Tach on an Intruder VS 800?

[Texas Jay]

I found a company that sells a "Baron" 1 1/2" tach for $205. It looks good, but I've got some questions:

1) Is Baron a reliable manufacturer?

2) The Intruder's handlebars are *not* straight; they're curved & pulled back (I'm not sure what the proper term is for that style). How does a tach mount on CURVED handlebars? It look like the mounting hardware requires straight handlebars. The company says these tachs mount on Intruders all the time. I want to believe them, but ...
3) Are the faces on most tachs adjustable? If the tach has to be mounted at an angle (because of the curved handlebars), I don't want the face of the tach to be sideways.

4) I believe the tach connects to the engine coil (?) according to the company, and it is backlit. Are these tachs usually easy to install? I suppose I could always have the dealer install it if I have a problem.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[DrBob]

Yes, Baron makes a good tach. It looks good too, and you can get a black face with white letters or white face with black letters to match your speedo. Cheeper tachs like the Custom Chrome one suffer from lag and accuracy problems.

The bars on your Intruder are commonly called ‘buckhorn’ style bars. To mount the tach, all you need is a one-inch long stretch of handlebar without a curve in it, such as from the riser to the up-curve, or somewhere between the up-curve and the top curve by the master cylinders.

Yes, most tachs, including Baron’s billet tachs, have a setscrew you can loosen to rotate the face to whatever angle you want. Some people like it to be level, while racers like to mount the tach so the redline is straight up and down so they don't really have to watch it. Some folks like to mount it with the desired shift point straight up and down...

The tach has one wire that attaches to an engine coil, a ground wire, and another wire that attached to a power feed such as the headlight (when you open up the headlight bezel, there should be an empty but live plug you can tap into). Installation usually takes about an hour, and only requires that you take off the seat, and open up the headlight bezel. Make sure you get the screws good and tight on the headlight bezel, and bend the mounting tab back into place (it will bend a little when you take it off) or the headlight will rattle. A little silicine sealer around the ring will eliminate the rattle when it eventually pops up (one of the few problems with Intruders).

By the way, you want the 1-inch Baron tach, not the 1.5 inch. They are talking about the size of the mount for the handlebars, not the face of the tach, which is 3.5 inches. Unless they changed it for 2004 you have one-inch diameter bars. Check with a ruler before you order. Also, see it you need an adapter for a single fire ignition, as many tachs are wired to work with a Harley-style dual fire ignition and will read at twice the actual RPM without the adapter.

Cruisercustomizing.com has Baron 1-inch mount tachs on sale for $176 with free shipping. For about $260 they also offer a slick little mini tach, the mount of which is a chrome cover for your clutch or brake master cylinder.

[Texas Jay]

DrBob,

Wow. I'm going to print that response. It gives me all that I need to know. It sounds like you've done this before.

Thanks!

[DrBob]

Ah yes...I've picked up a thing ot two: been riding for 20 years, and have owned an Intruder (now two of them) since 1996.
I was thinking about getting two of the master cylinder cover tachs, and then gutting one to install an oil pressure guage in it...