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(may be OT) Faulty Odometers
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They can build some awesome engines, but why can't the Japanese build
decent instumentation? My Kawasaki is 14% fast on the speedometer, now
I'm suspicious of the odometer.
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I rode past a radar sign on Wednesday. It read 60 and so did my
speedo. That doesn't mean I would trust it at 120mph.
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If you check it out, your odometer is likely to be very close to correct
even though the speedometer reads fast. At least it's been that way on
several Japanese bikes I've owned. (Why they make 'em that way I don't know,
but I'm certain that the builders are aware of it.)
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It's likely the ODO's correct.
The article I posted makes me suspicious because if it pays off to
make their cars ODO's read fast, it pays off for thier bikes as well.
FWIW, my all my last two Harleys have been +/- 1% in both speedo and
odo. If *they* could do it, why not anyone else?
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Oh, the Japanese makers certainly *could* build more accurate speedos if
they wanted to, but they obviously don't want to. We won't know *why* they
don't want to until they tell us, however, and so far they've been silent on
that question.
Asking for + or - 1% accuracy is expecting a lot, though: normal tire wear
will account for more difference than that.
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In fact, the only bike I've ever owned whose speedo and odometer were both
spot-on was a KTM 650 Adventure that used the same instrument cluster as did
the rally bikes. It was even programmable to compensate for different tire
diameters!
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This article is about Japan, Inc. odometers, in cages, but may well
apply to bikes as well.
Time to get out the GPS...
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Exactly...
In fact, I wonder why someone doesn't just come up with a GPS receiver that
is ONLY a speedo and odo?
Joe in Northern, NJ - V#8013-R
Currently Riding The "Mother Ship"
Ride a motorcycle in or near NJ?
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I dropped a $25 bicycle speedo on my bike then attempted to
calibrate it for a while. It finally occurred to me that a leaned
over bike takes more revolutions of the wheels to cover the
same distance and that I was never going to get a 100%
accurate odometer unless I wanted to run straight line roads.
On mine, the speedo is fast but the factory odometer is
pretty good, so I finally just synced the two odometers.
The bicycle speedo seems pretty trustworthy now.
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