Extra gauges

[newmaac]

I would be curious to see how many of you have fitted extra gauges, and what gauges you have chosen.
I am about to make my first bike camping trip.
I ride to work most every day, but never ride more than 30 to 40 minutes at a time. I am a little concerned about knowing what is happening with my engine on a long trip.
I am thinking about fitting an oil cooler, and possibly an oil temp or pressure gauge.
Is there a way to mount an oil pressure sending unit directly to the XS1100 block, or should it be somehow connected to the cooler.
I have an oil temp sender that fits in the forward drain hole, but have yet to buy the actual gauge.

Any input??

[Redbaron]

Oil Pressure gauge

Installed an aftermarket Sun oil pressure gauge in my fairing, just wanted the gauge. What I found after is this: Oil pressure at crank up is great after warm up pressure drops at idle. Concrened of course, I talked to my mechanic, who has 20 years experience with Yamahas, and rode an XS11 for years. He said it only takes a couple of pounds of oil pressure to turn the light off, the bike relies more on quantity of oil, than pressure. After an hour ride I hold about 10 lbs of pressure at idle. I was informed this was fine, due to the above reasoning.
Now the rub, I hate to look over at the gauge and see it is very low but most aftermarket gauges will not register lower than 10 psi with very much accuracy. This is well within limits since the pressure goes up as you open the throttle, but can be disturbing if you are not aware of the volume vs. pressure situation. Older bikes were not set up to hold high oil pressure, like the new water cooled, fuel injected bikes are. If you add a temp sensor you may be surprised how high the temp runs, especially on an air cooled bike. HTH

[webbcraft2150]

I installed a Kuraykin LED voltmeter on my 80G. Kinda pricy but works well and is easy to install. I worry more about low/dead battery more than loosing oil pressure. My daily commute dosen't always let keep the revs up and the LED voltmeter reminds me to.

[strom]

I'd welcome an oil temp and pressure thingies... and a voltage light would suffice.

LP

[Pat Kelly]

I have volt and oil pressure mounted in the fairing. Next time I have the carbs off I'll mount the oil sending unit and 'T' fitting. I'll run both gauge and stock light.
Wind speed indicator would be interesting. Maybe a tilt meter like on some 4 x 4's.

[nashville_bill]

Could you run air/fuel mixture guages? I guess you would need a couple of oxygen sensors in the exhaust.

[skids]

A gravity type tilt meter will not work on a bike when doing the twisties.

Originally posted by Pat Kelly
Maybe a tilt meter like on some 4 x 4's.