IPODS and Interstates?

[The Ox]

Ok my kids gave me an IPOD to get me out of the dark ages. I put every single album I own on it and did not even use a quarter of the thing. Good timing because the CD player in my interstate died over the winter. Has anyone ever installed a pod?  I have heard rumors of an aux input jack somewhere, anyone know where is or if it can work? FM modulator? Has anyone have any experience with any of  the wireless remotes for IPODs? Appreciate any advice so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel .

[MIVALKRIDER]

There's an aux jack under the right side cover that you can plug your Ipod into.

[Big Rig]

There is an AUX jack located in the wire harness under your seat. Radio shack and wally world sell Ipod male to male connectors for about $6. If you have a tank belt, you can plug the wire in and the run the wire under the tank bib into a pouch.

I made a small cut un the underside of the tank belt to pass the wire, then I can plug the ipod in and run for easy out of sight operation. Also I recommend getting the cable that charges your ipod.

Best of luck and happy listening.

[Big IV]

My friend Linda is an occasional riding buddy. She has a very nicely painted HD. She rides with her iPod in a fanny pack on her waist. Runs a set of full headphones instead of the ear buds, and drapes them around her neck (not her ear) in order to increase what she can hear around her.
Ofcourse, she has dropped three iPods out of her fanny pack going down the road after fiddling with the song selection and trying to skip through it.
So I'm not sure that is the best set up.

Actually, I'd suggest not doing that.
She was riding with her last iPod (#4) dangling beside of her. I was pretty sure I could lean out and grab it, but aslo fairly sure she'd panic when I did and probably kill us both. I let it dangle. We tried to communicate with her to tell her. She finally got the message that something was dangling from her bike and she needed to pull over, but we didn't know what a good hand signla for iPod was.

Yup. Don't do that.
Find a way to route it through the interstate system or something that will make your iPod happier.

[Bagger John - #3785]

Otterbox to the rescue:



http://www.otterbox.com/ipod-cases/ipod-nano-4th-gen-defender-case/

I bought a pair of these cases for mine and Blondie's 8330 Blackberrys. I took a look at the included holsters...some existing bar-mount cellphone holders we had...and came up with a way to adapt them for use as a cradle for mounting on our Valkyries. Otterbox's customer support rep 'Natasha' sent us a couple of extra holsters as "warranty items" (talk about customer service!) and I modded them to fit.

A 1/8"-1/8" 3-conductor stereo cable winds its way from under the right side cover...under the tank...out the neck cover and up the bars to the Blackberry.

Initial tests this week proved very gratifying.

While the Otter cases aren't waterproof, they are water "resistant" and will effectively protect your IPOD, Blackberry and whatnot if the unit is somehow dropped off the bike. Good product. Good company. 

[Dragon Rider]

I just got the radio shack extension cord and ran the wire from the AUX input under the right side cover to the trunk.
(I just close the trunk on the wire and it hasn't broken in 50k miles, I didn't want to put a hole in the trun)
then when I get my helmet out of the trunk, I just turn the ipod/mp3 player on, and off we go.

The disadvange is that I can't make tune selections while on the bike, but I don't have to worry about leaving the ipod exposed.

[SCain]

I bought a 4' extension and ran it from the right sidecover to the hole in the bottom of the trunk, drilled a hole in the trunk inner liner with a grommet behind the right taillight, I bought an Iphone case and velcroed (SP?) it to the right inner side, I just put the ipod on shuffle and ride. I also put power outlet in the trunk so when I need to charge it I have power. 

[PushStart]

My IS had a cigarette lighter installed in the faring (easy to do if yours doesn't) so I plug my ipod in to keep it charged.  The charger unit transmits a radio frequency that can be picked up by the FM radio.  Just velcro it to the head of the triple tree and you'll have access to it to change tunes.