Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126340
Lett to right Countdown. Clair.mont" Digitronics. ) .J , ro q By Larry Langley Just a couple of enduro seasons ago, a "trick" enduro clock was a eight day aircraft clock mounted on rubber to try and protect it from vibration. While they were fairly reliable when mounted properly they had their drawbacks. An an'alog type clock . . (sweep face) IS ea;Y to a d If'you want the approximate time, r.e., n: 18 about 25 minutes after the hour. However, during the rigors of enduro competition, it was sometimes difficult to pay much attention to the clock so a brief glance would sometimes result in arriving at a check a minute early or late after misreading the actual time. With the introduction . of digital watches. especially the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) type, it was just a matter of time before the eager enduro riders picked up on the advantages of the LCD clocks . The fint clocks out were just hour/ minute type and many riders used them in conjunction with a regular watch, utilizing the sweep second hand for counting the seconds . . which worked fairly well. Soon t~e . LCD watches became more sophisticated and seconds became available by pressing a switch. Now some riders had two digital watches.jone set on seconds. Finally the watches evolved into displaying hours/minutes/seconds all at once. Only one small problem faced the riders. The watch digits were small and sometimes hard to read under pressure, such as bouncing around on the motorcycle trying to maintain a 24 mph average through a rock field. Then a company called Digitronics introduced a revolutionary LCD clock which was designed to mount on the handlebars. It had just minutes/seconds (all that was really required) but more important, the digits were an amazing ~" tall! Soon many of the top riders in southern California were using the Digitronics Enduro Clock . Now there are basically three end u ro clocks for sale that I am aware of. The Digitronics, Clairernont Cycle and Countdown Engineering. All use ~ " LCD digital readout . but they are somewhat different in arriving at their final product form . Digitronics The first and it hasn't changed much; mostly internal improvements'. It's mounted in an aluminum box and is powered by a single 9V battery. The switch has offlhold /forward/fast for ward settings. The fast forward is for setting the clock in advance of the stan time. Many riders just turn it on at the stan. It mounts to the handlebars with hose clamps on a piece of rubber hose wrapped around the crossbar. Battery Specif icat ions Digitronics Price Size Battery life Display surface Sealed Internal sealed Shock mounting req7 I of components lofscrews lofwires P.C. board thickness Factory serviceable 7 (Repairable?) Minutes/seconds (same time) $139.95 3"x5%" 25 hrs. LCD no no yes 35 Clair.m o nt Countdown 10 613") $49.95 2"x2 Y.." 1 year plastic no no no 9 N/A None $89.95 3%"ll6Y.." 1 year glass yes yes no 9 4 2 (1") XI" %." XI" yes replaceable yes yes no yes