Quick and easy Race Tach?

[AchyGrappler]

I pulled the gauge cluster from my 2004 Pregen Race Bike project. My intentions are to keep all of the stock parts I take off in my conversion to a track bike so that when I sell the bike, someone could make it street legal if they desire.

Does anyone have any cheap suggestions for a standalone tachometer to replace my stock gauge pod?

Or has anyone pulled the tach from their stock gauge pod to make it a standalone gauge?

Thanks.

[RacinNinja]

Define cheap?

Koso is a good brand that racers in my club use.

http://www.powersportsuperstore.com/...u2201-0085.htm

[AchyGrappler]

Define cheap?

Good point. Less than $100 would be preferable. If I have to go with a Koso, it will get removed for another project when I eventually punt the pregen off to another rider.

[toEleven]

I don't recall where on this forum I saw it (and I'm not in the mood to search for you), but I'm fairly confident someone hacked up an OEM cluster to retain only the tach. If price is the primary concern, you could probably find a used cluster for that purpose within the price range you've specified.

[Sirref]

you could always just ditch the whole assembly and replace it with a shift light, it feels weird at first but becomes natural pretty quickly

[AchyGrappler]

I'm trying to keep this a budget track bike build. The less I spend on a tach, the more I can spend on track time and other race related gear.

A shift light only option may work, never thought about doing it that way.

[InvisiBill]

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=...cle+tachometer has a bajillion cheap, universal tachs in a variety of designs. Many of them are knockoffs of Koso and similar units. The more complex clusters may have poor or incorrect documentation (and might not exactly match their pics even) if you get the super-cheap Chinese ones, speaking from experience. But if all you need is a simple tach, you should be able to find something reasonable.

[HoneyBadgerRy]

No offense to anybody at all, this is just for my curiosity.

Why do you need a tachometer? I have the trailtech vapor on my bike, and for some reason the tachometer resistor burnt up, and I didn't replace it for weeks, simply because I didn't care. I can hear the bike, and I can hear/feel when to shift, and I never look at a tachometer or a shift light to tell me when to shift. On my trail tech vapor, I haven't even set up the shift lights yet, when I drive down the road at 7k the red and yellow lights are flashing, and I just ignore them.

All this said, if you want a tachometer more power to you. I am just curious as to why you would look at a tachometer instead of at the track.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by HoneyBadgerRy

Why do you need a tachometer?

I feel where you are coming from, but unless you really, really know your bike, the tach comes in handy when the #2 board is showing. How do you know if you're @8k rpms vs 10k? Some riders like to launch at specific rpms. Aside of that, yea... is the bike happy? Is the rider happy? If so, no tach needed.

The only things I care about off the line is oil and temp.

[AchyGrappler]

The tach comes in handy for helping trouble shoot how the bike is running. Getting a good launch as mentioned is also. I understand where you are coming from though. I know my V-stroms rpm just by sound. I don't know the ninja yet so that is why I'd like to race with one.

[tgold]

Originally Posted by HoneyBadgerRy

No offense to anybody at all, this is just for my curiosity.

Why do you need a tachometer? I have the trailtech vapor on my bike, and for some reason the tachometer resistor burnt up, and I didn't replace it for weeks, simply because I didn't care. I can hear the bike, and I can hear/feel when to shift, and I never look at a tachometer or a shift light to tell me when to shift. On my trail tech vapor, I haven't even set up the shift lights yet, when I drive down the road at 7k the red and yellow lights are flashing, and I just ignore them.

All this said, if you want a tachometer more power to you. I am just curious as to why you would look at a tachometer instead of at the track.

Not an absolute requirement, but I prefer one simply because it is more precise than going by feel. When I'm looking for tenths and hundredths of a second, I don't want to leave it to feel. I prefer sequential shift lights even more than a tach. It's like they tell pilots: "Trust your instruments because your butt can fool you"

Even so, one of the most memorable pieces of racing advice was on how to race a big single cylinder roadracer:

"Don't worry about a tach. Just rev it till your balls tingle and shift."


I think I'll post that in the inspirational quotes thread

[RacinNinja]

Originally Posted by tgold

Not an absolute requirement, but I prefer one simply because it is more precise than going by feel. When I'm looking for tenths and hundredths of a second, I don't want to leave it to feel. I prefer sequential shift lights as an even more than a tach. It's like they tell pilots: "Trust your instruments because your butt can fool you"

Even so, one of the most memorable pieces of racing advice was on how to race a big single cylinder roadracer:

"Don't worry about a tach. Just rev it till your balls tingle and shift."


I think I'll post that in the inspirational quotes thread

When I started racing that old 350cc single, my Dad told me the first time I was in a corner on the edge of the seat and hit the right RPM my butthole would tingle.

He was right.

