Gauge bracket on ebay!!!

[Rollin668]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50463&item=2452013882

I'm gonna bid on this - is anyone else out there looking to buy one... thought I'd ask before the bidding got too high...

It's the gauges and the gauge bracket.  I really only need the bracket, (previous owner bent it up...), so if someone need the gauges and not the bracket, let's go into this one together...


Rolly

[mwdbruno]

I linked some other items the same guy is selling on the For Sale Page...specifically an engine for the beloved GS!
I'm going to invite the seller to our home so we can have the market on the GS he is parting out...

Lane  

[Rollin668]

I was also looking at that tail piece...
I sure would like to win that gauge bracket, though...  


Rolly

[mwdbruno]

Rollin...I'm not hunting for a gauge or bracket, it is yours as far as I'm concerned...I did like the look of the wheels/tires he has listed though...

Looks like he has a number of decent parts.

Lane

[JamesG]

Since we're on the topic of gauge brackets. What do you all think of a carbon fiber version?

I was riding Lita's GS and thought that it wouldn't be hard to make a copy of.

so, after the shop is built and I catch up on projects, what do you think?

[mwdbruno]

I'd be all over a CF gauge bracket.  I have a number of carbon fiber look items (signals, levers) and have purchased some CF vinyl cover for some other items.  To have a true CF bracket would be awesome.  Roughly how much do you think one would run?

Lane

[Rollin668]

Personally - I'd like to have a custom bracket made that I can mount a single gauge (like a tach) and a smaller electronic speedo in.  I could then have a few holes that I could mount dummy lights into.  I've always prefered a single gauge to stare at instead of 2 seperate gauges...

What does the bracket on Lita's bike look like?


Rolly

[The Buddha]

OK that fogging on the inside of the glass... how you get rid of it. The guage itself is not even close to water tight,,, with a abundance of water drain holes etc... basically you can pour/spray windex in the light bulb hole and it will get into the guage and clean the thing well. Then you put the guage face up and get the liquid out... I did all that but my speedo has a little fog inside it now. How to get rid of that.
Cool.
Srinath.

[JamesG]

Put it in the oven on "Broil"  

Seriously, with all the plugs pulled out, put the instrument on or near one of your heater vents for a few days.  It should get all the vapor out.

Lita's GS has a standard bracket. The CF one would be an exact copy of it. It shouldn't be much, maybe $35 ~ $45.

You can make a single "bracket" out of the GS OEM one. I saw a guy's race bike who did that and it looked pretty good. Take the bracket apart and hack saw the two side circles that hold the tach and speedo off. Then bend the center part back,  using a hammer the beat the center in a concave shape would probably help.  Take a peice of rubber and lay it on the "tang" and then set the instrument on it. Use two hose clamps to secure it. Paint the whole thing flat black. Put the lamp lenses back in and rubber car door edge guard along the top cut edge of the bracket where the old instruments used to be.

[mwdbruno]

James, count me in on a CF bracket if you decide to go with it.
Lane

[octane]

For anyone who wants to try JamesG's single gauge pod deal, I have a pod and bezel off my '93 you can have for $7 plus shipping. It's damaged on the right side (small bit of the plastic edge broke off and the side of the bezel is a little flattened. Can probably be straightened, but the right side is   )

Also, Rollin, I did what you're talking about with the idiot lights. This is a gsxr triple clamp (have a '99 gixxer front end on the GS), but you get the idea. http://www.gstwin.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=member_bikes&id=akc

[Rollin668]

That gaguge set-up looks good - real good... almost exatly what I have in mind!!!

Is that a race bike set-up?
I'm wondering about the bicycle computer you have mounted... is it backlit or do you need to push a little button to make it light up?

I'll take another look at my speedo bracket and see what I can do... thanks for the ideas...



Rolly

[The Buddha]

Put it in the oven on "Broil"  

Seriously, with all the plugs pulled out, put the instrument on or near one of your heater vents for a few days.  It should get all the vapor out.

OK Broil it is... I broiled it in front of my space heater, but obviously not long enough. BTW my tach seems to have the paint running a little, the speedo... not at all... WTF... They used a different paint to paint the insides of the tach compared to the speedo??? and it runs when whater hits it??? Never ceases to amaze me...
Cool.
Srinath.

[octane]

Thanks. No, it's a street bike, I just got a little carried away last winter. I'm going to be doing a lot of track days this summer though.

The bike computer is not backlit, I wish it was. You have to push the button. Since the wiring is still there for the original speedo light, I'm trying to devise a way to use it to illuminate the speedo without it looking dumb. I've added a small fairing since that pic was taken and plan on cutting a face plate to hide the wiring...maybe I can incorporate the light in there somehow. Any ideas?

[Rollin668]

I used to have a Sigma computer mounted to my Laverda - thing worked great but wasn't backlit so eventually I picked up one of the lights made for it and it didn't work worth CRAP!!!  Really pissed me off since it cost me $35.00 or so!!!  Whatever you do - don't get one of the Sigma lights!!!

LEDs don't really put out enough light do they?  Maybe that might be an idea... an LED or small light and some sorta of angled metal piece to throw light on the gauges...

Do you have any more pics of your bike, Octane - I'm interested in taking a look at it... thanks.



Rolly

[The Buddha]

LED's put out a ton of light... a 3 volt LED could out glow the silly bulb for the idiot lights... Trust me... buy a LED that has some decent spread though... Like 30 degrees or so... They are bright and they dont heat up. Great but 3 volts only means you need like a 2K resistor in series to run them across a 12 volt source.
Cool.
Srinath.

[The Buddha]

Since we're on the topic of gauge brackets. What do you all think of a carbon fiber version?

I was riding Lita's GS and thought that it wouldn't be hard to make a copy of.

so, after the shop is built and I catch up on projects, what do you think?

You thinking just the top plate or the bottom part with the speedo cups and the idiot light tubes. Top plate will be gorgeous in CF. I have the whole thing painted black, with black triples and a black bar its eye popping beautiful. My 89 has powder coated black top plate, dash and the risers... Lovely. So I cant imagine CF looking less pretty. If you can make the back part well that'd be great too.
Cool.
Srinath.

[octane]

There are a few scattered on the wall of fame Rollin, not since it's been finished though. I'll roll it out and take some pics this weekend. I need to clean out the garage anyhow. It's pretty much done now except for paint and getting the carbs/jetting adjusted right. I'll send ya a few pics soon.

[octane]

Srinath, Could I plug an LED into the existing bulb socket? I'm trying not to get the bike involved in any more major projects. It sat all summer because I got carried away with projects last winter and didn't finish it in time. Now that it's in one piece and running again I don't want to go crazy with it - just want to RIDE!

[The Buddha]

If you got a 12 volt led then maybe. Else you have to make up a small bit of circuit board, solder a resistor and the LED to that board and put the terminals on the board to make good contact with the plugs in the rubber casing and stuff it in. The LED wires are so tiny it will simlpy fall off if you tried to put it in wihtout a board, and burn out if you put in wihtout a resistor. Also a LED has positive and negative. So you have to see in which direction it lights up and put it that way.
Cool.
Srinath.