Speedometer

I bought my bike back in February. It is an 81 KZ1000 LTD Lots of fun. The Speedo didn't work when I bought it so I bought a replacement off of craigslist.

It works, but not that accurate. I don't know if it is the speedometer or if it is the speedo cable.

I have reason to believe it has the original speedo cable. Think it might be stretched or out of whack.

My speedo lies about 10 mph fast at highway speeds.

I appreciate any insight or help.

In my experience, this is not unusual. Unless there is something seriously wrong with your speedo cable (i.e. it is broken, or not sufficiently lubed), it is unlikely that swapping the cable will make the speedo more accurate.

On my two bikes, at highway speeds, my gauges also read about 5-10mph fast, compared to what my GPS says.

I'd remove the cable from the bike,pull out the inner cable,clean it,check for burrs or partialy broken areas,and relube it with some moly based grease(thin coat).

After installation, attach the end going to the instrument and if possible put a drill at the other end spinning at low rpm and see if the speedometer works.

I think motion pro can make you a new cable if Kawasaki can't supply one. Z1 might be able to get one too.

If the cable still isn't the problem, it might be the instrument itself. This place works with z1 on restoring the old speedometers:http://www.z1enterprises.com/reference/ZResto_home.aspx