Tuesday, May 24, 2016

TAT-2016 Post 37 - Tuesday 24 May 2016



I’m making this post a little earlier than expected so the post after our TAT Memorial Day ride this coming weekend won’t be so long.

Sena SMH10 Intercom Update



If you read my gear review after Leg-1 I had very few good things to say about the Sena intercom because we could never get all 4 riders paired at the same time; only 3 max. I recently called Sena to ask what we were doing wrong. I got a very helpful customer service representative and after explaining that all we wanted was 4 riders able to hear all communications at the same time he said he would send me a link to a YouTube video that would answer my questions. He did exactly that and after watching the video about 5 times I think I know what we were doing wrong; everything. The manual that came with the Sena unit covers a lot of different topics such as pairing with cell phones, MP3 players, GPS, etc. but does not go into much detail on how to just hook up 4 units at the same time. At least we couldn’t understand it well enough to make it work.

The YouTube video link provided by Sena is:


I actually made a checklist based on the video and it is provided below. We really won’t be able to try this out until this weekend so I will report after the ride if it worked as described.

Sena SMH10 4-way Intercom Checklist
1               Begin
a.     All four units on by holding small button and Jog dial (1, 2, 3 & 4)
b.     Factory Reset (optional)
                                               i.     All four units have flashing blue light (1 flash @ 2 sec)
2               Pair 1 & 2
a.     Hold down Jog dial on 1 & 2 until both have flashing red light
b.     Single tap Jog dial on 2
                                               i.     1 & 2 have flashing blue light (2 flash @ 2 sec)
                                             ii.     1 & 2 are now paired
3               Pair 3 & 4
a.     Hold down Jog dial on 3 & 4 until both have flashing red light
b.     Single tap Jog dial on 4
                                               i.     3 & 4 have flashing blue light (2 flash @ 2 sec)
                                             ii.     3 & 4 are now paired
4               Disconnect 1-2 and 3-4 pairing
a.     Single tap 2 to disconnect 1 & 2 pairing
b.     Single tap 4 to disconnect 3 & 4 pairing
                                               i.     All units have flashing blue light (1 flash @ 2 sec)
5               Pair 2 & 3
a.     Hold down Jog dial on 2 & 3 until both have flashing red light
b.     Single tap Jog dial on 2
                                               i.     2 & 3 have flashing blue light (2 flash @ 2 sec)
                                             ii.     2 & 3 are now paired
6               Disconnect 2-3 pairing
a.     Single tap Jog dial on 2
                                               i.     All units have flashing blue light (1 flash @ 2 sec)
7               Start 4-way intercom
a.     Single tap 1
                                               i.     1 & 2 are paired with flashing blue light (2 flash @ 2 Sec)
b.     Single tap 3
                                               i.     1, 2 & 3 are paired with flashing blue light (2 flash @ 2 Sec)
c.     Single tap 4
                                               i.     1, 2, 3 & 4 are paired with flashing blue light (2 flash @ 2 Sec)
Factory Reset
1               Power on by holding both buttons (small and Jog) (flashing blue light)
2               Hold small button for 12 seconds
a.     Voice will eventually say “Factory Reset”
3               Single tap Jog dial
a.     Unit will shut off
b.     All pairings will be erased
c.     Volume will be set to 0
4               Must be performed after Firmware update and to reset pairings


One more thing I found out after watching several other videos and reading forums is that there isn’t actually a limit to only 4 units. One person said they had 9 riders on at the same time and the process worked every time. The key is that each unit can only have 2 pairings. So hope you can understand my description of 9 riders below:

A-B, B-C, C-D, D-E, E-F, F-G, G-H, H-I or 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-8, 8-9

The key is no rider has more than 2 direct pairings yet they can all hear each other. He did state that it did seem to be somewhat unstable and occasionally someone would drop connect then all the other riders past his point would also be disconnected. Just some intel if you are interested.

Rider Status

Jeff (our new addition to the TAT riders group) – He has gone crazy making mods to his recently acquired 2008 Yamaha WR250R and buying gear for the ride. He is trying to do in a week what it took the rest of us 8 months to accomplish; fine tune our bikes and riding gear. He will be joining us on the run from Dover, AR to the OK boarder on Saturday/Sunday; about 300 miles round trip from Dover to OK to Dover. I have been checking the weather and it appears we may be doing some wet wx riding since scattered thunderstorms are forecasted until early next week. Jeff had ridden his WR to work a few days ago in the rain to try out his Craigslist purchased gear and texted me saying his head and feet were still dry, meaning everywhere else was drenched. He also stated his helmet fogged up badly. I had to laugh because we have all been there and the only answer I’ve found is get good gear and even then they usually leak. As far as helmets the only one of the 10 to 12 I own that doesn’t fog (most of the time anyway) is my Shoei Modular helmet that I paid over $500 for to do my Alaska ride. Just a fact of life that if you do adventure rides you will eventually ride in the rain and you will usually be drenched. I’ll be interested to see how he does on this trip since this type of riding is completely new to him. I’ve included a few pictures of his initial loading attempt but he hasn’t received his recently ordered Wolfman saddlebags so this won’t be his final configuration. Looks a bit top heavy to me and the first time the bike is dropped, something is going to break. He also has access to professional welders so had custom side racks made for his WR.





Terry – As I stated in my last post, Terry bought a brand new KTM 690 a couple of weeks ago. What’s very interesting is he still has only 1 mile on the odometer and that was accomplished riding to the end of his street a couple of times. No one I’ve ever known would buy a new motorcycle and only have 1 mile on it 2 weeks later. I’ve warned him that if he shows up on Saturday to ride the TAT to OK with 1 mile still on the bike, he will get mentioned in my Blog with pictures documenting the whole sordid affair. His excuse is that he has had to go to bass fishing tournaments every weekend! Poor excuse at best.

Woodrow – Doctor gave him a clean bill of health after breaking his leg during our March 2016 TAT Leg-1 (East coast to AR). I still don’t think he’s washed his bike since then so this will be his first long ride since completing the 1431 mile ride from Charleston, SC. I’m really looking forward to how he handles this short leg (possibly in rain and mud) since we are starting the 1000+ mile ride to CO in just a few months (Leg-2).

Steve – His participation on the Memorial Day ride is about 50% since he doesn’t get home from a business trip until Friday and would have to immediately go out with us the following day. Wives have a tendency not to understand that level of dedication to such a stupid event (their words not mine).

Me (Mike) – I continue to fiddle with my bikes configuration. I recently posted about the addition of my tool tube on the left side of the CRF. This has worked out better than I could have hoped. I loaded all my tools and it weighs 10.2 lbs including the tube. I carry a multi-tool in my tank bag that I would use to undo the clamps if I need to get the tools out of the tube. I also installed the new RotoPax plate I described in a previous post. This lets me mount the fuel tank vertically on the back of the rear rack. The benefit of this arrangement is it lets my GL bag set directly on the seat and the rear rack thus lowering it several inches. The biggest advantage is I can now get to the fuel tank without having to unstrap the GL bag. The Cons is that the plate weighs 5 lbs and it put all the fuel weight to the very back of the rack. I will test this arrangement on this upcoming ride and report if I like it or will go back to my original mounting scheme. I still really like the FMF exhaust mod results. The CRF just feels like a much more capable dirt bike now.



More after our ride this weekend.





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