DR250.....Cafe Racer

[the[K]id]

Radial brake bolts are placed under mainly shear loads, plus they are screwing into aluminium, tensile strength not really very important, although material quality certainly is.

Bike is looking excellent, spoked wheels look great! The little 4 pot will be a huge improvement over the old single piston boat anchor

[Lorenz]

Thanks [K]id, I will make sure I get some super strong bolts (dont want to trust my life on those rear drums if the fronts fail).

Indicators came in the mail last night.





I wanted to mount them on the outside of the license plate (as above) but they are a fair bit longer than I expected.
I can cut them down (only by multiples of 3 though) which means I can cut them down to half the length each..
Problem is - will they still be as visible and effective to warn other drivers or should I look for alternate mounting place?

I will tackle this once the bike is all complete and back together...

[wolfy_9005]

Maybe custom make some? just wack a bunch of LED's in series, stick into suitable acrylic frame and attach? Dunno....or cut the led strips then mount side-by-side i.e ||[plate]||.....might not work, depends how the strip is made, how wide it is, etc. Is the plastic soft-ish? Maybe you could shave half the plastic off both then mount side by side so it's more compact. Might need some clear heatshrink if it's cut down by too much....

Perhaps...

[Lorenz]

^^

Yeah that is definitely an option. The plastic is pretty flexible so it could just be a case of shaving it back halfway through and bending the strip in half...will sort it out at a later date though...

[Lorenz]

Hi all,

I am chasing a digital speedometer unit for my bike, do not want a tacho or anything else, just the speedo (can be cable driven or magnet/sensor pickup - does not really bother me).

I have seen the stuff from Vapor/ AceWell etc. but dont like the tacho tied into it.
I am chasing a reliable, compact digital speedo to put together a nice clean looking dash setup...

If anyone has any suggestions/experience with this would be great to hear from you.

I have seen lots of stuff with people using bike speedo's but want to see if there is a specialist moto product out there...????

[rudleo]

maybe this one might take your fancy?

[debaser]

:: KOSO NORTH AMERICA :: Gauges, LED bars, Accessories for Motorcycles, ATV, Cars, Scooters and snowmobile

There is some nice stuff on here, I have a koso on mine gp style. Most of it has digital as well as anologue so if you are trying to make yours oldskool it might not suit. Have a look though you might find something and it is good quality. Mine cost 160 off eb@y 360+ on local sites.

[the[K]id]

Ah feck, I saw just the thing your after in a streetfighters mag, it was basically an upgraded version of the little bicycle speedos, but had backlight and a few other features. I'll dig out the box of mags during the week and try to find the name for ya, it was pretty cheap too from memory.

[browncow]

Would be interested to know Kid...

[Lorenz]

If you can dig it out would be great [K]id..
Those ones that Rudleo posted are so heinously overpriced it is not funny..

There are a few pages on the net using "Sigma" bicycle speedometers (100% accurate up to 300km/h) so I am chasing something kinda similar but needs to be a bit more robust, preferably a bit bigger and backlit....

.: Sigma Bicycle Computer | Canyon Chasers Motorcycle Sport Touring :.

Bicycle Speedos on Motorcycles

Any other ideas/thoughts?

[Lorenz]

Another good one:

http://www.angelfire.com/ia/z/FZ1sigma.htm

Speed read out still too small for my liking though..

[valvolux]

If you can dig it out would be great [K]id..
Those ones that Rudleo posted are so heinously overpriced it is not funny..

There are a few pages on the net using "Sigma" bicycle speedometers (100% accurate up to 300km/h) so I am chasing something kinda similar but needs to be a bit more robust, preferably a bit bigger and backlit....

Any other ideas/thoughts?

cant vouch for it, but this is pretty cheap:

LCD Digital Tacho Tachometer Streetfighter EXTRA KLEIN - eBay Individuelle An- Umbauteile, Customizing Performance, Motorrad- Kraftradteile, Auto Motorrad Teile. (end time 26-Sep-09 15:48:21 AEST)

[valvolux]

If you can dig it out would be great [K]id..
Those ones that Rudleo posted are so heinously overpriced it is not funny..
Any other ideas/thoughts?

yeah, ive got one of those "heinously" over priced speedo's, but i got it when it was on sale at $299 They have been unavailable for the last 9(?) months, Ausfr must have got some new stock in at full price.
Still expensive though ya right, but if i recall i stuggled to find one that looked right aesthetically (most looked very uncafe like debaser mentioned) and most where german/american made, which meant readout in MPH only.
Good luck mate, those sigma's look the goods.
I thought i was breaking the rules by having a digital on my caff, I'm glad to see we share the same skool of thought

[browncow]

But then what to do about RPM?

Valvo: Want to sell it?
Cheaply?

[valvolux]

haha, what gave you that idea? Just cos its been sitting in a box for a almost a year??? My build redefines patience

[Lorenz]

RPM do not bother me, it is only a small 250 and you pretty much feel the right RPM.
I never checked the RPM in my Camaro, just went by sound and feel... it was such a pretty sound...

I will keep looking, hopefully something good pops up.
I quite like that first one you put up Valvolux

but am not too sure about the durability and the accuracy of the speedo. Not to mention how I would go about getting a digital speed read out for it, as mine is cable driven.

On the other hand the Sigma BC1606



is cheap, easy to mount up etc. but I am not sure about the backlight.. It has a backlight but it only comes on for a few seconds to get the read out, so would be useless at night, plus they can't be connected to continuous power, only their battery...

Not sure if the bicycle unit really ticks all the boxes anymore...

[Shortfuse]

RPM do not bother me, it is only a small 250 and you pretty much feel the right RPM.
I never checked the RPM in my Camaro, just went by sound and feel... it was such a pretty sound...

I will keep looking, hopefully something good pops up.
I quite like that first one you put up Valvolux

but am not too sure about the durability and the accuracy of the speedo. Not to mention how I would go about getting a digital speed read out for it, as mine is cable driven.

I rode a bike with one of these today and it worked fine. The owner of the bike said that it needed another magnet (it had 2 installed) because it went to 0 above 150-180km/h. Not really going to be a problem on a 250. He was saying that the blue backlight was a little bright at night and needed some tint on it and it was not adjustable.

Neat little unit.

[debaser]

Back lighting is the problem. I used a single led facing the bike speedo (I still have if you want to try it) wasn't pretty but it worked. Glancing at it while riding round town under streetlights was fine, you just pay attention to revs. It's the man with his yellow stickers that made me put the led on just in case.

[debaser]

The cable can just be disconnected, you measure the diameter of your tyre and program it in(front or back is ok) and they use ultra strong magnets to send a signal to a pick up. Very accurate, sounds like the one above can run more magnets to be more sensitive. My koso is the same.

[Lorenz]

I quite like this setup now, after contacting the manufacturer they reckon it is as easy to mount up as the bike speedo and at around $120 is not overly expensive...

In other news I have finally sorted out my tapered steering bearing, apparently they were a weird size so Pyramid Parts are shipping them over from the UK..

I wanna make some progress on the front so need to do the following:

1) Mount up the front end
2) Fabricate some wheel spacers
3) Fabricate brake caliper bracket
4) Remove anti dive
5) Shorten forks
6) Water cut new billet triple clamp

Once this has been sorted I will get stuck into the electrics and final mounting of all the bits and pieces I have bought. I need to get a wriggle on if I want this finished before summer...
Paint scheme - I am thinking all black, with some polished highlights...