Gauging the Ghost...

I love gauges.
And I mean those automotive gauges that local ricer-boys love to install on their dashboards. But to me, the guages installed has to be meaningful to the type of car, or motorbike for that matter.
I mean, a boost gauge on a normal sedan car without a supercharger installed will look out of place.

For the Ghost, I was thinking vacuum gauges. 4 of them.....


You must be thinking I'm mad, right?
But there is a use for it. You see, all the while on my TL1000R, 90% of the mods I do on it has to either help with the performance or help me monitor what's up with the bike. I rigged a Dealer Mode switch to the Suzuki EFI system to troubleshoot EFI code and had the switch permanently installed on the dashboard so I don't have to stop the bike and take off the rear seat (Gixxer & TL riders will know what I'm talking about). I learnt, by myself on the Internet, to solder and assemble small IC boards and LED setups so that I could install an LED warning system to my modified spark plug wiring.
So, its been my philosophy that mods should have at least 40% usefulness in addition to the aesthetic factor.

Back to the gauges. The Ghost works with 4 intake channels, as with most in-line fours. Whether is EFI or carb technology, the premise is always that the 4 intakes need to be balanced, or in sync. Imbalance intakes mean poor performance in terms of power, acceleration or even problems like funny or dying idling. Bike need constant balancing of the carbs, something I used to DIY with my own built oil manometer (another DIY success story).
To cut short, with 4 vacuum gauges installed and attached to the intakes, I'll be easier to monitor the Ghost's intake performance and will help out a lot when balancing needs to be done. On the aesthetic front, I just love the look of 4 gauges rising up and down everytime you accelerate hard or clutch in. Gives it the tricked out performance look.

Yes, I will admit it. It does make me look like a sad poser. But a poser with a correct purpose... :)