Does anybony know what this is? (1st gen. VF750)

I've been searching for a replacement tach needle ever since mine fell off, and eventually determined I would have to buy a whole set of gauges to get it. After searching for months, I noticed something about overseas models... All the Japanese bikes have some red light under all the other warning lights.

It's not on any of the North American or European models I've seen, and I'm wondering what it's for. I have several broken sets of gauges, and all of them have a round groove on the back where the light should go... kinda like a knockout hole on base-model cars.

Here's a picture; it's the best one I could find, yet still not clear enough for me to make out the writing... all I can tell from the photo, is the writing is Japanese; probably Kanji, but definately not Roman.

 

This does not look like mr.Honda put it there.
I think it is some Warning light for some aftermarket stuff that has been put on the bike that those clocks came from.

 

I've seen the same thing on the SOHC forum, only on bikes from Japan. The consensus there is that it lights up when you exceed the speed limit.

 

You would think so (so did I at first), but after seeing a couple more just like it, and many more after that (no JDM bike I've seen was without it), I am pretty sure it's factory. The signs of it easily being added on all the cluster bezels I have also supports this.

Another thing I noticed, is that none of these clusters have that fan switch many people add... maybe Japanese coolant works better.

 

Yeah, I could see that. It would be a real feat of wiring to do that though... the speedometer is driven directly from the wheel by a cable, so adding an electric light that turns on at a certain speed would require more work than a few feet of wire. Is this consensus backed up by actual experience, or just an educated guess?

Maybe I should ask someone with one in Japan?

 

I had the idea of looking at the wiring diagrams I have, but I guess they are all for U.S. bikes... they all have headlights that are always on The JDM models have a three position on/lo/hi switch in place of the two position lo/hi switch we have), and no mention of this red light anywhere. Does anybody here have a wiring diagram for Japanese models, or know where to get one? I know it's just some stupid red light, and is probably useless, but I want one.

 

That is definitely a speed warning, I've personally ridden a vf750, a gsx750 and a vfr750fh with them fitted, from memory they come on at 112 mph or the equivalnt in kph

 

I concur, as it is well known that the Japanese like to think that they are doing something restrictive, when in all reality it's doing nothing. As a good example - the "gentleman's agreement" to not produce cars in excess of 276 horsepower (350+ hp Nissan Skyline R33 V-Spec II, anyone???). Or the 186 mph (302 km/h) cap on motorbike speeds???

Of note - on your original picture, the speedo has markings in white up until 75 km/h (47 mph), it's red/orange past that. Are USDM speedos painted in this fashion, or are they ALL red/orange??? I would think it is safe to assume that the light illuminates once in the "red zone". Remember when the U.S. Government MANDATED that 55 mph had to be specifically marked AND a different color on all US vehicle speedometers?

As far as it being difficult to wire up, I imagine that there is a micro switch on the back of the speedo head that is triggering the light to come on at a certain point.

 

Yeah, all the USDM speedometers I've seen are red, except for 55mph, which is white (55 on mine is just a line, but it's white). Mine also has KPH, which is all white.

 

I would bet money that little red light will come on when the speedo needle hits 76 km/h. Why else would you have the scale in two different colors?

 

My guess is it's an "easy" button. You push it when some idiot with a cell phone crammed in his mouth pulls out in font of you without looking. It allows you to swerve right around the potential accident and thread the needle thru on comming traffic without risk of harm...

 

LOL! Or punts them off the road into some bushes with a mechanical arm... lol.

 

You should see my mirror collection.

Some people honk, some yell, some people even kick... I take trophies!:biggrin:

 

Shift light...

 

Finally got some pics of my cluster, had to dig it out of its cozy hiding spot in the garage. Just to illustrate that I was wrong, and there is a white tick mark for 55mph. heh!

 

That's a nice set of gauges. Why does your tach go all the way up to 14K? mine only goes to 11.

 

Those are the original guages from my '83 project!

The last printed digit is 11, but there are two extra tick where there could be a 12 and 13... over-rev zone?

 

I think the letters are bigger too. These are my gauges here... close, but different.