Dakota Digital has been the industry leader in digital instrumentation for many years. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is where you'll find the 10,000-square-foot facility that allows Dakota Digital to manufacture a wide variety of products. Most every aspect of manufacturing is handled in house including the CNC-machining, laser engraving, and of course, the intricate electronics work and engineering.
1. The Dakota Digital HLY-6000...
1. The Dakota Digital HLY-6000 is one of thesmallest multi-gauges anywhere. The guysat Top Shelf Custom Cycles made a great littlebracket to mount it between the risers and handlebarclamps back when they installed the hiddenthrottle assembly.
Dakota Digital offers a vast array of styles and types of instrumentation for both automotive and motorcycle use, everything from small, round, and rectangular individual gauges that you can sink into custom panels to multifunction units like the HLY-6000 (MSRP $645) we chose for our '92 Sportster.
2. After slipping the bracket...
2. After slipping the bracket in between thehalves of the handlebar clamps, the gaugewas in place, and we were ready to start.
The HLY-6000 is 30 percent smaller than anything it had previously offered,measuring only 4-1/2 inches wide by just over 1-1/2 inches tall, which willcomplement the narrow glide frontend of the Sportster perfectly. It's amazingthis small unit can contain so many functions: 199-mph speedometer, odometerand trip meter, 0-8,000 rpm tachometer, oil warning light, high-beam indicator,left and right turn indicators, neutral indicator, even a check engine lightfor fuel-injected bikes. The key to making this unit so small is a separate controlmodule that collects all the data and sends it to the vacuum fluorescentgraphic display that features a new non-glare lens. Dakota Digital also offersmany different mounts to suit most applications. The speedometer works onbikes setup with either a cable or electronic-driven speedo and reads in eithermph or kph. It even offers a sensor that can be mounted on bikes that didn'toriginally have any type of speedo.
Last month, we wired the bike with a complete Centech wiring harness.Knowing that the HLY-6000 would be added, certain wires were included intothe harness to make this job easier. This Sportster originally came with a cable driven speedometer. Dakota offers a sensor that connects to the stock speedodrive. This would have been an easy way to set up the Sportster, but we had other ideas. We picked up a sensor, Dakota Digital model SEN-6019 (MSRP$59.95), which counts the teeth on the output of the transmission pulley as they spin. This sensor would be mounted behind the sprocket cover. In addition to this style sensor, Dakota Digital offers sensors that attach to the rear wheel, as well as billet transmission-mounted sensors.
 3. The key to the instrument's...  3. The key to the instrument's small size isthis control unit. Acting as the brain forthe display, the signals from all the sensorscome into this and are then sent to the display. |  4. As with most motorcycles,...  4. As with most motorcycles, Sportsters don'thave a lot of places to hide things, so wedecided the control unit would just fit where theold stock ignition module lived, next to the battery. |  5. The first connection we...  5. The first connection we made was to plugin the harness that goes directly to the displayunit. This harness comes with plugs installedfor both the control module and the display. |
 6. Connecting all those wires...  6. Connecting all those wires from the moduleto the pre-labeled Centec wires startedwith stripping back the insulation in preparationfor soldering or crimping. |  7. The ground wire was bolted...  7. The ground wire was bolted directly to thebattery's negative terminal. |  8. The wires from the bike's...  8. The wires from the bike's sensors have tobe connected to the control module'sleads. Although you could use crimp-style buttconnectors, we went with solder for a stronger,more durable connection. |
 9. After making the connections,...  9. After making the connections, we shrinkwrappedall of them. This not only makesfor a clean installation, it protects the joints fromthe elements while ensuring that the connectionis well insulated. |  10. Lots of heat-shrink and...  10. Lots of heat-shrink and flame equals abunch of properly insulated connections. |  11. There are quite a few...  11. There are quite a few wires that run to thecontrol module, but once carefully routed,soldered, shrink-wrapped, and tie-wrapped, itended up as a very neat and tidy installation. |
 12. The control module needed...  12. The control module needed power to operate,so the red wire was connected to theignition circuit breaker to feed 12 volts to it wheneverthe bike's ignition switch is in the on position. |  13. This is the Inductive...  13. This is the Inductive Speed Sensor that willsend a signal to drive the speedometer. |  14. The speed sensor comes...  14. The speed sensor comes pre-wired and isdesigned to plug into a lead from the controlmodule. |
 15. With all the numerous...  15. With all the numerous connections made,the control module was finally mounted tothe bike. |  16. All it took to stash the...  16. All it took to stash the control module outof sight was some two-sided tape and alittle bit of trimming on the stock ignition cover. |  17. In order to mount the...  17. In order to mount the speed sensor, therear brake master cylinder needed to beremoved. |
 18. The sprocket cover was...  18. The sprocket cover was next to come off. |  19. After some contemplation,...  19. After some contemplation, it was off to thechop saw to start fabrication of a bracketthat would hold the sensor. |  20. We decided on a mounting...  20. We decided on a mounting location on theframe, then cleaned it up with an airsander to ensure a good sound weld joint. |
 21. After running a quick...  21. After running a quick bead with the TIGwelder, the bracket and frame were one. |  22. The instruction sheet...  22. The instruction sheet called for the sensorto be set no more than 0.125 inches fromthe teeth of the pulley, so we used a feelergauge to ensure the proper gap was set. |  23. With the cover and master...  23. With the cover and master cylinder reinstalledyou can just barely see the sensorbehind them. |
 24. With the wiring complete,...  24. With the wiring complete, we switched onthe power and lit up the brilliant display. Inthis photo you can see the speedo (reading 00),the bar graph and numbers for the tach, the lowoil pressure warning, and the high-beam indicator.The little silver button on the right side is forresetting the trip meter and programming theunit. The HLY-6000 is one more step in transformingwhat was once a stock bike into aclean-looking custom. | | |
Armed with the HLY-6000 unit, the Inductive Speed Sensor, and a few handtools, we got started. The HLY-6000 multi-function gauge has really cleanedup the lines of the Sportster while offering all the information we could everhope for.