Analog Tachometer

J

jonyoon21

New Member
I don't know about anyone else, but I get kinda tired of reading digital displays while riding. The speedometer is kinda a pain at night since I have to press a button to make it light up every time I want to check my speed, and that tiny tachometer that everyone seems to be talking about on here doesn't seem to suit my tastes (I wonder if it can even light up for night riding?)... I just want to be able to look down and glance at some sort of dial and tell roughly where I'm at regarding speed and rpms.

So I ordered a nos motorcycle tachometer. It's an old analog tach built for an older style 1 cylinder 2 stroke motorcycle and is lighted. It fits right on the handlebar - but is kinda bulky... I think it should work as it hooks up directly to the magneto (or an ignition coil but I doubt any of us have one of those on our bikes).

I hope it will turn out to work. Just a quick question though, what would be the highest rpm for these chinese engines to safely reach? The tach is for up to 12000 rpm with a settable redline marker. If i ever get it to work, I'll post up some pictures.
 
Howdy Jony

Cool. I am looking forward to pics.

RustcoRay came up with a really cool thing. He glued Velcro to his gas tank and mounted a GPS. Had a speedo, stats and compass at a glance. Slipped right off when we stopped and stayed on while we rode on a dirt road. I was thinking of mounting a plate on the goose neck. (dunno if fuel spills would destroy the glue) Down side is no tach.

Think the 2 strokes top out at 6,000 RPM, but dunno for sure
 
We do have a magneto on our engines right behind the magneto cover(left side of engine) and we also have a CDI(small black box with spark plug wire) which is a ignition coil. I would guess you would hook the tach upto the mag or wrap the wire around the sparkplug wire. Now for the power to light it,the white wire probally wont be enough to light it without it turning your engine off,you will probally need a small rechargable battery(like a 12v cordless drill battery,there cheap and come with chargers).
 
erm... 12v batt & chargers for cordless tools aren't really all that cheap: 12v cordless drill battery - Google Product Search and what ones are "reasonable" are complete POS that may not last a summer... For the same money as the "cheap" ones you could easily buy a lil 12v SLA motorcycle battery and charger: 12v SLA motorcycle battery - Google Product Search . You could just try the white wire and a 6v flashlight bulb, depending on your magneto's quality (pretty much random chance with these kits lol) this sometimes works ;)

Usually the sender wire wraps around the plug wire if it's that type of tach.
 
i got my battery and charger at walmart for around $20 for battery and $20 for charger and the battery works perfect after having it for 2 years and i use that for a headlight and tail light. but he needed a power source for the 12v tach or tach light not a head light,but yeah a small motorcycle battery and charger would work too.
 
You may get a bit of a surprise if that ends up being a mechanical tach.

Which BTW would be the perfect tach for these little motors if someone could come up with a drive system that would fit though a hole in the clutch cover and run off the clutch gear.
 
I've had it with those schwinn digital odometers, they keep crapin out on me, If you have luck with a mechanical odometer, please let me know where i can get one, thanks :)
John
 
just purchased a retro speedo, and mudflap from BIKEWORLD USA they have some pretty cool retro parts sirens, horns, lights, speedos, hope u find something u need
 
thanks man, will check it out.
I may still try to use the electronic odometer, using a noise suppression high perf spark plug wire from advanced auto parts.

John
 
i use a GPS on mine, a Tom Tom One, and found a handlebar mount on eBay for $15 bucks. the GPS unit itself cost $70 bucks refurbished through Vans.com. I used to use the analogue speedos that you can get on eBay for like $25, but they were inconsistent at high speeds. The GPS tells me my average top speed on my 66cc is 31mph, and around 20 on my newest just out of the gate 49cc. And i don't get lost anymore.. heheh..
 
momentummotorgroup said:
i use a GPS on mine, a Tom Tom One, and found a handlebar mount on eBay for $15 bucks. the GPS unit itself cost $70 bucks refurbished through Vans.com. I used to use the analogue speedos that you can get on eBay for like $25, but they were inconsistent at high speeds. The GPS tells me my average top speed on my 66cc is 31mph, and around 20 on my newest just out of the gate 49cc. And i don't get lost anymore.. heheh..
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LOL! In the car or truck, I do OK getting around but get so dang lost going "the back way" on my bikes! GPS would really help. (we need a solar power source)((gonna work on that!))
 
c3po said:
thanks man, will check it out.
I may still try to use the electronic odometer, using a noise suppression high perf spark plug wire from advanced auto parts.

John
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A spark plug wire that is noise suppression will cause resistance. That will kill spark! Consider shielding the speedometer wire . Then ground your shield. Use aluminum foil wrapped and spiraled neatly around the speedometer wire and nicely taped the same way . Then ground your shield to the bike. That will kill those RF frequencies from getting to the electronic speedometer. An old style Volks Wagon wire for spark is a good wire to get from a store.
 
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goat herder said:
A spark plug wire that is noise suppression will cause resistance. That will kill spark! Consider shielding the speedometer cable . Then ground your shield. Use aluminum foil wrapped and spiraled neatly around the cable and nicely taped the same way . then ground your shield to the bike. That will kill those RF frequencies. An old style Volks Wagon wire for spark is a good wire to get from a store.
Click to expand...

Sorry goat - but this is just not true. The "resistance" in resistor plugs/caps refers to "resisting" or suppressing the interference caused by your ignition system, not the voltage itself which is simply regulated - not dampened in any way.

I've run them on more than one HT motor, both caps and plugs - but NOT both at the same time which is what may have cause some people to experience problems.

The caps work slightly better, but look kinda gommy so I use the plugs *shrug*


Edit: oops... :p I just noticed ya'll said "noise suppression high perf spark plug wire" which I've NOT used... but I suspect is simply shielded? o.O
 
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I edited that meant to say shield the speedometer wire.
I have always herd it that resister plugs and noise suppression wires were a step backwards.
 
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