Tachometers are a fairly common instrument used on many machines, not just motorcycles or cars.

The tachometers purpose is to calculate engine speed based on how fast the engine crankshaft is rotating. This information is given to you as revolutions per minute – RPM.

I have no clue why the VTX doesn’t come standard with a tachometer, every motorcycle should have one, even the VTX. Maybe Honda thought because the VTX is a cruiser, we aren’t trying to find the last bit of performance out of our engine like a sport-bike and we don't care what the engine is up to. Wrong!

Whatever their reason, thanks to the aftermarket we can find several tachometer options to help us determine what's going on underneath the fuel tank.

My choice was the Cyclecraft. It comes mounted in the handlebar top cap with a clock and looks great on the Retro.

The directions are easy to follow and the install is a snap. Remove old top cap, install the Cyclecraft tach and lift your fuel tank to run the pick-up wire to your back coil. You remove the headlight bezel and hook up the hot wire into the headlight wire.

The needle is very responsive, no jittering and it is an amazing help to find and use the torque band.

Reviewed by: Cliff
For the Cyclecraft website, "click here."