Harley Davidson Soundstream SI Head Unit (Customer Review)

Junior here with Lifestyle Cycles, and I'm here with one of our good customers, Jesse. Today, we recently put one of the Soundstream SI stereos in his 2016 Road Glide, and you know what? He came back to us today and said, "I am amazed."

So, I want you to hear it right from Jesse. Jesse, what do you think of the stereo overall?

Jesse: "It's an awesome radio. I went from the GTS stock radio, um, to the SI, and there's a day and night difference. I do have upgraded speakers now; I have the Hertz 6.5 NEOS. I was never ever, ever able to hear them on the freeway with my GTS. With this, with the shield down, you know, I wear a full modular helmet, I could hear everything. I could hear it. So, I can only imagine how it's going to sound once I get the amplifier hooked up here soon after a shop."

So, now you came here today to buy the amplifier too?

Jesse: "I did. So, you're hooked?"

Yeah, I'm ready to go, man. I'm ready to go. I'm excited. I mean, if it sounds that great just with this alone, I can only imagine how it's going to sound with the amplifier. And I'm about music. I’ve got, you know, classic cars, and it’s all about my music: clarity, just clean and simple.

So, Jesse, what kind of music do you listen to? Do you rock out down the freeway listening to ACDC? Are you a country guy? What do you like?

Jesse: "It depends on the mood. I'm more of an old-school guy, so old-time rock, you know, the oldies. I could do, I'm Mexican, I do Mexican music. I get into Motley Crue; I do that. I’m all over the place. It just all depends on my mood that day, what I want to listen to."

So, how does this stereo do, considering you just picked a wide variety of music? From Hispanic music to Motley Crue, is there anything that it doesn't do well, or does it handle all these genres fantastically?

Jesse: "It does everything fantastic. I have no complaints. I love it, man. I love it."

So, Jesse, what are the other features that you like that you never had before?

Jesse: "The GPS is awesome. On my old one, I used to get lost because it wasn't updated, and I ended up in different weird places. With this one, it is very accurate. I've used it in the past two weeks, and it gets me right to my destination without hiccups. It even alerts me about warnings and hazards on the freeway. A little light turns on, indicating something’s coming up, and that's really cool about this stereo. That’s what I enjoy the most—the GPS, because I use it a lot."

Have you also been using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay?

Jesse: "I do use Apple CarPlay. It’s awesome too. I like the fact that it links right up to my phone. I just put the address on my phone for the GPS, and boom, it goes right to the stereo. I just hit ‘Go’ and I’m on my way. It’s that simple."

Have you had any of your buddies send you a text with an address yet? You just touch it on your phone, and boom, it’s on your bike, and you can go right to find them?

Jesse: "It’s technology at its best, man. I’m very old-school, and this is something that I’m just excited about. It’s pretty cool, man. I enjoy it. I’ve got more friends coming in here soon to buy the same radio because they saw mine. I told them, ‘You guys have got to come here to Lifestyle Cycles, man. They have good prices, good people. Everyone here has been awesome. From the day I called you two weeks ago, an hour later, you had my radio ready to be installed, and I appreciate you, Junior.’"

I appreciate you doing that for me. You didn’t have to, but you said, ‘Hey, get in here within an hour, and I got you.’ I’m an hour away, and I was here in no time. Twenty minutes later, I was in and going home with a big smile on my face, hearing my music. So, that was a good day.

Now, you also told me a few minutes ago that you did something that a lot of people are afraid to do. You said that you put your own rear-cutting speakers into your saddle bags.

Jesse: "I did. It’s nerve-wracking because I do have a custom paint job on my bike. I had the support of my son and his big hands. It’s pretty self-explanatory, pretty simple, but not many people would do that. I wanted to do it just to say I did it, you know? It wasn’t hard, just kind of scary because you’re cutting your saddle bags. But once you did it, once you step back from doing something like that, it’s very gratifying. You just say, ‘I did that.’ I couldn’t high-five my son enough times just because he was my support. It was awesome. I’m ready for the next step."

It’s a great feeling when you do something like that yourself. You can stand back when you’re done. For me, I stand back and smoke a cigar. It’s just a great feeling.

Jesse: "It is. It’s a big accomplishment, man. A lot of people would just have it done for them. It’s easier to take it somewhere and have somebody do it for you. But it’s another thing to do it yourself. You take that much more pride in it. I just did it one inch at a time, took my time, no rush, had some music, and just went to town on it, man."

Okay, so if you could say one thing to Harley owners who still have that crummy stock Harley-Davidson sound system or an aftermarket car stereo that’s also a piece of junk, what would you say now that you've bought one and had it installed?

Jesse: "You guys have got to come in here and buy this stereo system or the stereo unit. It’s good stuff, man. It has a 15 or 13 band EQ, so it wakes up all your highs and lows. It brings everything up. It’s a day and night difference for me. I can ride, like I said, with my shield down, and I can still hear the music. It’s that much of a difference going from the GTS OEM to the Soundstream SI. I love it. I was coming in here just bobbing my head on the freeway, and I could still hear it going 80 miles per hour. That’s what this radio will do for you. It’s awesome."

Okay, so now you have a pretty cool bike. Tell everybody about your bike because this is a bike that everybody wants to own.

Jesse: "I bought my bike used, actually. I almost bought a bike here from you guys, but you snooze, you lose. It was gone that quick. I even had a video of me on the bike, and I was able to take it for a test ride. I came back a week later, and it was gone. So, that kind of made me search for a different bike. I ended up purchasing the one I have now from a gentleman out of Corona. It’s a 2016 Road Glide Special with only 5,000 original miles. It was still brand new. I got it for a really good price—cash money, handed it over, took it home. In 2016, they didn’t have the black; it was all chrome. So, I chrome-deleted everything. It was a transformation that I did—a lot of labor of love, but I did it with my own hands, with the support of my son and my brother-in-laws. We all contributed, and that’s how I got the bike. You’ll see it in a bit; it was originally red. I was in a little accident, and I’m still kind of recovering from my injuries on my feet. At that time, I was able to repaint the bike and make it personal to me. It’s a custom one-off paint job now. It’s one of a kind—stock paint, stock color, but the graphics make it different. That’s what makes it one-off, and I love that."

Your bike is gorgeous. Your bike is absolutely every man’s dream.

Jesse: "You know, it’s every man’s money pit too. But you know what? I have no other bad habits, so why not put it into something that I enjoy doing? That’s my therapy right there. Some people put money into therapy because they’re cuckoo, whatever. That’s fine. This is my therapy—my bike, my motorcycle, and I love it. If I have a bad day at work, I jump on my bike, go somewhere, and just enjoy the ride. I forget about work. You clear your mind. Everything else is gone. You just see it disappear into your mirror, and then you look forward and you go."

Now, how did you find Lifestyle Cycles?

Jesse: "I’ve been coming here for years, actually, buying little stuff here and there and just kind of looking at different bikes. One day, one of these days. I’ve bought plenty of accessories here, but what I love about this shop is it’s a one-stop shop. You can come here, buy a motorcycle, get a full audio system installed by our Mechanics.