Gear Indicator

[Kev250R]

Since it seems to fit the topic at hand, here's my favorite 'Newbie learning to shift story'...

A few years ago I took a girl I was dating at the time to the desert to ride Quads. She had never ridden before so I put her on my Honda 250ex which has the ability to shift the same way the CT does. This girl was not a gear head in the least (gee, I wonder why it didn't last LOL) but was willing to give it a try. I gave her (probably too much) instruction, she practiced around the camp and I decided she was ready for a longer ride to a sand hill everyone liked to climb.

She seemed to do fine on the ride there, staying-up with the rest of the group. When we got to our destination I asked her how it was going and she said fine, she just knows it's time to shift when she hears the engine making that high-pitched noise. A friend commented that it was cool that Honda included a shift-buzzer to tell new riders when to shift. I told them both they didn't.

To this day I have no idea what she was hearing (maybe the valve's floating?) I've tried and have never been able to duplicate it.

 

[oldskool]

Since it seems to fit the topic at hand, here's my favorite 'Newbie learning to shift story'...

A few years ago I took a girl I was dating at the time to the desert to ride Quads. She had never ridden before so I put her on my Honda 250ex which has the ability to shift the same way the CT does. This girl was not a gear head in the least (gee, I wonder why it didn't last LOL) but was willing to give it a try. I gave her (probably too much) instruction, she practiced around the camp and I decided she was ready for a longer ride to a sand hill everyone liked to climb.

She seemed to do fine on the ride there, staying-up with the rest of the group. When we got to our destination I asked her how it was going and she said fine, she just knows it's time to shift when she hears the engine making that high-pitched noise. A friend commented that it was cool that Honda included a shift-buzzer to tell new riders when to shift. I told them both they didn't.

To this day I have no idea what she was hearing (maybe the valve's floating?) I've tried and have never been able to duplicate it.

Women generally have not subjected their ears to the abuse men have. They more often than not can hear better than men, especially in the higher frequencies.

 

[m in sc]

funny anecdote. saturday angie and i were going to cars and coffee, she rode her super cub, i was on my 72 R5 (has chambers, its not quiet) and i was leading by her preference. she mentioned she didnt know when to shift at the beginning of the ride because she couldn't hear the motor on her bike. She's been riding 2 years, and even she got used to it within 10 minutes.

 

[Just_Jack]

I spent about an hour cruising around downtown Berkeley and figured out the downshifting pretty well thanks to some of the comments on this forum (don’t do it until you’re going reeeeeally slow) but I had a couple times where I forgot what gear I was in and had the engine make a LOT of noise but not supply any power when I was coming off a stop. Which I think means I was in too low of a gear? Not totally sure, and really need to take an MC safety course and get my M1 license ASAP.

Other than my difficulty with the shifting she runs GREAT. Plenty of power for around town, easy to maneuver, cruises easily in the mid-40s and keeps up with city traffic well.

————————
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure those couple of noisy underpowered moments happened before I understood the correct ranges for downshifting so I bet I just downshifted way too soon.

 

[SneakyDingo]

I had a couple times where I forgot what gear I was in and had the engine make a LOT of noise but not supply any power when I was coming off a stop. Which I think means I was in too low of a gear? Not totally sure.

At a conceptual level, you're in 4th gear and you should be in 1st. It's especially exciting when you do it on an uphill and momentarily forget which direction to shift to get to 1st.

 

[Baytown]

My Takegawa replacement gauge. I love it as it has a gear indicator and a shift light, as well as a heap of other information inc temp, fuel, etc etc.

 

[m in sc]

thats a nice looking gauge, way better than the koso units.

 

[Kev250R]

I agree, that's about the nicest-looking aftermarket gauge cluster that I've seen for these bikes. That is one I would consider getting for my Trail.

 

[SneakyDingo]

I bet it isn't made out of the world's softest plastic either, like the OPMID clusters.

 

[m in sc]

yeah most aftermarket gauges, including the opmid and a lot of koso, trailtech, etc, ones look like pinball machines and just cheap quality for what you pay. that takegawa one looks like oem units I've seen on other bikes.

 

[TeamTrail]

Love it. I might do it in the Spring. I was content with the stock but seeing this does make me pause to consider.

 

[mgg]

At a conceptual level, you're in 4th gear and you should be in 1st. It's especially exciting when you do it on an uphill and momentarily forget which direction to shift to get to 1st.

