Why no tach?
Club Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 14,564
Likes: 9,225
From: the 50s & the 60s
RE: Why no tach?
ORIGINAL: kpreese
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
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
That is one great website you have. I spent about an hour reading every word.
Excellent.
As for the pic of my work, thanks for the compliment. I love my job.
battersbyornamental.com I have over 250 pages with pix of my "work".
Second pic on the opening page links to my most recent fun project -
Aztec Theatre restoration.
mud
Club Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 14,564
Likes: 9,225
From: the 50s & the 60s
RE: Why no tach?
ORIGINAL: kpreese
.................................................. .................................
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.
.................................................. ...............................
Kevin
.................................................. .................................
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.
.................................................. ...............................
Kevin
Gonna buy an extra opener tomorrow. Gotta have it.
Hopefully mine will fit under the console. Seems like the logical place for it.
mud
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,555
Likes: 3
From: Clarksburg, PA
RE: Why no tach?
You guy's who don't need a clock because you wear a watch...
how do you ride at night in October when it's 35°? The gloves, long sleeve shirt, and jacket make it very difficult for me to see my watch! Not to mention that I go to work at 10pm when there is no light so the handlebar mounted ones are useless also!
I guess since I ride to work at night, I like to see how much time I have in case i want to take the long way.
IMO a clock is worthwhile!!
how do you ride at night in October when it's 35°? The gloves, long sleeve shirt, and jacket make it very difficult for me to see my watch! Not to mention that I go to work at 10pm when there is no light so the handlebar mounted ones are useless also!
I guess since I ride to work at night, I like to see how much time I have in case i want to take the long way.
IMO a clock is worthwhile!!
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,484
Likes: 82
From: Mountain View, California
RE: Why no tach?
I'm putting a flat-top tank on my Wide Glide and thus am putting an aftermarket speedo on my bars. I thought long and hard about adding a tach but reached a few conclusions that made me decide against:
-- tachs are a good tool to have when working on a bike
-- tachs are nice to look at sometimes when you're riding. You know, seeing that needle go up and down: "yep, there's 4,500 R's. Cool."
-- a matching aftermarket speedo / tach combo (VDO for example) looks trick.
-- I'll never make a shift decision based on it because Harleys give you so much tactile (sound / vibration / throttle response) feedback that a tach is redundant
-- tachs create one more protuberance from the otherwise smooth lines of the style I like
-- tachs cost money
So I concluded that the only time I ever genuinely will use a tach is when I'm performing maintenance. Therefore, no bike-mounted tach for me: Instead, I'll buy a tuner's tach and connect it when I need it.
-- tachs are a good tool to have when working on a bike
-- tachs are nice to look at sometimes when you're riding. You know, seeing that needle go up and down: "yep, there's 4,500 R's. Cool."
-- a matching aftermarket speedo / tach combo (VDO for example) looks trick.
-- I'll never make a shift decision based on it because Harleys give you so much tactile (sound / vibration / throttle response) feedback that a tach is redundant
-- tachs create one more protuberance from the otherwise smooth lines of the style I like
-- tachs cost money
So I concluded that the only time I ever genuinely will use a tach is when I'm performing maintenance. Therefore, no bike-mounted tach for me: Instead, I'll buy a tuner's tach and connect it when I need it.
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