[bblost]

Originally Posted by blue_pulsar

I too agree that Tacho should be there. An extremely useful gadget. You guys need to get used to changing gears by looking at the tacho. Well, not everytime, but sometimes atleast. And its a cool thing to have!

But cars not having tachos is a shame. Even Nano should have it. Even the A-star VXi doesn't have it. Shame!

Brother no offence meant but once you are used to an engine, you know when to change the gears.
Heck, I once rode my bike close to 35 kms in peak traffic with a busted clutch cable.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by bblost

Brother no offence meant but once you are used to an engine, you know when to change the gears.

Amen. Yes infact you listen to the engine and shift...unless you have a shift light.

Tacho is a tool. If youlook at it and shift you won't be able to concentrate on the road ahead. That's what the shift light is for.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by dkamath

On asking the Service Advisor on how would they set the idle speed, he said it was by hearing the engine noise.

I am sure there is equipment available for service personnel to set engine idling speed, without requiring a tacho in the car being tuned or worse to do it by listening to engine noise. I remember my mechanic friend using one many years ago - don't know the name though.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

There are more than one facility provided by Tachometer. Specially during running in period it helps infinitely and when we have the super smooth honda or Suzuki engines, we have to look at the tacho during running in.

Are you suggesting that proper running-in is not happening in cars without tachometers ? If so, I would guess atleast 50% of cars in India would be badly run-in. BTW, in the car manual, most manufacturers mention speeds for running-in period and not rpms. So, a speedometer would be more than enough for a proper run-in.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

other benefits are during raniy season when we have to clear water logged roads. Yes its possible to do without it also, but you save a few critical seconds mostly if you have a look at it.

When you are attempting to clear a water-logged road, the only thing to know is to be in the lowest possible gear with enough pressure on the A-pedal so that engine does not stall. You don't need a tacho for that.

[cfnamic]

IMO tachometer can be used for a lot of work. If there is no use for that the designers would never bother about putting that in the bike/car. Shifting gears should be purely based on the speed, vehicle feel and engine sound. nevertheless each engine behaves uniquely. But it is neither 100% necessary nor should it be banned.

Tacho is a tool. If youlook at it and shift you won't be able to concentrate on the road ahead. That's what the shift light is for.

amen to that. I use this to check for throttle response.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

1) Are you suggesting that proper running-in is not happening in cars without tachometers ? If so, I would guess atleast 50% of cars in India would be badly run-in. BTW, in the car manual, most manufacturers mention speeds for running-in period and not rpms. So, a speedometer would be more than enough for a proper run-in.

2) When you are attempting to clear a water-logged road, the only thing to know is to be in the lowest possible gear with enough pressure on the A-pedal so that engine does not stall. You don't need a tacho for that.

1) Not exactly, but the tacho can act as a good reference most of the times. Can be useful if one knows how to use it in positive way.

2) Well, I think depends upon the load. For example I am in second gear and trying to clear the road, then may be if rpm hits 6K, then I have to shift down rather than going on with 8K in second gear. And always having a lower gear is not necessary. Here again the tacho help to get into the correct gear.

These are my opinions, and I have used the tacho in this manner. No offense meant to anyone.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

1) Not exactly, but the tacho can act as a good reference most of the times. Can be useful if one knows how to use it in positive way.

2) Well, I think depends upon the load. For example I am in second gear and trying to clear the road, then may be if rpm hits 6K, then I have to shift down rather than going on with 8K in second gear. And always having a lower gear is not necessary. Here again the tacho help to get into the correct gear.

These are my opinions, and I have used the tacho in this manner. No offense meant to anyone.

yes aaggoswami, I too have similar pleasant memories of the use of tachos in two and four wheelers.It is a tool to aid our driving and nothing else.

[Xeno]

I too agree that Tacho should be there. An extremely useful gadget. You guys need to get used to changing gears by looking at the tacho. Well, not everytime, but sometimes atleast. And its a cool thing to have!

I think any experienced biker would tell you that a rpm meter is not necessary to change a gear, nor is it to optimise it. you get accustomed to your bike and you usually find the sweet spots to shift only technical use i see for it is to set the idle rpm, which is 1400 +/- 100 in the manual of my cbz-xtreme

Mostly I ride the bike looking at tacho and not speedo.

