Uniqcycle Motorcycle Speaker System
www.uniqcycle.com
Shadow Spirit 1100 Install
I bought the Uniqcycle stereo system instead of the Rumbleroads, mainly because this kit also comes with a 150w mini-amp...in the case of road tunes, louder IS better, especially with a full-face helmet and modified pipes.
Installation was fairly straight forward. The instructions indicate 60-90 minutes...mine took several hours, as I repositioned the speakers several times as I went in order to find the best location. Running wires and hiding them, adding wire length to the exisiting harness and taking the tank on and off a few times all added up, but I got a clean look in the end so the time was worth it.
After removing the tank and disconnecting the battery, I began to assemble. First I put together the two 3-piece clamps and put them in a rough location on the bars. Since I have a tach next to the speedo, I decided to mount them higher up on the bars, which also puts them closer to me.
Next came the amp and how/where to mount it. This unit is small - 4"Long, 3"Deep, 1" High. I have an old fork bag that is 11" long and found some scrap wood that fit right inside and layed flat on the bottom of the bag. I made a simple "L" bracket from the wood and mounted the amp to it. This sits in the bag with the amp standing upright, as you see in this pic.
The wiring is next. I started running wires at the battery and then ran wiring forward from there. For many of my connections I used Posi-Lock connectors. I've used these several times for other wiring projects and have had nothing but great experience with them. They're incredibly easy to use, watertight and easy to take on and off when needed.
The harness has 3 wires - black, red and orange. The black is ground, the red and orange are for the keyed power. Black connects directly to battery negative and the red and orange twisted together and clamped into the brown tail wire. Since the wires aren't long enough to go anywhere, I added connectors to them, then extra lengths of each wire to run along the frame to the front, where they'll be added to the amp. The pic on the left shows the connectors where I'll add the extra length. The pic on the right shows the connector on the brown tail wire.
After adding a few feet of wire into these connectors, I then ran the wires along the frame under the tank, towards the headlight. I punched a couple holes in the back of the fork bag for the wires to go into. I'll dab some silicone around the holes later, to help keep water out. I ran the wires through the holes and out the bag for the next step. The below pic on the right shows the wires coming out of the bag, left to right: right speaker wire, power wires, left speaker, audio device hookup.
I added the second half of the power harness to the lengths that came out of the tank bag and secured them with more posi-locks. This way, I can remove the tank bag when needed (ie: for washing) in a few easy steps.
The device plug (will attach to headphone outlet of ipod) connects to the amp next, then the power harness to the amp.
The speaker connections are next, they've supplied a short harness for this also. The opposite end plugs into the amp. Then taped up the wiring for neatness and tucked it all into the bag.
I eventually moved the speakers to a better location on the bars. I can still see most of the tach (up to about 4000k, which is no problem) and the sound is decent. Could use a bit more bass and volume, but I'm happy with them. I've had them on the highway up to 65 and could still hear pretty good, even with my full face helmet.
Some final pics. I've added an 'AirClick' wireless remote for the ipod. Plugs into the device port of the pod, tucked into the bag. The remote has a clip and a velcro strap that is made for a steering wheel...a what? It fits nicely on the bars, up against the left switch housing.
