Pacifico Sound-Pak
Pacifico Sound-Pak
EVALUATION
Motorcycles and music are just magic. Running Down the Road, Born To Be Wild, Leader of the Pack, The Motorcycle Song, Motorcycle Mama, even I Don’t Want a Pickle, all are motorcycle songs. Bikes just fit into songs.
But songs don’t just fit into them. At least not without some help. That’s what Pacifico’s Sound-Pak provides, a way to put music on wheels, two wheels. Radio housings have been available for large fairings, and they do an effective job of carrying a radio and speakers. But if you don’t want to ride behind a full fairing, or only want a fairing on your bike occasionally, those radio housings may not be the answer.
Pacifico’s Sound-Pak is a lightweight plastic housing that fits on a motorcycle’s handlebars with or without a fairing. The two-piece housing fastens with a lock to a plate, so it can be easily removed from the motorcycle by turning a key and unplugging an electric connection. That flat plate is connected to the handlebars with a pair of levers and clamps much like the mounting systems Tound on windshields and clear fairings. Enclosed in the radio carrier are a pair of high quality, waterproof speakers and an internal antenna. Any standard size radio or tape player can fit into the Sound-Pak.
Mounting the Sound-Pak on a motorcycle initially takes maybe half an hour, maybe less. Finding a hot line in the headlight shell to tie in the electrical connection is the most time consuming part of mounting the Sound Pak. On the Honda Nighthawk 650 we couldn’t find a hot line with the ignition off, which means the headlight has to be on whenever the radio is on. Alternatively, a wire could be run to the battery or an auxiliary terminal so the radio could be used without the engine running or the headlight and taillight on.
Once the carrier is installed, the housing can be removed and installed in less than a minute. This is handy when the motorcycle must be parked outside in the rain, because there isn’t any cover for the radio. When the radio in our Sound-Pak was exposed to a rainy ride, it quit working until it dried out. It would be advisable to carry some kind of cover along.
Our test Sound-Pak was provided by Pacifico with a good quality radio-tape deck installed. Using just the internal antenna, reception on AM and AM was comparable to a car radio of average quality. Listening to the radio when the motorcycle was being ridden worked surprisingly well. Even without a fairing it’s possible to hear the radio up to normal freeway speeds, mostly because it’s mounted so close to the rider’s head. In this way, it’s no worse than the sound from a radio in a full fairing. So yes, it is possible to listen to music on a motorcycle.
Whether you want to is your decision. Purists may scoff, but purists always find something to scoff at. They don’t need a radio. For others, it is possible to mix motorcycling and music, to hear Running down the Road, when you are running down the road.
Pacifico’s Sound-Pak is available through Pacifico dealers for $94.95, or directly through Pacifico, 1625 SE Hogan Road, Gresham, Ore. 97030 for $94.95 plus $3.95 shipping and handling. Available only in black.
