Gauge placement....opinions?

scott s

scott s

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I'm using a Danmoto Mini on the STF2 bike and I lucked out and got a unit with a bad tach. I've had it too long to return it.

I have a mini tach in my stash. Playing around with a couple of mounting options. What do you all think? (I'll square up the digital dash once I determine exact position for tach)

Easiest mount and has the tach facing straight up, but it also stands a little tall in the cockpit.




Second easiest mount. Not quite as tall as option #1, but tucks up closer to the Danmoto and is no longer "level". However, redline for a CB550 is now closer to line of sight/ "high noon", like the racers used to do.



Third option, hardest to get mounted, but is much more tucked and lower. Still not "level", though.


 
The gauge mount bolts up from the bottom , but could be trimmed flat on the top side nubs and bolted down with some work.

Symmetrically the gauges should be stacked, build a bracket that puts the round tach above the digital:
 

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3rd option would be best, but why not square up the tach also, when you square up the digital dash?
I would just get some metal sheet and fab up a mounting bracket that can fit both nicely in there. It takes the same amount of mental effort to think up a custom bracket, than trying to rig what you have and take from the bike appeal... unless you don't care how it looks?
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
The gauge mount bolts up from the bottom , but could be trimmed flat on the top side nubs and bolted down with some work.

Symmetrically the gauges should be stacked, build a bracket that puts the round tach above the digital:
Click to expand...
THIS!
 
I'm with Tune, it looks like the tach would snug up into that little nook in the top triple pretty well, and you could use the holes in the old risers to bolt through
 
That makes the most sense, BUT.....there's always a but....

The brackets for the Danmoto were bolted on before the headlight bucket. I'd have to remove the headlight bucket to get full access. And what makes that unattractive is that the headlight bucket is plastic. And even though the paint had some flex agent in it, it still cracked and a bit popped off when installing it. I'm afraid I'd really screw it up is I started taking stuff apart.

One step forward....
 
And, if I had used a different year triple, the gauge mounts are just a hole. These have that little bump on the top and they mount from underneath. It's not as simple as just unbolting them, making a plate, and bolting them back on.
Dang it. If only it were that simple. I'd be done by now!
 
scott s said:
And, if I had used a different year triple, the gauge mounts are just a hole. These have that little bump on the top and they mount from underneath. It's not as simple as just unbolting them, making a plate, and bolting them back on.
Dang it. If only it were that simple. I'd be done by now!
Click to expand...

grind the tops and expose the threads? measure depth from bottom first.
 
I have something fabbed up, but I think it all may be temporary. I'm kind of leaning towards ripping it all off and doing something like this one day:

 
I went with something between option #2 and #3. I made a spacer to drop it down and still keep it somewhat level.
It'll do for now. It looks OK from the cockpit, but looks like crap from up front. Too much going on. I think I'll keep it while tuning the bike and eventually go for a smaller, lower profile master cylinder and something like the phone mount for a GPS speedo. I also have some mini LED's that I can use for oil, neutral and high beam indicator.
The bike just looked better during the build phase when all this stuff wasn't up there. I'll eventually get the cockpit area slimmed back down.




Too many cables, hoses, and a bulky master cylinder....ugh...not feeling it.


I want to keep the line across the bike clean. I'll work on that.

 
Have you tried to mount the tach centrally and the hideous* digi thing between the fork nut and tank. The tach drive cable is way too ugly to run where it does, if mounted central the cable will tuck behind the headlamp at least. You're right adding those two components has really messed up the top-front. I worry mine might turn out the same - single speedo (sans tacho) and 4x LEDs set into the headlamp I hope.

* They are hideous and shouldn't be on a retro looking bike IMO.
 
I've got to wrap up a few other projects first, but I believe I'm going to do it right, even if it means repainting the headlight.
I'll decide whether to keep the Danmoto and mount it flat on the triple or just use the mini LED idiot lights I have.
 
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