Odd speedo issue...anyone else notice this?
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2008
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From: PacNW; Beacon of Conservatism in a Sea of Liberals.......AZ Snowbird; Just another Conservative
Odd speedo issue...anyone else notice this?
Before I start, I'll admit to being a bit "A-R" about facts-data-numbers. Also, the extended speedo watching was done in minimal to no traffic...
Did the Hell's Canyon Rally 10-days ago. On the 400-mile (each way) route, we encountered a couple of the 5-mile Speedo/Odo Check Sections. Since this was my first long trip on the RKC, I was curious to see how accurate my odometer is.
I selected one of the Trip meters (so I could watch tenths). Because my encounter with the "Mile-0" sign did not exactly correspond with a "tenth" transition, I mentally counted to myself "thousand-one, thousand-two, thousand-three..." the time between the sign and the first "tenth" transition, since I was expecting much closer tracking between the two.
Over the five mile check, I found the miles rolling up faster on the trip meter than actual distance travelled, to the tune of about 4-percent when I did the math. I had my cruise set at about 60-mph, so I was expecting about six mental "thousand-one..." counts for every tenth of a mile transition.
The weird thing was that my 1-tenth to 2-tenth transition only lasted about 4-seconds (counts), and the 7 to 8 tenth transition was only 3. The 8 to 9 tenth time lasted a full 8-seconds...most of the rest were spot-on 6-seconds. This just struck me as odd, that a digital counting device could be so non-linear (though repeatable).
Did the Hell's Canyon Rally 10-days ago. On the 400-mile (each way) route, we encountered a couple of the 5-mile Speedo/Odo Check Sections. Since this was my first long trip on the RKC, I was curious to see how accurate my odometer is.
I selected one of the Trip meters (so I could watch tenths). Because my encounter with the "Mile-0" sign did not exactly correspond with a "tenth" transition, I mentally counted to myself "thousand-one, thousand-two, thousand-three..." the time between the sign and the first "tenth" transition, since I was expecting much closer tracking between the two.
Over the five mile check, I found the miles rolling up faster on the trip meter than actual distance travelled, to the tune of about 4-percent when I did the math. I had my cruise set at about 60-mph, so I was expecting about six mental "thousand-one..." counts for every tenth of a mile transition.
The weird thing was that my 1-tenth to 2-tenth transition only lasted about 4-seconds (counts), and the 7 to 8 tenth transition was only 3. The 8 to 9 tenth time lasted a full 8-seconds...most of the rest were spot-on 6-seconds. This just struck me as odd, that a digital counting device could be so non-linear (though repeatable).
Last edited by PKellyMc; Jun 23, 2010 at 04:52 AM.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,639
Likes: 2
From: Australia
The HD speedos read faster than you are going, so it makes sense that the trip meter reads more than you have travelled.
As a bonus for HD if they make their odometers read 5% more than actual then the dealers up doing 5% more servicing.
As a bonus for HD if they make their odometers read 5% more than actual then the dealers up doing 5% more servicing.
Last edited by kingkingking; Jun 22, 2010 at 05:21 AM.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,045
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From: ST. Louis
What everybody else said. Here's what I've found.
'08 Street Glide speedo: 73
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
'09 Street Glide speedo: 73
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
To compare:
'08 Buick Enclave speedo: 70
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
'08 Chrysler Aspen speedo: 70
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
'08 Street Glide speedo: 73
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
'09 Street Glide speedo: 73
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
To compare:
'08 Buick Enclave speedo: 70
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
'08 Chrysler Aspen speedo: 70
GPS Garmin 750 Nuvi: 70
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Outstanding HDF Member
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Posts: 3,140
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From: Wisconsin
Been covered several times on the forum if you search. It's a mechanical device and has to have some tolerance built in. The law says a speedo cannot read slower than travel speed, but it can read faster. Because of this the tolerance is something like +5%, -0%, allowing it to read faster, never slower. If you have a close tolerance speedo, you could be close to dead on. If it's outer limits on the tolerance it could vary at least 5%, maybe more depending on the spec.
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Thread Starter
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2008
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From: PacNW; Beacon of Conservatism in a Sea of Liberals.......AZ Snowbird; Just another Conservative
Gotta disagree with the odometer being a mechanical device...LCD, no cable/worm-gear unit driven by the front wheel. I'm not concerned with the speedo reading faster than actual; my Wide Glide is the same. My point of concern was the discrepancy between the length of time (or number of pulses from whatever speedo sensor) between tenth-of-mile transitions when holding a steady speed.
Just never mind...I'm even starting to sound ridiculous to myself now.
Just never mind...I'm even starting to sound ridiculous to myself now.
Last edited by PKellyMc; Jun 23, 2010 at 05:05 AM.
