Marlin's Instrument a ( no better) alternative to Formotion, at least on a Moto Guzzi....

[p6x]

Foreword:

I initially purchased and installed one clock and one thermometer from the Formotion brand. Twice one of the instrument sheared from its brackets. Formotion replaced it free of charge, but when it happened a second time this year in 2023, I came to the conclusion the way the dial is attached to the bracket is too flimsy.

I have now installed Marlin's instruments which link is provided herewith. They have several clocks and thermometer faces, I chose white background.

Hopefully, they will stay on my Le Mans longer this time. I will let you know if we get any casualty.

Photo 1: Formotion Instruments

 

Photo 2: details of the sheared clock from its mount:

 

I found another company, Marlin's;

The fixation for the instruments is articulated, and seems a lot more sturdy than Formotion. You can replace the battery in the clock, it is your typical button one. The instruments glow in the dark.

Here's how it looks:

Photo 3: Marlin's Instruments

 

Photo 4: The holding bracket is articulated you can swivel and tilt the dial, and the clock can be rotated for better view;

 

Photo 5: left hand side.

 

Photo 6: clock details

 

Photo 7: Thermometer details... yes, it is still hot in Texas.... 93F

 

[p6x]

Lol, less than a 1/4 mile out riding and the thermometer pointer was revolving like that of a stop watch....

The clock held up..... so far

[Lucky Phil]

Too small to read these. The are fine sitting on the parked bike but when you're riding they are too small to read at a glance. and a glance is all you should need.

My RE650 has this fitted and it's the same issue. It's not that you can't read them while riding it's just they aren't a "glance and read" proposition unlike the Formotion fitted to the Guzzi.

Digital are probably the best on a bike.

 

Phil

[audiomick]

1 hour ago, Lucky Phil said:

Digital are probably the best on a bike.

Hmmm, I reckon that is an eminently debatable question. An analogue clock, for instance, with clearly differentiated hands, is very easy to read. An analogue temperature gauge, as long as the quick glance is only to see if you are in the "normal" range and not the precise temperature, is also very easy to read. If I remember rightly, the one in the Monaro didn't even have numbers on it, just a blue end and a red end. 

[Lucky Phil]

12 minutes ago, audiomick said:

Hmmm, I reckon that is an eminently debatable question. An analogue clock, for instance, with clearly differentiated hands, is very easy to read. An analogue temperature gauge, as long as the quick glance is only to see if you are in the "normal" range and not the precise temperature, is also very easy to read.

Yea you are right it's debateable. An analogue is better when it's at or over a certain size but when you are talking about compact clocks such as we fit on bikes I'd rather have a digital clock inside the instruments with numerals 5-6mm high or so which is pretty typical. On our country roads which are pretty patchy these days reading the bouncing small dia analogue seems harder than 4 digital numbers to me. It's about the size of the clock and the conditions. Just about anything's fine to read in a car but on a bike on our roads, not so much. Freeways are probably ok but I just drove from Melbourne to Brisbane last week and the Hume to Sydney was totally strewn with road kill. I've done that trip a lot over the last 20 years and I'd say i came across at least 300 different road kills on the trip. So bad you couldn't afford to take your eyes off the road for a second. I had to avoid at least 25-30 dead roo's and wombats actually in my lane on that leg of the trip!  What happens when you stop/reduce culling Roos.

 

Phil 

[audiomick]

Wow, that's a lot of dead 'roos. I don't reckon I can remeber ever having seen one on the Hume, or maybe one or perhaps two. And wombats too. On the one hand it is good that the native wildlife is apparently flourishing. On the other, it would be better if they didn't flourish on the freeway.

 

Regarding this:

9 minutes ago, Lucky Phil said:

 It's about the size of the clock and the conditions.

indeed it is. My benchmark is being able to read the clocks at about 150 km/h on an Autobahn with a bit of traffic on it. That really does have to be "at a glance", even in a car.

[audiomick]

Incidentally (or perhaps additionally...) I reckon the difficulty with the white faced Marlin's instruments in p6x's photos is less the size than the fact the they are white faced, and the speedo and tacho are black faced. There is a "mental switch" involved in looking from one to the other that slows down the "quick glance". Regardless of aesthetics, I would keep all the clocks in the same schema, i.e. all white-faced or all black-faced.

