Shoei J-Cruise II jet helmet Cardo Freecom 4 installation

[maximNikenGT]

When I ride my Niken GT on short trips around town during the warmer months here in North Carolina, I noticed that my helmet of choice would usually be my Arai Ram X jet style helmet because I was trying to avoid sweating under my modular Schuberth C3 Pro behind my monster Givi windscreen. 

So I ended up getting another jet style helmet since my other helmets were either getting close to or past the 5-year recommended life of motorcycle helmets. I ended up getting a Shoei J-Cruise 2 because of the integrated sun visor which allowed me the flexibility of putting it away on overcast days or when driving at night. 

Wanted to capture some bluetooth installation challenges I encountered on my new Shoei J-Cruise II jet style helmet. I specifically didn't want to drop another $359 USD for the Scala SRL mesh  communication system and wanted to continue using my Cardo Freecom 4 setup. 

So I placed an order for a second helmet Cardo Freecom mounting kit ($70 USD) which comes with JBL 40 mm speakers.

However, upon trying to install the Cardo speakers into the speaker cutouts on the J Cruise 2, turns out that the Cardo Freecom speakers have a slight bulge to them where the wires are soldered into the speaker housings which make the 40 mm speaker drives slightly oblong vs a perfect circle (see photos below of the Cardo second helmet oblong speakers being too large for the speaker recesses). As a result, the speakers that come from Cardo Freecom's second helmet kit are impossible to fit into the recessed speaker wells built into the J Cruise 2. 

Took some research but found an answer with the UClear Digital Pulse Wired helmet speakers (Amazon.com: UClear Digital Pulse Wired Drop-in High Definition Helmet Speakers : Electronics). These are 40mm speaker drivers that are perfectly round and drop right into the J Cruise 2 (along with some velcro affixed by adhesive tape to help retain the Pulse speakers). 

While the Shoei J-Cruise 2 helmet has 40 mm ear pockets to fit speakers, the helmet on the J Cruise 2's right side also has a special channel cutout specifically designed to help retain the Scala SRL boom microphone (see photo below). This boom microphone channel is NOT usable by the Freecom 4+ boom microphone for two reasons:

a. Because the Cardo boom microphone is much thicker than the boom used by the Scala SRL, and

b. I ended up having to mount the Freecom 4+ boom microphone on my left-hand side of the helmet because the Cardo 2nd helmet kit only allows the bluetooth receiver to be mounted on the left-hand side of the helmet. The resulting cable that runs to connect the boom microphone is too short to run it all the way to the right-hand side of the helmet. 

After getting the Pulse speakers secured within the ear recesses of the helmet, I was able to tuck in all the wiring under either the helmet padding or parts of the shell. After tidying up the cables, I put the helmet on and connected to my phone's bluetooth and tested the setup. Sound was excellent with zero discomfort/pain on my ears from the new speakers. 

Hope this helps others before considering using a Freecom 4+ for the Shoei J Cruise 2. 

Edited January 9, 2023 by maximNikenGT
Added final install photo