Oh the things I do to avoid wiring the headlight bucket . . .
Some of you might recall I chose to use XS650 gauges on this bike instead of Honda ones.
The speedo is a direct swap but the tach was an issue because Honda's ratio is 1:4 and Yamaha's is 1:5 so the readings would be off. The other issue was that both gauges had connectors running straight out the back instead of downward like stock so there were concerns about cable clearance. The complete solution, I was led to believe, were a pair of 90 degree angle adapters which would allow for a reasonable matching of how Honda gauges are aligned:
One of the adapters was supposed to have a compensating differential gear that would match the tach output cable drive to that of 1:5.
Several developments on this solution: The adapters arrived and are far larger than expected. They fit and the cables hook up fine but there would be two large blocks of aluminum sitting above the headlight bucket. I was getting comfortable with the look when I contacted the manufacturer to determine which was the one with the adjusted gear box. After several days of silence they replied that had not made one like that as it was impossible to include one in the housing I had ordered. They did offer an additional inline adapter with deep discount for the confusion, so I ordered it. It arrived last week and it too turned out to be massive:
The connectors look they are for a truck instead of a bike and I contacted Motion Pro about custom cables. After a few days someone called and said they'd never seen anything like this before, were confident they could ultimately make something but required the physical unit in their hands for what they thought would be a couple of weeks. Of course they had no idea what the cost of the cables might actually come to.
It then dawned on me that since I've upgraded to electronic ignition I don't need a cable driven tach in the first place. Unfortunately I couldn't find an electronic one that matched the speedo I already owned so I began looking at different options, all of which took me to looking at smaller and smaller units. I eventually settled on a pair of one inch gauges. The speedo is still cable driven but there is no clearance issue because of its size and new placement.
I designed a new instrument bracket and mocked up everything up everything tonight:
Four different color weatherproof daylight visible LEDs matching the order of the 73 warning lights. I'm going to try and put a slight bend in the plate and mount them under the top tree. I'm just concerned that doing so might obscure they rider's view of the LEDs, nut I have some time to play with it.
Now, I will begin working on the headlight bucket.
