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Tsukayu GPS Fairing

13K views 49 replies 14 participants last post by  Mighty Ferengi 
#1 ·
When I was looking into a batwing fairing I felt like there wasn't an detailed enough review of the Tsukayu GPS Fairing, and what one should think about when installing. So here is a review, good and the bad.


When I was google searching I saw complaints about the speakers, and that it doesn't have enough power (purchased without the optional amp). So I opted to get the 4 channel amp, they pre-wired it bridged. I will say, this thing is LOUD...


Issues:
1) One speaker is damaged, or defective, it crackles even at low volume
2) Both speaker covers had at one nub broken from over tightening (I only noticed this because of my speaker test I will explain further down)
3) Music doesn't seem to play from my phone via USB (this might be my issue)
4) I get NO signal with the radio antenna


So, it was delivered yesterday pre-assembled without the flat windshield installed. I opened everything and installed indicator lights. I picked the location and went ahead and drilled through the fiberglass. I started with a small drill bit and stepped it up until the indicators just fit (I had to use force to push it into place). I already tapped off of the indicator wires in the headlight bucket. I wanted to keep the batwing removeable, so I put in a waterproof connector between the fairing and the headlight bucket. I also covered the wires with a plastic sleeve.


Indicators (ordered 2 of these):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D84PLXQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Waterproof connectors:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FP1HXJ4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



This is how it looks wired up:



Here is how it looks inside, wired up with the amp:




Here is the initial fitting on the bike. Sorry I did not include how I setup the brackets:




I ordered the 10" smoked windshield. I am 6'2", sitting on the factory seat I am looking though the windshield. I have a corbin seat, that sits me considerably higher, so this will be perfect with that seat. I will also get a 5" or 8" to use with the factory seat.






While I am testing, I have the tank off, and borrowed a so-so car battery from a local mechanic to use so I don't damage my bikes battery.


Here is a clip of how you can hear the speaker damage. I noticed it right away. I swapped the speakers left to right and the sound carried with the speaker, so it is clearly the speaker and not the wiring. I hope the clip doesn't get taken down from youtube, but here it is:




EDIT: NOT SAFE FOR WORK (LANGUAGE)



I have sent a message to the vendor with my issues, hopefully they will resolve them.


I am happy with the batwing fairing, even if they do not resolve it. Some day in the future I will upgrade the speakers.
 
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#2 ·
UPDATE: I contacted the US based (Florida) representative. I passed along my issues, he is going to pass this along to the China team and have them replace the speaker, speaker covers, and see if there is a solution to the bad radio reception.
 
#5 ·
So, an update:

1) I sent an email to Tsukayu and they are sending 1 replacement speaker.
2) Regular radio signal is garbage, I got an aftermarket antenna and it worked only while holding it (I would need a powered antenna I think)
3) I got Polk Audio MM692 (6x9) Marine speakers and installed them

Polk Audio Speakers Installed:


I setup the gain and crossovers for maximum sound without damage. I have to say I am very impressed with my setup. I gave up on radio, but I'm not sure I need it. I have Pandora, SiriusXM Radio, and a 64GB SD card with all my songs. I also have Waze, Google Maps to use when online (tethered to my phone), and have the Tsukayu suggested offline GPS Maps on order (SD card).

I had to get longer bolts and used a stack of washers to lower my light bar about 3/4", just enough for the lights to clear the batwing cover.

So hear it sits all back together and wired up to the battery (I've been using a car battery for setting everything up):
Please excuse the mess on my shelf





I plan to get some black racing stripes down the center of the front/rear fenders and gas tank. I like the contrast of black covers and the black batwing. I think having it all silver would be a bit boring.

My future plans, Black Gel coat Tsukayu Saddle Bags. But I have spent enough this year, and I already have leather (leather like) bags.
 
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#6 ·
Added wind deflectors that I picked up on facebook... I had to use a combination of 2 Cobra extender brackets to get it to work. I also put on 2 layers of wax on the batwing fairing.






