My bike is a 1988, FLHTC. I ride it a lot. It still has the original HD stereo in it. That stereo is OK, quirky as heck but OK. Sometimes all the controls just freeze and what ever volume, channel, setting your own is what your stuck with till the ignition switch gets reset. The sound is OK, not fantastic but it does the job OK.

I haven't seen any replacement stereos that allow for the handlebar controls to be used on a bike that old. I have considered just getting a car or marine stereo and putting it in there. I suspect that the thing to do would be just get some decent 4 inch speakers for the fairing.

Has anyone done this? Will a standard size marine stereo fit in the hole?

Personally, I'm pretty old school so the handlebar controls isn't something I would miss all that much. The last tourer I had with a radio was a 1983 Gold Wing Interstate with a car stereo/cassette player. I think the stereo was a 40watt and worked just fine. It had a weather cover on it to keep the rain out and it worked most of the time.

 

I have the same stereo. The display don't work, the cassette don't work, but other than that, it works fine. I'd like to have a better one, but it's not worth the money or trouble to me. I don't use it a lot, it's mostly just noise. But if I had that problem you have, I'd want a change to, that would suck.

 

Biketronics makes modules that enable bar controls for some units, dunno about your year.

 

I had any 89 bar controls didn't work or it was to damn expensive. I just bought a sony from best buy and it fit. Even with the weather cover on it replaced the front speaker and enjoyed all the way into a ditch lol never had problems I could think of

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My dresser is a '95 and should be similar, I think the fairing is the same anyhow.. I've got a JVC(I think) in mine now. The criteria for me was simple, relatively cheap, and it had to have Sirius, Bluetooth and MP3 input on the face. Honestly, I never really use it because I prefer the earbuds on the highway(cuts down on wind noise).. Although, it does work, fit right in the hole with no problems, you will have to pull the front of the fairing off to change it and the speakers anyhow.. Your speaker choices are pretty limited, make sure you go for good ones to make the most of it though.. I don't run a cover, it really never gets wet up there, even in the heavy rain unless its parked in the right position..

 

I did it on the 91 flhtc last summer. It is my belief that Sony is the only aftermarket company that has controls that can be linked into the controls but not bikes that are as old as ours. That said, yes, any standard DIN-size (normal) will fit. On mine, the rubber surround that goes around the current unit was a little looser on the new one that it was on the original. That concerned me but seriously, we have a fairing, shield and I don't make it a priority to be out riding in a downpour so I let it be. It's a PITA. The stock radio is WELL secured with screws in the fairing and the new one you put in will require some very slight mod or an equal amount of force to get the sleeve installed. When I had the fairing pulled off, I put a hidden wired antenna up in there. Works really well.

 

The Biketronics units are from like, 1996 and up. That's as old as they go. I found a old "new in box" HD unit for switching over to a new radio but, I'm suspicious. I think it will be asking for trouble. I read where some folks tried this on the mid to late 1980s bikes and it didn't work. I'd really rather just pop a marine radio and speakers in the fairing and ride. I found a marine radio with two waterproof 4" inch speakers on ebay. The speakers have covers on them that may not work on the HD fairing. Might need some modification, which is OK. Of the radios I found the wattage is 50 or 60 watts. I had a 40watt on my old goldwing and it worked fine. I'd like to have am/fm and SDcard/MP3. They all had a CD player but I'm sure my bike vibrates too much for that.

 

It is a very tight fit for the speakers. What I remember is there a metal bar in the way they might work. I just picked up a set of Walmart small speaker and it did the trick. I'll see if I have a pic of my set up Sent from my iPhone using two left handed thumbs



Here a best pic I could find sorry but like I said I was able to use the rubber and the cover except in this pic it got ripped off. Use the bracket that come either radio might have to bend the tabs out a little bit slide it in there a cross bar that the old one mounted too were you mount the new one and that all I can remember being bolted down. If your slightly mechanically inclined it easy to figure out.

 

When I last had my fairing front off it looked like the speakers come out of the front. I can have that fairing front off in a few minutes. But, I'm not pulling it till I have something new to put in there. Great prices on fleabay.

 

What I remember is they are through the back but it's been 2 yrs since I had the bike looking at another side the felt cover stays on Sent from my iPhone using two left handed thumbs