This has happened to me a couple times but mostly if I have to make a quick stop because a light turns yellow/red just before I get there and I've been crusing for a while. I forget to down shift because I am so use to riding twist and go scooters which I owned for about 15 years before I switched to motorcycles. Then I either kill the bike or take off way slow. I think if I had one of those Indicators I would immidiatly know what was going on. ( I had one on my Indian Challenger and it helped.)

Just purchased a 23 trail 125 and will be picking it up in 2 weeks. Would like to have a gear indicator. I just don't need all the functioallity of the Takegawa. Nor do I want to hassle with the complex linstallation. So I will be following this thread until I come up with something.

 

[quinnsd13]

This has happened to me a couple times but mostly if I have to make a quick stop because a light turns yellow/red just before I get there and I've been crusing for a while. I forget to down shift because I am so use to riding twist and go scooters which I owned for about 15 years before I switched to motorcycles. Then I either kill the bike or take off way slow. I think if I had one of those Indicators I would immidiatly know what was going on. ( I had one on my Indian Challenger and it helped.)

Just purchased a 23 trail 125 and will be picking it up in 2 weeks. Would like to have a gear indicator. I just don't need all the functioallity of the Takegawa. Nor do I want to hassle with the complex linstallation. So I will be following this thread until I come up with something.

As it's my first bike, I really struggled with the same situation. I tried purchasing a stand-alone indicator from taiwan off ebay, got the display without the sensor... Seller said they'd send the sensor and never did. While waiting (and basically giving up) I just kept at the practice by mentally counting up and down as I go. It helped over the last couple hundred miles, but I still screw up sometimes. I'd love to get something like the Takegawa cluster one day.

 

[mgg]

As it's my first bike, I really struggled with the same situation. I tried purchasing a stand-alone indicator from taiwan off ebay, got the display without the sensor... Seller said they'd send the sensor and never did. While waiting (and basically giving up) I just kept at the practice by mentally counting up and down as I go. It helped over the last couple hundred miles, but I still screw up sometimes. I'd love to get something like the Takegawa cluster one day.

That Takegawa does look nice and I thought I might purchase it, even though I did not want to spend or do that much. Now I don't know if that will even work on the 2023.

Edit: I just looked at Takegawa's website and they have a model for the JA65 which is the 2023. Do I bite the bullet?

 

[dmonkey]

It's meant to use their oil drain plug temperature sensor (sold separately), which might be the only difference you'd encounter with the JA65 other than different settings for the different rear sprocket.

 

[richardohtx]

Just got the new weblike shift sensor for 2023 ja65 trail and works like a champ but - its reading backwards - I guess because overseas bikes shift the other way(?) Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this thanks?

 

[mgg]

Just got the new weblike shift sensor for 2023 ja65 trail and works like a champ but - its reading backwards - I guess because overseas bikes shift the other way(?) Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this thanks?

What do you mean the overseas bikes shift the opposite way. Our bikes should shift toe down to downshift and heal down to upshift. So their's shift toe down to upshirt and heal down to downshift?

 

[dmonkey]

What do you mean the overseas bikes shift the opposite way. Our bikes should shift toe down to downshift and heal down to upshift. So their's shift toe down to upshirt and heal down to downshift?

Yes. Non-USA models also shift 4th to Neutral (and Neutral to 4th) from a stop.

Shift pattern Canada

Picked up the trail today. The shift pattern is 4 down, as in toe shift down to go up in gear, 1-2-3-4. The heal shifter changes down 4-3-2-1. Not sure why Canada gets the opposite of the US who are 4 up with the toe up. You would think all of North America would be the same?

hondatrail125.com

 

[m in sc]

is there a stop at neutral or does it rotate all the way thru back to 1st gear? n-1-2-3-4-n-1-2-3-4 etc?

 

[mgg]

Yes. Non-USA models also shift 4th to Neutral (and Neutral to 4th) from a stop.

Shift pattern Canada

Picked up the trail today. The shift pattern is 4 down, as in toe shift down to go up in gear, 1-2-3-4. The heal shifter changes down 4-3-2-1. Not sure why Canada gets the opposite of the US who are 4 up with the toe up. You would think all of North America would be the same?

hondatrail125.com

Wow! That is kinda crazy. I saw someone on the internet talking about how you can shift from 4th to neutral as coming to a stop and thought that was so cool for stop signs and lights. That bums me a little that we can't do that. That opposite shifting is crazy. As far as I know all other US bikes shift with the toe down heal up. Oh well. I will be following this thread as I want a gear indicator for my 2023 which I will be picking up tomorrow. Thanks for all the information.