Ducati Monster Forum

Just installed the x-type gear indicator by Heal tech.  I installed the unit on the right portion of the speedometer; right under "120"mph.  They say red is the most easy color to view in sunlight and they say that blue and another color are not too good in sunlight.  I got white.  Its kind of a LED white though so kind of blue hue.  Anyways,  in sunlight you can see enough to make out what gear your in but I wish it was a tad brighter so I could see it better.  

Having a gear indicator helps me avoid shifting up in 6th.  Also its just nice to know what gear your in all the time.  Where it really helps though is in the canyons.  If you have a hard time remembering what gear your in this will do the trick.  Should have came w/ the bike.  From what I understand even the 1198s don't have this.  Installation is pretty easy.  Hardest part for me was locating a switched lead wire to tap into.  I decided to tap the brown wire which goes to the fuel pump and it worked out.  

Got mine from here:     http://calsportbike.com/gipro-ds/ (http://calsportbike.com/gipro-ds/)

my 99 monster 900 didnt even have a tach and you're complaining about not having a gear indicator ;)

but i did notice today i forgot what gear i was in in the town areas. I just used a bit of throttle to get out of the low revs and had no issues. Suppose an inline four would need this type of feature more than our twins

 Yeah maybe, still, I find that it helps me out and I am happy I got it.  [moto]

Thanks for the review

gotta say i think its a great idea ..so many times i hammer down to quick ...and hmmmm am i in 2nd ? or 3rd ..crap 2nd now i just hit 1st

i think this will be a winter mod for me

TTIUWP!

Oh, man I knew someone was going to put me on the spot like that.  Sorry dude but I don't have a camera at the moment.  The unit is a tiny bit taller than a quarter (25c) and a tiny bit less in width.  However big you think it is, its a bit smaller than that.  So if you are worried about it being small don't worry it is. Hopefully I will not get bashed any further for not having a pic like a pregnant dog.  

Btw, just fyi you can also get one made by Accumen and there's another made by Starlane, but I found for me the Healtech one was the best in terms of style and value.  There are also some Italian ones but they aren't nicer IMHO.  

I'm not knocking you for getting one. just commenting in general.

So:

1) How does the shift light feature notify the rider?
2) How do you set the shift point if there are no buttons?

I think it's a number gear indicator, not a shift light he's added

my bad

so good question

programmable shift light and highspeed warning?

"The all new GIpro-DS from HealTech Electronics is a unique Gear Position Indicator."

my first bike suzuki GS250FWS had a gear indicator from factory

 [laugh]  This Ducati is the first bike I had with a working(accurate) tach.  It was a joy just to have that. 
The inline fours definitely benefit more from a gear indicator.  I would get one for my Monster but the plug n' play indicator won't work with it.

Yeah it just indicates what gear your in.  You program it by basically going through all the gears.  It has a "shift light" and a high speed warning indicator which can be programed into it but I didn't do that.  It has a two year warranty.  Basically for me I just like to have a point of reference in the straight aways.  In other words I like to know exactly what gear I am in before the turn comes.  If you find it easy to keep track of what gear you are in all the time then you don't need this.  For me I like to dedicate 100% of my attention to the turn and I find that knowing what gear I am gives me that much more confidence through the turns. If anyone has the same bike as me and you need help installing just pm me.  The hardest part is taping into a wire.

so you got the white

ok but ehhhh if you had it to do again would you still pick white or another colour ?

Good question.  I personally would pic white cuz I really care about the way things look or the aesthetics.  If you are funtion over form type then get red.  I mean, you could make it out; not THAT bad.

I've had an SP Electronics one for almost a year, it's on the blink at the moment and after riding 1300k's
in two days over the weekend I really miss not having it.

How does it mount?

If it's there, why wouldn't you use or at least try these features?

i had an older over 3 years ago GIPRO on my suzuki m109r and it connected in line to the gear sensor and i still had issues with it not recognizing a shift i had higher expectations of it and was kind of dissapointed. it was off a gear maybe 25% of the time.
just my experience.

Yeah there is a lag (less then a second).  But I think thats how they all are.  There is double sided adhesive pad on the back of the unit.  you peel it off and it sticks.  It also comes adhesive that you can put on the side of the unit if thats where you wish for it to be attached.  I eventually will try the shift light feature I guess but I never fully understood the benefits of a shift light and I got this unit for the gear indicator primarily. The shift light is not a separate light.  It just flashes a "U" i think. 

Let us know how that works out. 

