Schuberth C3 Pro and SRC System Pro...

[Phmode]

Well Rae, with the yards I have been riding this last year, I'll probably just keep on abusing the old C3.

Technically there is nothing wrong with it that a new shell, new comfy lining and new visor and pinlock wouldn't cure.

The Sena still works as it always has and having gone back to read my annual whinge about it not charging, it is now charging like an angry bull...

This month has been a bad month for buying things; bike insurance, four new tyres for the car, car insurance, breakdown cover, having to pay the man for making me the new kitchen window etc. etc. so the C3Pro went back, more out of anger than financial need but as fitting the intercomm wasn't the two minute job I expected, it was ride without it and get lost or use the old helmet. Option B won the day.

Oh, and a new battery for the bike seeing as it was as flat as a pancake yesterday despite being on an Optimate. I noticed the red light on the charger was on last week and thought 'bugger' but then got caught up in window fitting or whatever.

I 'may' swallow my ire and get another C3 Pro, but there is no way on god's little green earth that I am riding around with an antenna poking out of my left shoulder, or wherever! I have never seen anyone with the Schuberth SC10UA intercomm. That could mean you never notice the antenna or it could mean no one has ever bought one...

If I do go back to a C3 Pro I will probably just get a new mount for the 20S as the old one is sticky pad'ed and siliconed tight on the old shell and although I am sure I could get it off, it is probably easier to get a new mount.

The C5 looks sweet and is getting good reviews and particularly Motolegends are 'dissuading' folks from buying the C4 which crashed and burned when it was first released. It also comes fully ready (heard that before) with HD speakers and antenna built in ready to have the new Sena integrated i/c clicked into place in about 30 seconds. If I decide to buy a new one I may go visit Motolegends who are offering a full fitting service for the C5 free of charge, even though, unlike Shoei who do a free exchange, Schuberth are charging for the replacement cheek and head linings. Motolegends have said they will absorb that cost, which should be minimal because what comes out of one new helmet can go into the next one etc.

[Matt]

If you/one goes for the C5 does that also mean one must get the SC2 too? If so, that's where I'd finally say nope to Motolegends. The lids are going at full price (as opposed to most of em on SBS being £100-150 less) which I could live with if we're doing full fitting and changing pads about. But the SC2 is - after their 'discount' for buying with a lid - £309. At SBS it's £246.

[richtea]

The Sportsbikeshop web site does say:

SRC SYSTEM READY - The C3 Pro is by default equipped to accommodate the Schuberth SRC System C3 Pro.

No it doesn't. So that's your feedback sorted.

Maybe some retailer out there has has an old-stock-but-not-too-old version with the pigtail/antenna.

[raesewell]

It's probably a case of Schuberth not telling anyone they stopped fitting the antenna.

[Phmode]

You are both right. Schuberth's website makes no mention of the long-discontinued SRC System Pro. It does say it is ready to accept the SC10UA. ie it has cut outs in the hard foam for the brains to fit into. End of!

Folks like Sportsbike Shop merely 'took' (past tense) the Schuberth blurb from the initial release and pasted it verbatim into their adverts. Unlike Motolegends who dig and delve and who provide their own description of the helmets they sell rather than parroting the makers blurb. They say the C3 Pro is capable of accepting the SC10xx, sold separately. No mention of the older system.

Interestingly, German dealers are still selling, occasionally, new-old stock SRC System Pros, still at the original price of €180. One on ebay right now. One wonders whether the German versions of the C3 Pro still have the antenna.

So, anyone in the market for a very reasonably priced SRC System Pro?

[black-k1]

Of no help to Brian but this is one of the main the reasons why I far prefer an "add-on" intercom. Changing helmet or changing intercom, even changing both, can be far less painful.

[Phmode]

Well, it does help, sort of. When I first joined the forum I was a dedicated Autocom user. Nothing in the helmet but speakers and a pigtail hanging out the back. And if you changed helmet, you either removed the speakers or treated yourself to a new set. I did both. Of course, back then the modern, miniaturised wonders we have today hadn't been thought of.

When I went to a Sena, I was a bit sniffy about having the box on the side of the helmet but everyone else was the same so what the 'eck.

