I have only put a little over 75 miles on my "new" bike and believe the speedometer is pretty off. It seems to get worse with increasing speed. At 42 mph the "your speed" sign read 40, at about 58 it read 49, and on the freeway at 75-80 the cars were seriously zooming past me in an area that I drive about 70 in my car and it's usually good within the flow of traffic.

Is it normal to be off this much? Does that affect the odometer too?

And I already noticed the fuel gage doesn't work worth a crap either. That I heard was pretty normal and not a big deal. Anybody else having these issues?

Michelle

Hi Michelle!

Yup, motorcycle speedometers are often quite optimistic, and the ninjette's is no different. They are generally off by a percentage that is consistent over the speed, so I can't explain why yours looks to be only off by 2 mph at 40 mph, but 9 mph off at 58 mph. I'd verify those numbers before seeing if there really is a problem. Best way to validate the speedo is to put a GPS on the bike. If you don't have one, perhaps a friend has one you can borrow for a short while, just put it in your tankbag so you can see the speed and get up to highway speeds so you can do the comparison.

Mine is off by about 10%. (going a true 60 mph, the speedometer reads 66 mph). What is good info to have is that the error is not necessarily the same as the odometer error. Our odometers can be very accurate, while the speedometer is optimistic.

Fuel gauge is a bit weird. It works, but it's nowhere close to linear. It goes from Full to Half in only 1.5 - 1.75 gallons, then gets down to below empty when there is still at least 1.5 gallons left in the 4.8 gallon tank. Once you get used to its quirks, I guess it's reasonably useful. But frankly, I preferred the reserve with the manual petcock on the older manual, you could be absolutely sure you had 0.8 gallons left, while on the new bike we're kinda guessing how much is left once it gets to E... Is yours behaving somewhat like this?

Thanks Alex,

One of my coworkers has a GPS that I can likely borrow to check the speedometer.

The fuel gage sounds a lot like what you described except it also jumps around after I fill it up. At first the needle went up to full, then it dropped down to a bit less than 1/4 fuel left in the tank (~20 miles), then it came back up to half after a couple more rides (~80 miles). Oh well, for now I can look in the tank to get an idea of how much gas is in there until I get used to the gage's little "quirks".

I've never seen the gauge vary up and down like that, it does sound like something isn't working as it should. The bike's still under warranty, right? If you can live with it in the meantime, I'd just have them check it out at the next scheduled service...

Went through a RADAR the other day. A good friend was the officer running the RADAR. He had me down at 110 and my speedometer was registering 100. Really doesn`t matter. I just wanted to know if I could do a ton.

Hi Alex -

Any way you could borrow a GPS for awhile to play with on the bike? I've never heard of a Ninjette, actually any motorcycle, for that matter, have a speedometer registering that much lower than actual speed. They are always tuned to read higher than actual. Also, I'm pretty sure that a true 110 mph would be over the rev-limiter in 6th gear, given stock sprockets and tire sizes. I've had the speedometer on the Ninjette just touch the ton, but actual speed was in the low 90's and it was very close to redline already.

I've had mine to an indicated 110, but judging from the error on mine (~7% fast) I figure it at a true 102mph (uphill, but at like 12,999rpm). I guess I'm in the ton up club now! :D 15 tooth front sprocket will make even higher speeds possible, but I never plan on returning to those speeds again anyway, just wanted to see what it could do. I plan on turning this thing into a touring/commuting BEAST!!! :p

That said, yeah, most bike speedos are fast, with scooters being the worst ones in some cases (can be as much as 20% fast in some cases). I'd get a GPS and verify your error (as suggested by others).

Travis

With Zumo on Tyke my Spedo tells me that I am going faster than what I actually am (Well as far as Zumo can be trusted... We know how well we get along... -.-' )

I know Zumo says the something different about my car... My car says I am going 80mph and Zumo says we travel at 75 mph.

In speed I have been told to trust the GPS unit... Zumo and I have some issues to work out but speed is not one of them.

Went through a RADAR the other day. A good friend was the officer running the RADAR. He had me down at 110 and my speedometer was registering 100. Really doesn`t matter. I just wanted to know if I could do a ton.
Hi Alex. Something doesn't sound right. If you read this post, the guy has done a ton of work to the bike and he's only doing 111. I can't see how yours could be doing 110 stock... or is yours stock? :wtf:
http://www.kawiforums.com/showthread.php?p=1449923#post1449923

I am not so sure that my police officer`s RADAR is that accurate when it comes to clocking bikes. Let me explain. I am thoroughly familiar with RADAR having done a transatlantic with my sailboat and navigating the foggy waters of Maine. A motorcycle leaves a marginal image on a RADAR--as do wooden boats and anything that does not have right angles for a signal to bounce back from. I was interested in whether my bike can do a ton. I believe it can as a stock bike. The traffic RADAR had me at 110 and I seriously question the accuracy--not that the unit was defective, but the inherent fact that a motorcycle presents a poor target at best. I do plan on modifying my bike to European standards. I have a sister who lives in Austria--who also rides, and I plan on having her get me an FI package for my bike. We can then play with Power Commander modules, etc.

