Musical Street Glide

Dave "Biggles" Thomas Shows us Around His Daytona Beach Inspired Harley

Musical Street Glide

Dave “Biggles“ Thomas is a discerning Harley owner. His 114 Street Glide with Stage 1 engine upgrade is his vehicle of choice, and considering that he is a pilot with Jet2 and drives a passenger plane for his day job, this is saying quite something. Dave has had a huge audio system fitted to his Harley, and we caught up with him on an evening out with his adopted brothers, the Crooked Knights MCC, near Chesterfield.

Dave’s Harley was brought to our attention by Paul Ellis of FOUR MASTER Source Sounds in Sheffield. It is unusual as it carries a mighty audio system, which Dave is always keen to use. Paul tells us it was a complicated build as there was little knowledge in the UK about how the standard audio system is put together. Additionally, Dave wanted to emulate systems he had seen and heard at Daytona Beach Bike Week in Florida - As you would expect, the US is miles ahead of the UK regarding audio on bikes. Sourcing parts proved an obstacle, but this is Source Sounds we are talking about, and they always deliver.

Delving further into Dave’s story, we discovered he got into sports bikes ten years ago but became concerned that his need for speed may bring him to a sticky end. He sold his then-current sports bike to buy a mountain bike. However, he became bored waiting for assistance in a busy store and headed to a Harley dealership across the road. He drove away on a 114 Fat Bob. During his dealings with his local Harley dealership, he was introduced to The Crooked Knights and joined their regular Tuesday evening drive-outs, usually to a pub not too far away – But more of them later.

The Fat Bob was great but had the feel of a sports bike. Dave wanted a more comfortable ride. One that he could use for touring. The Street Glide offers a more upright riding position. It also has a standard audio system and a full-featured head unit, which appealed to him.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, Dave had previously visited Daytona Bike Week. He lived in Florida for three years while training as a pilot and returns reasonably frequently. On one such occasion, he attended Daytona Beach Bike Week. He heard music coming from the mainstage as he looked around at the many bikes on show. He set off to see what was happening, but he discovered that the music was coming from a Harley before he got there. That was it; Dave was hooked and determined to get some sounds on his bike at home.

Once home, his choice of installer was easy. Since he was 17, Dave had taken practically all his vehicles to Source Sounds in Sheffield. He initially found them through friends who had gone to school with Christian Ellis, brother of proprietor Paul and head technician. Dave has always been keen on music. He has an inclusive church of musical interests but prefers country rock for his bike these days. However, he has dabbled with all the popular genres of the day and grew up with Evo’s and Impreza’s installed with bass heavy and bass light systems.

On this occasion, Dave knew exactly what he was looking for. A system that would play above engine, road and wind noise while touring and wearing a crash helmet. Oh, and one other thing: he wanted the bike to remain looking stock! There is precious little space on a motorcycle, so he borrowed an idea from his Daytona visit to mount subwoofers, amplifiers and two pairs of full-range 6 X 9’s in side panniers. These are rigid panniers, and the lids would need to be perforated for the sound to reach his ears. Such pannier lids do not exist in the UK, so Source had to find some in the US. They could only find them unpainted, so a further complication was finding a spray paint company to match the bike's striking colour perfectly.

Dave was happy for Paul to lead him on the equipment choice. Paul decided that the high sound pressure level required could only be satisfied using Hertz SPL Show products. These are designed to project sound outside and are used in many demonstration vehicles worldwide. Dave was specific about maintaining a decent stereo image as well as being able to experience the entire audio spectrum.

The standard front speakers would add nothing to this installation, so they were replaced with a pair of Hertz SPL Show SX 165 NEO coaxial speakers. These 100-watt speakers (200-watt peak) are weatherproof and produce high SPL levels from 150Hz – 20kHz. They more or less slot into the standard spaces and were an easy choice for this application.

