Ideas for new gauges

I just got my first bike which happens to be a 79' KZ650B. I have experience rebuilding cars and trucks but this will be my first motorcycle project. I really like cafe styling, not for the race inspiration but for the simplicity of the look. With this in mind, I would like to do something different with the gauges. I would love to have a gauge mounted into the headlight assembly or the gas tank, but I am not sure how plausible this is. Basically I want low profile and slick looks. Anyone have any ideas?

Kellen

Post edited by: Kellen79_650, at: 2006/05/16 16:09

I built a bracket to drop mine down about 4 inches and and tucked in closer to the handlebars. I also made some white faces for them with a lot of help from people on the boards. search for the "white face gauges" thread in this same forum. I can post up some pics. in a few days when I have it all back together.

Many of us have been "flipping" our gauges lately. Basically mount the bracket that they are on to the underside of the top triple tree. Basically you remove the gauges, cut off the stud that is on the bottom, drill a hole through the bracket and use nuts and bolts (I used stainless allen head screws, washers and nylock nuts) to mount the bracket lower.

Here are some pics

Maxwedge, I like the idea. When you drop them down that far is your view of them obstructed. What kind of bars do you have. I have some cafe bars on mine so I don't think there will be visibility issues.

Dan, For whatever reason I wasn't able to see your pictures, it may just be my work computer so I will check again when I get home. That sounds like a pretty simple solution. Have you run in to any problems with your setup?

Kellen

Kellen79_650 wrote:

Dan, For whatever reason I wasn't able to see your pictures, it may just be my work computer so I will check again when I get home. That sounds like a pretty simple solution. Have you run in to any problems with your setup?

Kellen

The only issue I had was the speedo cable. Mine was way too long to begin with though. I went to my Kaw dealer with my too long cable and after some convincing I asked them to find me one 6" shorter. After about 10 minutes they had one for me. No clue what bike it was from but the Kaw part number I believe is 54001-1123.

You can also see the pics by clicking my blue bike below

So I found a gauge/headlight idea online that I would like for my bike. Now the hard part is physically finding one or making one myself. I think that is one is from a british bike but I am not sure. Anyone have any ideas or experience with such a thing?



Post edited by: Kellen79_650, at: 2006/05/31 12:32

That is from an old Triumph Bonneville. The problem with using gauges from another bike is the speedo gear ratio. Also the Triumphs have the speedo gear on the rear wheel, at least mine does. Anything can be done though. Try to find one that is in rought shape. Get it and see if will even work. If it does then you can paint it or just find one that is like new.

I have Cafe bars (might switch to clip-ons soon) and I'm 6'3" so I can see the gauges fine. I'm going to have to fabricate or modify the headlight mount in order to make it all work. Thanks for the short speedo cable part#, I may need that. Haven't got that far yet. I've been busy trying to finish a boat project, so I haven't worked on the bike much, but I will try to post up some pics as soon.

Maxwedge wrote:

I have Cafe bars (might switch to clip-ons soon) and I'm 6'3" so I can see the gauges fine. I'm going to have to fabricate or modify the headlight mount in order to make it all work.

Most of the folks like DanOZ who have flipped their gauge bracket to lower the gauges have just used the stock headlight mounting brackets to lower the headlight as well.
Basically all you need to do is remove the brackets from the fork tubes, turn them upside-down, and then switch sides with them (right to left, and left to right) to lower the headlight assy.