They're just following along where the auto mfgs. are going..the electronic bells & whistles seem to be what's selling cars, not improvements to the actual car. It will be interesting to see how the sound is on the RoadKing w/o speakers right in front of you in a fairing. spyder
Yup, I agree, it
seems everyone is spending a lot more time and money on electronic gadgets than on real improvements. However, in the automotive world they are also spending vast amounts of R&D money on things like fuel economy, safety, and performance. The electronic gadgets pull in the younger generation, so that's where the advertising gets directed. But the actual vehicles are also much better in terms of real world performance, economy, safety, and quality/reliability. Harley can't say any of that.
As for sound quality on a motorcycle, fairing or not, I think a good pair of helmet speakers or even a top end set of ear buds would provide a much better aural experience than anything Harley hangs on their bikes. Even a car has lousy sound when you ride down the road with all the windows open; what makes anyone think it will be better on a motorcycle? Take your typical home stereo system that sounds fantastic in the family room, move all the stuff out into a big open field next to a highway, and see how fantastic it sounds in that environment. Same thing applies to hanging speakers on a motorcycle; all the speakers and amps in the world can't fix lousy acoustics and environment. And I personally hate the attempts by some to overcome the poor sound quality by adding more speakers driven to higher and higher sound levels. I consider biker's who ride around blaring their idea of music over a city block sized area to be just as big a PITA as those who ride around with open exhausts revving their engines to get attention, or those lovely kids with the $500 cars with $5000 worth of electronics, amps, and huge woofers thumping and buzzing as they slowly cruise through neighborhoods.
JMHO - Jerry