[djh3]

OK I decided to buy a Bat Wing Fairing from a company called Reckless Motorcycles in TN. After some measuring and talking to these guys I figure the one for the Road King will probably fit best. Mainly for the bracket location as he says the others (ie:nomads) are bigger. I have made arangements with a local body shop to paint it to match my bikes color.
So now what I need to kind of figure out is what to run for a stereo and speakers. They recomend a marine radio cover. I supose to help keep out the elements. Never had one on my old stereo in a Vetter or Pacifico but sounds like the way the hole is cut out you have to. So looking at this one from Pyle. Radio I'm not sure how much power. I can remember on my old bikes that after a point it distorts so bad you can hear it worth [email protected]#$ anyways. I dunno maybe speakers are better now. So the radio I am looking at is a 200w (50wx4) and has a handy usb port for charging things built in plus MP# player port. Is 200w enough? To much? It looks as though I need 4ea 5.25" speakers. Do I have to go with marine speakers? I have one or 2 left over from something else (not correct size but used for reference) that the cone is all a plastic material. It is not a marine speaker so but I dont think weather would hurt it. Do I go with 2way or 3way? Whats the difference? These look good. Say 120w each and a "Silver Polypropylene Injected Cone" What is the difference between a "regular speaker" like this one and a "Coaxial Speakers" ? Well sorry for all the questions but I just have not had to mess with car stereo stuff for years and have lost touch.

USAF Vet
07 900 Classic

 

[Nomadinator]

OK I decided to buy a Bat Wing Fairing from a company called Reckless Motorcycles in TN. After some measuring and talking to these guys I figure the one for the Road King will probably fit best. Mainly for the bracket location as he says the others (ie:nomads) are bigger. I have made arangements with a local body shop to paint it to match my bikes color.
So now what I need to kind of figure out is what to run for a stereo and speakers. They recomend a marine radio cover. I supose to help keep out the elements. Never had one on my old stereo in a Vetter or Pacifico but sounds like the way the hole is cut out you have to. So looking at this one from Pyle. Radio I'm not sure how much power. I can remember on my old bikes that after a point it distorts so bad you can hear it worth [email protected]#$ anyways. I dunno maybe speakers are better now. So the radio I am looking at is a 200w (50wx4) and has a handy usb port for charging things built in plus MP# player port. Is 200w enough? To much? It looks as though I need 4ea 5.25" speakers. Do I have to go with marine speakers? I have one or 2 left over from something else (not correct size but used for reference) that the cone is all a plastic material. It is not a marine speaker so but I dont think weather would hurt it. Do I go with 2way or 3way? Whats the difference? These look good. Say 120w each and a "Silver Polypropylene Injected Cone" What is the difference between a "regular speaker" like this one and a "Coaxial Speakers" ? Well sorry for all the questions but I just have not had to mess with car stereo stuff for years and have lost touch.

USAF Vet
07 900 Classic

djh3,

I put a Boss Marine stereo in my old heap. The one I have in there now, they do not sell anymore, but I have been super happy with it. It is a 200 W water resistant unit with a wired remote.

I also purchased one of these, also with a wired remote. This one is 60 W x 4. I might put this one on my jalopy and put the other in my truck.

Boss Audio MR1620S Marine Receivers - Marine Audio at Onlinecarstereo.com

I absolutely love the wired remote. You can mute to talk to you buddies at a red light and change the volume settings with a touch of the thumb. I just made a little aluminum bracket to go under my mirror. These units come with a 20 foot cable for the remote, but you can buy (for $18) a "Y" splitter that will make the cord long enough to reach your handlebar.

As for speakers, I just went to Walmart and purchased some Sony Xplode (5-1/4"). They are 2 ways. They have been on my bike for 3 years now and are still going strong.

Hope this helps.

 

[Nomadinator]

Here is a better link to show you what the remote looks like.

I got the silver unit.

Boss Audio MR1620W AM/FM/CD/MP3 White 240 Watts with Waterproof Wired Remote Marine Stereo

 

[djh3]

Thanks. Some of the radios I have looked at do have remotes, but I think they have been wireless. Guess you could still make the little bracket and velcro the deal to it. Some of those radios are high. lol I wonder what the difference is between the one I have listed and a "marine" type? If your putting the marine cover on it would you need it? Decissions decissions

 

[SilverBullet]

Hey just a bit of advice.

just because the stereo states it is 200w, that is the peak, not the RMS which is usually about half of that. Example, the Kenwood excelon I got for my fairing (if the **** fairing ever gets here) power reads as follows: 22 watts RMS/50 peak x 4 channels

As for the marine cover, all that is is a mounting bracket usually with a slide down shield. It doesn't make it waterproof but will help keep most of the water out for normal use. It probably won't stop say a direct spray from a hose while washing, so care should be taken. Here is an example of that: Google Image Result for http://www.pyleaudio.com/el/PLMRCW2.jpg

As for marine grade speakers. They usually have rubber surrounds and a cone that is not made out of carboard. Usually some type of polyurethane or such.

