[polychemsw]

Thanks to all the people who have posted advice here about installing the ebay gear indicator (GI). I couldn’t find much detail elsewhere, so although I have a CRF it has been very helpful. I thought I would also share my experience so it may help others.

I never thought a GI would be useful until after 30 years I rode a bike with a factory version (A little 2005 Suzuki EN125). I found it very useful. It’s surprising the number of times I was wondering what gear I was in, and not having to count, or keep changing until the gears stopped, seemed much more civilized. It wasn’t any more distracting than a speedometer or tachometer.

So with my CRF230 being a six -speed, I purchased the $20 ebay version. After reading the difficulties noted in the posts here, I wanted to have as many adjustment parameters as possible to set up the magnet and sensor.

Here’s my attempt to explain my 'home brew' installation. I’ve left out some parts that are covered by other posters. It may look a bit 'Backyard' but it works.

Using a single point on the frame I screwed two thin strips of metal about 70mm by 10mm. My single point was a threaded nut that was originally intended to attach a bash plate. Now I had something that looked a bit like the hands of a clock (at about 3:05 in my case). They could be moved up and down as a pair, and moved apart or together as needed (about 15mm in my case). Tightening and loosening the single bolt allowed for adjustment.

Onto the end of each strip I screwed a sensor. I used a small bolt in just one of the holes of each so these could also have temporary movement.

Now for the magnet. I wanted adjustment in three dimensions, the x, y and z planes. I wanted vertical positioning as well as total travel across the sensors. I also wanted to be able to vary the horizontal distance from the magnet to the plane of the ‘hands of the clock’. My cunning plan was to use a simple hoseclip.

I removed the foot gear lever and placed a large hoseclip over the spline. I could vary the horizontal distance from the magnets by moving the hoseclip along the spline (about 5mm separation in my case). I screwed up the hoseclip tight and used the long ‘tail’ as an arm holder for the magnet. This is why you need a large one. By using a couple of pairs of pliers and forming the tail into an ‘L’ cross section, this created a little ledge for the magnet, which could slide along but was stuck firmly with its own magnetism. I didn’t even remove the plastic bag it came in to aid adjustment. The hoseclip can be adjusted for vertical movement and the magnet slid along to find the perfect spot.

With so much adjustment it was a breeze to find the perfect combinations, and so it works perfectly without any errors. A final tighten of the bolts, hoseclip and a few small dabs of adhesive fixed everything in place. However it could be readjusted easily if needed.

The only issue is the neutral. I can’t get it to work although it is useable without it. The white neutral wire should reset the counter to zero when it is connected to the (-) of the battery, ie the metal frame of the bike. The neutral light normally works by the switch connecting the (-) frame of the bike to the light. The other electrode of the light is permanently connected to the (+) of the battery.

However, on my CRF, when the switch makes the connection between the frame to the neutral light, there still seems a resistance of about 20k ohm, which is not enough to reset the counter. Everything else is OK, touching the white neutral wire directly to the frame resets the counter to zero which is a good check for both the wiring and the unit. Has anyone else come across this problem? Maybe there is a resistor somewhere attached to the neutral switch?

In any case, you can live without neutral indication. The time it is useful is when you have stopped. Without it, putting the bike into neutral from first at a stop, shows ‘2’. However as soon as you re-engage first, it shows ‘1’ again and you are good to go.

Hope this is helpful to someone.

Cheers

John
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Update:

After getting a CRF wiring diagram I found that the neutral connection passes through a diode. This is why the resistance was high. The diode was behind the headlight, almost beside the neutral light. A easy five minute transfer of wires and problem solved. This may be something to check if you can't get the neutral working on some bikes.