I know this sounds like a crazy idea, but picture yourself cruising to work listening to your favorite music on your own customized bike stereo! Assume you were to go ahead and build / set-up a stereo for your bike, how would you do it?
Here's how I would set it up:
- two small but powerful speakers attached to the handlebar close to the stem
- the speakers connected to a compact AM/FM/Cassette stereo unit tucked away inside my handlebar bag
EDIT - forgot to mention the rechargeable battery set up to power the whole thing
Optional equipment:
- 100% waterproof set-up covering the speakers, the wires, and of course, the CD/radio unit in the handlebar bag (or I could not waterproof it and use it only on my fairweather bike)
- subwoofer located under the saddle (for those times when you really want to feel the music)
I ride the San Diego Critical Mass and there's always this middle age gentleman who rides a recumbent with a sound system that might interest you. He uses Yamaha Speakers that were meant for computer systems. Decent sound. The beautiful part is that you can power them with 12Volt batteries which will last long and are readily available. I haven't noticed how he keeps them waterproof. but Then again, I live in Southern California where it almost never rains.
I ride the San Diego Critical Mass and there's always this middle age gentleman who rides a recumbent with a sound system that might interest you. He uses Yamaha Speakers that were meant for computer systems. Decent sound. The beautiful part is that you can power them with 12Volt batteries which will last long and are readily available. I haven't noticed how he keeps them waterproof. but Then again, I live in Southern California where it almost never rains.
My inspiration for this is that I saw a guy hauling some sort of stereo hidden away in his homemade bike trailer (really just a wooden box setup on some wheels).
But I'm curious as to how the guy you speak of actually setup the speakers on his bike (although it might have been easier on a recumbent).
For a more retro apprach you could start with some of the fine components used by Eddy Merckx to take the edge off some of the more tedious stretches of Paris-Roubaix in 1970 and Henninger Turm in 1971.
To be precise, Eddy didn't carry all the pieces on his bike - just the turntable and his excellent collection of Deutsche Grammophon classical releases. The rest followed in one of these.
The best I've ever managed was a cassette boom box bungied to my rack, but I know a few people that pack decent sound systems. Here's a few from the fossil fool web site, pics below.
I know this sounds like a crazy idea, but picture yourself cruising to work listening to your favorite music on your own customized bike stereo! Assume you were to go ahead and build / set-up a stereo for your bike, how would you do it?
Here's how I would set it up:
- two small but powerful speakers attached to the handlebar close to the stem
- the speakers connected to a compact AM/FM/Cassette stereo unit tucked away inside my handlebar bag
EDIT - forgot to mention the rechargeable battery set up to power the whole thing
Optional equipment:
- 100% waterproof set-up covering the speakers, the wires, and of course, the CD/radio unit in the handlebar bag (or I could not waterproof it and use it only on my fairweather bike)
- subwoofer located under the saddle (for those times when you really want to feel the music)
THIS is strange!! I just finished installing a stereo using the EXACT setup you detail!!!! I used a pair of
amplified Panasonic speakers and old am/fm cassette deck in my handle bar bag for tunes while I ride.
The speakers are unique in that they can be used with or without the amplifier and they "butt" together
to form one unit which makes it easy to zip tie them to the handle bars. Total cost was about $20 not
counting the old cassette deck.
I like this set up because I can change the deck to a CD, Mp3, or I tunes player at will and take the
"headend" unit with me to keep it from being stolen. For rain gear on the speakers I use a really good
quality (read very thick flexable plastic) showercap kept stored in the bar bag. So far I've had zero
problems and enjoy it 110% as I ride.
Now picture this; your cruzin listening to that fine stereo cranked up; and the car behind you wants to turn onto a street before you get there, so it accelerates and cuts you off sending you sprawling on the pavement, you, your bike and your stereo are all damaged. Now if you hadn't been listening to that fine stereo you would have heard the car accelerating and knew some jerk was going to go for the turn in front of you. But at least remember this in case you do get that stereo: if you don't go to other people's funerals, they won't go to yours!!