I can’t wait to actually ride it and see how she is. I will likely pick up 2 smaller windshields before spring, a small 4-5 inch one and a 7-8 inch one.


I just assume I will need the wind deflectors, since I haven't been able to ride the bike yet... Winter sigh...
 
#7 ·
Nice job..
Yes, the wind deflectors are a big help for wind from below the fairing.
You might look into using sign-vinyl (wrap material) for your stripes. It's easy to apply, and you can move them around to get them straight. They last for years (10+) unless out in the weather 24/7. Then all you would have to paint is the fairing.
 
#8 ·
Thanks.

That's what I plan to do, vinyl racing strips (Black) down the center of the fenders and gas tank (I may put a tank bib on over the tank, and let the vinyl protect the paint). I plan on leaving the fairing black. I personally like that look, especially with black saddle bags (I have leather like, and when I get hard Tsukayu bags I plan on getting black as well).
 
#10 ·
How do you like the GPS fairing? I haven’t had a chance to ride with it yet.

What size windshield did you get?
 
#18 ·
I thought about running an antenna to the back of the bike, making sure it was properly grounded. Then I realized, I was only doing it for the sake of doing it... I haven’t turned on regular radio in any vehicle I own for years. I got smart and gave up.
 
#15 ·
I tried 2 antennas and neither worked. I had XM radio for awhile but cancelled that and use a flash drive into my USB or an ipod nano plugged into the AUX port both on the head unit. I prolly have 10-12 hrs of music going that route.
 
#17 ·
I also gave up on the antenna... I have a lifetime account with SiriusXM which includes streaming, so I will be taking advantage of the wifi tethering. But I also loaded all my songs on a 64 Gb mini flash drive. I think I am all set now for days of tunes!
 
#23 ·
So, being ignorant about all this techno babble- I bought a new 2010 Malibu w/ XM, and added a home Onyx receiver that I also have a dock on my VTX to take it with me when riding. I bought a 2015 Malibu that was a fleet lease vehicle, so that would have been my FIRST transfer? And If I decide in a year or so to get another vehicle, that WILL BE my 2nd transfer? I still use the home unit several times a week and will do so indefinitely. What am I looking at with my setups? Recommendations?
 
#24 ·
The weather hit 59° today, so I took the bike off of the Redline stand and did a shake down run. I have to say with my longride shield 8” (measured from bolt hole so about 7” above the fairing) and the ultimate bigboy seats and the lower fairing deflectors the ride is smooth all the way up to 85 mph. Today was an unusually windy day too. I just added the seat, it is REAL nice.

The bad news... About 5 minutes into my ride one side for the bridged amp stopped working. I took it back home, opened the fairing and tested by swapping inputs, outputs, and everything follows 2 of the 4 (it is bridged) channels.

But even at 85, I could hear the music clearly with my half helmet and earplugs with one speaker.

Tsukayu has been very resposive, but as I did with the speakers, I may go with an better 2 channel amp. But either way I will warranty the amp, and install it for now.



 
#25 ·
I just picked up my batwing front cover from a wrap shop. They did 2 colors Silver (with heavy flake) and Black, they also put a clear bra over the wrap. I’m loving it!



 
#26 ·
I like it... very nice.... just got my batwing a new model of radios in 2020....no buttons nor slots on the face of the radio...

so they give u two usb cords coming out of the batwing.... and i guess u have to do the offline maps from google on the radio hmmm but hey it sounds great....

I think i wanna get the lowers you have for i am 6'5" and i believe i will get that draft from below... also i have a light bar i will install... and i see you said ya have to use some washers to install it from hitting the batwing?????? do explain if you will....

oh i also installed a lil trash amp... mitzu 500W ( about 30 watts) to the radio...and it is plenty of load.... i bought the new Alpine 6x9 R they are not marine though.. so i have two sets of speakers to add to them... the actual speaks that came with it... are pretty good... seems to be the same u have though... well in
238671
case they blow i have a pair on hand...

all in all i cant wait to put her on the road to see how she holds up....
 
