Speedometer Accuracy

[dui546]

Anybody else having problems with accuracy of the speedometer? Ever heard of Kawasaki motorcycles having speedometers normally off up to 10% below what is indicated on the meter?

Here is the background...I took a quick trip (16 total hours of road time) from Virginia Beach to Pennsylvania over the weekend. The entire journey covered a total of 305 miles on my trip meter.

During my ride I kept up with the flow of traffic and noticed that everyone was "flying." In Pennsylvania I passed through several construction zones that had "your speed" indicator signs and discovered that my speed was always between 5-8 mph below what my speedometer was reading.

I contacted my dealer and informed him of the defective speedometer on my 2007 Nomad and asked to have it replaced. The service manager said that it is normal for the Kawasaki speedometers to be off around 10%. He said that it is always on the down side or below what is read on the meter so you shouldn't ever get a speeding ticket.

I told him that I disagreed that 10% was accurate enough. He said that they are normally more accurate at low speeds and off in the high range. He told me that I needed to give him some data supporting how "off" or "inaccurate" the speedometer was before Kawasaki or he would replace it. He also said that a new one will have the same issues. (????????)

Being a cop, I went to the equipment room and checked out one of our spare hand held directional radar guns. I had my wife ride on the back to check the accuracy of the speedometer by radar throughout the speed range.

Here are the results: Speedometer/Actual Speed by Radar
25/22 (3) 30/27 (3) 45/41 (4) 50/45 (5) 55/50 (5) 60/54 (6) 65/59 (6) 70/62 (8)

That means when the traffic flow was at 80-85 mph by my speedometer they were really only going around 70-75 which is consistent with normal traffic patterns in a 65 mph zone.

I am not happy with this and I am going to insist on having my speedometer replaced. That is...Unless one of you experienced Nomad guys tell me that this is totally normal. I'd be interested in having one of the other police riders check their bikes for general information and comparison data.

[Top Cat]

It sucks, but it is totally normal. Every Nomad reads low by 5 to 10 mph. you would think a $13000 motorcycle would have an accurate speedometer. I just subtract 5 to 10 miles from what the speedometer reads and figure that's how fast I am actually going.

[Idaho]

I checked mine this weekend with a gps to indicate groundspeed. That faster I went the greater the error. I honestly was wondering if the clutch was slipping at high speeds. Speedo read 90 but the gps only read 75! At that rate a guy could get run over. I was seriously going to post a question about how the speedo works on these bikes. There has to be an explanation, and a fix, for this kind of error.

[blowndodge]

Mine reads 60 at an actual 54.

Here's an anwer I pose for a builder for custom speedometer faces. Since our Speedometer goes from 0 to 140, how about changing it to go from 0 to 130 using the same amount of needle movement and just spreading out the spacing? That way straight up instead of 70 would be 65 and it would fix this linear increasing inaccuracies on our bikes speedometer. The maker of the custom speedo's said they couldn't do it.

Think about it for a moment and you'll see the logic. If the face was redone with this our speedometer would be pretty accurate enough at all speeds. Wonder why it can't be done?

[dmspike]

dui546...

My 2005 Nomad has the exact same issues with the speedometer as you describe and the errors are of the same magnitude. It is clear to me as I have read many Nomad accounts of this same issue on this forum and others, the speedo gearing is simply wrong and the dealers have not been provided with a fix from Ma Kawa. Very frustrating that it just does not seem to matter to them. Shure does no do anything to build ones respect for the brand. Doug

[jlamz]

Ditto for me. Just checked my speedo and it is off 5-7 mph at 70. I checked my Triumph too and was surprised it was off the same amount. I think I will go with the bigger back tires which I have read corrects the problem.

I noticed in a construction zone the "your speed" sign said I was going 60 when my spedometer said 66. I just figure its off 10%. On a recent trip out to wendover with my wife I was passing trucks at what the spedometer said was 100 and it felt like I was barely creeping past them and STILL had cars passing me! Like GH said you can replace the rear tire which will help some. A popular choice for the '05 -'07 is a Metzeler ME880 size 150/80X16 for the front and a Metzeler ME880 size 180/70X16 for the rear. I usually run 10mph above the posted speed limit after 60. the speed limit out here is 75 so if I'm doing 85 on the speedo its an actual 76.5. This practice in my opinion is just as good as if the spedometer was accurate because even with a perfect spedomter you will have human error in your hand. I catch myself all the time going at least 5mph above or below what my intended speed is.