The rest of the system sits in the rear panniers. More mid-range and low-end were required to achieve the required sound pressure levels (SPL). Paul chose to run two pairs of Hertz SPL Show SX 690 NEO, 3-way coaxial speakers in each pannier. These would provide high power down to 65 Hz. Bass is very vulnerable to road and wind noise cancellation, so for good measure, a pair of Hertz Cento CS 200 S4, 8” subwoofers were also mounted in the panniers facing towards the rear wheel. A waterproof membrane protects these, making them less exposed to weather and water spray.

The speakers are driven by two Hertz SPL Show SP 4.900 four-channel amplifiers, which are also mounted in the panniers. These amplifiers produce 160 watts per channel into 4 ohms. In this instance, four channels have been bridged to drive the two pairs of SX 690s, leaving four channels to drive the front coaxial set and the two subwoofers. A very compact Hertz S8 DSP digital signal processor was wired in to control the sound output and offer the ability to set up time alignment and equalisation, amongst many other parameters.

Having caught up with Paul following our meet-up with Dave, he explained that not only was the hardware a challenge, but the wiring was extremely tricky. The bike had to be more or less dismantled to run the cables to the places necessary to make this all work. Furthermore, Dave wanted some LED illumination to add a further challenge.

Dave was eager to demonstrate what the bike could do, and as his neighbours were all out at work, he treated us to a full-power blast of his top five (see below)—the sound he experiences when riding will be very different from that when stationary. Not least, when riding, he is wearing a crash helmet, which, although open-faced, does cover the ears somewhat. What we heard was deafeningly loud but very, very clear. There was an outstanding balance across the whole frequency band, and adrenaline-inducing lows accompanied the piercing highs and punchy mid-range.

Having taken pictures of the installation and interrogated Dave for a while, we adjourned to a local pub and waited for the Crooked Knights to convene for their regular ride out.

Due to it being mid-August and also as the M1 junction nearby was broken, the turnout was a bit lighter than usual. Dave was the first to arrive. We heard him coming. He was playing “We Will Rock You” by Queen; we must have heard him when he was half a mile away! Those sitting in the sun-soaked beer garden applauded him into the pub car park while others came out to see what was happening. As we sat waiting for the rest of the Crooked Knights to turn up, Dave gave us a little insight into the club and what it stands for. He explained that as an MCC, they are a responsible bunch of enthusiasts. This sets them apart from MCs from the early days of the Hell’s Angels in America. I discovered that one such MC in Finland is considered a terrorist organisation as it has been connected to violence, drugs, guns, and other general misbehaviour.

Ultimately, the assembly was eight strong. There are 18 Crooked Knights who all wear a club logo based on the St. George’s Cross. They are also allocated with a nickname when accepted into the club. This explains why Dave carries the name Biggles on his Crooked Knights jacket. The second member to turn up is known as Tourette’s for reasons that became obvious later on. The name Crooked Knights comes from the fact that members are all based around Chesterfield, which is famous for its church with a crooked spire.

Our original intention was to film the group pulling away from the pub. They do this in a dramatic yet orderly fashion, with one rider holding up the traffic while the rest leave in a convoy. However, as the roads were stuffed with traffic, we jumped in the car and drove five miles to a country park to watch them arrive.

Lauren looks after social media for Driving Sounds and had clear ideas on what she wanted from this impromptu photoshoot. Thankfully, the Crooked Knights are an affable bunch. They are all good friends with each other and didn’t mind being bossed about by her. There was much hilarity when Lauren asked them to mount up and put their “hats” on, but the evening was enjoyable and very rewarding.

Dave is already planning an extension to his audio system, and we hope to revisit it when the work has been completed. In the meantime, we thank Dave and The Crooked Knights for their time and friendliness and Paul Ellis at FOUR MASTER Source Sounds for creating this impressive system!

Dave’s Top Five

Devil’s Grin – Cory Marks

Freaks - Timmy Trumpet and Savage

Friend Like Me – Will Smith

Smart Dressed Man – ZZ Top

Blaze Of Glory – Jon Bon Jovi