R1200RT Radio prep options

[jver1200rt]

Good morning everybody, I have just bought my very first BMW this past Wednsday (A 2006 r1200rt) and am have great time riding it! Truely one of my best choices in life! My bike came with the "radio prep" package and was wondering what is available to me as far as an "aftermarket radio setup" goes. I have heard from different "threads" of folks using marine head units and wired remotes however I have heard of no details as to adapters from the factory harness to the aftermarket head unit. Could somebody please help me?

Thank you!

John

[ricoshay]

Below is info I copied from an old forum thread on another list I believe. About 2 years ago. I helped my buddy install an aftermarket radio in his 06-RT and wire it to the existing radio prep package. Though we had an adapter to connect the OEM wiring to his replacement radio, because of the tight fit, we ended up cutting out the OEM connector and soldering the wires directly to the aftermarket harnass provided with the radio.

Hope this helps.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
R1200RT RADIO Wiring

BR = Brown

RT = Red

BL = Blue

Ge = Yellow

Bike Radio Wire Plug (plug has numbers on the face of it)

Red/Blue (+) Key #9

Brown = Ground Bike #15

Blue/Red = Right Speaker (+) #2

Blue = Right Speaker (-) #11

Yellow/Red = Left Speaker (+) #1

Yellow/Brown = Left Speaker (-) #8

Red/Blue = Fan (+) #16



Required

American International Wiring Harness for BMW 92-01-BWH-470 at Best Buy $18.00

American International Antenna Adapter BMW 02 and up EU-06 at Best Buy $15.00



Wire Plug to Radio

Cut the four small tabs off of new plug, will allow to slide into bike harness

Cut off bike harness part that has nothing to do with new plug, makes it a lot easer to get into radio box.

Figure out correct pins/wires (plug is #) from bike to new plug, push out the pins on new plug that are not being used, makes a neater job and less interference.

Put pins (Radio Shack) on ends of the new plug that fit into radio plug and then put heat shrink tubing around them.

If the radio has a wire for a Power Antenna, use that one for the Fan it will come on and go off with radio.

Radio may require a (+) wire for memory, run a wire from battery in with factory wire through rubber into box.

RADIO

I used a Marine JBL MR4B with wired remote. About $200.

Used a 2 1/8 hole saw and drilled a hole ware the factory buttons goes and ran wire to radio box.

Had to put a notch in radio box at the top outer edge under cover to get radio remote wire out of box ware I could plug them together (they just make it).

Most any DIN radio will fit.

I got it at BoatFix.com

[jver1200rt]

Thanks for the helpful info, I'll definately look into this method. I appreciate the time you took to give me this detailed of information. By the way how did the system sound upon completion?

[ricoshay]

By the way how did the system sound upon completion?

Sounded great, the stock BMW speakers are quite good. He was happy with it.

Some qualifiers:

Orienting the radio so he could access the faceplate buttons resulted in blocking access to the CD slot. You have two choices mounting the radio. :laugh

External speakers have serious limitations as speed increases. Mine are useless to me above 40 mph, but my buddy was happy with them most of the time. I have the stock BMW radio on my 05-R12RT. I have mine tied into an Autocom and helmet speakers. I have the Autocom so I can mix radar detector and CB radio signals as well. You can skip it and just bring out leads for helmet speakers. You have to convert the 4-wire to a 3-wire lead for most helmet speakers.

I'd also recommend finding a newer radio with a marine (waterproof) remote that also has a faceplate jack for plugging in an MP3 player or other source like a satellite radio. I suspect they are readily available that way by now.

[jver1200rt]

Thanks Ricoshay I found this to be very helpful, I too was also concerned about the "accessabilty" concern in regards to the cd slot. Oh well I don't really use cd's anymore anyhow, but it is nice to know its there just in caseI'm actually going to look into utilizing a Blue tooth transmitter to transmit from the radio to a blue tooth equipt helmet when I'm at highway speeds JABRA makes this transmitter and it works great the best part is you can buy one at Staples, I tried serching for the radio you pointed out but I guess they stopped making it, but have found a sony unit and wired controller to fill the bill. So I'll start working on this then and I'll provide an update when I'm finished and satisfied with the installation, hopefully anybody else looking to do this type of installaion will have an easier time, and a clearer perspective as to what is involved. For some strange reason I just havn't (until this point ) found much info on this , almost like it's a dirty little secret no one want to talk about. Well once again "thank you" for this useful info and I hope somewhere down the road I can return the favor.