[dui546]

I appreciate all the help and experience you guys have with the Nomad. It really does surprise me that Kawasaki has not implemented a correction. It also angers me that neiher the salesman or the guy who I took delivery from did not tell me about the annoying problem up front. :(" title="" border="0"/> I road to North Carolina with the wife on an overnight runaway and people kept running up behind and passing us. I NOW HAVE THE ANSWER (I was going slow!). That put us (and would put anyone who does not know) in a "VERY DANGEROUS" situation. HOWEVER, on the flip side, it is better to be off 10% below than off 10% above.

NEW NOMAD OWNERS...There is no way you can exceed the speed limits during the break-in period if you have faith that your "NEW" motorcycle has an accurate speed measuring device. GO FIGURE?!

I read the link to the correction devices Groundhog and they are interesting. However, I have been thinking about purchasing a motorcycle GPS and believe the $100.00 cost of the correction switch would be better put toward the total cost of the high dollar GPS. Till then, I will being doing math in my head.

[Idaho]

Does anyone know if these things also fix the odometer? I would prefer an accurate reading there as well if it is available.

[dank]

I went with the larger rear tire. It is still about 3 mph off at 70.

I find this situation absurd. It seems common on bikes, but absolutely would not be tolerated in cars. I guess lots of riders like thinking they are going fast and getting exceptional gas mileage. I would rather know how fast and how far I am actually going.

[dogdoc]

'05 nad here and mine is off 5mph at 50-70 too. Which means the odo will be way off when you sell it. Does this mean we will never get a speeding ticket(question for our cop buddy)?? At that rate when most Nad's max out at 100 we are really only going about 90 maybe? Why have 140 on it? good idea BD on the face.

[Top Cat]

Mine reads 60 at an actual 54.

Here's an anwer I pose for a builder for custom speedometer faces. Since our Speedometer goes from 0 to 140, how about changing it to go from 0 to 130 using the same amount of needle movement and just spreading out the spacing? That way straight up instead of 70 would be 65 and it would fix this linear increasing inaccuracies on our bikes speedometer. The maker of the custom speedo's said they couldn't do it.

Think about it for a moment and you'll see the logic. If the face was redone with this our speedometer would be pretty accurate enough at all speeds. Wonder why it can't be done?

BD, I believe the guy that makes custom speedometer faces said he could do it BUT he would have to have a large number of people to preorder so it would be worth the retooling to him. i also believe that this fix would only fix the mph not the trip meter or odometer.

[bobzinger]

It's not just kawasaki. The 99 Roadking I used to own was 4-5 MPH off too. My Nomad was about the same. When I changed my rear tire I went with a 180/70-16 and it corrected it by maybe 2 MPH, still off but closer.
I just ride 5MPH over posted limit.

[dui546]

Great question reference speeding tickets and chance of getting out of convictions in court.... ??? Judges tend to make the operator of a vehicle responsible for its speed and whatever measuring devices are used to monitor that speed. :(

However, one could make a feeble argument for "defective equipment" on a speeding case. But, the problem then becomes that the defective equipment in question causes the vehicle to be traveling less than the posted speed (if obeying the law) or indicated speed on the speedometer that is defective. It would be hard to argue or mitigate a speed of 80 mph on Radar or Lidar when your speedometer at 80 over ground was indicating 90 or more.

If it were in reverse (reading lower than your actual speed), and people were crashing and getting hurt because they were going faster than they actually believed they were (such as exceeding critical curve speeds), then Kawasaki would be the ones answering questions (most likely through lawsuits) and I am confident that a "fix" to our problem would occur quickly.

BUT...as mentioned in a previous post, the manufacturer is within their authorized window of error. However, I do not see the known speed and mileage errors documented anywhere in my owner's manual.

Trust me...OWNER BE AWARE that if you do 65 mph on your Nomad's speedometer in a properly posted 65 mph zone, there is a chance that you will get struck from behind! Especially with people traveling at the publics accepted practice of 10 mph above the posted speed limit on their "accurate" vehicle speedometers. (Them - 75 / You - somewhere under 60)

THAT, my friends, is what scares me! :(" title="" border="0"/>

I usually just drive with the flow. If I'm by myself and don't want to get pulled over I run it 5 over the posted speed- can't go wrong with 5 over it will never be too off.