A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

A couple of threads on here recently have reminded me that I meant to do a quick review of the 2 digital speedometers I have on my TTRs.

My OE 325 had an engine transplant that didn't have a speedo drive on the output sprocket so I went for a Trail Tech Endurance II. This is the smallest of the Trail Techs - no idiot lights, rev counter or other whizzbangs like temperature or gear indicators. I initially used the ttr idiot light cluster, but later made my own and it looks like this:

It reads the speed from a simple sensor attached to the forks which counts the wheel revolutions via a magnetic headed brake disc bolt:

The other bike (the black one) has the smallest available Koso digital gauge, which in addition to the basic features of the TT, has idiot lights incorporated:

Although most of the larger Koso speedos seem to use a similar pickup to the Trail Tech, the smallest one uses a live sensor like an abs sensor and this was much more fiddly to fit. I ended up shaping the bottom lug of the brake caliper mount with a burr (like a really good Dremmel tool) and drill and tap a thread to make a clamp:

This again reads off a magnetic brake disc bolt.

Whilst it looks a bit more vulnerable, my brother hasn't knocked it off yet!

Both speedos work perfectly well at their job of telling you the speed. The TT did some funny readings when first fitted but settled down ok. May have been to do with the connections - the wires are really thin on both speedos. If you've been paying attention, the Koso started playing up in cold weather - switching itself on in subzero temperatures in my garage. I finally traced this to a faulty ignition switch! Nothing to do with the speedo, and it actually helped me spot a problem I might not have noticed otherwise (saw the backlight glowing in the dark one night)

Both are similarly priced (at least here in the UK) and well matched. The Koso loses in the final round though because of the fiddly sensor mounting, and although it has lights for the neutral, mainbeam and indicators, they are not bright enough/large enough to see in daylight. Maybe the larger models are brighter? I just wanted to fit the smallest most discrete speedo I could find. The bike now has an audible indicator buzzer a la TTRFan's mod.

Anybody used any of the other electronic speedos available? I'm interested in your findings.

Ride safe all (and don't spend too long looking down!)

Simon.