Notes from my maiden voyage this year..

[Warner]

Well, I got my wiring done - wired the switches for light, horn, kill, and ran a new wire for the tach/hour meter. It worked really well with the motorcycle style switch that I bought off of Ebay (cost me all of $8 including shipping!)

Then I decided to take the bike out for a quick spin. This was my first ride since upgrading to higher bars, threadless headset, front suspension forks, and front disc brake. Here's what I noticed:

1 - The upright riding position is much more comfortable, at least for the 1 mile ride I took.

2 - I don't really notice the front suspension much, but it does smooth out the ride overall. I also have a springy Cloud 9 seat and suspension seatpost.

3 - The front disc brake squeals. This was something that I hoped to get rid of that the rim brakes did. Maybe over time it will break in and stop squealing.....we'll see.

4 - The bike is FUN! I didn't ride it much last year, but hope to get some miles on it this year.

I also had trouble getting my 12v horn to work consistently when I was wiring it all up...and thought maybe my switch was flakey....until I tested it with my ohm meter and found the switch is fine. I figured maybe the horn died and was going to order a new one. When I started looking for a new one, I found an article about adjusting your horn. Apparently (and I never knew this) there is a screw on the back of the horn that you can turn to "tune" the horn. Apparently mine was screwed in to far to allow the coil to function. After I backed it off a few turns, the horn started working just fine again. Cool!

I've got a few more things to do and some tweaks to make....but the main things left to do for my winter "tune up" are getting my rear wheel trued up and make sure my drive chain is aligned properly....also need to tweak my front deraileur a bit.....


Warner

 

[AussieSteve]

Warner, you mentioned a 'tach'. An engine RPM tachometer? If so, more details please.

 

[Warner]

Warner, you mentioned a 'tach'. An engine RPM tachometer? If so, more details please.

Yeah Steve....it's a tach when the engine is running, and an hour-meter when the engine is off. Install is a breeze - it's just a single wire that wraps around the spark plug wire and then runs to the gauge wherever you mount the gauge (probably on the handlebars) Pretty slick. There are a number of them out there, but this is the one that I have:

http://www.staton-inc.com/Details.asp?ProductID=2842


Warner

 

[AussieSteve]

Good one, thanks Warner.
I was about to knock up my own tacho, with the signal from the blue or white wire, divided and cleaned up as necessary, displayed on a small 16-character LCD.
This is better. I could make my own, but not as easily, quickly or cheaply as this.

Someone mentioned their 'SenDec' tacho the other day, but when I searched I got it wrong and looked for 'SenTech'. No wonder I got 0 results.

Thanks for the link. I'm really glad I spotted the 'tach' in your post now.

I'll see if I can find them in Oz, otherwise, Staton it is.

 

[Warner]

Good one, thanks Warner.
I was about to knock up my own tacho, with the signal from the blue or white wire, divided and cleaned up as necessary, displayed on a small 16-character LCD.
This is better. I could make my own, but not as easily, quickly or cheaply as this.

Someone mentioned their 'SenDec' tacho the other day, but when I searched I got it wrong and looked for 'SenTech'. No wonder I got 0 results.

Thanks for the link. I'm really glad I spotted the 'tach' in your post now.

I'll see if I can find them in Oz, otherwise, Staton it is.

Glad to help! SenDec is a pretty popular brand I think...so maybe you can find it there.

Here's their website - you could call them or e-mail them and ask:

http://www.sendec-products.com/

The mounting bracket is kind of hokey, but you could certainly come up with you own one. The hour meter is nice, too....esp if you put it on a fresh engine because then you know how many running hours the engine has on it. The tach is cool....but there is a 1-2 second delay in the update....which to me isn't a big deal at all. It tells me my idle and cruise rpm's, which is all I really wanted it for.

Good luck!

Warner

 

[AussieSteve]

Thank you again. I'll check 'em out. The 1-2 second delay doesn't bother me either, just cruising speeds are important.
I have a good speedo/odometer, so the hour meter is less important.
Also got a hand-held optical tacho on the way, for my generator project, but it wouldn't be much chop on the road.