Speedo.... I am told, by a long time(50,000+ miles) 6th Gen owner, that the speedo is typically off by 10%. He also mentioned a fix device. I will get and post the name on here soon.
Thanks for the idea- A good experiment to try this weekend. Take my GPS and compare to speedo at regularly spaced intervals. I Will report the results when done.
Speedo Healer by Heal Tech Electronics found.... HERE( LINK) It just splices into the electronic speedo sensor cable with oem plugs and you calibrate it manually using two buttons. Simple, yet effective...and fairly expensive at around $100 bucks or so.
ALL motorcycle speedometers are off, they have to be. Some jurisdictions (countries, states, I'm not sure which) limit speedometer error on motor vehicles to something like 10% high but 0% low. Meaning that they can read high but by law they cannot read low. When a motorcycle corners it runs on the side of the tire instead of the center. This effectively decreases the radius of the tire and causes the speedometer to read lower than actual speed. It doesn't matter whether the speedometer is driven by the wheel rotation or gearbox rotation, the assumption is still built in that for one revolution the bike travels "x" inches. To offset that problem manufacturers allow them to read high when straight up so that they will read closer to right leaned over.
My speedometer reads 66 mph when I'm traveling 60 mph actual, according to my GPS. It also reads 149 mph when I'm going 136 actual.....!!!! :biggrin:
according to my GPS my speedometer error is a consistent 6% throughout it's range 0-150mph which I have tested at 10mph intervals just because I wanted to. My buddy's CBR1000RR is reads much higher. He says we were going 140 but my bike says we were only going 125 and we were riding side by side on the interstate. He always exagerates LOL. I read that M/C manufacturers all make their sportbike speedos read high to keep us from going too fast and to keep ins co. off of their backs. don't know if this is true or not. I go as fast as I want until my nerve runs out. then I back off the throttle. so far nerves run out at 141mph, GPS verified.
An old question (check out the older threads via the search feature to see other responses) but thank you SCraig and Danimal for some new insights. I hadn't heard the cornering idea before. And I had wondered if the error on the VFR was consistent or just at the higher speeds. My hunch was consistent. What is generally discussed is that the odometer IS accurate because it gets a reading from a separate input. I think we all want accurate odo readings more than speedo readings. What intrigues me much more is how the same speed on different bikes feels so different. My friend's Super Duke and RC8 feel faster at any given speed. The VFR makes a fast speed feel less fast because it is so controlled and smooth.
I don't think the cornering idea holds water. Here's why: I strapped a GPS to my fuel tank and monitored it for 100 odometer miles. These miles consisted of city, and highway riding. No matter what speed I rode at, the bike's speedometer read about 7% higher than the GPS. Yet at the end of the 100 odometer miles, the GPS odometer read 99.9 miles. If cornering were such a problem that it affected the speedometer readout, it would also affect the odometer readings. Speed is, after all, merely a measure of distance over time. Someone else wrote that they thought the odometer and the speedometer used different sensors. I don't believe that is the case. The reason I say that is because I have read that the "speed heeler" that fixes the speedometer error also messes up the odometer reading. If they were using different sensors, this wouldn't happen.
you must be an excellent speed reader....at those speeds, my eyes are glued a thousand feet ahead!!! :biggrin:
I don't know if it matters to the speedo so much, but it is a good point that you need more wheel RPM to maintain speed when leaning. Especially if the tires are at lower psi for sport riding.
Friendly reminder that the speedo is driven off of the front drive sprocket on newer models. So sprocket mods can effect your speedo/odometer readings too. Which is why some argue that if you program the speedo healer to read 100% accurate that your odometer will read low(because the argument is that the odometer is programed for the factory speedo error already...is it the truth? beats the hell out of me!)
