Vapor Digital Gauge

[sweatmachine]

I just installed a Trailtech Vapor Speedo/Tach on my Bonnie. It's a pretty clean and cheap little unit. I'd rather have analog gauges but I haven't found any that I really liked (and can afford). A friend of mine picked this unit up for a bike project and never ended up using it, so he just gave it to me. Pretty sweet deal huh?

Anyway, here she is:

It was VERY easy to install. My friend had already made a bracket to mount it to his bike, so all I had to do was drill & tap 2 holes in my top clamp. The wiring is simple. I hooked the power up to my tail light (easy to find switched power wire) and it comes with it's own speed sensor and tach wire. It also has a temperature sensor, but I left that off and now the temp just reads the ambient air temp.

I'm still working on the programming for the tach, but hopefully I'll get that sorted soon. I think it looks good!

 

[strokerlmt]

looks nice and the price seemed right....
LMT

 

[sweatmachine]

thanks! Free ain't a bad price!

They're about $200 retail. Not bad considering all the features it has.

 

[Sal Paradise]

meh....

 

[em_dot]

I got no picture over here. Just a red X.

Little help please!

 

[sweatmachine]

meh....

Sal, I know exactly what you mean and I'm with you, except that unlike you, I've been searching for 2 years for a decent gauge set up to no avail. I guess you could say the Vapor is the best worst option.

 

[PieMan]

Wouldn't look good on a standard bike, but they don't look bad on modified cast wheeled bikes. You'll get used to the looks and start not to mind it once you've used the unit for a while as the functionality of the unit out weights any detriment in aesthetics.

If you measure accurately around the center of the front tyre to the mm and input that figure to the Vapor, the speedo is dead accurate, at least until the tyre wears some, but it will always be more accurate than the OEM speedo.

 

[Texas94fs]

it fits there very well, but it still aint quite right but hey you have a speedo and all that. I still need to get a speedo. Can't be free either. Id say you'll get used to it and it does look nice an compact so it shouldnt detract from the lines of the bike.

 

[D9]

Wouldn't look good on a standard bike, but they don't look bad on modified cast wheeled bikes.

Agree with PieMan... not really at all out of place on your bike Jeff... would enjoy seeing some pics of the entire bike from the side view & 3/4 view... bet that Vapor unit damn near disappears and is super low profile to begin with... but I like your retro-looking headlamp LED's too

 

[2Monkeys]

Practical, small, and free. Love it.

 

[cynr1023]

Looks alright, I'm sure you're much happier having that little bit of information to look at too.

 

[loxpump]

I agree, looks good. How's the visibility in direct sunlight?

 

[sweatmachine]

Sunlight washes the screen out a bit.

 

[cynr1023]

could always make a bracket/housing/sun visor for it

 

[sweatmachine]

it's not really much of an issue.

 

[cynr1023]

yeah, thought about the fact that you haven't had a guage for quite a while then figured a little washout from the sun wouldn't be too big a deal. Course it may give you a reason to fab up a dart screen or something.

 

[sweatmachine]

I hate the little screens. I like my headlight naked.

 

[2Monkeys]

Sweat we all know you are all about naked thinks on bikes...

 

[sweatmachine]

I rode the bike in some direct sunlight yesterday and the display is still totally visible. The sunlight affects it a little bit, but nothing worth complaining about.

 

[jimmyjammoto]

Check out www.highwaydirtbikes.com for some cool machined housings and other things. I ran one of their billet housings for the Vapor i had on my DRZ400. Really nice stuff and good quality!