Back then, the thought of making the helmet the intercomm would never have figured in my subconscious for the very reasons you say David. It was like fitting a cassette player (or even, the gods forbid an 8 track Cartridge player) in your car back in the day and then scrabbling to take it out when you sold it because you knew the guy selling the car you were buying was going to take the more expensive player before you got the car. Built-in stereo system? What a daft idea. Try taking the one out of your modern car and see how far you get.

Buying the quietest helmet in the world and bolting a box on the side always seemed like a dumb idea and so the C3/SRC Pro setup seemed like a reasonable way of 'streamlining' the system in both senses of the word.

Long pause for deep breathing called for methinks.

[Matt]

Damn it that's a good point re noise. I have noticed occasionally on mine, with the screen low if I put my hand in front of the Sena it does make a small difference. I imagine more so on a properly quiet setup. Harrumph. Sssshhh!

[Phmode]

Of course, I 'used' to run a camera on the right side so my head wasn't permanently being rotated to the left and the noise was about equal in both ears...

[black-k1]

I agree that an add-on intercom on the outside of the helmet is going to do nothing to help noise reduction but the noise increase is minimal and, for me. is outweighed by the convenient access to buttons and the ability to change helmet and intercom independently. In general, there is also a price advantage too. The equivalent specification add-on intercom tends to be cheaper that ins integrated counterpart, especially if you're not after the latest specification.

Also, I wanted Cardo as that's what those whom I ride most with use and Schuberth didn't have an integrated Cardo option. (I wouldn't have bought it anyway! )

[flatfour]

My wife has a C3 Pro and I fitted the SC10UA intercom to it about 18 months ago. I have an SRL 2 with my helmet, fitted around six months before my wife bought the C3 Pro.

Both were in easily enough and, once "Paired" have worked well since.

[Phmode]

It is interesting that Schuberth switched partners from Cardo who made the SRC System Pro (which I now have as a cosy neck-warmer and German speaking personal entertainment system for cold winter evenings by the fireside) to Sena for the latest incarnation in the C5.

[Phmode]

Well that wasn't difficult then...

Having decided to put new padding in the old C3 I baulked at the cost and then got dragged screaming and shouting around Wales a few times in the last couple of weeks.

Richard and Matt came over for a day's thrash around the Marches. We used the MRA circular route generator which meant we did 100 miles but never got more than about 15miles from Hereford. This was the longest ride I have done since the problem with the double-vision on last year's Wramble and I was glad to say that there were no problems; having a choice of two roads is often good, but not when there is only one 'real' road.

The following week, Martin stopped by for a ride into the Principality and Richard decided work was boring and rode over to join us. I did a 115mile route in MRA using two of the shorter routes in Fast Bikes' 'Great Riding Routes' booklet and this was a much better option than the roundtour generator. That route had more than its fair share of tracks with moss growing up the middle whereas the Fast Bikes routes are what they say, lots of great A and B roads with very little traffic apart from the obligatory tractors. Still no vision problems.

After this we decided that a couple of days in Wales were called for and so we booked into the usual B&B in Llanwotsit for one night and did a grand tour of the Brecons (as we English call them) on the way there and a mad dash up to Bala and back to mine on the way home.

And this is where it all came back. The double vision that is. It turns out that a couple of 100 odd mile rides were not quite enough to bring it on. 120 miles seems to be the limit before it happens, although with new specs since last years Welsh Wramble it didn't seem as bad.

By now it was becoming obvious that the problems were being caused by the helmet padding settling as I ride and after a couple of hours it cries enough and so I finally ordered the new linings for the C3 from Louis-Moto as they were the cheapest and one of the few places who had both the head section and the cheek sections.

And then an on/off price war broke out online between Helmet City and various other outlets desperately price-matching each other in a race to insolvency by discounting the Schuberth C5. I didn't exactly rush in but I did begin to wonder if spending £100 on new linings for the old C3 was a wise investment when a new C5 could be had for £400 rather than £699 or whatever.

Oh, and then, whilst trying to update the firmware in the Sena 20S, I discovered that my Mac mini had blown up in a lightning ground strike about 6 weeks ago (which also took out the power supply for my Humax video recorder) and a new one was going to cost me £640. Or was it just the power supply? Well, it turned out it was and so that saved me £600. And then Louis-Moto said there was a delay in shipping the linings so I cancelled that order and that saved me another £100.

And that's when I rushed in and splurged it all on the C5 and the integrated SC2 intercomm deal.

I told you it wasn't difficult...