140mph vs 80mph speedometer

My speedo got trashed in the accident. When I get a replacement I'd like to go for the 140mph (lot more available than the 80) as opposed to my wimpy government factory 80mph! Question #1, Do I need to change the little gear box on the front wheel also?, or is the calibration for 140mph "in" the speedometer? Question #2, If I take it apart can I "recalibrate" the odometer so it has the same milage as my old one? Any one done this?



Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2007/10/06 12:20

Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2007/10/06 12:33

Bluemeanie wrote:

My speedo got trashed in the accident. When I get a replacement I'd like to go for the 140mph (lot more available than the 80) as opposed to my wimpy government factory 80mph! Question #1, Do I need to change the little gear box on the front wheel also?, or is the calibration for 140mph "in" the speedometer?

Speedometer will bolt right on, no changes required.

Question #2, If I take it apart can I "recalibrate" the odometer so it has the same milage as my old one? Any one done this?

It is possible to do this if you know what you are doing, it's not easy though.

The 140mph speedo should be a direct swap.
And the little gear box (speedo receiver) on the front wheel you have now will operate it w/o a prob.

As far as recalibrating the odometer to show your bikes original miles, that would "technically" be illegal. :whistle:

I'd suggest checking with KZr member Bob(?) aka canyondancer, he restores KZ gauges to like new. And if it can be done, he would be the one to do it.
I haven't seen him here on KZr in quite a while, but I ocassionally see him list stuff on eBay under the name canyondancerbids.

As far as recalibrating the odometer to show your bikes original miles, that would "technically" be illegal. :whistle:

I understand the problem with changing milage but people put different spedos on all the time. I'm keeping original milage, so not worried about doing anything wrong. Will practice on old spedo. Thanks guys!!

Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2007/10/06 15:55

John,
I recently purchased an (Ebay) 160 mph speedo for my KZ1000 to replace my wimpy 80mph stock one. You may have to alter the mounting studs (on the back side of the speedo) as I found out. My stock mounting studs are located at 9 and 3 o'clock on the back side of the speedo housing and the sppedo I purchased has the mounting studs located at more like 10 and five o'clock. The mounting plate doesn't have any material where the new holes need to be drilled so I will need to make another one. You could drill holes through your mounting plate if there is room or extra material, but I think you might need to fab a new mounting plate as I have to do.
Hope you're on down the road to recovery,
Grant.

Post edited by: Grantl, at: 2007/10/06 20:33

I never told you how sorry I was about your wreck, I kind of missed the initial post I guess. As others have said the 140 will bolt right on. I'm going to give this advice, and you know how strange and particular I am about things. I once wanted to set the miles on a speedometer to my existing miles. I won't disassemble a speedo, because it is most likely destroyed as I have no patience on top of being very particular about things. I got a variable speed reversable drill and chucked up a piece of a speedo cable in it and ran the cable to the speedo, turned the drill up to about 120mph and saw it was capable of doing this. I had to turn like 20,000 miles over. This is going to take about 1 week at 120mph. So for safety sake I wire an additional 2a fuse inline with the cord of the drill, turn the drill to 120mph and go to bed, get up and see the drill is still running. Good news! The drill ran the whole 7 days non-stop until I got the miles I was looking for. I'm still using this drill today believe it or not. Didn't bother it a bit. OK, I'll admit I am one different kind of guy mentally.:laugh: :laugh:

WOW, I've heard of people doing that. I'm a mechanic so taking the spedo apart is no problem for me. I'll take the old one apart to see if it can be done at all. I'm just kinda proud on having over 51K on it and looking and running so good. Thanks for you and Granti's thoughts, I'm doing well. Been almost 2 months and leg looks great on the outside, all road rash is gone and am just waiting for the old bones to heal so I can get back to life. Really hard to stagger on crutches after drinking!! :woohoo:

Good luck to you. You're one of my favorite KZrider guys. Take care.

theres a tiny clip on the end of the odometer wheels. you remove it shift the wheels slightly sideways and set whatever you like. be careful not to break the tabs between the wheels...steve

Post edited by: fixer5000, at: 2007/10/07 09:06

I am glad you are feeling frisky enough to be worrying about working on the bike my friend. It hurts me to even look at that smashed speedo. I'm just glad you're not as busted up at it looks to be. We have had a rash of riders killed here..You'll get her going in no time.

Thanks guys (everyone!) Steve... That's what I wanted to hear! I've taken my speedo apart before, this time I'll try not to mangle up trim ring! Thanks again... John