Apparently...my speedo runs on gasoline

So I head out of the parking lot of my work, when I notice that my speedo isn't working. I lubed the cable about 1700 mi ago, but it was the one that came with the bike so I figured it just broke. Because that's not unheard of.

Well I stop and just tap around the cable and the gauges, hoping it would magically work, but of course it doesn't. "Damn," I say to myself, "I was just about to finish off my tank and check to see how my mpgs fared. Now the cable must be broken, so no speedo or odo. And no mpg calculations"

I realized just how much I use my speedo. Driving around town between 20-45 mph, I can forget which gear I'm in and I can figure it out quickly just by looking at the speedo and rpm. Now I'm missing the speedo. Then at a light, I notice that my odo is still turning. "GREAT...it's not the cable, it's the gauges...and taking that apart will be no small feat. Guess I'll just drive without the speedo for a season."

Well at another light, I start tapping on the gauges, hoping something will just knock itself loose. But this wasn't the first time I tried that. Just as I was taking off from the light, my bike started to bog down - Time for Reserve! Just as I flipped the lever, my bike roared and my speedo WORKED! 8O

My conclusion...the speedo MUST be gas powered...good thing there was a station just down the road :wink:

 

If you keep having problems, might I suggest a look at the "CLUTCH, METER", otherwise known as the speedometer drive and dog drive. My speedo went on and off for awhile, when I got a new dog drive I could tell that about 1/8 of an inch was missing from it, and it wasn't able to engage the speedo hub. At least not all the time. It's like a $3 part, page 5 of Chacal' catalog, and easy to change. It too seemed to change temperament after stopping and starting again for whatever reason.

 

Mine gave me infrequent trouble for about a year. I pulled
the hub unit on the ft wheel and did a complete tear down, cleaning
and lube-no probs since.
But... this may not work for your situation as my odo also went out.

 

Yeah I'm sure a tear down is going to be in order. I just thought the coincidence was funny. I do have dreams of tearing down the gauges and making a custom housing - I like all the idiot lights but it would be nice if the gauges weren't sooooo ugly.

Given that the speedo was stuck - but the odo still worked, I suspect some precise lubrication is in order. Tapping the guage must have knocked something loose. It's still pretty accurate tho.