2 way speakers consits of a woofer cone (midrange) and a tweeter (highs) that are one piece and the tweeter is mounted to the center of the speaker above the woofer. 3 ways consist of those two and an additional "super" tweeter to reach an even higher frequency range again mounted in the center of the speaker above the woofer.

Note: Don't confuse a woofer with a SUBwoofer. Subwoofers are the big *** bass driving speakers for low frequencies.

Usually 3 way speakers are reserved for 6x9 speakers. 2 ways are the typical choice for round shape speakers like your 5 1/2 all the way up to 6 3/4.

With round speaker demensions make sure you read carefully the actual demensions. Lower quality speakers may use the designation of a "6 1/2" speaker but may not measure that they may be larger or smaller. They sell adaptor rings to fit most needs if that happens.

They also make odd sizes like 4 x 6, 4t, and 4 x 10 but they will not be an option. They are usually considered "plate" speakers and are basically used to replace OEM car speakers, in the stock locations.

Another option which is what I went with, are componet speakers. This consists of a woofer and tweeter but they are seperate and they come with a crossover to filter the frequencies to the proper element. I went with these: Polk Audio db6501 6-1/2" component speaker system at Crutchfield.com

If you look in the discription they are "certified for Marine use". I was going to go with actual marine speakers but most of them have grills that are already attached and are of "marine" styling so it wouldn't look right.

Finally, to answer your question about the marine radio. Marine radios have parts that are water and corrosion resistant. With the bike though, you have to look at your riding and make a judgment call. If you ride in the rain contantly especially heavy stuff or your bike sits out in the rain all the time, then a marine stereo is highly reccomended. I the bike is garaged, and you don't intentially ride in the rain you should be able to get away with any stereo if you take precautions with sealing the fairing and taking extra precautions to cover the equipment internally in the fairing. Basically if you can seal the fairing so no water gets on the inside you should be ok.

I opted to not go with marine stereo because I do garage my bike and I don't ride in the rain intentionally unless I get caught in it while on a trip.

Hope this helps.

 

[djh3]

Thanks SIlver Bulit. I garage also and dont plan on riding in the rain but here in Fl you never know. You could turn the corner and its raining. lol So 2 way speakers should be good then? I have yet to "wash" the bike with water. Mostly just a spray and wipe wax deal. I have to agree with the marine speaker covers they look hidious on a bike. Back in the day when I had my Pacifico and mounted up the speakers I think I used like plastic butter tubs behind the speakers to help keep dry. lol

 

[SilverBullet]

Thanks SIlver Bulit. I garage also and dont plan on riding in the rain but here in Fl you never know. You could turn the corner and its raining. lol So 2 way speakers should be good then? I have yet to "wash" the bike with water. Mostly just a spray and wipe wax deal. I have to agree with the marine speaker covers they look hidious on a bike. Back in the day when I had my Pacifico and mounted up the speakers I think I used like plastic butter tubs behind the speakers to help keep dry. lol

Yes two ways will be fine, especially if you have to get 4 of them. If you get marine grade speakers you will not have to worry about doing anything to the speakers. It is mainly the head unit you have to take precautions with if you do not get a marine grade head unit.

 

[cosmicsclassic]

djh3,

I put a Boss Marine stereo in my old heap. The one I have in there now, they do not sell anymore, but I have been super happy with it. It is a 200 W water resistant unit with a wired remote.

I also purchased one of these, also with a wired remote. This one is 60 W x 4. I might put this one on my jalopy and put the other in my truck.

Boss Audio MR1620S Marine Receivers - Marine Audio at Onlinecarstereo.com

I absolutely love the wired remote. You can mute to talk to you buddies at a red light and change the volume settings with a touch of the thumb. I just made a little aluminum bracket to go under my mirror. These units come with a 20 foot cable for the remote, but you can buy (for $18) a "Y" splitter that will make the cord long enough to reach your handlebar.

As for speakers, I just went to Walmart and purchased some Sony Xplode (5-1/4"). They are 2 ways. They have been on my bike for 3 years now and are still going strong.

