Got a 98 RKC. About 14,000 miles on it. Ever since i bought it a couple months ago I notice when I first start it, it takes about 2-3 minutes befor you can read the odometer numbers. They gradualy fade in from right to left. This is only when the bike is cold. If you start up an hour later, bike is still warm odometer shows up right away. Kind of odd. Wasn't sure if this is normal behaviour. Shane

 

Jazz56, same year same bike...mine does not do that..just takes about 3 seconds(same amount of time for fuel pump to cycle)....BUT... i have read several times that this year of bike had several reports of black permanent marks in the odometer window....several reports of some numbers not being visible due to black-out....it is as if the liquid has leaked out of the liquid crystal display (LCD) and shows like a black ink leak...i have a few tiny pin point black dots along the edges(like a sharp pencil point) ...
if you have no large "leaks" in the odometer and the speedometer lights -up could it be:
- a loose/burned connection in the wiring harness behind speedometer, or to sending unit that may not allow full current..are the lights in the speedo dim ?

 

look at this item number on ebay as an example:
290147342258

 

Thanks, I see what you mean, but mine is clear, as I said it just takes a few minutes before it will gradualy show up. No black marks. Strange though.

 

My 98 Fatboy has this problem. No reading when cold then readable after a few minutes. I do have some black on far right.

 

Liquid Crystal Displays don't like the cold. When we were diving in the military in really cold weather our gauge panel would stop working. We eventually went back to analog instead of digital instruments when the water temps dropped. Additionally when we did winter phase of Mountain warfare school guys had trouble with all the liquid crystal displays ( but it was close to -40 when we did our field work). Obviously if your panel isn't 100% the cold would affect it more. Hope this helps.

 

This is what my 98 Lowrider started doing after it was about five years old. It stayed that way for another year or two. Then, all of a sudden...the screen turned black in various places. Hope yours doesn't just go black.........

One of these days if I find one on ebay that is cheap and in excellent condition....I might pick it up.

 

Same year bike. Mine started to get to the point of being barely able to read it.

I ordered a new one from HD. They program in the mileage to where it was on the old one. You can pick one up off flea-bay or wherever but I wanted my mileage to be a true reading. Just me though. I had to convert the wiring over to the deutch connectors but these are better than the original harness type. IMHO.