Electronic Speedometers?

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71basketcase

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Feb 21, 2005
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Greetings: The 71 basketcase had a dead speedo and tach: I turned some really nice spacers for my bike and am running gaugeless currently.

So I was out riding my bicycle and it has a little avocet very basic cycle computer. MPH, Tripmeter, odometer, average speed and that's about it. It got me to thinking: does anyone make a similar unit for motorcycles?

or

are you currently running electronic gauges and what brand are you using? I saw the beautiful meters that colorado norton works offers, but that's WAY pricey for my blood....

Thoughts on electronic meters?

thanks, as always

Karl
 
I will be putting one of those on my build, see http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/image/94067306 the main reasons are:

BIG numbers
works on 12 volts
not sensitive to ignition noise
bolted on, hard(er) to steal
when it's turned off, no one can tamper with it
baclighting for night time use

Sure it costs more than a bicycle speedo, but bicycle speedos that can go past 100 Kph are rare and I don't think ANY of the wireless ones work with ignition noise close by.

Jean
 
There's a conversation over on TrialsCentral about speedos. Of course those trials bikes don't go very fast on the road. :lol:

But you definitely have to worry about electronic interference. Someone suggested the ferret donuts that you see on some cables. Apparently you can purchase them from some electronics stores (or online like a normal person).

I thought I saw a similar issue on this forum (or somewhere else) and the pickup magnet was dangerously close to the spokes.
 
A number of folks have fitted bike units to motorcycles. On my Chang I run a tach designed for a Harley I got on Ebay.

You might check out custom instuments on Ebay, some are pretty inexpensive. Depending on how your bike is set up for ignition a tach for a model that uses a similar system can often be adapted. A lot of Honda cafe guys do stuff like that.

Speedos are usually pretty easy if they are the counter type.
 
I use a Sigma bicycle computer. Works great. Numbers are a little small but I can see them OK. Unit is very unobtrusive (4 cm x 4 cm) and it has a clock, speedometer, trip meter etc. Pretty slick. I glued the magnets (very tiny) to one of the holes drilled in my brake rotor. I originally put it on because I wanted an odometer and was curious how inaccurate the Smiths speedo is. Thought I would take it back off but I like it so much it has stayed!!
 
Check THIS out. :D
Electronic Speedometers?
 
o.k..... so I'm not the only one with these sorts of crazy ideas..... good, at least I'm not alone: :)

I actually have another avocet unit that I'm going to try and fit at least for the time being: I really want to have (more than anything else) a way to record the amount of miles logged. I'm kind of a cautious rider so max speed isn't really that big of a deal and the avocet maxes out around 75mph, which is fine for my needs.

What I like about the Avocet is: 1. I already own it, 2. it has very basic functions, 3. it's small and inconspicuous.

thanks for the feedback, all......

Karl
 
I've run various bike computers on Nortons for 16 or 17 years and they can work great. Some of them only read to 60 or 75 mph while others will go to 99 or higher. The cheap computers are typically slow to react to fast acceleration, but that's hardly when you need to be looking at it! Most don't have a backlight for night riding if that's a concern. Lately, I've been riding with a gps most of the time and find I look at it a lot more than the speedo. It's more accurate than nearly any other instrument and can even tell you where to go.
 
I looked at the CNW stuff; beautiful but at nearly $1000, WAY too rich for my blood.... that koso stuff looks promising and more affordable...
 
swooshdave said:
tpeever said:
Check this out:

http://www.nortonclub.com/Articles/
Click to expand...

That's the one I saw that I thought the pickup was in a odd place. I'm not sure how I feel about a rigid bolt a few millimeters from my spokes. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I mounted the sensor to the front of the right fork slider and glued the magnets to one of the large holes drilled out of my brake rotor. Much cleaner application than the one shown IMO. I did find out through experimentation that the pickup needs to be VERY close to magnets. I can send photos if anyone is interested.

That KOSO speedo looks good. How large are the numbers on it? The Sigma speedo does not have a backlight so cannot be seen at night.
 
I had a SigmaSport bike computer on my Ducati for a while. It worked great although there was no backlighting so you couldn't read it at night. Max speed was well over 100 mph and it had all sorts of cool features including max speed for the ride, average speed (cyclists are really into that), and ride time. I took it off when I did a fork swap and never got around to putting it back on. I liked it though. The Duck's speedo read about ten percent high, as verified by local radar signs, and the SigmaSport was right on the money after I calibrated it.

Debby
 
who cares about the bike speedo! check out the eight ball valve cap!

THAT's what I really wanted info about :)
 
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