Why no tach?
Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 601
Likes: 0
From: Ingleside Texas
RE: Why no tach?
A clock!!!! you have got to be joking...A tach C'mon,,,,New bikes with built in rev limiters are easy to ride, they all come with shift indicators---1st gear, shift when you hit the limiter--2nd gear, shift when you hit the limiter so on and so forth easy as pie--A tach would be nice,,hehehe, not sur about a clock.
Club Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 14,564
Likes: 9,225
From: the 50s & the 60s
RE: Why no tach?
ORIGINAL: budwfo
A clock!!!! you have got to be joking...A tach C'mon,,,,New bikes with built in rev limiters are easy to ride, they all come with shift indicators---1st gear, shift when you hit the limiter--2nd gear, shift when you hit the limiter so on and so forth easy as pie--A tach would be nice,,hehehe, not sur about a clock.
A clock!!!! you have got to be joking...A tach C'mon,,,,New bikes with built in rev limiters are easy to ride, they all come with shift indicators---1st gear, shift when you hit the limiter--2nd gear, shift when you hit the limiter so on and so forth easy as pie--A tach would be nice,,hehehe, not sur about a clock.
Time to shift??
mud
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,127
Likes: 3
From: Boonville, MO
RE: Why no tach?
My 06 Low Rider has one but i really don't use it, it's more for looks than anything. I know the feeling of wishing you had one cause you don't but if you got it you would use it a couple of times and then loose interest in it. When i'm running hard i don't have time to look at it. In town and around no need to look at it, i barely even watch my speed. Once i jumped hard on the bike getting on the hwy so i could watch my shift point rpm but it was kind of a pain trying to open it up, watch the tach and watch for traffic (and cops), I got up to about 90, and to 90 your there before you known it. Probably slowed myself down trying to keep up with it. Really, the only time i glance at it is crusing down the hwy at 80, i look and sure enough, 3200 rpm, nothing new there and oh it idles at 1000 rpm.
I am for the clock in the odometer area, and i do use and enjoy my dual tripmeters.
I am for the clock in the odometer area, and i do use and enjoy my dual tripmeters.
Road Captain
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 591
Likes: 1
From: Land O'Lakes, FL
RE: Why no tach?
ORIGINAL: TowJam
Any ideas as to why most Dynas do not come with a tach as standard equipment? (My FXDX had one and I really missed it on my FXDCI.)
Any ideas as to why most Dynas do not come with a tach as standard equipment? (My FXDX had one and I really missed it on my FXDCI.)
Of course you can ride the bike without one, but there are some nice reasons to have one. For me, I like to hit it hard from redlights every so often and these bikes' HP curves fall off before you hit the limiter. The forces on the components increase with RPM exponentially and I'm not saying you're going to dramatically reduce engine life, but it's unnecessary. Engine stresses increase an awful lot with an extra 300 RPM. I've also wondered about detonation when the rev limiter kicks in and that definitely reduces engine life . . . sometimes real quick like.
They're also helpful for tuning as someone mentioned. But there's another one that gets me sometimes. I'll get behind a Qtip (bluehair) and sometimes you increase speed so slowly that sometimes I'll forget that last shift into 5th (or 6th). A slow creep from 2300-2700 isn't that obvious. A quick glance at the tach and the shift just happens without even thinking about it. It's just how I've always driven and I do the same thing on a bike. It is great for the in between gears situations in traffic. With the tach, I rarely upshift and then realize I need to downshift.
It's definitely a preference thing. It's not like I wouldn't know how to ride the bike without it, I just like having it on there and I DO use it. If you find yourself wanting one, then you WILL use it.
Attached is a pic of how I've got mine mounted. (the odometer reset on the right side is my garage door opener button.)
Kevin
Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
From: Hanover, PA
RE: Why no tach?
My Ducati Monster had one and I miss it. IMO, it wouldnt take away from the bike to have one installed from factory. I think it's more of the MC soaking another $500 out of me to put one on.
Club Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 14,564
Likes: 9,225
From: the 50s & the 60s
RE: Why no tach?
ORIGINAL: kpreese
I think you got your answer . . . a lot of people don't want a tach. Those of us who do, there's nothing stopping us from adding one I guess. It is the first thing I did to my Sportster and then the first thing I did when I got my Street Bob. I use it more than the speedo.
Of course you can ride the bike without one, but there are some nice reasons to have one. For me, I like to hit it hard from redlights every so often and these bikes' HP curves fall off before you hit the limiter. The forces on the components increase with RPM exponentially and I'm not saying you're going to dramatically reduce engine life, but it's unnecessary. Engine stresses increase an awful lot with an extra 300 RPM. I've also wondered about detonation when the rev limiter kicks in and that definitely reduces engine life . . . sometimes real quick like.
They're also helpful for tuning as someone mentioned. But there's another one that gets me sometimes. I'll get behind a Qtip (bluehair) and sometimes you increase speed so slowly that sometimes I'll forget that last shift into 5th (or 6th). A slow creep from 2300-2700 isn't that obvious. A quick glance at the tach and the shift just happens without even thinking about it. It's just how I've always driven and I do the same thing on a bike. It is great for the in between gears situations in traffic. With the tach, I rarely upshift and then realize I need to downshift.
It's definitely a preference thing. It's not like I wouldn't know how to ride the bike without it, I just like having it on there and I DO use it. If you find yourself wanting one, then you WILL use it.
Attached is a pic of how I've got mine mounted. (the odometer reset on the right side is my garage door opener button.)
Kevin
ORIGINAL: TowJam
Any ideas as to why most Dynas do not come with a tach as standard equipment? (My FXDX had one and I really missed it on my FXDCI.)
