Good question. I've never been able to find a definitive answer. I would guess 8000 or maybe 8500. My tach only goes up to 8000 but I have inadvertently over revved a couple of times to 9500-10000 estimated. and thankfully my engine is still in one piece.

Great writeup! I just installed the same tachometer this weekend and it's great being able to actually see what RPM the engine is running at. Everything went smoothly. My biggest fear was that the tank would be a pain to take off but it came off quite easily. I think I spent the most time trying to contort my fingers so I could get the nut back on the bolt after putting on the tach.

If I get adventurous, I might try bending the mounting bracket a little bit so that the tach angles in towards the rider like the speedo.

I'm installing mine tomorrow. How about some more photos from everyone?

The one that I purchased is a smaller model than the one lister here. I got from Dennis Kirk for $70.
We'll see if the install in the same. It should be pretty straight forward.

By the way, the service manual says the redline is 8,000 rpm.

No pictures, but a few suggestions. I would have some shrink tubing and some crimp lugs available to do the install.

For the ground wire, I used a round lug and attached it to the bolt on the center of the coil.

For the negative coil attachment, my blade connector had shrink wrap insulation which I had to cut off in order to solder the green wire. I then used new shrink-tubing to insulate it again.

I tied the power and illumination wires together and ran it back to the battery where I found a line that had switched +12v.

Finshed around11:30 pm.
It was only a 30 minute job but I also took time to teach a buddy of mine how to ride today.

I couldn't embed the video so here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG6C8hgr_cE

Only revved to 5k in the video since it was so late.
I'm glad I got this little thing.

Looks nice! Where did you end up tapping the power/illumination from?

I ran a line back to the rear running light. It's wired under the tank.

This is probably not an ideal place for everyone. But, I didn't feel like uninstalling my fairing wiring the light up and then reinstalling everything.


http://www.postimage.org/aVEwiTA.jpg
This is a 1 7/8" tach from Drag Specialties. (maybe specialists)
It's very nice. The chrome and black face match the OEM suzuki speedometer very nicely. The needle spools up with no deflection and it's operation is very smooth.

It's pulling juice from the horn wire, as suggested by others but I went with a simple ground to the frame. I installed wire-ends to the ground wire and bolted and mounted it onto and extisting bolt.

For the coil connection, I didn't have enough space so I cut the white Suzuki wire and extended it just a bit and mounted both the Suzuki white wire and the tach's coil wire to a new female blade connecter and slid the new assembly on the negative coil blade.

As with all of my wiring, it's a little ugly at the moment. When I have more time and I'm not distracted, I'll go back and clean them up and put weather-proof slides over the connections.

I'll post my installed pics as well:


http://www.postimage.org/gxKyoa9.jpg


http://www.postimage.org/PqieX90.jpg

tachometer
 

Hey guys now that you have the tach what cruising rpm sounds comfortable to you ?

I like 5000-5500 rpm. I have ran 20 km @ 6250-6500 without problems.

My top speed occurrs @ 8000rpm in 5th ( 80 mph ) 125-130 k/ph

Most days I can reach 7500 rpm in 5th 120 k/hr ( 75 mph ) max.

On longer rides 20 km + I just keep below 6000 rpm and the engine runs fine.

I shift between 5.5 and 6k.

In 5th, I cruise around 4800-5500.
Twisting through backroads, I stayed in 4th around 6k rpm for a couple of miles.