[docc]

26 minutes ago, audiomick said:

Incidentally (or perhaps additionally...) I reckon the difficulty with the white faced Marlin's instruments in p6x's photos is less the size than the fact the they are white faced, and the speedo and tacho are black faced. There is a "mental switch" involved in looking from one to the other that slows down the "quick glance". Regardless of aesthetics, I would keep all the clocks in the same schema, i.e. all white-faced or all black-faced.

Interesting. That has been my method when adding a clock, or any instrument. Along with mounting as a "cluster" rather than a "scatter" or a remote location, especially avoiding further from the line-of-sight to the path-of-travel.

I once read (one never knows if these things have any basis in fact) that the trend to convert aircraft cockpits to all digital displays was met with dismay from the pilots claiming the vast array of digital displays were much harder to interpret than "dials."

The method of mounting each analog instrument in an array such that "normal" points all of the needles at (or about) 12:00 has long been used in race cars and hot rods (perhaps aircraft, as well?).  Something I incorporated into my face and range design of the Speedhut on mySport. The goal being fast reading-at-a-glance:

5th gear, 4k rpm/ 100 kph/62 mph: both needles at 11:00 . . .

[Lucky Phil]

1 hour ago, audiomick said:

Wow, that's a lot of dead 'roos. I don't reckon I can remeber ever having seen one on the Hume, or maybe one or perhaps two. And wombats too. On the one hand it is good that the native wildlife is apparently flourishing. On the other, it would be better if they didn't flourish on the freeway.

 

Regarding this:

indeed it is. My benchmark is being able to read the clocks at about 150 km/h on an Autobahn with a bit of traffic on it. That really does have to be "at a glance", even in a car.

I hear they aren't culling as many as they used to do as the USA now is banning Kangaroo skins? Might be rubbish but my FIL mentioned it. The numbers are getting OOC. I live near Kangaroo Ground a fringe suburb of Melbourne which is basically Rural. I've hit a Roo on the Wattle Glen to Kangaroo Ground road a few years ago. It's quite sobering to drive that road now and look into the grazing paddocks and observe 35 or more Roos in a mob hanging about 100 meters away . Hitting one in the car is bad. On the bike it's life threatening at worst and hospital and grave injuries at best.

 

Phil

[docc]

18 minutes ago, Lucky Phil said:

I hear they aren't culling as many as they used to do as the USA now is banning Kangaroo skins? Might be rubbish but my FIL mentioned it. The numbers are getting OOC. I live near Kangaroo Ground a fringe suburb of Melbourne which is basically Rural. I've hit a Roo on the Wattle Glen to Kangaroo Ground road a few years ago. It's quite sobering to drive that road now and look into the grazing paddocks and observe 35 or more Roos in a mob hanging about 100 meters away . Hitting one in the car is bad. On the bike it's life threatening at worst and hospital and grave injuries at best.

 

Phil

This sounds exactly like the problem here with white tail deer. I keep telling anyone who rides to donate rifle cartridges to their hunting buddies. The deer are "OOC" and the hunting buddies will share steaks and burger venison. Win-win!

I have never heard if 'roo meat is worthy of the grill . . .

[Speedfrog]

From dial instruments to grilled meat considerations... Great skidding there folks!!       

[docc]

Oh, don't get me going about the whole "Porkchops and Stilettos" thing . . .

[guzzler]

I had a couple of Roo steaks when we were in the Northern Territory recently.

Cooked to perfection and easily best I've ever had....Yum!

 

[Lucky Phil]

3 hours ago, docc said:

This sounds exactly like the problem here with white tail deer. I keep telling anyone who rides to donate rifle cartridges to their hunting buddies. The deer are "OOC" and the hunting buddies will share steaks and burger venison. Win-win!

I have never heard if 'roo meat is worthy of the grill . . .

You used to be able to buy it in the supermarket a while back. It's very dark red, dense meet and high in protein and very low in fat. Strongish flavour.

Used to shoot Roo's years ago and cut the hind quarters off them for the farm dogs to eat for the week. They had to make it last, lol.

 

Phil

[nobleswood]

Is that a Fairbairn Sykes Docc ?