Do you like to just get on your ATV and ride and not worry about anything? Or do you often find yourself wondering, how hot is my engine getting, how many RPM’s is the engine turning, how far have I been today? If you find yourself asking these and other  questions you just might be interested in the new Vapor from Trail Tech.

Vapor Computer

     Trail Tech has been around for several years coming up with some very innovative products. Our first test product was developed as a computer wiring harness for the 400EX which used the Panoram bicycle computer. It would show MPH, average speed, max speed, Odometer, and time, just the basic stuff. The Panoram is still my favorite computer for my bicycle and I still swap it back on forth from my bike to my Honda 400EX. Since our first testing Trail Tech has expanded their line to include lights, handlebars, custom mounts, and they keep improving technical function of on board computers. Trail Tech’s most recent model, the Vapor, is not only stylish it has many new features that the previous models did not. More on this later, let’s get the unit installed!

Everything you need is included

     Installation is really pretty simple and required about 1 ½ hours total time. The Vapor comes with a simple bar mount, the kind used by many bicycle type computers, but since we had the Trail Tech bars we used the billet mount that bolted right onto the bar clamp.

Billet mount that fits the Trail Tech bars

      It sits just forward of the handlebars enclosed in a really nice looking billet mount. Connect four wires and the unit is ready for operation. The wheel sensor is the most difficult so we started there first. Feed the wire down from the Vapor following the brake lines to the right front wheel. Remove the wheel and the brake caliper. Now, following the very detailed instructions you will need to drill a hole in the spindle to mount the sensor. You will need a very sharp bit for this. Then mount the sensor with the supplied self taping screw and route the line around the brake caliper bolt and zip tie in place. While the wheel is off you will need to replace one of the rotor bolts with the supplied bolt with the magnetic head. Replace the wheel and that process is complete.

Wheel sensor installed on right front wheel

Next is the water temperature sender. You can mount this in the bottom radiator hose and check the temperature of the water as it comes out of the radiator, or mount it in the upper hose (As with our installation) to check the temperature of the water leaving the engine. First drain some water from the radiator as removal of the hoses can cause coolant to leak on to flooring. Next measure the sensor and cut the equivalent length of hose out of the middle of the radiator hose and insert the sensor. Clamp both ends with the supplied gear clamps.

Water Temp sensor mounted in upper radiator hose

 Now two of the most difficult process is complete and remaining are two simple tasks, the tach sensor and power. Run the tack wire down with the wiring harness and then wrap the end of the wire around the spark plug wire, wrapping it at least 10 times. The power wire is spliced into an available 12 volt power source. Since our Honda 450R has a battery, this was no problem. Trail Tech assures you it does not use enough juice while sitting to run down a battery. Installation was quite simple with good directions and detailed photos, it’s so easy a Caveman could do it.  

      Lastly you will need to do an initial set-up. Setup is easy with an on board menu, continue by supplying information in relationship to your particular installation. Just follow along in the instruction manual to set up the M/H or KM/H, wheel size, 12 or 24 hour clock, 4 stroke or 2 stroke engines, Centigrade or Fahrenheit, high temp warning, danger temp warning, RPM shift indicator, and RPM over shift indicator. These settings are quite detailed follow along page by page in the manual for trouble free set-up. The wheel size will be the circumference of the front tire. This is easiest obtained by marking the ground, rolling the tire one full circle, marking the ground again and then measure this distance. It needs to be in metric so you may have to convert from US measurements. Enter the MM setting at the appropriate time in setup. You will need to set two temperature settings and also two tachometer settings. These will vary from ATV to ATV so you will need to find this information in your owner’s manual or consult a ATV mechanic for the proper settings. Now that you have it all set up, just what all does it show you?

  The Vapor has a nice large LED screen with 3 views, two warning lights, one amber, one red, and three buttons for configuration and display changes. The two LED warning lights are used for both temp readings and tach readings. Screen 1 displays Speed, Distance, Time of Day, Ambient Air Temperature, and RPM bar graph. Screen 2 displays Speed, RPM, Stop Watch, Run Time, Engine Temperature, and RPM bar graph. These are the two main screen you will use while riding, depending on what information you would like to observe.  Screen 3 displays, Maximum Speed, Maximum RPM, Accumulated Ride Time, Odometer, and Maximum Temperature. As you can see Screen 3 will be more use after the ride, not during. Also, it will automatically revert back to Screen 1 or 2 after 5 seconds.

Screen 1 (yes it was 112 degrees in the shop)

Screen 2

The Vapor computer has these features:

Sleep Mode: If no data is received for 20 minutes it goes to sleep and only shows the clock. Any input, buttons pushed or wheel movement will wake it back up.

Tachometer: shows both a graphical and numeric display of engine RPM depending on which screen you have active, with screen 1 showing the bar graph, screen 2 shows both bar graph and numerical, and screen 3 shows max RPM.

Speedometer: current speed is displayed from 0 to 399.9 ( we did not reach that top speed) on both screens 1 and 2. Screen 3 shows max speed.

Adjustable Trip Distance Meter: shows distance traveled since last reset. You can adjust the starting distance if you so desire.

Odometer: shows total accumulated distance traveled, and is not resettable. Shown only on Screen 3 

Accumulated Run Time: show total run time of engine, not resettable. Shown only on Screen 3.

Clock, Stop Watch, and Run Time: Time of day is displayed in Screen 1 and Sleep Mode, run time is displayed on Screen 2, and the Stop Watch is also displayed on Screen 2. It works just like any stop watch and can be started and stopped with the left button. Toggle between Stop Watch and Run time with the right button.

Ambient Air Temp/Engine Temp: ambient or air temp is shown on Screen 1 and engine temp is shown on Screen 2. The amber and red LED’s will also light up according to the temperature you set in the initial setup.

Shift Indicator Lights: The amber and red LED’s also light up for the shift indicator limits you entered in the initial setup.

Reset Single-Ride Data to Zero: holding down the left and middle buttons at the same time reset the data back to zero. This includes max speed, distance, stop watch, max temp, and max RPM.

    Now the fun part, actually riding with the Vapor installed. A glace down will show just how fast you are going and you can easily see the RPM bar graph as the RPM’s increase or decrease. The LED’s light up at your previous set RPM limits indicating time to shift to next gear, or when you are in danger of over revving your engine.  Air temp or water temp is easily watched in the upper left corner depending in whether you are using Screen 1 (air) or Screen 2 (water). Anytime you stop a quick look at Screen 3 will show you max speed, RPM, ride time and distance. If you keep up with a few records you will be able to tell just how far you can ride on a tank of fuel. A quick glance at Screen 3 and you will now when its time to head back to camp.

    We think the Vapor is a major improvement from the original Panoram computers. Easy step by step instructions for installation, more data and a larger display really make this an outstanding addition to your ATV, and its very trick looking too!  With a one year warranty, unlimited phone and email tech support and a price of  $99.99 we think it’s a bargain. And its available for most all popular ATV’s and motorcycles.  Just make sure you don’t get too engrossed with all the available data and not watch where you are going!