Can you turn back a speedo ?

I'm just curious about this. I am replaceing a Z1 speedo with a nicer one but it shows alot more miles then the bike has. Can it be turned back??

Yes it can, I did it many times. There are multiple ways. The simplest is to run it backwards. Just do not do it too fast.

You can use a drill. Get an old inner piece of cable or make your own and chuck it up in the drill. Turn the drill on in the direction the needle indicates MPH to see how fast the drill turns. If it's not excessive, like over 100mph, reverse the drill to run the speedo backwards. Of course this takes many hours. If you're going 100mph in reverse obviously it will take 10hrs to remove 1000 miles. I forget how many miles I had to remove once, but I had a drill running for several days straight believe it or not. Drill has a lot of miles on it.:laugh:

I have done the drill thing to. It does take a while though

you can use those little square drive bits for those screws that carpenters use. just about the same size. my craftsman drill goes about 25 mph. my air drill goes about 90

The ways listed above sound much easier than what i did. I had a kz650 tach that i wanted to use on my new 810 build. I set the tach back to 0. It was a very tedious process, but it worked very well. If you do it this way, make sure you do it in a small space where u will be able to find the parts that come shooting out all over . I pulled the tach in half (had to slightly pry all around the part where the halves are pressed together). Then when you find the tach wheels, there is a small circlip deal that holds them on the shaft. remove it, pull the wheels off, turn them to zero(or whatever you want it at), then reassemble. Getting the circlip back on was the most difficult part. Then when reassembling, do a nice job of pressingt he 2 halves back toghther and pinching the seam back tight. prolly took about an hour total.

jordan wrote:

The ways listed above sound much easier than what i did. I had a kz650 tach that i wanted to use on my new 810 build. I set the tach back to 0. It was a very tedious process, but it worked very well. If you do it this way, make sure you do it in a small space where u will be able to find the parts that come shooting out all over . I pulled the tach in half (had to slightly pry all around the part where the halves are pressed together). Then when you find the tach wheels, there is a small circlip deal that holds them on the shaft. remove it, pull the wheels off, turn them to zero(or whatever you want it at), then reassemble. Getting the circlip back on was the most difficult part. Then when reassembling, do a nice job of pressingt he 2 halves back toghther and pinching the seam back tight. prolly took about an hour total.

Ditto:)

I think it's safe to say it is going to stay the way is. I don't have the patience for either method.:S

If you'd like to keep an accurate record (& proof) of the bike's mileage, take a photo of the stock speedometer prior to removal & one of the replacement meter before & after installing it. And a photo of the two together w the stock one still on the bike. Etc.