talmage@fortune.UUCP (William Talmage) (10/19/83)
I have been riding with speakers in my helmet for several years now with only one confrontation with the law. (In California, its illegal to ride with headphones on both ears). When stopped, I just cranked the cassette deck to full left channel and told the cop I was within the law by having music input to one ear only.... He let me go. My BMW has a concord deck mounted in the fairing with a headphone jack mounted under the seat. Usually, the cord is inside my jacket so it is barely visable. If you are considering installing this sort of music hookup, here are some tips: 1. Install a noise filter and use shielded cable for the wire run between deck and jack. a bike offers no shielding and the system will pick up noise from quartz lights, turn signals and the ignition. If you install in-line resistors on your spark plug wires, be sure to water-proof the connections with silicone caulk. 2. Dont drill any holes in your helmet. 3. Koss HV-1 headphone speakers fit well inside most helmets. Also the small Sennhausers. 4. Leaving an ejected tape in the deck while riding is a sure way to lose it. The tape unwinds, and the deck eats it the first time it is played. (rewind it first.) 5. Flea markets are good sources for used stereo headphones. 90% of the time, the cord is bad. ENJOY