Now picture this; your cruzin listening to that fine stereo cranked up; and the car behind you wants to turn onto a street before you get there, so it accelerates and cuts you off sending you sprawling on the pavement, you, your bike and your stereo are all damaged. Now if you hadn't been listening to that fine stereo you would have heard the car accelerating and knew some jerk was going to go for the turn in front of you.
Killjoy!! If it ain't your cup of tea so be it...but ya don't have to go and rain on other people's parades now, do ya?
IMO, an open-air stereo is a lot safer to listen to than headphones...
Rocky: Hey Bullwinkle, we're in real trouble now!
Bullwinkle: Oh good, Rocky! I hate that artificial kind!
Wouldn't it be easier to have an Ipod or cd/walkman and mount tiny speakers in your helmet? Never tried it, but seems more compact. Just don't place the speakers directly over your ears.
What ever happened to the Bone Phone? This was a headphone like device that hung on your shoulders; never seen or used one so not sure how it worked.
And as far as raining on other peoples parades...I honestly don't care if you want to ride a little unsafer then you should; kind of like using a helmet or not, I don't care either; but just in case you do care and don't realize the potential hazards of doing things like that, then I state the possiblity of what could happen...but it's up to you if you want to expose yourself to more hazards, some people like that kind of rush of adrenalin!!!
The place that does not exist, the time that has never been
Posts
127
The point of an external stereo over headphones is because one WILL hear automotive signals over the music. Or so I think, at any rate. Headphones soulds liek a deathtrap to me for that reason.
That looks nice! Waterproof speakers, resistant to direct sunlight, rechargeable amplifier (8-hour battery life)... I might just buy this and use it with either a MP3 player or CD player.
Now if you hadn't been listening to that fine stereo you would have heard the car accelerating and knew some jerk was going to go for the turn in front of you.
K2 Backpack with built in speakers on the shoulder straps + an amplifier. Uses high directional flat panel speakers so it sounds like you are listening to headphones to the person next to you. Pretty nifty if you like wearin a pack.
That Byco unit looks money. Very compact and light looking. If anyone gets one please post a review, I'm seriously considering it right now but would like to hear from someone with experience with the product.
K2 Backpack with built in speakers on the shoulder straps + an amplifier. Uses high directional flat panel speakers so it sounds like you are listening to headphones to the person next to you. Pretty nifty if you like wearin a pack.
There's another company making music-backpacks. They're more expensive though but have a better looking advertisement.
I've used the Byco unit on my recumbent for a couple of years. Other than a speaker failing, I've had no problems with the unit. I replaced the supplied speakers with Radio Shack CB speakers. I thought the supplied speakers sounded too tinny. I didn't trust the hold down bracket so I made an adapter to
hold the unit. I used thread locker on the bolts I used to hold the unit to the adapter and the thread locker ate the plastic! I ordered a replacement holder for the amp. I use a Sony AM/FM CD player with mine. With it turned up, it is plenty loud for me. The sound quality is OK but don't expect studio quality sound. My main complaint is I wish the battery compartment was a little bigger. It uses 4 AA batteries. It is a tight fit. I'm afraid I going to crack the battery compartment every time I replace the batteries. I've never measured battery life. I replace the batteries the same time when the ones in the CD player give up. Over all, I've been happy with the unit.
My new cell phone has an FM radio feature. I listen to it with a standard one-ear cell phone headset. Besides keeping one ear open for traffic this has the added benefit of allowing me to answer the phone by simple pressing the button on the in-line microphone, just press and release to answer, not press to talk.
Of course it's not nearly as much fun as having some nice speakers mounted on the rack.
View Profile
View Forum Posts
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Cro_Moly_Body
Visit Homepage
2001 Aegis Aro Svelte
OCP Club Member
