Race Radios

I would have to say that the most influential single piece of equipment in the peloton today is the race radio. In the last 15 years it has affected outcome of countless races. Old dogs feel the radio should be banned from racing (they probably feel so should the helmet).

Directors now sit in follow vehicles, watching the race unfold on a dash mounted TV screen, barking instructions to the riders. Long gone are the days when a rider needed to think for themselves. Tactics have also changed due to this and you no longer need to tape jersey numbers and time gaps across your stem.

Smaller teams and riders are using small, light, cheap, radios such as the Motorola Talkabout or similar models. These are great as long as you are within a mile or two, and aren’t trying to transmit through trees and hills. The larger teams are using very sophisticated, ham type, two way radios that work great even when the terrain gets hilly and the distances are great.

The most popular model of "pro" radio is the Alinco brand DJ series. Alinco has gone through 3 generations of this radio and teams still use the original DJ-C5 model. Team Discovery (and I'll use Disco due to their high profile) has had AMD refurbish and create "prototype" accessories for their models to keep them in the game. The latest model from Alinco is the DJ-C7, a bit thicker and barely heavier, but NEW! Slipstream also opts for the original C5 model.

Headsets have also gone through a change...you’ll see in crappy conditions that Disco will use a throat mic, or an earpiece mic. These are GREAT as you don’t get ANY wind or outside noise while talking. Just push the inline PTT button and talk, no need to speak into a mic buried in your jersey. The throat mic has been in development and use by combat Special Forces for some time now, but riders are reporting that under high levels of stress, the throat mic get annoying(like a tight collar when your on the rivet). Therefore the earbud mic is the most popular in high wind situations.

You can expect to pay 20.00 to 50.00 each for the cool earpiece. The radios will set ya back 150.00 to 250.00ea.

I guess the Motorola Talkabout seems pretty good at this point huh?
See pics for scale reference detail.