I picked up my new Road King last week and it's my third Harley-Davidson in eight years. The other two speedos were dead on accurate, losing maybe 1mph as the rear tire wore down.

This one however is way off as compared to my GPS which is accurate to the billionth and always on my handlebars. But just to be sure I had a friend ride next to me on the last test run and his bike matched the GPS. It's high by 8-9% and gets worse the faster I go. When I'm doing 60, speedo says 65, when I'm doing 75, speedo says 81 and when I'm doing 80, speedo says 87. Way off, and it is accumulating extra milage as well. When I rode exactly fifty miles, the trip meter said 52.9. So after I ride 10k mikes the odo will show 10,600... Unacceptable!

I know the bikes are programmed at the factory for the size of the rear tire which determines what the speedo shows. Anyone else had this issue right out of the box with a stock bike? I haven't called the dealer yet but just wanted to get some opinions.

This is a big issue to me and if they tell me to live with it then there will be sparks flying.

 

That's about 10% or so off, not unheard of in motorcycle circles. Be interested to hear what you dealer says about it.

 

Hell I'm happy if the thing works at all , rode a lot of years without one . That said with the accuracy of electronics today and yours being new I would be at you stealer having it dealt with , unacceptable .

 

Sucks because your warrranty could run out sooner (although I think it is an unlimited mile warranty) and the error will create the illusion you are getting better MPG than you actually are.
Your bike might be worth less as it accumulates more mileage than actual.
The good is it might keep you from getting speeding tickets.

 

Life too short man.

 

I have a 14' also and wondering about the mph also. I think it might be a little off although it's not the stock speedo.... But I do expect it to be accurate as I bought it thru Harley and it's their brand. I have to drive side by side with the wife this week. I think it's off because yesterday she was behind me and later I mentioned how I had it up to 70-75 a few times and she said " we'll I kept right up with you and I never hit 70". Said he was up to 65. So we'll see this week.

 

geez, relax and give them a chance to fix it.

The dealer doesn't know, they put maybe 15 miles on a bike after set up. It is probably a sensor that was off at time of installation, and needs to be replaced.

Take it back, that's why there is a warranty.

 

10-12% is acceptable. Just ride it and don't worry about it. No wait, better yet let's discuss it on a forum and slam the dealership and the moco about it. That's a way better solution.

 

+cfreeze "Life's To Short"

 

My 1200C shows 49 at 55. 50 and under, I just add 10%, an easy number to figure, and 10% plus 2 or3 over 50, maybe a tad faster than the limit, but should be nothing a cop would pay attention to. Saves money, too, gets better gas mileage.