I look at none , simple. its like far too dangerous. you are supposed to look at the road. the legs and hands do the job automatically with the feel. that's how its supposed to be.

For example my Zeus will be doing 12.8 kmph per 1000 rpm in 5th gear. So accordingly if at 3k rpm if the speedo is not near the 40 kmph mark and nearer to 35, I can detect problem early.

first of all the info is wrong, you're just taking the average. the torque curve in any bike is not at all linear. And if there's such a problem it only means the clutch is slipping and that you'll anyway find out when you start the bike and engage the 1st gear and then move away. your engine would feel revving much more.

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by bblost

Brother no offence meant but once you are used to an engine, you know when to change the gears.
Heck, I once rode my bike close to 35 kms in peak traffic with a busted clutch cable.

No, I didn't mean every time. But it really helps when you want to save fuel etc. IMO, you can change gears without over-revving the engine and save fuel. One more thing, as aaggoswami pointed out. It helps in running in.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by Xeno

1) I look at none , simple. its like far too dangerous. you are supposed to look at the road. the legs and hands do the job automatically with the feel. that's how its supposed to be.

2) first of all the info is wrong, you're just taking the average. the torque curve in any bike is not at all linear. And if there's such a problem it only means the clutch is slipping and that you'll anyway find out when you start the bike and engage the 1st gear and then move away. your engine would feel revving much more.

1) Hands and legs do the job automatically, it comes into reactions whether its car or bike, agreed, but mostly it helps when I am trying to drive in economy mode. Again its just a tool to help us out, if one is really interested in one. Riding without one is possible, but some prefer to have this.

2) Can you elaborate more on the word " Average " ? Clutch slipping in initial stages cannot be exactly discovered when moving away. For example when I start moving, I have uneven surface ( I always have them in front of my house ) then I may have to pile up a couple of hundreds of more revvs. But on open stretch, you get the hint before judgment does. This is the for me, not applicable to all.

Its also fun to see the tacho climbing to around 9K rpm. Also one can discover the power band better by looking at the rpm where the engine is most responsive. For Zeus, its 3.5K to 7K rpm, and after 7.5 K rpm, there is not much point is taking it to 8-9K rpm.

[simkuriakose]

I do not want to offend any one's comment. But I really feel like tachometer is an absolute necessary for whether its a bike or a car.
In my car, I have the tachometer fitted and looking at the tacho helps me to shift the gears in right time allowing me to have a comfy ride. I can stay within a particular RPM range, this is very important during the run in period.
I was never distracted or lost attention to road because I was looking at my tacho.
My bike is a FI version of Glamour. I have no idea if I could get one installed. If I could I would. But I am not saying that its impossible to ride a bike/car without a tacho but it definitely helps to make your ride better and smooth and most importantly a better control over engine.

[Ajaybiz]

All my bikes are having techo and i go with the feel of bikes engine, accelration, required torque but sometimes I need the reading specially during highway blasts as few bikes in my garage can do 3 digit speed in 3rd gear and at that speed i cant make it out the engine thing and just to avoid continious ride on red line i prefer tacho reading, its good to have when it comes to performace bikes for 100-125 cc commuter bikes its extra cost wise.

[Rennjit]

yawn...sleepy thread

Tacho or buttco, it all depends on engine nature. On the Zma i see myself glancing more at tacho for easy ride or hard ride, that engine doesn't really say what its doing. When i once hooked up a tacho to an iron barrel enfield, it was like never bothered again. Buttco was good enough!

cheers..

[anuragn]

As they say in marketing jargon tacho is a "good to have" feature. But not indispensable.
I think that as we are becoming more and more dependent on technology (its not a bad thing, I am an engineer too), we tend to focus more on the Science part and forget about the Art part. Its more of an art to be able to change gears just by listening to engine sound, just like a musician is able to tune his/her instruments without the use of any scope or spectrum analysers. And same applies to a trained mechanic who is able to tune an engine idling just by listening. This reminds me of my father who always tunes his Bajaj Chetak, of course by listening and is always able to extract more than 50kmpl in city traffic.