Any ideas as to why most Dynas do not come with a tach as standard equipment? (My FXDX had one and I really missed it on my FXDCI.)
Of course you can ride the bike without one, but there are some nice reasons to have one. For me, I like to hit it hard from redlights every so often and these bikes' HP curves fall off before you hit the limiter. The forces on the components increase with RPM exponentially and I'm not saying you're going to dramatically reduce engine life, but it's unnecessary. Engine stresses increase an awful lot with an extra 300 RPM. I've also wondered about detonation when the rev limiter kicks in and that definitely reduces engine life . . . sometimes real quick like.
They're also helpful for tuning as someone mentioned. But there's another one that gets me sometimes. I'll get behind a Qtip (bluehair) and sometimes you increase speed so slowly that sometimes I'll forget that last shift into 5th (or 6th). A slow creep from 2300-2700 isn't that obvious. A quick glance at the tach and the shift just happens without even thinking about it. It's just how I've always driven and I do the same thing on a bike. It is great for the in between gears situations in traffic. With the tach, I rarely upshift and then realize I need to downshift.
It's definitely a preference thing. It's not like I wouldn't know how to ride the bike without it, I just like having it on there and I DO use it. If you find yourself wanting one, then you WILL use it.
Attached is a pic of how I've got mine mounted. (the odometer reset on the right side is my garage door opener button.)
Kevin
What bracket did you use to mount your tach??
That is the black face mini tach, right??
What about that door opener button?? How'd you do that??
mud
Road Captain
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 591
Likes: 1
From: Land O'Lakes, FL
RE: Why no tach?
Yes mud, the tach is the black face mini tach. Too bad it only has white backlighting. I tried awful hard to match the amber speedo lighting and even with an amber bulb, somehow the tach still looks white. But it isn't that big of a deal.
The mount is by Alloy Art, model number is SM-3 I think.
The garage door thing was an effort to be kind to the neighbors. I have one of those keypads outside the garage and I would dismount and type in the code to open the door. All of that took a little while. At the time, I hadn't had my recall done yet and I was killing the bike each time before dismounting too. It's not that I'm late all that often, but I like to do what I can to avoid being a nuisance. I coast into my driveway, idling, and I have that door already opening.
The HD setup, where you flash the brights, required the opener to accept a separate switch contact from the HD receiver. I'm sure I could have made it work, but according to the manual, my opener wouldn't accept that type of signal. Plus that unit costs over $100. I opened my remote in my car and noticed it ran off a 12V battery so I was in luck. I bought a replacement odometer reset button and boot so it would look like it belonged on the bike.
Some details:
http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/p...,p,208,00.html
It was pretty simple actually and I got a kick out of doing it. There is also some info about the tach on that site as well, but ignore all the wiring stuff. I shortcutted it at the time so I could avoid pulling the tank. I rewired it later.
BTW, saw a pic of some of your work in a thread a few days back and it was very impressive. That must be fun.
Kevin
The mount is by Alloy Art, model number is SM-3 I think.
The garage door thing was an effort to be kind to the neighbors. I have one of those keypads outside the garage and I would dismount and type in the code to open the door. All of that took a little while. At the time, I hadn't had my recall done yet and I was killing the bike each time before dismounting too. It's not that I'm late all that often, but I like to do what I can to avoid being a nuisance. I coast into my driveway, idling, and I have that door already opening.
The HD setup, where you flash the brights, required the opener to accept a separate switch contact from the HD receiver. I'm sure I could have made it work, but according to the manual, my opener wouldn't accept that type of signal. Plus that unit costs over $100. I opened my remote in my car and noticed it ran off a 12V battery so I was in luck. I bought a replacement odometer reset button and boot so it would look like it belonged on the bike.
Some details:
http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/p...,p,208,00.html
It was pretty simple actually and I got a kick out of doing it. There is also some info about the tach on that site as well, but ignore all the wiring stuff. I shortcutted it at the time so I could avoid pulling the tank. I rewired it later.
BTW, saw a pic of some of your work in a thread a few days back and it was very impressive. That must be fun.
Kevin
Unsubscribed From Forum
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 276
Likes: 0
RE: Why no tach?
I have put shift lights on a couple of my bikes that didn't have tachs. I have an MSD shift light on my Buell now. I put in a 6000 rpm "pill" and it lights up to tell me when to shift when I really want to wring her out. I got it from Pingel. I just have 75 miles on my new Superglide but maybe a shift light is in the future.....
Todd
Todd
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Tourer
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 273
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From:
RE: Why no tach?
as far as the clock question.....
I put a clock on the steering stem nut...looks & works great
www.blondiesclock.com
BUT i wish I had a tach
I put a clock on the steering stem nut...looks & works great
www.blondiesclock.com
BUT i wish I had a tach
Club Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 14,564
Likes: 9,225
From: the 50s & the 60s
RE: Why no tach?
ORIGINAL: tdshepard
I have put shift lights on a couple of my bikes that didn't have tachs. I have an MSD shift light on my Buell now. I put in a 6000 rpm "pill" and it lights up to tell me when to shift when I really want to wring her out. I got it from Pingel. I just have 75 miles on my new Superglide but maybe a shift light is in the future.....
Todd
I have put shift lights on a couple of my bikes that didn't have tachs. I have an MSD shift light on my Buell now. I put in a 6000 rpm "pill" and it lights up to tell me when to shift when I really want to wring her out. I got it from Pingel. I just have 75 miles on my new Superglide but maybe a shift light is in the future.....
Todd
mud