Radio Use on '14 RT?

[davindav]

I recently found a 2014RT demo to ride and was quite impressed. I am coming off a 2011 Multistrada that on which I could never conquer the wind noise/turbulence regardless of the various screens I tried. The RT on the highest seat setting/screen in the highest position seems to offer much less wind management problems for my 6'2" position.

 

Also, I wonder how many new RT owners are using the BMW radio/speakers? I felt the volume was mostly OK even with the foam earplugs (I don't ride without them) but still not as good as the custom earplugs with sound that make my ears sore after a few hours. Having the radio, along with the better wind protection are big selling points for me, but I would like to get opinions on whether the radio is actually a preferred method of long-term listening?

Thanks for any comments!

[TEWKS]

I believe Bluetooth is the preferred method nowadays, at least for me it is. Although, this one time at band camp we were parked out in Monument Valley and I cranked Bob Seger Roll Me Away on the bike's speakers. That was very cool!

 

Welcome to the site!

 

Pat

[Skywagon]

bluetooth or earbuds ER6i's preferred by me. I ride with ear plugs too. I can hear the radio ok to 30mph with plugs, I can somewhat hear it up to about 70mph but feel like I am blasting my speakers.

 

The problem is I can't get the BMW Radio on my 14RT to play anywhere except speakers without buying their special expensive Bluetooth intercom.

 

I have been in recent conversation with J&M and they are expecting a product out in the next 2 months to cure the annoyance of BMW building a proprietary Bluetooth system that requires you to spend $1400 on helmet and intercom that doesn't interface with any other commercial unit.

 

Love my 14RT all except the radio/system.

[RT-Flyer]

Hard wired headphone jack into the system ... Earbuds kills the road noise and great audio with full function volume control with a Whizz Wheel ... Only way to go for really good audio.nat this time.

[Mike05]

Hard wired headphone jack into the system ... Earbuds kills the road noise and great audio with full function volume control with a Whizz Wheel ... Only way to go for really good audio.nat this time.

 

What he said! ( Hi Wayne) Hard wired ear buds with radio/Sirius & GPS sound thru them. Even control volume via "wheel" on the left handlebar.

 

Works great!

 

[Corvallis]

This is how I did it:

http://www.bmwlt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90481&highlight=earbuds

[Nomore76]

The problem is I can't get the BMW Radio on my 14RT to play anywhere except speakers without buying their special expensive Bluetooth intercom.

 

I have been in recent conversation with J&M and they are expecting a product out in the next 2 months to cure the annoyance of BMW building a proprietary Bluetooth system that requires you to spend $1400 on helmet and intercom that doesn't interface with any other commercial unit.

 

Love my 14RT all except the radio/system.

 

I can't get my new RT to sync with my bluetooth Sena SMH10. What you are telling me is that I am not doing anything wrong, it is just that it can't be done at all? Well, if that is the case, that just sucks.

[TEWKS]

Go to Settings

1) Audio

2) BT Pairing

3) Helmet 1

 

Have your SMH10 in Pairing mode when you select helmet one. To do this, hold the phone button for five seconds. Should flash red/blue.

 

The bike should find it. Good luck!

 

Pat

[Alfred02]

The problem is I can't get the BMW Radio on my 14RT to play anywhere except speakers without buying their special expensive Bluetooth intercom.

 

I have been in recent conversation with J&M and they are expecting a product out in the next 2 months to cure the annoyance of BMW building a proprietary Bluetooth system that requires you to spend $1400 on helmet and intercom that doesn't interface with any other commercial unit.

 

Love my 14RT all except the radio/system.

Rubbish

J&M are full of it, unless you misunderstood.

I know of other Senah Users that have paired their units to the bike and can hear radio/mp3. I can on my SRC. It's just that you haven't got the full blown functions as with a BMW unit.

So you don't have volume control via the multi-controller and your passenger wouldn't have bike music as well.

Otherwise it does work at least on mine.

 

[DavidJAX]

I have a 14 RT and the Sena SMH10 and other than handlebar volume control, it works great.

[TEWKS]

I have a 14 RT and the Sena SMH10 and other than handlebar volume control, it works great.

 

Same here mostly but, I will say it's not completely perfect. I may have led people to believe that it was. Seems on random occasions I will have to turn off and on the Sena to keep the connection with the radio.

 

Then sometimes it works all day without a hitch.

 

Pat

[Skywagon]

I had not tried it with selecting Helmet 1. The dealer told me the helmet selections only worked with SRC. I have just been syncing the old fashion way. I just tried syncing to helmet 1 and it worked......oh my gosh...music and gps again. I can live without the volume on the wheel.....you made my day.

[TEWKS]

Makes me feel good if my tip helped.

 

 

Pat

[TheoP]

Having ordered the RT a month ago, I thought of giving it a test ride just to be sure.

 

Bike as expected by the many reviews so far by pros and customers alike. Mostly wonderful.

 

Top 3 comments from me:

- super nimble at any speed which belies the size that meets the eye. Comfort and suspension set up beyond criticism too

- feels very torquey with a much much better top end than I recall the single hex engines ( my previous boxer sold in 09). It also hides it's speed like any big tourer should very well. 90 feels like 60 and what feels like 90 is bail able prison sentence 110ish.

- apparent quality of plastics, nuts and bolts, cable mounts etc as well as assembly. All the stuff that appears cheap and Chinesee on a Triumph for example. Let's hope reliability is half as good as the materials and I ll be happy.

 

Bottom 3:

- it still does not feel as fast as 125hp. Although it is. Both similarly powered Pan European and Trophy feel faster.

- indicator switch is weird and unergonomic. Too far to reach while curling your thumb over the menu wheel, and its action is too tinny and light. There barely half a millimeter of move. Radio is also too expensive and too inaudible above 60mph. I m glad I ordered mine without.

- I m 6'4 (193cm). I found the regular seat on the high setting just about tall enough. Pegs are basically an inch too high for my admittedly too long legs.there is less knee angling on the old Rt which the shop had next to mine so I did a back to back couple of miles on both.

 

[OzarkR1200RT]

+1

 

Works like a champ

 

Make sure your Sena software is update

[anvo]

I sprung for the whole deal with Schuberth helmet and BMW Communication System (with a generous dealer contribution off MSRP). I don't know if something is wrong with the bluetooth transmitter on my RT, but the audio through the helmet sounds like crap. Distorted as if I was barely within range of the radio station. Through the speakers, it sounds great. iPhone audio streamed straight into the helmet, great.

 

I have read about the no-so-great audio quality, and I'm not expecting audiophile nirvana here, but this is just not acceptable. Are others getting sub par audio quality from the radio via BT?

[Skywagon]

Thats interesting...Now that I have mine working through the SENA (thanks Tewks), same issue. Iphone, Iphone music sound great. BMW speakers sound great, BMW Radio through Sena sounds like crap. It's better on FM than Satellite, but not by much. There must be something in their coding algrithm that just doesn't work well. It sounds like it is overdriving the speakers in the head set even though I have them at very low volume.