#27 ·
I like it... very nice.... just got my batwing a new model of radios in 2020....no buttons nor slots on the face of the radio...

so they give u two usb cords coming out of the batwing.... and i guess u have to do the offline maps from google on the radio hmmm but hey it sounds great....

I think i wanna get the lowers you have for i am 6'5" and i believe i will get that draft from below... also i have a light bar i will install... and i see you said ya have to use some washers to install it from hitting the batwing?????? do explain if you will....

oh i also installed a lil trash amp... mitzu 500W ( about 30 watts) to the radio...and it is plenty of load.... i bought the new Alpine 6x9 R they are not marine though.. so i have two sets of speakers to add to them... the actual speaks that came with it... are pretty good... seems to be the same u have though... well in case they blow i have a pair on hand...

all in all i cant wait to put her on the road to see how she holds up....
Awesome. Are you sure there aren't mini flash drive slots on the back of the unit?

I had to play with the mounting of my light bar, because the back of the light housing would make contact with the batwing. This would cause the lights to be pointed too low. I moved the lights out with a combination of two Cobra Light bar extender brackets. Here are some pictures:

Click the images for full size

The back of the light has very little space between it and the batwing front shell:


Here are you can see the two extenders:


This doesn't bother me, but it might bother some people. My driving lights stick out further than the headlight:
 
#28 ·
yeah very positive they dont..... ive look the radio over and backwards... no slots... just the two cords coming out with the usb slots now...
and nice how ya did that with the light bar.... it looks fine to me...
 
#29 ·
Hey there, long time with no posts, but I’ve got a dog in this fight. I too have the GPS fairing with the 6x9’s. I purchased an amp separately and with some ingenuity was able to fit it all nicely in the fairing... on the second attempt.. My radio doesn’t work, no signal, but I put no effort beyond tightening the connection for the antennae. I don’t use it.
For my phone to connect to the unit for Apple CarPlay, I had to buy a separate add on piece, which I mounted under the fairing and ran the USB out to my phone mount on my handle bars. After the addition of the amp, the speakers do sound much better, they are much louder, but they do sound cheap. I’m still on the fence with how I feel about the purchase, it looks good, it does ’function’ , but for the price, I was hoping for a higher level of quality.
However, I also purchased the hard coner saddlebags, bike specific for my VTX. I’ve had nothing but issues with these. From bracket placement to the pre drilled holes for bolting the bags to the brackets, nothing really lined up. I had to re drill my own mounting holes, and I noticed today there’s a wear mark on my rear caliper from the bracket touching it after compressing the rear springs.. I’m not sure when that happened, it would have needed to be one hell of a pot hole..
I can say that Tsukayu did work with me and Accessories International and issued a partial refund which we both agreed to (I could’ve sent them back but I’m impatient and shipping would’ve added about 2 months to the process). All in all, it looks awesome, it works, and the company is easy to work with. Would I do it again? Probably not. For the amount of money I spent, I would expect higher quality and better quality control.
 
#30 ·
I had 0 issues with my batwing and bags. I would buy them all over again.

Just note, I knew going into it that their speakers were crap. I replaced the speakers before my first ride. I'm glad I did, it sounds awesome.
 
#32 ·
Just did this myself, and it was on the road only yesterday for its "virgin" ride. Jumbo bags. Assuming electronics were going to be bargain products, I opted to get the empty fairing ready to paint and put in my own head unit, speakers and amp. Things fit pretty darned good to considering they aren't truly "bike specific".
 
#33 ·
I was having a problem getting a GPS signal this season. I made a couple videos of the Android based iGO stand alone GPS app, Google Maps, Waze, and the GPS Test app and sent it to Tsukayu and the Ebay seller that provided me the iGO app. Honestly, this time the ebay seller was more responsive then Tsukayu (I've never had response issues with them before).

