Radio Install in a PC
Written 6/02, Amended 10/02
Purchase
I ordered my radio and speakers from Crutchfield. www.Crutchfield.com (like you couldn't figure that out yourself) or 800-955-9091 Total cost delivered was $245.84 I got the Sony Cassette model XR-CA630 (I was afraid a CD would skip Cost $149.95) , Blaupunkt Speakers ODx402 ( All aluminum and rubber. Seemed a good choice due to exposure to the elements Cost $49.94), Sony remote RM-X4S (Cost $34.95). Shipping for everything ($10.99). All the items were a bit cheaper other places on the 'net but 1) I wanted to get them all from 1 place and 2) I've heard good things about Crutchfield and I don't mind paying a bit extra for good service. I ordered on a Friday morning, everything was here Tuesday. The sales people on the phone were friendly and knowledgeable. All in all, a good experience. I will buy from them again.
If you decide to order from them, you are a first time customer of them and your order is over $250, mention my customer number 22119066- David "DOC" Bond- and you get $25 off your order. I get $25 off my next order. (Thanks to those who did this. I think I have $50-75 in credit now)
Install
Click on any photo below to enlarge it.
The speaker cover comes off with just 2 screws. If you look under where the speaker grill would be, there is a small rectangle. Pop it off and there is a screw under it. Take out one on each side and the cover comes off. In the picture below, at the very bottom of the picture, you can see the hole where the screw goes in.
In the photo, you also see one of the speakers. You can use screws or bolts to hold the speaker in but getting behind the speaker to affix a nut is quite a job. I found pop rivets the way to go here. It took about 20 minutes to install the right speaker (drop the nut, fish around for it, find it, try again, drop the nut again...DAMN!.....) and about 30 seconds to pop rivet in the left speaker. The left speaker has 3 pop rivets, the top right is a screw. I'll take that out (someday) and replace it with a rivet. (Yeah, right)
Run the wires behind the fairing, along the frame and under the seat. Use plastic wire ties so they don't swing onto something hot. Be careful where you run the wires, keep in mind you will be putting Tupperware back and be mindful where it will go.
You can see the wires here and one of the wire ties (needing to be trimmed). All
the Tupperware shown removed required only 1 screw to be taken out. The seat has
2 bolts. You do not need to remove the gas cylinder that holds the trunk up in
order to remove the seat. Unbolt the seat and lower the trunk about 1/2 way.
This causes the cylinder to slant backward and allows enough room to pull the
seat back about an inch, then you lift the front of the seat up and out.
It takes about 3 minutes to get the seat and Tupperware off and be ready to
roll.
I mounted the remote on the left fairing pocket with Velcro. This way, if it rains or I feel the bike might not be secure, I can pull it off and drop it in the pocket.
You need to make a fairly good size hole in the pocket to fit the plug for the remote thru. (See right most picture above, look in the bottom corner--use a drill, not a screwdriver...don't ask me how I know this) The wire for the remote is run with the speaker wires.--Remember to somehow mark which set of speaker wires is for which speaker. I tied a knot in the end of the set for the right speaker so I would know which to hook up to the wires for the right speaker coming from the radio. (don't ask me why I know this) Also note that there is a positive and negative to the speakers. The wires included are coded so it's tough to make a mistake.
You need to grab a hot lead for the radio. I'd heard there were extra leads under the seat and I found this one.
In this photo the front of the bike is to the left. The small white rectangle
was taped to some other wires and I had to take the tape off to find it. There
are actually 3 slots in it. I tested till I found the one that was hot only when
the key was on. I don't recall if the others are always hot but word on the
forum is at least one is. I bought a male quick disconnect pack at Radio Shack,
non solder type, crushed it on a wire (the wire from the radio isn't long enough
to reach so you need to splice another piece on) and slipped the male end into
the slot, connected the other end of the wire to the radio hot wires ( for some
reason there are 2) and that's where the power comes from. In the photo above
you see the hot wire coming out of the socket, joined to the other wires
where the wire tie is. (It looks sloppy with all the wire ties uncut and 5 extra
feet of wire to the radio but I'm not going to clip any wire ties or shorten any
wires till I run this setup for a couple of weeks and make sure nothing needs to
be changed. Then, I'll neaten everything up...maybe...believe it when you see it
<lol> )
I wanted to mount the radio so it would be secure but also so it would be cushioned from all the bumps and banging it will get in the trunk. I used an old mouse pad ( yes, you read correctly) and placed it against the wall of the trunk. Then, I drilled holes for 2 eye bolts thru the pad, leaving enough space between the bolts for the radio to fit. I put the radio between the bolts and used a bungee cord to hold it down.. So far, after about 100 miles, it's all working fine and the radio hasn't moved one bit.
Be careful mounting the eyebolts and be sure they don't stick out where the tire
might hit them. Mine were a bit long so I bought some extra nuts and ran them
all the way down the bolts before I put the bolt thru the trunk. Then, I was
able to adjust the eyebolt so only a very small part stuck thru the trunk and
most of what sticks thru is covered by the nut. I also had someone sit on the
bike and bounce up and down while I checked that the tire wouldn't hit the bolt.
There is plenty of room.
For a ground I used the bolt for the seat.
Here you see the ground wire (I had red wire so it's red not black) and, if you
look closely, the blue end of the hot wire under the seat. (The blue tip toward
the left, not the blue wire on the right). You can see there is no danger
of crushing all the wires you are bringing thru since there is a good 1/2 inch
between the seat and the frame.
Connect the speaker wires, plug in the remote control and let 'er rip. Oh, I haven't gotten around to an antenna yet. When I wanted to try it out, I took about 3 feet of wire, stripped 3/4" off the end and folded the bare end over onto the wire. (So this end piece would be thicker than just bare wire), then I slid this into the middle of the antenna receptacle and pushed it in till it seated. I'm about 30 miles out of NYC so, this worked for me and I can receive every station in the NY area. Since I won't always be in the NYC area, I'll have to work on installing an antenna but that's another day. (If you click on the picture above of the radio, you can see the black wire that comes from the bottom right of the radio, goes up, behind the mouse pad and comes out the left side of the mouse pad about 2" from the top, that's my current antenna....hey, I just realized, I do have black wire....why did I make the ground wire red? Hmmmm)
Well I think that's it. It was very easy and should take between 1 and 2 hours depending on how much advance work you do before starting the job. I've found that, at speeds up to about 45 mph, the sound quality is very good. 45-60 mph it's good and by 65 mph you have to crank the radio up all the way to hear all the music. With the unit cranked up all the way, the speakers are really moving and quality suffers a bit. However, even at 65, I find the sound quality acceptable and, once I install the new Clearview windshield, I expect wind noise to reduce making the radio sound even better.
10/02 Post script - Well, it's been about 4 months now and about 4k miles. I never did get around to trimming any of the long wires nor the wire ties. I did get the Clearview shield and, as expected, with the reduced noise, sound quality is even better. The radio has performed flawlessly so far. I haven't tried the tape deck (no tapes around) . Next time I think I'll go with the CD player since I do have CDs around. I still haven't added an antenna and have ridden from Lake Placid to Cape May NJ (not in the same day!), through NY State and Pennsylvania and never hit a spot I couldn't grab hold of a good station. So, for the moment, I won't be adding an antenna at all, just use the piece of wire in the back.
I seldom ride without the radio on and really enjoy having it. I can honestly say that, when I get another bike someday, a radio will be the first thing added.
Easy project, well worth the money. Don't wait, go for it.
Ride Safe
DOC