January 27, 2020
Gokul Nair
6 minutes
Although this article is about motorcycle intercoms, this technology actually has a long, interesting history. Contrary to what a lot of people think, intercom technology didn’t start with telephones. They started with speaking tubes. With a design very similar to the “two cans joined by a string” trope you see in children’s cartoons, speaking tubes were commonplace in commercial spaces. A lot of office buildings had them installed by engineers by the late 1800s. You could connect up to 25 different offices with the most advanced of these. Speaking tubes were followed by telephones to answer phone calls as intercom technology…
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January 23, 2020
Gokul Nair
7 minutes
Gary Burrell and Min Kao founded “ProNav” in 1989. At his job prior, Gary pioneered the integration of communication systems with navigation technology. This was at King Radio, which designed air navigation and radio equipment. He recruited Ming during this period. At the time, GPS technology was very niche, still in its infancy. The U.S. Department Of Defense developed GPS strictly for military use in the 1970s. It was only approved for civilian use a decade later. Over time, ProNav rebranded itself to “Garmin”. Derived from the first halves of the names of its founders Gary and Min. Garmin sold…
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January 20, 2020
Gokul Nair
5 minutes
The anatomy of the human hand is layered with intricate designing to help you perform the most nimble of tasks. The bones present in the hand are of three types: Phalanges: The 14 bones present in the fingers Metacarpal Bones: The 5 bones that comprise the middle part Carpal Bones: The 8 bones that comprise the wrist These bones have been working together with the muscular and nervous system throughout history to perform tasks that pushed our race forward. As you can tell, hands are a pretty big deal. So they need to be taken care of. In the event…
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January 16, 2020
Gokul Nair
9 minutes
There’s a small town in the Greater Boston Area that goes by the name of Belmont. Back in 2013, a woman was driving home with her kids, and her GPS told her to turn right- right onto a railway track. Now, most people in this situation would have had an appropriate reaction along the lines of “What the hell?” before driving home, trying to remember if the T&C on their warranty card was past the date of expiry. But this woman was not most people. Because she ended up turning right- right onto the railway track. For those of you…
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January 13, 2020
Owen Hunt
6 minutes
When I go on motorcycle rides with my girlfriend, it’s almost always a pain trying to speak to her through my helmet and the wind. One time, I ask her if she needed to “wanted to take a break” and she thought I said, “watch your weight”. The conversation that followed was awkward, as you can imagine. Eventually, I snooped through intercoms on Amazon and came across the Vnetphone v6. Skeptical at first because of the abnormally low pricepoint, I bought it anyway because I was on a budget. But I still had a lot of questions. Would it have…
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January 9, 2020
Gokul Nair
6 minutes
If you’re never ridden in a group ride before, it can seem daunting. For starters, you have no idea about whether the other guys in the group who you just met and are trying to look cool in front of think you’re weird for walking with your chest and shoulders out. Yeah, a lot of things that I don’t miss about being 19. Teenage insecurity aside, it still can be overwhelming to keep up with the dynamics of a group ride your first couple of times. In staggered formation (as all group rides are), you always have to stay in…
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January 6, 2020
Gokul Nair
7 minutes
Riding your motorcycle in cold weather can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, nothing feels greater than taking on nature’s harshest elements with clothing that keeps you toasty. On the other, if you ride without said clothing, you’ll turn frosty. Goes without saying that toasty is much better than frosty. And what better additions to your toast arsenal than comfy gloves that keep your hands warm? For this article, we went through thousands of hours of reviews, both by customers and enthusiasts, on battery powered heated gloves. This article is about five of the best that we narrowed down. …
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December 30, 2019
Gokul Nair
6 minutes
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of my favorite books (go figure). One of the passages from the book is as follows: “The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn’t any other test. If the machine produces tranquility it’s right. If it disturbs you it’s wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed.” When comparing models, people argue about many things. The bike’s acceleration, engine efficiency, and how much fuel it burns through. But the most important metric of comparison for a motorcycle (as with everything else) is the satisfaction…
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December 23, 2019
Owen Hunt
10 minutes
As riders, one of the last things we want is a flat tire – especially not one when we’re doing over 60 miles an hour. Interestingly enough, I’ve had two punctures in the last three months alone. The first one was when I was joining a freeway, but right before I sped up, a fellow rider waved me down. A month later on a beautiful early Sunday morning, I grabbed my keys from the bedside table, ready to head out and there it was – a very flat rear tire. It’s even scarier when I realized I could’ve been riding…
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December 16, 2019
Gokul Nair
9 minutes
While most products on the market are overpriced, sometimes they can feel like the opposite. If you’ve been on MotoFour for even a little bit, you probably know about how much we love intercoms. Bluetooth communication systems are widely revered not just by us, but by motorcycle riders in general. And that’s because few additions to your motor arsenal help make long rides and commute as convenient as intercoms. Riding hundreds of miles across the country but worried you may spend an hour or two in the wrong direction by taking a wrong turn? Just sync your audio system with…
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