The Ebay seller was able to diagnose that the issue was either the GPS antenna or the head unit. So I took it apart and when I removed the provided GPS antenna you could hear the internals shaking (something was loose). After that, I figured it was cheap enough to get a replacement GPS antenna. As soon as I plugged the replacement in all GPS apps worked like day 1.

Because I had everything apart, I took the opportunity to take my outer shell back to the guy who wrapped it. The clear bra was shrinking and pulled apart at one of the round parts.

It's a bad thing to have an open batwing, it makes me think of upgrades. So, I started looking for a better amp, and had my mind set on finding a better quality amp that fit the shelf location already set for the amp. I ended up finding a factory refurbished Rockford Fosgate TM400X2ad. A 2 channel amp that puts out 200W per channel. This coupled with my Polk Audio mm692 should be a good upgrade.

After installing it, I have to say WOW... HUGE Difference. I didn't realize how bad the Nakamichi ngmd60.4 amp provided by Tsukayu was. Clean undistorted sound at all volume levels. Deep sounds that never were there before. The music is just pure and clean.

At the advice of a friend who is really into bike systems, I added a computer fan I had sitting around. The batwing does not have a lot of room, so I had to tuck the fan in next to the shelf. There is just enough room to move air around inside the batwing. There is an opening right next to the fan, so it should help pull in some air. The fan is based off of accessories, so it will always be running with key.

GPS Test with new antenna:


New antenna, old amp:


New Amp, and fan:




 
#35 ·
I was riding without the cover for a while (while waiting on the clear bra to be redone). I had to slide the amp in more to get the cover back on. The good thing is I'm using velcro, so it was easy to move it in.
 
#38 ·
Got mine painted and assembled along with some of the Tsukayu VTX hardbags.
How do you like the speakers? After the first time playing music, I knew I had to change them out. Love my Polk Audio mm692's coupled with my Rockford Fosgate tm400x2ad. Now, I have a setup I'm proud of.
 
#41 ·
So far my head unit is working. I have had issues where the remote acts funny when it is hot out... Once it cools down it acts like normal. My older GPS headunit has to use a wired remote.

Android based units are average at best. Right now, the only non-performance item on my bike is that headunit, and I assume someday I will have to replace it. Basically I am waiting until Apple Carplay units go through a few more generations (wireless CarPlay). Once they have a few improvements, I can charge my phone in my saddlebag and fully control everything from the headunit.

The other issue I have with this headunit is that I have been unable to find an aftermarket remote that works with it (other than the one from Tsukayu). So @Mighty Ferengi you might be out of luck (unless the newer headunits can work with bluetooth remotes).

EDIT: To answer the question that people need to know in this tread. Yes, if I was doing it all over again, I still would order the Tsukayu batwing, even with all the parts I have replaced. I have been using my setup for 3 years now.
 
#42 ·
Well, with the screen out, I couldn't pair anything to it anyway! 🤪
I'll see if I can find a more modern weatherized head unit for it, but I agree with you on the fairing. It's awesome! Getting ready for Lone Star Rally in Galveston next weekend and I am glad to have some tunes for the long rides there and back and round the island.
 
#43 ·
Well, with the screen out, I couldn't pair anything to it anyway! 🤪
I'll see if I can find a more modern weatherized head unit for it, but I agree with you on the fairing. It's awesome! Getting ready for Lone Star Rally in Galveston next weekend and I am glad to have some tunes for the long rides there and back and round the island.
My wife is from Houston. We both graduated from Baylor...
 
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#50 · (Edited)
On my ride down to the rally, the remote quit working altogether and the plastic bracket that holds the latch for the Boox cover broke. 🤬
So, now I am trying to determine how I want to fix it. I am thinking about mounting my instrument cluster inside the Boox cover, going to a single DIN head unit, replacing the bracket with a bolt anchor, then mounting the Boox cover so it does not open without removing the bolts.
 
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