I personaly have more use for a shift light, but getting a gear indicator also would be more of a bonus to me.

The only issue I see with it is that once I used it, it would be a must have from that point on.  Kind of like DVR.  Once you can pause and rewind live TV, you can't go back. 

You have just about talked me into getting one though.  Seems like a cool feature to have. 

Can it be set up for a reverse shift pattern?

Shouldn't matter as it just reads wheel speed and engine speed to determine/calculate what gear is engauged.

"The only issue I see with it is that once I used it, it would be a must have from that point on."

This is true.  I had one on my car saw and how nice it was; that was why I got one on the bike.  Like many of the finer things in life, you cant really recognize the benefit of it until you actually have it.  Why do yo think it would be an "issue"?  Is an issue a bad thing?  

Don't know about a reverse shift light feature.  I don't recall reading anything about that in the manual.  Try contacting the people from the place I got it (there is a link to the website in original post).  They will know.  

Oh, and CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO USE THE QUOTE FEATURE CORRECTLY???  For some reason if I press quote icon it quotes everything.  

Click on quote, keep everything or delete what you don't want.

You know, I keep reading through this and still not finding any pictures.... what gives?   ;)

My first bike had it (Suzuki GS550E), and yeah, I miss it.  It was really nice to have...now I find myself counting gears in my head. 

cheap gear indicator

http://shop.ebay.com.au/sbshkchina/m.html (http://shop.ebay.com.au/sbshkchina/m.html)

It's nice to hear that others have this problem.  i thought it was just my inexperience. I ride in traffic a lot and sometimes decellerating can't remember/tell if i am in 3rd or 2nd.

I actually scared the piss out of my self this summer, trying to shift from 6th to 7th [bang].  Let the clutch out with the revs too high. I had 15 minutes crusing down the highway reminding myself that little mistakes at 90 mph on a motorcycle can have big consequences.

Hmm.. that one is ingeniously simple.  But... where you gonna screw the 2 reed switches?
(http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/2083/iswyswietlacznowy3.jpg)

Who makes gear indicators for the older Monsters?
2005 models?

Just got mine in the mail, I got the green one, will post reviews after I ride the bike. Instructions are a little vague, I read them a few times to get it! Pretty much pull out the fuse box on the right hand of the bike, after routing your wires through the frame and finding the red/Blk wire on the back of the fuse box, using given splice, insert the open end of the splice onto the red/blk wire close the two stage splice and then after determining the length of the GIPRO Red wire, insert that into the cup on the splice and put the "U" metal in so it can make the electrical connection and press down with pliers so you break the shielding, close off the rest of the splice. Go ride and shift through the gears so it learns.

So, installation easy! I just had issues because I had to remove my Magical racing screen!  I routed the wiring through the frame, made it neat with supplied zaps and left myself enough to reach the instrument cluster and checked for interference lock to lock. Once that was done, I put some di-electric grease into the connector and hooked it up under the seat into the test port. found the Red/Blk wire on the back of the fuse box, sliced it in with given splice, turned on the ignition and it scrolled thru the gears backwards and the "L" started flashing. I started up the bike, let it warm up and it started to flash 1 rapidly, I put it into first and we went for a ride, it will prompt you for the next gear by actually flashing that gear and then it learns it until you gt to the top gear and an "O" will appear, telling you it has finished learning!! After that, all the shifts were right on once fully engaged!! I have the green one, rode at night with it, it is slightly lime colour so it doesn't confuse with whether you left your signal on or are in neutral(those are the green colours on the cluster). Happy so far, oh I installed mine on the right hand side of the cluster again to keep it away from the other green(neutral and signals).

UPDATE: Daytime vis is awesome! It is working good so far good timing on gear shifts(as in no delay that I can see)!

Duc796canada...where did you get yours from ?

The original posted site or E-Bay

Thanks

I got mine from XperTechSportbike Accessories Inc based out of Ontario Canada. www.XTSportbikeAccessories.com (http://). If you ever need help installing, I can send you a detailed write up, it is really easy :)

Thanks , appreciate that and the link

I have one on my gixxer track bike. Very handy to organize your timing points for down shifting to the best gear for each corner. It has a timing retard eliminator built in for Suzukis. Very useful for track days.
Would I put one on the Monster? Not really, but it will pretty up the instruments. If it suits the mind set you have as a rider and resolves riding/saftey issues, then fair enough. There is something very satisfying about pretty instruments. The DP LED taco for carbed Monsters comes to mind.
I think a shift light function is very useful if your model has it.