When cruising around familiar places, the intercom isn't really that necessary, and can sometimes be viewed as an intrusion on your riding "vibe". The wife and I covered over 5,000 kilometers traveling to her hometown in Hubei to get married, and I was quite happy to have someone interpreting signs and pointing out things I never would have seen or understood as a foreigner in China. We then went to America and covered 20,000 kilometers as I introduced her to my home country, and I can't imagine what it would have been like explaining all the things we saw while screaming at each other through helmets. Sometimes women get bored and just want to blab, but I explained to my wife that concentration is the key to safe riding, so she usually keeps the conversation to a minimum.

Like many things...pros and cons / time and place.

Cheers!
ChinaV