Speedometer showing wrong speed

I,was riding and was flying by cars ,I looked at my speedometer and it showed I was doing the legal limit , I assume that my speedometer is out of wack,any reason for this? and can it be corrected ?? thanks ..

 

It's most likely gummed up and could use a good clean and lube.

How to do that is here: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15303.html

That's once you get TO the instruments. Unfortunately, on your bike, I believe you'll have to slice the plastic inner "cans" open to get at the instruments. You may be able to go in thru the lamp holes but I don't know for sure.

Or eBay another one and hope it's not gummed up too.

Warm weather should help, by the way.

 

you could get a police officer to comfirm the speed you are riding at . they will more than happy to help you.

Anf bigfitz gives you a good tip . clean up the speedometer gear at the wheel and use new grease also clean and lube the cable someone here cleanedup all his cables but i can't recall who

 

Unfortunately a gummed up cable will cause jumping but not a steady mis-read.

You should by all means clean and lube the cable and the gearbox; you may still need to attend to the instrument itself.

Another of our members posted a photo how-to when she cut her instruments open but I can't find it.

 

Doug,

I have the same problem with my XJ650. Last year I was told that there was no calibration that could be done with the speedometer. I was also told that in 5th gear the speed of the bike was pretty close to actual speed so that at 6000 RPM you are going 60 mph ... I plan to have my wife check my speed as soon as I get on the road this spring to confirm.