Need help disassembling Cycle sounds and radio


Mohladissenter

Grasshopper
Any diagrams of exploded cycle sounds clam shells and stereo arrangements? I can't seem to crack mine. Took the speakers out and all bolts I could see last night, trying to access the Sony Xr25 deck that isn't powering up, to no avail. The wiring all checks out (tested with voltmeter) and I can see all the fuses are good... save for one 3Amp fuse that is "pinched" outside of the cycle sounds shell behind the deck (I can see the wires and the in-line fuse in the gap between the windshield mount and the cycle sounds shell. I assume it shouldn't be "isolated" for any reason? Not sure why it's out there but I certainly can't get at it without removing the whole enclosure and radio.

Anyhow I cant get the dang radio to budge and I need to inspect that fuse to see if that is the sticking point. Not sure what is meant by "Remove the radio knobs, then the nuts from the shafts.". Perhaps I'm missing something. Is this on the radio unit itself? Like behind the knobs?

This is on a 81 GL1100 BTW. Thanks for your help!
 

roncar

Moderator
Assuming you have a Windjammer fairing, (there was a cycle sound that fit in the hondaline fairings,) there are several styles but the ones I've seen use the top 4 windshield bolts (or clips) to hold the whole assembly in the fairing. The nuts have to be accessed thru the speaker holes.

Yes the nuts from the shafts reference is on the radio, behind the knobs.
 

Mohladissenter

Grasshopper
Thanks roncar. Yes, it is a Windjammer. I'll try to hunt those windscreen bolts down. As for the radio nobs, do they just pop off by pulling them straight back?
 

Mohladissenter

Grasshopper
Thanks again. Got it all out and ran through it again with the voltmeter. Everything checks electrically EXCEPT the Sony deck keeps blowing the first 3A fuse on the red wire. Bah! Any electricians on this forum?
 

Scott-E

Vetter Aficionado
Country flag
Thanks again. Got it all out and ran through it again with the voltmeter. Everything checks electrically EXCEPT the Sony deck keeps blowing the first 3A fuse on the red wire. Bah! Any electricians on this forum?
That Sony unit would cost more to fix than a new replacement even if you could find someone to work on it. The capacitors used in those units start to short out and blow fuses. At one time I repaired stuff like that. The way we used to fix them was to bypass the fuse and connect power to the unit while watching for the bad capacitor to blow and puff out a stream of smoke. Today this new stuff is non-repairable and you can't get older parts for older electronics as they quit making that stuff. New electronics are built by robots due to the size of the components and that's the same reason you can't buy new replacement components. What you could do is buy a new radio to go in your enclosure. It would be fairly easy to mount a new DIN type radio in it. Once you figure out how to fit the DIN frame in the enclosure the radio is designed to slide into that DIN frame and lock in place. You also get a couple of keys or tools that make it easy to unlock the radio and slide it back out so you'll never need to take the Cycle Sound case apart again because any DIN radio will slide into that DIN frame and lock in place. If your worried about cost Wal-Mart has a DIN radio that costs just $15. It does not have any sort of CD or cassette player but you don't want or need that anyway. It has USB and SD card slots and a 3.5 jack for plugging in MP3 and other players with 3.5 headphone jacks.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/XO-Vision...eiver-with-USB-Port-and-SD-Card-Slot/19854261

Below is a picture of a DIN radio frame.
dincage.jpg
 

Mohladissenter

Grasshopper
Thanks Scott. Yeah, I kinda figured it was something like that and you are certainly right it would not be worth it to pay a tech to dig into that old Sony. I am going to buy another used shaft style radio with a cassette player (Yes, I still love my cassettes!) and replace the utterly destroyed OEM speakers with some Polks (just got delivered today). Hopefully I'll have better luck with a new deck... and if I get one with enough output maybe i wont have to run a pre-amp.
 

Scott-E

Vetter Aficionado
Country flag
Thanks Scott. Yeah, I kinda figured it was something like that and you are certainly right it would not be worth it to pay a tech to dig into that old Sony. I am going to buy another used shaft style radio with a cassette player (Yes, I still love my cassettes!) and replace the utterly destroyed OEM speakers with some Polks (just got delivered today). Hopefully I'll have better luck with a new deck... and if I get one with enough output maybe i wont have to run a pre-amp.
I have an XM Satellite Radio mounted on my Windjammer and enjoy the "Classic Rewind" channel. They play music from the cassette era (late 70's and the 80's).
http://www.siriusxm.com/classicrewind
You get the music you listened to on cassette without tape hiss or needing to haul around those old cassettes. You also never need to worry about your radio "eating a tape".
I can understand wanting a classic radio mounted in that classic cycle sound enclosure but those radios are getting really old as are the components within them. Eventually you are going to be unable to find a working unit and will be forced to buy a modern unit anyway.

I went a completely different way providing audio for my Bike. Satellite Radios use a shoe that's installed in the vehicle so the radio can be easily removed from the shoe and the satellite radio moved to another vehicle or connected to a home audio system and plugged into another shoe. The shoes don't cost very much. They can also stand being rained on without damage. If I get caught in the rain I keep a few zip lock sandwich bags in the fairing and just put one over the radio. It still functions perfectly as the bags are clear and the buttons work just fine when pushing them with the bag pulled over it. If it's still raining when I get off the bike I keep the radio in the plastic bag and zip it up keeping the radio perfectly dry. It's also nice never hearing commercials or driving out of a radio stations range and trying to find another station.
S5030039.jpg
 
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