My 1987 CBR600F Hurricane came with a busted gauge cluster, attached to a bent fairing subframe. Not wanting to replace that mess or have a big bulky front end, I began researching different options. Those ranged from a Trail Tech Vapor, Acewell "Cafe" style gauge, or go high tech and use an Android phone.
This being a severely limited budget project, I opted for the high tech / low life option. When I changed my XJ600 to a naked style bike, back in 2015, I used my Android phone as my speedometer running the Ulysse Android App. It performed really well but I eventually installed a "cafe" style speedo.
To start this project, I had to make a template to fit the ignition space, then cut that from sheet steel. I added a "tab" at the top to house my warning lights.
Rough plate getting cleaned up.
Plotting the holes.
One issue quickly became apparent was how bright these LEDs were. I knew they would be blinding at night, so I had to come up with a solution. The gauge I installed on my XJ600 was so bright at night that it caused a glare within my helmet where I could see my own eyes while riding in dark areas. I thought about wiring in some photoresistors to control the brightness of the warning lights based off the ambient light. While a cool idea, I didn't want to add that level of complexity to the build. So, I came up with the idea of using hot glue to diffuse the light. It works pretty well but the bright and neutral lights are still going to be very bright. I may add an inline resistor later.
LEDs and mounts. Cheaper to buy in bulk!
Stock vs diffused
Helping hands!
Custom!
Back to the dash plate, to mount my phone, a rugged and waterproof Kyocera, I bought a universal RAM cell mount. The fit is perfect! On the backside of the plate, I added a Trackside USB outlet. Unfortunately, I planned the mounting holes in the wrong spot, so I needed to raise the RAM mount.
Sidenote: I rarely throw away little bits and pieces that I think will be useful one day. Today that paid off! These came from a wooden mechanical claw my kids made. They broke it, so I a scrapped all the hardware from it. The little orange spacers were perfect!
Never throw stuff like this away!
Label everything, you'll be glad you did.
Ulysse app, ready to go!
I'll post a follow up review on the app itself once I've had a chance to put some serious miles on it in a real world setting. For now, I really dig the whole set up. The warning lights for the signals aren't wired yet, as it needs a diode kit to stop power bleed over from using 2 signal feeds into one LED indicator. I'll add those details once it's done.