[HoneyBadgerRy]

I guess since I don't race, I don't care about a tenth if a second, one second I would care about, but I'd rather go by feel and feel good about my self then be anal, knowing I shifted at the exact signoff of my bike every time. (75rpm isn't going to make a big deal when not racing).

[tgold]

Originally Posted by HoneyBadgerRy

I guess since I don't race, I don't care about a tenth if a second, one second I would care about, but I'd rather go by feel and feel good about my self then be anal, knowing I shifted at the exact signoff of my bike every time. (75rpm isn't going to make a big deal when not racing).

You seem to be inferring that people who don't approach things the way that you do are somehow "anal" and unable to feel good about themselves.

The OP asked about a tach in the context of racing, and what you are calling anal is what others call paying attention to detail. Paying attention to detail is the kind of stuff that wins races.

[jkv45]

I would say that even if you don't need a tach to know exactly when to shift, it's still going to be valuable at times - like when you are ready to shut-off at the end of a straight. It would give you some indication if your gearing is correct.

It's also nice to know how far over redline you are if you aren't hitting a rev limiter yet. Some engines don't care for that for very long.

[walk_n_wind]

Good question OP (@AchyGrappler), and I dig the shift-light idea @Sirref -- way-minimalist! I've been wanting to ditch the stock cluster as well but have kept it wherever I can stick it and still read the tach. And for the same reason - any $ I don't need to spend is more money for race entries!

Looking forward to your results, I'll definitely report if I end up replacing mine.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by csmith12

I feel where you are coming from, but unless you really, really know your bike, the tach comes in handy when the #2 board is showing. How do you know if you're @8k rpms vs 10k? Some riders like to launch at specific rpms. Aside of that, yea... is the bike happy? Is the rider happy? If so, no tach needed.

The only things I care about off the line is oil and temp.

Mine doesn't read oil/temp so the only reason I'm keeping mine is for launches since I can't hear my bike over everyone elses to know RPMs and I like a predictable launch. That and odometer/clock. Odometer bc I like knowing how many miles the bike has and the clock for endurance races to have an idea how far in I am and pace myself accordingly

Originally Posted by walk_n_wind

Good question OP (@AchyGrappler), and I dig the shift-light idea @Sirref -- way-minimalist! I've been wanting to ditch the stock cluster as well but have kept it wherever I can stick it and still read the tach. And for the same reason - any $ I don't need to spend is more money for race entries!

I hear that, $ for race registration is definitely more important than money for something that doesn't make you go faster like a tach (though a gps lap timer would be sweeeet, I may rig one up where my tach is someday)

[AchyGrappler]

UPDATE: I had no luck finding something that had the quality and cost I was looking for so I re-mounted the stock cluster. I toyed with removing the tack from the pod and mounting it by itself, but in the end it was just easier to use it as is.

[alex.s]

why do you need gauges?

[toEleven]

Originally Posted by HoneyBadgerRy

Why do you need a tachometer?

Originally Posted by alex.s

why do you need gauges?

How many variations of the same question will be asked? I can't wait to find out!

[bruce71198]

Originally Posted by toEleven

How many variations of the same question will be asked? I can't wait to find out!

Neither of those examples are variations of the OP's question.

[choneofakind]

Buy a second set of cheapo OE used pregen gauges off ebay.

Then use some 1/8" ABS sheet stock and make a standalone faceplate that works and holds the factory tach. Should be simple enough and you can ditch everything else without modifying your existing factory gauges. Should look fairly decent too.

[toEleven]

Originally Posted by bruce71198

Neither of those examples are variations of the OP's question.

Agreed, and that's the point. They aren't variations of the OP's question, and they do nothing to answer the OP's question. The first example even received a number of replies. It's almost like people don't read the thread.

My answer to the OP in #4 and chone's answer in #22 also seem like the same thing to me (i.e. a cut-down stock cluster), but at least that repetition adds something (more polish) and answers the OP's question.

edit to add: This is the example I mentioned being unwilling to search for in my original response. The post was about steering dampers, but it demonstrates the tach solution

Originally Posted by r6boater

...

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by toEleven

Agreed, and that's the point. They aren't variations of the OP's question, and they do nothing to answer the OP's question. The first example even received a number of replies. It's almost like people don't read the thread.

My answer is at least once a month or you're doing it wrong.

[HoneyBadgerRy]

I have witnessed the same thing said 3+ times in a thread, people don't like to read.

[AchyGrappler]

Thanks for the lead on the stand alone stock tach toEleven. I had searched both before and after you response for variations of hacking the stock gauge cluster but to no avail. Knowing that it is in a thread about steering dampers helps to find it later.

The stock tack needs some type of cup to mount it in as the back circuit board would be exposed without it. I'd probably end up shorting it out at the track.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by HoneyBadgerRy

I have witnessed the same thing said 3+ times in a thread, people don't like to read.

why would anyone need to read?