I took the portable GPS off the boat and temporarily affixed it to the Ninja. At 95 speedometer, the GPS showed me as 91. At 100 speedometer, the GPS showed 96. The bike has a definite speedo error of 4mph above 65 indicated. I can live with that small an error.

Makes sense. The error will get slightly higher as our front tire wears, the speedo is run by a simple cable attached the hub, so as the tire diameter gets slightly smaller, the indicated speed creeps up while the actual speed stays the same. How much of an effect? Probably very minor, but could be more significant when changing to different types of tires that might have noticeable size differences. 4 mph off around 100 mph is a pretty good showing, actually, many bikes display more of an error factor than yours. :thumbup:

I am not so sure that my police officer`s RADAR is that accurate when it comes to clocking bikes. Let me explain. I am thoroughly familiar with RADAR having done a transatlantic with my sailboat and navigating the foggy waters of Maine. A motorcycle leaves a marginal image on a RADAR--as do wooden boats and anything that does not have right angles for a signal to bounce back from. I was interested in whether my bike can do a ton. I believe it can as a stock bike. The traffic RADAR had me at 110 and I seriously question the accuracy--not that the unit was defective, but the inherent fact that a motorcycle presents a poor target at best. I do plan on modifying my bike to European standards. I have a sister who lives in Austria--who also rides, and I plan on having her get me an FI package for my bike. We can then play with Power Commander modules, etc.

You're not the only one! My friend in his BMW told me I was going 110. My speedo only said 103ish. I told him there was NO WAY I could have been going 110 even if my speedometer is on a happy pill. He still swears up and down it was 110.

You're not the only one! My friend in his BMW told me I was going 110. My speedo only said 103ish. I told him there was NO WAY I could have been going 110 even if my speedometer is on a happy pill. He still swears up and down it was 110.all that says is that BMW has even worse quality control than Kawasaki! :pound:

all that says is that BMW has even worse quality control than Kawasaki! :pound:

Actually, lol, I always thought that anyways. Lots of people would disagree, lol.

Actually, lol, I always thought that anyways. Lots of people would disagree, lol.

I've owned BMWs (cars). Believe me, their QC has a long way to go. :p

Had a BMW R-60 back in 1962. This bike had the Earles Fork (the one where when you hit the brakes, rhere was no nose dive) It was a great sidecar rig. Back then, nothing could touch the quality. I have to agree. BMW and a lot of German companies are resting on their past laurels. I really think that people are getting smart and are buying quality. BMW and Benz still have an "Oh Wowie Factor", but I would take a Kawasaki MC and a Honda Accord over a Bimmer and Benzer anyday.

My Ninja has been off consistently by approximately 5 mph whether I'm going 25 mph or 105 mph. :D
I used a GPS to check my speed and the same GPS clocks the speed exactly the same as my cage's speedometer.

Wow I learned another new thing today, as I'm glad to learn my bike isn't the only one lying to me. I thought this was going to be something I had to have a check on, as I too seem to be about 4 or 5 mph faster than what those "watch your speed" sensor signs tell me every time I zoom by.

Is that anything a person can do to resolve this problem?

On bikes with electronic speedos, there are little electronic gadgets (like these (http://www.healtech-electronics.com/)) that you can put in between the speed sensor and the gauge which adjust the signal so the speedometer shows true speed. As we have a mechanical speedo, with a spinning gear that actually spins a cable running to the back of our speedo, it's not that easy. I haven't looked into it, but I'd imagine it would take removing our gauges and taking the cluster (with the speedo) in to a shop that can perform mechanical speedometer calibrations. There used to be more of those, but I think that's an art that is rapidly being lost, as it is no longer necessary.

...or just correct for it in your head. look at your speed and deduct 10% from it to get a better idea how fast you're really doing.

...or just correct for it in your head. look at your speed and deduct 10% from it to get a better idea how fast you're really doing. That is how I correct mine :thumbup:

I just noted what the GPS and speedo readings were for the main speed limits here and have worked out mine is ~10% fast, so I just take off 10% at what ever speed I am doing.

:banghead: Another reason to get a GPS! I know mine is off too, but not by how much ...

