Tire size or speedo adj or something help

:evil: Ok here is the deal can someone please help. I got a damn speed ticket today (in a construction zone no less) and the great people of Iowa has a stupid law that fines DOUBLE in construction zones. So anyway short story speedo said I was going 55 the wonderfull police man said he clocked me @ 65 and I know I was only @ 55. On an 82 xj750 does the speedo read off of the front or rear tire. Can anyone give me the correct tire size for the front & rear tire so I can check them and see if they are correct. Front looks new but rear looks original. Or is there a way to adjust speedo to get it correct. The speedo is definately off by 10. After the ticket my brother and I rode down the street side by side his speedo read 30 mine read 20. Any help to get this corrected would be greatly appreciated and save me a TON of money

 

your front tire is 19 inches. so, uinless you've got a 20 inch tire on the front. your speedo needs repair.

i just got a cell phone mount i'm going to be mounting on the handle bars. i'll be using my old blackbery as a gps speedometer.

my bike says 50 where everyone else says 80. i live in utah. the only place i could find that would repair it was in ohio. and he wants $150 bucks. nobody else will touch a motorcycle speedo.

i'm going to be selling the bike before i put that much money into it.

there is a thread on here that shows how to lubricate the speedo. but contains a warning that the job is not for the unknowledgable.

 

You could probably try to prove your speedo was off by 10, but I doubt it would do you any good, unless you want to pay a lawyer AND the double ticket...

 

the courts will just say it's no excuse. you drive the vehicle and y ou should know it's flaws.

 

Thanks every 1 for the help. I will probly just goin to take the STOP class our safety council offers (dont ask what STOP means cause I have no clue) and that will remove the ticket from my record rather than fight the ticket I will just have to remember that the speedo is off 10.

Thanks again

I know where there is a xj650 for cheap like $200 cheap will the speedo off of it work

 

they'll all work the same as long as it IS the same. the problem is not many people want to buy a bike that doesn't display the actual miles. if i could find a cheap speedo with lower miles i'd do it in a heartbeat. and bring up the miles to match what's coming off before installing it.

 

most states have the double fine for speeding in construction zones, my suggestion is buy a gps for your bike, i personally have been looking at the tom tom rider, but whatever you find that you could mount to your bike will work

 

I had a similar incedent happen to me in a car a couple years back. I took the car to my mechanic and it turned out my speedo was jacked up. I had it fixed and brought the paperwork for that to the judge and he was kind enough to dismiss the ticket. Take your bike to the dealer and have them check it out. It's worth a shot.

 

66Elco the speedo runs off the front wheel. If the instrument is gummed up internally, it will read slow. Yours is a cluster-mounted instrument, so cleaning and lubricating is not that diffficult. Here's the above mentioned post: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15303.html

snowwy66 I know how to "adjust" the odometer in these old Yammie speedos, I just won't post it because it may be illegal to do so and don't want to cause issues for the forum. It's not hard, and everyone I know that's done has done it to match the miles on one they removed.

Take it off-board and I'll share. PM with email address.

 

110/90 19 is the OEM front tire size for your bike. FWIW, I went by one of those portable speed signs yesterday, showed me doing 43 in a 45, my speedo read 45 so they are off slightly.

 

ALL SPEEDOS are read faster. it's the govts way of keeping us from going too fast. not many people are aware of it. generally your speed will read about 5 to 10 percent faster then what your actually going. they never read slower unless it's not working right.

next time your on the freeway. watch your odometer to the mile marker signs on the freeway. EVERY FREEWAY HAS A MILE MARKER THAT IS EXACTLY ONE MILE APART. you will find that for every mile you drive. your odometer will say you've added 1.05 to 1.10 miles. most are in the 1.10 range.

the govt knows that people like to speed. speed limit is 55. chances are your going to drive 60. most people drive 5 over. in reality though, your only driving 54.

the only accurate speedo your going to have is your gps.

bigfitz, if i find a odometer to put i'll get in touch. i'm not really looking right now. as i'm looking for another bike instead. and the yamaha will be up for sale. i only bought the thing cuz it was cheap. been a real pita to fix but it gives me something to ride untill i find something else.

 

my speedo seems to be doing some jacked up stuff. zero to 20 or 30 it does nothing then jumps to 40 seems to be accurate just doesnt show 20 to 30 until i slow down to 30 go figure?

gunna rip it all apart tomorrow and put it back together see what that does what should i use to lubricate? wd40 or what?

 

WD-40 is not a lubricant.

Use machine oil, 3-in1 oil, fishing reel oil, something like that.

Aerosol spray white grease works also.

Trick to lubing the gauges is to do it very sparingly.

 

I use Tri-Flow. Read the article: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15303.html

 

It is a lubricant my learned friend, just a very thin one. Not recommended for gage or cable lube. It works well as a light solvent to clean things off. For more info on this material, please see http://www.wd40.com/.

3-in-1 is vegetable based, I would avoid it for any use beyond wiping down my tools. As it gets older it turns to a gummy mess. Machine oil is by far the best choice.

It works and has the added advantage of being water resistant. It is pretty viscous so I'd avoid it for the purpose of lubing these gages.

Good stuff, a little PTFE in there to help out.

Spot on advice, easy does it.

 

its not so much the gauge as much as I think it is the cable not staying in the gauge? is that possible?

 

Sure, if the inner cable is damaged or worn (or the wrong one.) Anything's possible.

 

I got popped this weekend on a ride. My speedo said 55MPH a nice police officer was nice enough to tell me I was doing 70MPH. He gave me a ticket and now I am trying to figure out how to avoid the ticket. I am pretty pissed that the can was that much off. As it stands my speedo is all jacked up. From 0-20 it is 5 MPH fast from 25-50 it is 10 at 55 it is 15 MPH off. So I am lucky I didn't get pulled going home from work driving at 65 according to my speedo, which may have been 80 or better. No one in Richmond, va will touch a motorcycle speedo, no once will say it is wrong. I guess I will have to get a lawyer. Maybe a helmet cam and show my iPhone and speedo at the same time showing the difference?

 

I don't know about the laws down there but here in Canada (BC at least) there is no law that your vehicle has to have a speedometer and as such your speedo being miscalibrated is not a legal excuse for speeding...

Cheers

 

Hmmm, that makes no since how are you to know how fast you are going then? Oh well looks like my insurance is gonna get jacked up for the next million years..

 

Judging speed is entirely up to you in the police's mind. So if you feel that you can judge your speed with no speedo then the police won't ticket you for trying (they will ticket you for speeding if you are wrong though). But it is highly recommended that you have a speedo as not many people are that sensitive to speed, but I know a few bobber guys who run without...

Cheers
Dave

 

The kicker is if this was my car, I could have it fixed and most likely the ticket would be dropped... That is what sucks...

 

I have a 82'650 Seca,What revs should it be doing at 60 mph in top gear.
My speedo seems way out??
Thankyou,for a great site.
Von.

 

65MPH on my 650R is right around 4500RPM give or take. Only time I get it into fifth is on the expressway on my way to 75MPH so I might be off by a couple hundred RPMs.

That is of course with MY tire, MY tuning, on MY roads. Yours will be slightly different because of these factors.

Haven't checked the speedo with GPS at that speed, but it's only 2MPH fast at 40