NEw to List and needing help gearing up my bike 750 Midnight

Hello,

I'm Lisa and I live in PEI Canada with my husband. MHIs ride is a Venture Royale 1200, my ride is a 1983 750 Midnight Maxim that I bought last spring.I am looking to add some gear to it and need some help tracking stuff down.
I would like to add a fairing and hard bag kit, and there were some made for this bike but they are rare.
Also I want to gear up an MP3 player and speakers, and am looking at the bullet type...anyone use these or have any tips on how to pick them?
I also need a front right footpeg, and a tank bag that isn't huge but can clip off when needed.

Whenever I call looking for parts/accessories for this bike I get a lot of laughs, then a "nope, don't have anything"

Any tips at all would be appreciated,
I look forward to being a part of this group.
Thanks,
Lisa

 

Re: NEw to List and needing help gearing up my bike 750 Midn

Hi Lisa, welcome, someone will jump in & help with your needs, Here are some tank bags. Wiz.

 

I have seen the factory hard bags on Ebay, you're right they are rare.
Haven't seen a fairing in forever.
Bigfitz has posted a parts locator services several times on here.
That maybe your only hope for factory fairing and bags.

As for speakers and MP3 people here have done it.
Trick is to find an amp that pulls next to nothing as the XJ's have little to no spare amperage available.
You will also have to find ways to free up amps you are currently using for lighting.
You picked some harder upgrades.

 

Re: NEw to List and needing help gearing up my bike 750 Midn

There are small amps on ebay that do the trick to amplify your radio or mp3 player. Speaker kits are also available, but you get what you pay for. A 4" speaker will be about the smallest youcan go with to be able to hear them at highway speeds.
The Rumble Roads amplified system works well, but is spendy. I have one on my cruiser and it's loud enough to clearly hear it at 80 mph.
I designed another system myself using a small (size of a pack of cigs) 300w amp mounted under my fuel tank. I then purchased a pair of 5-1/4" speakers that a were used to mount in the rear deck of a car - the ones that are in plastic housings that surface mount angled forward. I mounted them facing toward me, angled upward on the back of my windshield. It actually sounds better and louder than the expensive system. It actually looks pretty good too.
Hard bags are another story. You will need to fabricate some kind of mount for themt to fit your bike however. There doesn't seem to be much on the market for mounts.
I had to make my own mounts for leather bags which do the trick. I used 5/16" round stock to make braces to hold the bags in place. I welded small pieces of tubing to bolt them to the frame rails and bent a short "shelf" on the bottom so the bags can't sag down and hit the mufflers when I have them fully loaded.
Hardbags are usually made of plastic or fiberglass, so using a flat plate inside will keep them from cracking under a heavy load and vibration works well.
Another idea is a tailbag that straps to the back seat and doubles as a backrest. I used a small duffle type bag on my last solo trip and it was so nice being able to have lower back support while traveling. Just a thought.

 

A 300 W amp would far exceed the capacity of the alternator from what I've read on this forum. If you use LED lighting for the tail light, use a more efficient headlight system, LED turn signals with the associated loss of self canceling 'blinkers' (this for you WIZ!), and associated required flasher change how much can you save? 75 maybe 100 watts? Where do you make up the rest?

It would appear the the best solution for tunes on one of these bikes that doesn't require going insane and spending tons of time and money would be stereo speakers inside the helmet.

Perfect system? I dunno butI would investigate a quality helmet with built in speaker room and a bluetooth stereo interface to your MP3. These are commercially available, should draw no current from the bike (minimal at worst 10-20 Watts maybe) and can incorporate other functions such as rider/passenger intercom, bike to bike communications, etc.

I prefer full face helmets that are tightly sealed against air leaks so I guess I've never understood the value of speakers on the fairing.

WAMAXIM

 

Re: NEw to List and needing help gearing up my bike 750 Midn

wamaxim,
I will have to strongly disagree with you about the power the amp takes. I have a volt meter on my bike and when I turn the amp on, the needle just twitches and no more. It doesn't run my battery down, even with they engine not running.
I did my research before using these kind of amps (I have several) and they take very little juice to operate. I've even used as big as 500w amp, but they were a bit of over kill, so I downsized to the 300 watt version. You can go with as little as a 70w amp to hear the speakers at highway speeds, but more power is always good.
The Rumble Roads amplified speakers seem to draw more juice than my 300 watt amp, so there is some variation in the systems. All I do know is the 300 watt amp with 5-1/4" speakers sounds just as good as any Goldwing or Harley fairing speaker setup that's out there. My friends have commented on how good my system sounds and they can even hear it riding their bikes along side me on the road.
Speaker quality is also a factor when making your own sound system. Cheap speakers are just that, cheap sounding. You need to get good quality speakers (and pay more) if you want a better (fuller) sound.
You will never get alot of base out of a small speaker, so don't expect to rattle any windows. But you can get good clear sounds out of 4-5" speakers with the right housing and power. Some amps come with a bass boost, which makes a big difference also. You may need to experiment to get a good sounding system that works to your liking.
I may even add a bass speaker in one of my saddlebags to see if I can get that here-me-coming bass sound that I hear so often. Of course that will take more power, and I may run into my bikes charging limits then. I just like to tinker with sound I guess. PD

 

Wow, thank you for all the suggestions, I guess I have a lot to look into. As for right now, I have soft saddle bags, and they work ok, but I am hoping at some point in the future to have a set of hard bags on it. I like the Rifle fairing, but wish they offered it in a larger width to cover the hands a bit.

I only wear a full faced helmet because I had an accident last year and went down hard onto my face and right side, after seeing the face shield, I'll never wear another helmet that doesn't cover everything! We are also looking at getting an intercom system for the tour bike but want to have bike to bike communication as well, so it may be an option to have a helmet with speakers.

I know nothing about amps, or the power in the bike, so I'll let the hubby read the posts and let him figure it all out .

thanks again

 

Re: NEw to List and needing help gearing up my bike 750 Midn

If your looking at intercoms, there are commercialy available seetups that will do what you want.
They will go bike to bike.
lower the volume of your music automatically when you speak.
Play whatever you plug into them.
Draw low amps as they are designed for this application.