Is there any way to get it corrected at the dealership however? Or do you need a specialist?

Dealership will tell you it's within spec and to politely go away. :)

My brain does tens of thousands of mathematical computations per second.

No speedometer can defeat me. :cool:

My brain does tens of thousands of mathematical computations per second.

No speedometer can defeat me. :cool:

Wish I could do that, would ace the maths exams!

I understand that it may technically be in spec, but does anyone know what exactly causes this? Slop in speedo key to cable connection? I had a stationary bike with a speedometer that was more accurate than this...I was doing 75mph indicated getting passed by 18 wheelers in a state that STRICTLY enforces the 55mph speed limit for large loads. Just to pass traffic anymore it seems I have to hit 90+mph indicated....

I understand that it may technically be in spec, but does anyone know what exactly causes this?

It's designed that way. This way no matter what tires or any other changes are made to the bike, it's extremely unlikely the bike will ever be going faster than the speedometer says it is; it will always be optimistic. Apparently the penalties for understating speed are more severe than for overstating speed, so most motorcycle manufacturers put a whole bunch of fudge factor in there just to make sure.

My fuel gage is sluggist in reaching full after a fill-up, but after that it is smooth as volume declines. I noticed that it runs at empty for quite a while. I communte 70 miles a day so I fill up frequently just not to get stuck.

Er Travis, was that supposed to be posted in this thread about the speedo, not the fuel gauge?

Er Travis, was that supposed to be posted in this thread about the speedo, not the fuel gauge?

haha same thing I was thinking..

Travis post a new thread for that one maybe

Wow, this kind of sucks. I was just about to post a thread asking the same questions when I saw this one. So it doesn't seem like we can perform any sort of remedy ourselves.
I just hopped on the interstate for a few minutes the other day (just to check it out :p). My speedo read just over 70 in a 65 but traffic seemed to fly by...:rolleyes: Perhaps what I need now is a new GPS unit..

The newer Ninjas are consistently overly optimistic by about 10%. If you take a look at the Motorcycle Consumer News review, they found that their 2008 250r was actually doing only 59.6 MPH when the speedometer reported 65 MPH.

As for seeming slow on the Interstate and getting passed by a lot of cars, uh, yeah. I've found that when I'm on Interstates in the western USA (maybe things are different out east) that traffic is often well in excess of the speed limit. One time I was riding through Arizona, doing 80 MPH in a 75 zone, and cars were flying by me at 90-95 mph.

We've definitely got our fair share of speeders here in central TX, but they are not the majority. Williamson county Texas is pretty notorious (atleast around here) for being extremely stern with enforcing traffic laws, particularly along the I-35 corridor. Trust me, you can not hardly go a single day w/o seeing a sheriff's deputy or motorcycle cop sitting on the interstate with radar.
I know for sure that some of the vehicles were speeding, but [now that I've learned] according to compensating roughly 10% I was probably doing just under 65! :eek:

I was going crazy till i found this Thread... Tested the spedo with my sisters car Car-60 Bike 65. I gues that just means i can go faster :D

Link in our wiki (http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/Why_is_my_speedometer_reading_faster_than_I%27m_really_going%3F)

Mine's really off, so far I've had 2 different '09 250R's (I crashed the first into a tree, that was in a ditch) and they've both been the same.

I've ridden by those "Your Speed Is" roadside radar units a few times with my speedo indicating 35, but showing 30 on the radar.

I've also had the gauge face over the fuel gauge crack in the same place on both bikes, that's why I want the Koso RX-2 to be the first mod on my bike.

My 09 250r has the same problem, it tells me that im going about 160 km/h when im really going about 140 ish.
I got an Escort 9500i for radar detectors and speed camaras so that tells me my true speed and since i ride with is on every single time i really don't mind but i do intend in selling it this winter to get a gsxr 600 for next summer and want to see if any of you can let me know if this "error" effects my Odometer because it has about 4k km right now and i don't know if it's really 4k or really like 3. something thousand. Thank you .

Martin Conde Alex wrote this in i believe his first post


Mine is off by about 10%. (going a true 60 mph, the speedometer reads 66 mph). What is good info to have is that the error is not necessarily the same as the odometer error. Our odometers can be very accurate, while the speedometer is optimistic.


I get mix with my speedo. Seems spot on at low speeds. not sure at highway but i know i pass people pretty good when i'm doing 80mph indicated.

Was riding with a ninja6r one day and we stopped to chat for a minute and he said yeah, we were doing over 100mph there for a little bit. I was surprised as i know my needle never went over my 100mph tic in fact i didn't think i even it hit 95mph indicated