Hope this helps.

What brand is your batwing? I like the dash console and how it's layed out.

 

[Nomadinator]

What brand is your batwing? I like the dash console and how it's layed out.

It is an HD Ultra I picked up used off of eBay.

 

[djh3]

Well had a little time to work with the fairring. It came while I was out of town last week. I have had to make up some bracket mock ups with some wood for now and still need to make more or different spacers between the fairing and the mounts as this is wider than my Memphis Shades rig. Anyways with the fairing pretty close to where its going to live it looks as though the face of the radio is going to be below the top of the handel bars and behind the risers and not very readable. Add to that I have to put some sort of a "marine radio cover" on it and it will have to flip up into its self because there aint going to be enough room for it to have one of the swing open deals. I should be able to live with it but in some respects its disa pointing. I had to lower the fairing a bunch as if I would have left it where the orginal bracket mounts up to the Memphis Shades it would have like 3" of clearence between the top of the headlight and the bottome of the opening in the fairing for it.

 

[djh3]

Found some speakers I think I'm going to order. These PYRAMID 558GS 180 Watt 5.25" or maybe these 240 Watt Visonik 5.25" 3-Way Looked at these too. They light up! But how anoyoing would that be going down the road at night?? Found some KICKER DS5250 but they are more than I really want to spen on speakers though. I have heard that the Kickers are good, atleast alot of the kids have them blasting in thier cars. lol
Did a little research on the "weatherproof-wheather resistant" thing. The resistnat might be good over all. They basicly dip the circuit boards etc in a epoxy or something like it covering to keep moiture out. Wheather proof I guess has more sealing. I like the idea of a wired remote, but there dont seem to be alot of those type out there

 

[djh3]

OH man what a racket this "color rite" place has. Seems they are the only game in town when it comes to factory bike paint for the kawai. So 1 pint to paint my fairing is going to cost as much as the fairing its self. Close to $300. Something wrong with that guys. So now I am stuck as to what I'm going to do. I hate to paint it just a black or silver or something like that I think it will look stupid. So I think I'm going to go to my painters local paint supplier and see if they have a book of paint chips or whatever they call them and see if I can get close. I think if I got close and being it is not laying right against something to compare I should be OK. Thought too that if maybe shot it with flip flop or something it may disguise it a bit too. **** why does everything that should be simple turn out to be a pain in the a$$

 

[Nomadinator]

OH man what a racket this "color rite" place has. Seems they are the only game in town when it comes to factory bike paint for the kawai. So 1 pint to paint my fairing is going to cost as much as the fairing its self. Close to $300. Something wrong with that guys. So now I am stuck as to what I'm going to do. I hate to paint it just a black or silver or something like that I think it will look stupid. So I think I'm going to go to my painters local paint supplier and see if they have a book of paint chips or whatever they call them and see if I can get close. I think if I got close and being it is not laying right against something to compare I should be OK. Thought too that if maybe shot it with flip flop or something it may disguise it a bit too. **** why does everything that should be simple turn out to be a pain in the a$$

Don't even get me started on ColorRite....


There are some auto paint places that have computer matching, where you would just have to take in a fender or something for them to match. Some can even put the selected paint in spray cans for you. I find this out after.....

 

[cosmicsclassic]

OK I decided to buy a Bat Wing Fairing from a company called Reckless Motorcycles in TN. After some measuring and talking to these guys I figure the one for the Road King will probably fit best. Mainly for the bracket location as he says the others (ie:nomads) are bigger. I have made arangements with a local body shop to paint it to match my bikes color.
So now what I need to kind of figure out is what to run for a stereo and speakers. They recomend a marine radio cover. I supose to help keep out the elements. Never had one on my old stereo in a Vetter or Pacifico but sounds like the way the hole is cut out you have to. So looking at this one from Pyle. Radio I'm not sure how much power. I can remember on my old bikes that after a point it distorts so bad you can hear it worth [email protected]#$ anyways. I dunno maybe speakers are better now. So the radio I am looking at is a 200w (50wx4) and has a handy usb port for charging things built in plus MP# player port. Is 200w enough? To much? It looks as though I need 4ea 5.25" speakers. Do I have to go with marine speakers? I have one or 2 left over from something else (not correct size but used for reference) that the cone is all a plastic material. It is not a marine speaker so but I dont think weather would hurt it. Do I go with 2way or 3way? Whats the difference? These look good. Say 120w each and a "Silver Polypropylene Injected Cone" What is the difference between a "regular speaker" like this one and a "Coaxial Speakers" ? Well sorry for all the questions but I just have not had to mess with car stereo stuff for years and have lost touch.

