speedometer is off by 10%

[Dallara]

.... blah, blah, blah, but somehow, BMW do it better

I don't know about that... At least not here in the USA. The speedo on my '02 BMW R1150R was one of the worst I've ever owned. It was nearly 10% optimistic across the board. Drove me nuts.

Oddly enough, the best speedo on any bike I've ever owned is on my Harley-Davidson XR1200. It is dead-on-the-money throughout the speedo range... 0 to over 100 MPH according to two different GPS units I have. In fact, I have to be extra careful when I ride it because I am so used to riding at about 5-MPH or so indicated *OVER* on my other bikes, like the Super Ténéré and my Versys. If I ride at a 5-MPH over on the XR1200 I'm definitely speeding, and pure ticket bait in certain areas.

Just my two centavos... YMMV.

Dallara



~

 

[triman11427]

I can't believe there's no one on the forum who's a hacker and can "jailbreak" the speedo firmware like on an iPhone. There has to be an IT guy out there who can figure this out.

 

[RED CAT]

It was an easy fix on my old KTM 950 Adv. Simply set the speedo for the 19 inch wheel instead of the 21 incher. It was perfect, then. You could also set it for the 17 inch wheel. ::001::

 

[zamfield]

It's not a major issue - for some... It was for me.

Just knowing it's off about 4 mph bugged the hell out of me, more so when the GPS was on and I could see the speed on that thing too.

Anyway, installed the Speedohealer this week and set it at 0.75... it is now perfect! ::021::

 

[Kevhunts]

I can't believe there's no one on the forum who's a hacker and can "jailbreak" the speedo firmware like on an iPhone. There has to be an IT guy out there who can figure this out.

Not a hacker but, 12o'clocklabs should have a plug & play solution by spring 2013.

 

[CDMartin884]

.... blah, blah, blah, but somehow, BMW do it better

:

I have owned several BMW's , R1100R, R1150RT, and a R1150GS, and every one of them was 7%-9% off GPS. Not to mention the old addage that BMW speedometers were optimistic at best. ::008::

 

[imrubicon]

The biggest surprise is that its a surprise to so many

Worry less and ride more

 

[thfraser]

::021::

For comparison, using my GPS.

'01 Sprint ST 10% optimistic
'10 Tiger 1050 5% optimistic
'12 Super Ten 8% optimistic

It has probably saved me from a few speeding tickets.

 

[Rudolph]

Im waiting for my tourance to wear out. I have a k60 rear waiting to go on, that will improve things. I also hate looking down on a precision look speedo to be thinking, aah bugger it, the the thing is wrong anyway.

 

[cstatman]

ok, i searched on speedo, and I read through FOUR pages of this.

mine does not work, govt regulation, blah blah

and yet not a SINGLE answer that says "I have fixed this, the speedo AND odo are correct"

the Best assessment I see is speedo healer, but that MAY eff the odo.

Does ANYONE have a real and definitive answer on how to fix the speedo, and not jack up the ODO?

 

[Ramseybella]

I bet you will find the odometer is almost spot-on....on all my bikes with electronic speedos, the speed display is fast (usually 6%-7%) but the odometer reads correct.

On my Tiger, I can adjust the speedometer (using TuneBoy) so the speedo is dead-nuts accurate, but then the odometer will read slow. On the Tiger there is a pre-defined bias within the firmware of the instrument cluster that you cannot defeat.

I really dislike when mfg's do this thinking they are 'helping' us, I guess. My Porsche reads spot-on (both speed and odometer)...they way it should be.

But on the Tiger if it's the 1050 a 19 tooth primary sprocket will adjust that.

 

[krussell]

Does ANYONE have a real and definitive answer on how to fix the speedo, and not jack up the ODO?

Only workarounds....

a) get a sense of the error and mentally convert
b) provide an accurate alternative
1) mount a bicycle computer, program it as you see fit, can be 100% correct always if installed correctly and calibrated
2) use a GPS, accurate in steady state, lags several seconds when speeds are changed, troublesome with tree cover

 

[dragonflyTN]

Put a 160/65R17 on the rear wheel if you can find such a thing. Should be just enough additional circumference to correct some of the error.

 

[Zuan]

Why worry about the accuracy of the odometer? I corrected with a speedohealer and the result is that my odometer understates mileage by 5% (verified by gps). That does not bother me one iota.

John

 

[Rasher]

Why worry about the accuracy of the odometer? I corrected with a speedohealer and the result is that my odometer understates mileage by 5% (verified by gps). That does not bother me one iota.

None of it bothers me one Iota, pretty much every vehicle on the planet over-reads by about 5%, my car seems quite good at about 4%, but my S10 is about 7% out - so what, I know I can run about 10% above the indicated speed without any real risk of a ticket, and most the time on nice open roads I pay little attention to the speedo, I know roughly how fast I am going, and more importantly I know what is an appropriate pace for the road / conditions.

As for mileage, who really cares, if all S10's are similarly out there is no problem, even when selling you may think your 20k bike should read 19k, but every other bike for sale will be similarly out. The only other argument I can think of is your services come up 5% more frequently and therefore you may be out of pocket servicing every 5700 miles instead of 6000.

::021::

 

[creggur]

The biggest surprise is that its a surprise to so many

Worry less and ride more

^^THIS^^

Every car and bike manufactured has some optimism baked into the speedo calculation **(see Checkswrecks' post for details)**

What I can't figure out is what all the fuss is about - this ain't Rocket Surgery. You know what the error is and have two options: 1) get a Speedo Healer and fix it. 2) do the math in your head - simple as that.

Of course, this does beat talking about blown final drives, defective cylinder heads, or proximity key failures that strand riders, so......carry on.

 

[OldRider]

None of it bothers me one Iota, pretty much every vehicle on the planet over-reads by about 5%

I've got a 13 Honda CRV that reads spot on with the gps and my last BMW was dead even with the gps. There's no reason they can't make the speedos more accurate, but until they do, we will just have to deal with it.

 

[barkingllizard]

The ONLY one true method to 'fix' your speedometer, odometer IS to pour a libation of spirits [beer, wine, tequila]
on the altar of Hermes [god of speed, travel, transitions and boundaries, intercessor between mortals and the divine,
protector and patron of thieves, blah, blah, blah].....
For maximum accuracy, because that's more important than actual riding, your offering should be presented on 1 of the following:
the March Equinox, June Solstice, September Equinox or December Solstice, with the kind assistance of 3 fare maidens [why not].....

 

[Koinz]

I have found cars to be more accurate if not dead on. All the bikes I've had have been off by a little. Not worried about it, just ride faster to make up for it. ;D

 

[Rasher]

Not worried about it, just ride faster to make up for it. ;D

I think many riders possibly over-compensate ::019::