wind noise created by her microphone made it difficult for us to understand each other.

For our last test, we left one headset installed on Mary’s Nolan N42 helmet and we installed the other on my AGV Dragon helmet – basically a modified ¾-face with a helicopter-pilot-styled face shield. So in essence, both her microphone and mine were now exposed to the wind. Let’s just say that this is the last way you’ll want to install the headsets, both in an open-faced helmet. As long as we kept the speed under 45 mph, all was well. But over that limit, and the wind noise from both our microphones was simply too much to overcome. Having said all that, we did find a work-around when not using full-face helmets. Read the Q2 owner’s manual closely and you’ll discover that you can change the intercom to push-to-talk mode rather than the default voice-activated. Granted, it’s not quite as elegant as simply speaking, but changing that setting allowed us to overcome the wind noise problem created by the open-face helmets.

My Conclusions
Overall, I’m far more impressed with the Scala Rider Q2 than I was prepared to be. Granted, it has a few shortcomings. But frankly, I don’t know how the engineers who designed the thing could have overcome my minor gripes and still delivered a small easy-to-use package for what seems to be to be a reasonable price. I’ve tried just about every communications setup under the sun, and the Q2 delivers the best performance for the money. It’s incredibly easy to install, pretty easy to use and delivers what it promises – true duplex bike-to-bike communication.

Cardo Systems Scala Rider Q2, 800-488-0363, www.cardowireless.com/Q2.