speedo: Canada vs US

[Trader]

Can anybody tell me if the difference in the Canada/US speedo is just the faceplate, (so all working parts identical) just the speedo/Odometer cluster or if the front wheel part is different?

 

I would imagine cross referencing part numbers would tell me but I don't know how to get that information.

 

I don't think it is just the faceplate.....they don't quite seem to line up

i.e. 12 o'clock high is 55 mph on US bike....but about 67 mph on Can. bike

 

Mind you, I am comparing Mk I(canadian) to Mk II (US)

 

The speedo works on my (Canadian) 84 but the odometer does not.

I have a US speedo to put in (thanks to a member here) but I'm not sure if it will read correctly.

 

 

.

[friesman]

i just swapped my speedometer out for the same issue you had. I am noticing that the miles/hr is showing slightly slower than my gps when travelling at 40mph. When I was travelling with the old speedometer it was always slightly faster than what the GPS was showing.

I noticed the slight difference in faceplates I was going to swap out them out, and that will put me back into KPH again and make my speedo a bit more to my liking as I prefer it to show a bit faster rather than slower.

 

Brian

[friesman]

I just did the swap last weekend, my odo quit on the way back from Cody. I was going to just to a complete instrument pod swap with an spare pod from an 86 but i got it installed and the tach wouldnt work and then realized it didnt have the wiring for my cruise, doh!

SO i had to just install the speedo and it was pretty straightforward except for the dimmer (it has a tiny phillips screw in the center that I didnt know about). Before the swap when my speedo showed 100kmh, my gps was showing i was going about 97kmh, now when the new speedo is showing 60mph the gps is showing 66mph, could be a recipe for a ticket.

I was looking and think the the faceplate is only 2 more screws and am kinda thinking about changing them so the guages match,as the mk1 are deep black and the new MK2 are a dark grey colour.

Brian

Edited August 27, 2011 by friesman

[Venturous Randy]

Before the swap when my speedo showed 100kmh, my gps was showing i was going about 97kmh, now when the new speedo is showing 60mph the gps is showing 66mph, could be a recipe for a ticket.

 

 

Many years ago I reset the speedometer in my 83 and it has worked great since. What I did was to determine how much I was off. I then removed the speedometer and moved the needle over the stop pin and determined where it would come to a stop. I would flip the needle several times and make sure where it would come to rest. I then put a small mark at that point and then determined the distance the needle would need to be moved to be right and made a small mark there. I then pulled the needle off and moved it to the new location and pressed it back on.

I have put many miles on this speedometer since then and on two different GPS's, it shows that I am one mile per off and that is at 70mph. The GPS reads 71.

This is not hard to do. Just make sure where you are before you pull the needle off and how far you want to move. Also, make sure you put the needle on the correct side of the stop pin before you put everything back together.

Another biggie. Make sure you lube the bearing good where it goes into the housing.

RandyA

[darthandy]

I tried to do that with my RSV but the darn needle disappears every time I turn off the ignition... tough to work with these "virtual" instruments.

 

 

 

Andy

[bongobobny]

The gearing for the odometer is different, miles vs kilometers...

[Trader]

The gearing for the odometer is different, miles vs kilometers...

 

 

but is it different in the actual instrument...or from the front wheel?

[bongobobny]

Hmmmm, I always thought it was the gears in the unit but now you have me wondering too...