Why do you need a gear indicator? You don't, really. But it is a a nice convenience to be free from remembering your gear all the time. It allows me to enjoy the thrill of the ride a bit more This simple gadget will calculate your gear by comparing your speed to your tachometer pulse. It's sure nice to eliminate those shifts into 7th gear. Also nice when you're pulling a tight corner to know you can shift down to 2, instead of accidentally shifting down to 1, which can really give you a shock if you're not ready for it.
Installation is very simple, shown below. Expect to pay $80 or so. Also, try a search for "Datatool Digigear", or "Acumen Digital Gear Indicator in web sites in the UK. The original site where I bought this in 2004 has since gone defunct. But I can give you a few leads below. Because you don't use ANY of the wires involved with the TRE, nor in any way connected to the Gear Position Sensor, having a TRE mod will not interfere at all with using the Datatool digital gear indicator.
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This should run you about $80. If you can find one for less, it's a bargain.
Check some of the links below to start you out:
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First, take off the windshield. Then remove the speedometer instrument cluster. This is very easy to just pull right off, but removal is easier if you remember to unscrew this pesky little single screw that sits beneath the speedo housing, it's very easy to miss. In this picture I have already removed it, but you can see the hole where it resides.
This picture shows the view while standing at the front of the bike, windshield removed. Now you can just pull the speedo instrument cluster off, in the direction of the yellow arrows. All the action is going to happen at the red dotted circle -- that's where you'll access all the wires need to connect your Datatool Digital Gear indicator.
You can just disconnect the speedo cluster from its plastic electrical connector, so that it is out of your way. Before you start making any wire connections, first cut a hole in the rubber loom of the speedo cable, so that you can insert the cable for the Digigear. You can see the multicolored Digigear wires that I've inserted. In the next photo you'll see how this makes everything accessible for your soldering work.
Now you can pull the rubber loom WAY back, kind of turning it inside-out, so that you have as much of the speedo wiring exposed as possible. You can see the black Digigear cable sticking out now because we inserted it through the loom already. Now you just have to make all your connections. It seems like this should be a 10-minute project, but because of the very small wires, and the cramped workpace it may take an hour. Take your time so that no mistakes are made. And you don't want to accidentally burn some other wires while you're in this small space doing your soldering! Very cramped conditions!
For each of the 5 necessary Suzuki wires, strip about 3/4" of insulation off so that you can make your connections. NONE of the Suzuki wires should be cut through -- these are all "side taps" or "splices" NOT cuts.
For me the easiest way to strip the insulation is just to melt it with a cigarette lighter, then peel it back with my fingernail. It doesn't even matter if you actually burn the insulation off -- it won't hurt the wire underneath.
The wiring connections are straightforward. You'll notice that the speedo wire bundle contains TWO B/W wires. You can choose either one of these for ground, since, in fact, they are eventually connected to eachother. Like all other B/W wires on Suzuki bikes, these two B/W wires are both connected to ground.
The orange wire (from the Digigear) does not get connected to anything. But it must be accessible. Whenever you program or re-program the Digigear, you'll have to ground the orange wire. So I soldered a long extension to it so that I can have easy access to it any time later. You'll need to re-program the Digigear if you change your sprockets. Also if you change your sprockets, you'll have to re-program your Yellow Box.
The final appearance. The unit is mounted with velcro, so you can put it anywhere that is easily visible. It is also completely sealed with epoxy to prevent water penetration.
If you try to follow the instructions to program your Datatool gadget, sometimes it just doesn't seem to want to learn 2nd through 6th gears. It normally should learn each gear in about 2 or 3 seconds. If you find yourself waiting for several minutes without success, then try this solution posted by "Kingy" at Gixxer.com:
“Mine would learn first gear in no time (~3 seconds) and would refuse to learn second. I tried a few different things, such as shutting the ignition off while still in program mode, and I eventually got it fixed by learning first gear, switching to second, then back to neutral, and back to second. By throwing that neutral into the equation, it learned second through sixth in the 3 seconds or so that it took for it to learn first.”
This is really a great gadget. Once you have it, you wonder how you ever rode without it. The price is a little steep, so take a good long look around the web before buying - for sure you should be paying <$100
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