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Digital Gear Indicator

I did a search on this product, but didn't find anything.

Has anyone installed this device? If so, did it actually fit a need?

Tell you why. A few days ago I was puttin' around my local burg using third and fourth. I forgot what gear I was in, which is actually hard to do on a Sportster. The shimmy in the rubber mounted motor is a dead give away. Failing that, one through three are close ratio, and there's a wider jump to fourth. Fifth (to me) is like an over-drive.

Anyhoo, I take residential turns in second, forks in the road in third, but this time I dropped into first from second thinking I was in third.

No biggee, the bike didn't even wiggle off line, it just got really loud.

However, now that I am a more seasoned first-chair member of our local choir, I can see where this might happen a bit more often. For example I have found my keys and reading glasses in the refrigerator. Laugh if you will, your turn is coming.

Yikes, for 219 bucks this thing had better perform. I'm not married to the idea, I don't even know if the thing works.
 
I think that is a bit of overkill myself. If somebody needs that unit to know what gear they are in .....it's too late for them:D

Just listen to the engine and be observant, too many calculations to do otherwise between watching the gear indicator and the tach and figuring if it's too low....you may crash in the meantime :lolrolling.

As far as this...
However, now that I am a more seasoned first-chair member of our local choir, I can see where this might happen a bit more often. For example I have found my keys and reading glasses in the refrigerator. Laugh if you will, your turn is coming.
The best part of life is when you get up to go get something and when you arrive at the destination, you forgot what you went there for.:D
 
Just listen to the engine...the tach and figuring if it's too low.

What's a tachometer? Is that some new device MoCo invented or are they sold in the 'road clothes' area. What's it do?:p

I don't think I've had a tach in +20 years. In fact, I think the last one I had was on a Honda.

I usually do listen to the motor and modulate speed. I must have been daydreaming or just going up and down in the gear-box so often in city traffic I just lost my book-marker.

Still, it's not a habit I want to continue. Some of the altos in the boys' choir might look at me askance, perhaps deride me in their usual churlish manner, or in the extreme, become vexed. And I hate to miss choir practice.
 
If memory serves, and it usually doesn't, the last tachometer I had from Harley was on a 1974 FXE shovel. Horrible bike. It only started in months with a "Q" in them. In fact, it was an electric tach that worked periodically. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

Again, if memory serves, the last factory appointed gear indicator I saw was on a 1970s era Suzuki. When I first saw it I thought what kind of a dough-head forgets what gear he's in?

Well, I've accelerated down a ramp on Betty, blended into traffic and covered a mile or two before I noticed she was wound up--more than usual. I slipped my toe under the shifter, and lo and behold, she had another gear...
 
Tourist the only time I like to know what gear I'm in is sometimes wondering if I'm in 5th or 6th when stuck in traffic, but like glider said as long as you are within tach range your ok. I shift by the tack. Heck other than speed limits I ride by the tach.

Another time is when I have to stop VERY QUICKLY and I don't have time go thru all the gears and after you get stopped it's sometime difficult to get back to first (or be sure you are in first in other words).

BUT having said all that, there are some gear indicators for sale that fit on the handlebars, from what I read on them you have to program them thru the rpm ranges after they are installed. ...BUT.... DON'T pay 219 bucks them if you really want a gear indicator. For another $100 plus bucks you can get a Dakota console speedo replacement (unplug old and plug in new) that not ONLY tells you exactly what gear you are in (without any programming since it hooks directly into the HD system), but it will also give a tach, a speedo, a progammable GET GAS lite and a whole bunch more stuff that I forgot.

I know they make them for Dyna's don't know for sure bout sportsters but check them out at Dakota's web site. Then hunt around for a reseller for a better deal. I bought mine for 335 plus shipping.
 
like glider said as long as you are within tach range your ok. I shift by the tack. Heck other than speed limits I ride by the tach.

Before we begin, we have to define some terms. I understand the idea of a 'tach range' and redline. I am murky about the idea of "shift by the tach."

Do you mean 'tach' to be a physical rev indicating gauge, or do you mean "tach'ing up," like knowing the sound that the engine needs/wants to shift?

I have to shift by tach'ing up. I do not have a physical tachometer gauge.
 
Before we begin, we have to define some terms. I understand the idea of a 'tach range' and redline. I am murky about the idea of "shift by the tach."

Do you mean 'tach' to be a physical rev indicating gauge, or do you mean "tach'ing up," like knowing the sound that the engine needs/wants to shift?

I have to shift by tach'ing up. I do not have a physical tachometer gauge.


Maybe explaining it this way will be easier to understand.

Every gear has a range that is most efficient for the engine to operate at and shifting with a tach will keep the optimal power range of the engine in the proper limit for best performance.

Clear as mud? :D
 
Every gear has a range that is most efficient for the engine to operate at

Yes, I know. I think in my case I was slowing down and the engine wasn't straining until I put the load of first gear on it.

However, as for revs and rev range, I have to do that by sound, vibration and what demand I need to accelerate for what I'm doing.

The bike does not have a tachometer.
 
I hear ya there. It's best to go by engine sound anyway even if you have a tach. Too much time with the eyes off the road.
 
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