USAF Vet
07 900 Classic

Hello, I am also looking to buy a batwing for my bike and was looking at a Reckless brand or a Memphis shades. I've not desided if I want a radio and that is one if the swinging desiders, Memphis doesn't have a radio mountable innerfairing. I'm interested in how you feel the quaility is of the Reckless brand as I've never seen one. Would you recommend it? I would like to hear your opinions, Thanks a bunch,Cos.

 

[SilverBullet]

I was actually happy with color rite, it matched perfectly when I had to repaint the front and side fairing on my old ZX-12R. Cost me about $120 for everything I needed through them and it was there next day since they have a distributor in PA.

As for the paint scanner, I had the guy at the shop tell me it may not be as accurate and actually recommended Color Rite.

 

[djh3]

Cosmics yeas I think the quality is very good. And is a US company in Tn. So if you have issues you can call them up and get answers. Depending on what your riding they might actually make a fairing that "fits" yours where as I am having to make brackets and spacers so I can mount mine.

Silver Bullit: I dont dispute that thier paint matches well. I guess if you had a wreck and needed to match up stuff they would be the go to folks. But I am trying to make this an "inexpensive" add on and they blow it way out of that bracket. For what they want for a quart of paint I can go with a PPG, Dupont or simular paint and do the hole bike for less than I'll have in doing the fairing. Just seems out of line to me. Know I can see whay some of the bikes I have looked at online int the "salvage rpairable" ares that are still ridable and not bad off are insurance "totals" By the time you buy the parts say a tank, clutch lever and fender say. Add in the labor it would cost you and then the paint if you had to get it from them, your done way out of the range the have set up.

 

[djh3]

Nomadinator: I took your advice and got a radio with the wired remote. Just ordered tunes today. Radio is: PYLE PLCD16MRWB

Speakers are: 200 Watt 5.25 Inch 3-Way

 

[djh3]

OOPS while posting this I realized I ordered the wrong dang speakers. These take a hole that is 5.75 in dia. Called, and order was already filled and inprocess of shipping. So I guess I'll let them come in and return and buy a different pair. Paying a little more attention this time. lol To bad they wont work the specs look bad a$$.

 

[Nomadinator]

I was actually happy with color rite, it matched perfectly when I had to repaint the front and side fairing on my old ZX-12R. Cost me about $120 for everything I needed through them and it was there next day since they have a distributor in PA.

As for the paint scanner, I had the guy at the shop tell me it may not be as accurate and actually recommended Color Rite.

Yes, the paint does match very closely and it does look nice once it is painted (if you do not have any surface imperfections to start with). One thing that they fail to tell you is you cannot repaint a nicked or scratched spot. Trust me, I know this for a fact. I buffed through my clear coat trying to miss my son's fingers holding my fairing and I tried to re-apply more clear coat. Well, it spider-webbed on me. If you buff, wet sand, or scratch through any layer your screwed.

I called Color-Rite's tech support line because I thought I was doing something wrong. I told the tech on the line what my symptoms were and he explained that you only have a certain amount of time to get everything applied with their "system" (gawd am I beginning to hate that word). So I asked him why they sold the touch up paints and clear coats in pens and he stated that they were to touch up the factory's paint, not theirs.

Sooooo.... I asked him "So your telling me that if I paint my car with your "system" and get a scratch on the rear quarter panel, I am going to have to sand the whole car down to bare metal and start over?" There was very long dead silence on the other side of the phone.

Some people have been lucky, but I will never recommend them to anyone.

 

[Nomadinator]

Nomadinator: I took your advice and got a radio with the wired remote. Just ordered tunes today. Radio is: PYLE PLCD16MRWB

Speakers are: 200 Watt 5.25 Inch 3-Way

I think you will be very pleased with the remote mounted by your left mirror. I cannot think of NOT having it. Just so much more convenient. There is one other thing that you will probably need, and well worth the $20. These radio's come with a 20 foot cord (I guess for running to the back of your boat) and it has many wires in it.

I purchased a splitter "Y" and it was a perfect length to run from the back of the radio remote cord to where the remote is mounted, using a piece of aluminum angle and drilling a hole so the mirror would hold it in place.

I bought this one, but you can contact who you purchased the stereo off of and ask them. It appears that is almost identical to the Boss unit on mine.

Jensen Y Extension for MWR21 Remote - Jensen Accessories

With this, you will not have to cut and splice that 20 foot cable.