speedo

[protomech]

Why, what's that in the Riley Mk XXII Daytona Prototype racecar?



http://jalopnik.com/5816395/riley-mark-xxii-track-day-car-first-drive

Yes, it's our (or Brammo's) favorite Motec unit!

Dash displays suitable for $200k sports prototypes and electric motorcycle racing prototypes may not be suitable for $10k production bikes :>

[EmpulseRider]

May we please have digital speedo like every other sport bike.

And a gear position display too since it will be 6 speed. Less guesswork = safer riding.

I actually really like the current setup with the Analog speedo. Im used to digital but if this makes its way to the Empulse unchanged I will be just as happy. My vote is to leave it the way it is. A gear indicator should go to the left of the battery level readout. Push the "Battery Level" text and smash the battery gauge image to the right and display a big fat 0-6 there would be perfect.

[FreepZ]

Looking at this video of Susanna Schick (from Hollywood Electrics) riding a Zero, I'm not too enthusiastic about an all LCD dashboard. During certain lighting conditions it was not possible to read the speed on that thing. Perhaps if it was back-lit, it woule be easier. (It must be back-lit, else that dashboard would not be visible at night!)

And before you say that it's a low quality video with poor resolution, consider that when you're on a bike, you're going to be looking at the road a lot more and only glancing at the speedometer, so it should be very clear at a glance.



Of course, the problem could be due to a glare issue that the Enteria also suffers from:

[T]he dash needs to be adjustable.  By "adjustable," I mean two things: 1. lighting and 2. angle.
[...]
The angle is too high for me.  I usually see only a reflection of the sky in the glossy dial cover.

[Brammofan]

The Brammo dash is, indeed, back lit.
The speedo is analog and easily readable... except when it isn't.  I was riding in this morning and wasn't having a glare problem until I turned on an east-west street and the sun was right behind me, shining over my shoulder, directly on the speedo.  All I saw was the sun and a reflection of a handsome gear-wearing rider.  It was VERY distracting.

[badamsfx]

So how does this fancy new shifter thingie work? My initial impression was that it automatically shifted but when I went back and read the press release they never really say. If it is automatic there wouldn't be much point to having a gear indicator. Riding an ICE bike I only need a gear indicator to let me know when I get to the highest gear. Other than that I shift based on rpm/engine whine.

[FreepZ]

The shifter is going to be manual, and will include a clutch on the left hand. The idea was to make the experience similar to a regular six speed bike.

I suppose a gear indicator might be useful, but what I would really like to see is some kind of efficiency indicator to help me figure out what gear I should be in. The most fuel efficient way to use an ICE is to keep the revs as low as possible without stalling. Electric motors are most efficient at about 70% max RPMs, but there may be other factors that make it more efficient at different RPMs. Since the two motor types are so different, my experience with ICE may not be much help understanding how to ride efficiently, which is where the efficiency indicator would help.

[badamsfx]

Electric motors are most efficient at about 70% max RPMs, but there may be other factors that make it more efficient at different RPMs. Since the two motor types are so different, my experience with ICE may not be much help understanding how to ride efficiently, which is where the efficiency indicator would help.

I guess this is why I figured the shifter might be automatic because they could calculate the most efficient points at which to shift. I will say that I'm not in favor of automatics because there are times you want to rev faster or slower for some reason or other. I would never get a Yamaha FJR AE or the Honda VFR automatic for those reasons.