Unless you ride with folks that use a CB a lot I would not do it. Too many nice blue tooth units on the market that make communication easier bike to bike, rider to rider.

I have owned two with CB's now for 9 years and Hardley ever use them even when leading chapter rides.

The range is not what you would expect. I could reach out miles in the 70's with cheap Midland units and if you get much more than a mile you are lucky with the Harley setup. If you cut corners on the antenna and mounting expect much less.

Good luck

 

Be forewarned. Harley calls the CB Radio a "Bike to Bike Communications System." That's actually pretty accurate. Motorcycles inherently have really lousy "Ground Planes" and there really isn't a whole lot you can do to "fix" this. The effect of a poor "Ground Plane" is that your broadcast distance will be minimal. Roughly one mile on a good day and if everything is absolutely perfect I suppose you might get out two miles, but that's about it. You can receive with no problem, so if what you're after is "listening" to the Truckers, you'll be happy. However, talking to them or talking to other bikes . . . . now there is the rub. If you travel with pretty much the same folks all the time, then if everyone who wants to chat, buys one of those $35 FRS Radios with a Headset you'll be in good shape, save a ton of money and have the same or often even better broadcast distances. FRS Radios are "Line of Sight" radios. FRS radios can easily hit 20 to 30 miles, although "Line of Sight" is the key to these radios. Even Highway 50 through Nevada doesn't have many areas like that.

 

I installed a Hustler QD-27 Center loaded CB Antenna (55") whip antenna and tuned the SWR to 1.2 and it significantly increased my range. It didn't increase any other bikes' ranges though, rofl. Bought it from Clay's Radio Shop in Dallas. They sell an adapter to use it on the stock antenna stud. Link to Clay's: http://www.claysradioshop.com/antennas_center_load.htm

 

I installed a CB ground kit in my bike - this increased both the talk and receive range and really made a difference.

 

me too

 

Can you give a little more info? I'd like to look into doing something like this since I have a J&M hidden antenna installed.

 

Same here on the CB grounding unit...

My wife has a CB in her Tri-Glide and we do hardly if ever ride apart. We have several trips planned this year and would be good to be able to communicate, hence my wanting to get one installed. I realize the range limits and whatnot...will be trying the hidden antenna first, if that doesn't suit my needs, then I will get the kit and run the wire back to the back of the bike and run both.

 

Having rode Goldwings since I was twenty, I have tried almost every brand of headset. I always end up back with J&M.

We have the Aria 3/4 helmets with the J&M integrated headsets. This is by far the best setup we have ever had. The helmets fit like a glove, we can ride for hours without pressure points or itching, and the integrated headsets means no high speed emergencies when the headset falls in your lap.

As to Bluetooth vs wired, I still prefer a wired connection. No recharging, no pairing, it just works.

We ride in groups all the time, and the CB is always on. I find the range perfectly acceptable for groups that spread out up to 1/2 mile. Not really sure why you would need it longer. Actually, the HD setup is quite a bit better on my '14 Limited than any Honda CB I've used over the years.

Spend the extra money on the high end J&M sets, the sound from the Boom audio is quite amazing, even at highway speeds.

 

Wife and I each have the Elite installed in our Shoei helmets (Neotec & Multitec) and both were done via Sierra
Yes, very good quality from both.

 

What is this kit you are talking about? Part numbers, pics sounds like what I need to do. Thanks