1978 KZ1000-A2 "Barn find"

I think I have a similar MC in my shop.  Will check this morning when I open up and let you know.  

I just realized you were talking rear MC.  My spare is a front one.

You can take the MC apart and clean. Then just reassemble. Here are the tiny critical holes that get over looked.

Just noticed I referenced Nessism in the note on the picture. Must have posted this picture before






 

Yup. Was definitely the relief hole that was plugged. Pulled the whole thing apart and cleaned it again. Was a real pain clearing out that relief hole. Tried sticking a pin in it with no success. Tried stabbing it with a small awl, and the tip broke off in there. Scratched my head for quite some time on what to do. Ended managing to direct some air at the thing and push the tip through. Bled the brake, and that seemed to make quite a difference, with it actually sucking fluid back when I release the brake. It did before too, but not as well as it does now. 

Thanks folks. Hopefully that chapter is closed. Feel like a real goon when I can't get the thing of the line. 

Been getting lots of riding in. Still getting feel for the bike. 

With DigiPro running in my phone in a handlebar mount, I noticed that the speedometer was way off. Luckily, I used clamps instead of crimp rings, so I adjusted the speedo needle today, and it now seems to be pretty close to accurate, at least up to 50kms. 

Wondering if this is normal for it to read so far off? Attached is the picture of where the needle is set now to get an accurate read. 
 

I've been pretty slack reading posts recently and totally missed when you finished your bike. Very nice work! Good that you got it finished and are out riding now the weather seems to be improving.

The world's largest tepee. Originally built for the Winter Olympics in Calgary (1988?), it was dismantled, transported to my home town, and reassembled on the side of the highway for all to see. The sheer size of the thing is hard to really grasp. 
 

Measured against a GPS, my speedometer is consistently reading over by 10% or so. If it reads 110 kph, I'm actually going 100 kph.  

Same. I had been using DigiHud in RAM mount before I moved the needle to confirm speed. Judging by the design of the gauge face, this was intentional. All marks around the face are about the same distance apart, except for 0, 10, 20. Moving the needle seems to have corrected it throughout the entire range, at least up to 120kms so far. 

 

Kawasaki speedometers seem to be pretty consistently eight to ten percent optimistic. That said, I had a 1997 Concours that was dead nuts on from new. Curious, indeed.

It's unusual to find speedometers that are "on" or read slow.  Most manufacturers figured out a long time ago it was best to  make speedometers that read too fast save for calibrated authority vehicle speedometers.  Doing so helps keep them out of traffic courts in various jurisdictions.  Even authority type speedometers were only calibrated for one selected speed with no guarantee on accuracy of other speeds.  This forced traffic enforcement agencies to certify their own speedometers using a "fifth wheel" or dedicated radar unit just for that purpose.  The Speedo Certification tech would ride with the officer and watch his equipment while the officer operating the vehicle called out speeds as he/she reached them.  A Speedometer Certification Card was filled out by the tech detailing + and - accuracy and one copy left with squad or motorcycle.  If a speedometer was too far out of spec, usually 3 to 5 mph a change of the speedometer driven gear was in order and then re-calibrated by the Speedo Tech.  We did these checks 2 times a year when we changed snow tires to normal ones and vice versa.  Our motorcycles were a bit more complicated as none of the Speedo Techs wanted to ride with us into triple digits, plus they would have had to ride on the radio box!

Rick H.

Manufactures have another reason to build fast reading speedometers.    They can end warranties prematurely.  IIRC Subaru got in trouble for this.

Interesting enough, the odometer seems to read correctly.