2007 Xciting 500 How to Recalibrate Speedometer?

[PowerBBS]

Ok, since day one my speedometer has been "grossly" off on my scooter.  At 35mph, it's actually only doing 26mph.  Obvoisly the error gets larger and larger the faster I go.

What I've resolved to is taking the KMH and dividing it in 1/2 to get my best guess speed.  So at 140kmh, I'm about at 70mph.

I understand that this is a huge issue with all the xciting 500 bikes.  I have a simple question.    How the heck do we recalibrate this thing to be correct (a lot more accurate)?

Thanks 
PowerBBS
powerbbs@hotmail.com

[sidthesloth]

Not just x500 my zx50 shows 70 @ 60kmh

[Alex]

presuming the 2007 speedo trigger wheel is the same as the 2008 ie a galvanised ring with little slots cut in it like a multispoked wheel each time one of the little spokes passes the magnetic pickup on the trigger sender it sends an electrical pulse to the speedo which by electric magic gets converted to mph only there are too many little spokes in the wheel so you get too many pulses. what you need to do is to drill out every 7th spoke ..drilling is the easiest way to cut them out..you need a steady hand and sharp drill then a small square file to clean up the drilled  part
...only as there are an odd number of spokes you cant get an even amount of  so its a compromise you have to judge where to cut them out...when this is done the trigger gets less pulses per revolution..I can send a picture if I can put up an email address

[guile]

Wouldn't glueing some sort of material on every 7th spoke work?  Worth a try.

[PowerBBS]

Hmm...

Well i can see the little wheal you're referring to, you'd swear that there would be some method to just recalibrate the sensor to understand the light pulses correctly as light travels between each spoke as the wheel turns. 

I mean 140Kmh is roughtly 87 mph (that's 17mph difference to the approximate 70mph I'm actually traveling when the bike reads that speed - that's a big difference) and at 50Kmh which is suppost to be 31mph (and I'm only at about 25 mph).

My end resolve is I'm trying to avoid speeding tickets (and obey speed limit laws) from a guage that I have to use as "best guess" to get myself to the correct speed.


The normal translation of kmh to mph should follow this:
Quick KPH to MPH Conversion

KPH  MPH 
30  19 
50  31 
60  37 
80  50 
100  62 
120  75 



Well I guess a test would be then to just put a piece of tape to cover the space between every 7th spoke might change things too. 

[ts1]

... to understand the light pulses correctly as light travels between each spoke as the wheel turns.

Light? Isn't it a:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_effect_sensor

It is certainly possible to adjust the speedometer, but then the odometer will receive false readings.
In Germany this would be an offense! (Too many dealers manipulated the odometer to cheat the customers.)

[PowerBBS]

Ya, could be a magnetic sensor instead of a light sensor, I claim to be no genius on the technology.  In which case the tape wouldn't work unless I cut a piece of metal to fit between two pieces of tape in each slot.

I don't really want to drill out and cut anything away; as adding metal pieces in the slots means my alteration would be 'reversable' where as cutting anything away would be permanent.

[PowerBBS]

It is certainly possible to adjust the speedometer, but then the odometer will receive false readings.
In Germany this would be an offense! (Too many dealers manipulated the odometer to cheat the customers.)

Well, to my experience in the automotive industr, today most speedo's are adjustable.  It's due to the fact that varying tire sizes quite obviously affect the speed/distance a vehicle/travels travels with each tire rotation.  For example, I could upgrade my tires so that I use the same rim, but have a wider diameter tire (taller side walls), in which case, with my current settings the speed would actually start to be a "bit more" accurate as I would be traveling further with each tire rotation.  

For vehicles in the US you can actually purchase vehicle programmers that will calibrate your speedo to a custom tire size (if you didn't adjust your speedo, then if you put on larger tires, you'd think you were doing the speed limit, when in fact you could actually be doing up to 20%+ faster than the speed your guage reflects or smaller tires could mean you would be up to 20%+ slower), else possibly get a ticket for speeding or angry drivers for you driving too slow, dispite your speedo saying you're doing the speed limit.  

Performance programmers from companies like diablosport.com, superchips.com, edgeperformance.com, hypertech.com, bullydog.com a few dozen other vendors all have the ability to change your speedometer calibration based on tire size.  I personally own DiabloSports.com Predator II Programmer (for a 2001 F250 V10), SuperChips FlashPaq programmer (For a 2007 Dodge Ram 5.7 Hemi), Hypertech.com HyperTech III (2002 Chevy Silverado 5.2 V8) programmer, EdgePerformance.com Edge Performance monitor (2007 5.7 V8 Hemi Dodge Ram) on my past four vehicles.  Trying to tune my vehicle to save on gas, yet get better performance as well (more HP).  As well as program for my tire sizes for the speedo as I typically don't stick with stock rims or tires on my vehilcles.

I've got stock tires and rims/wheels now on the Kymco (always have had, and my odometer on the bike only has 1600 miles on it, obviously MORE than reality as the bike thinks I'm traveling faster over a greater distance than reality), so the error I'm getting is not due to any alteration I've done to the scooter.  It seems the manufacturer (Kymco) chose a speedo setting that is made for a larger tire.  OR, it's adjustable and needs to e correctly calibrated.

[sidthesloth]

I think they use an optimistic speedo reading to make the rider think he is going faster than he actually is.

[Alex]

there is an add on gadget calleda Speedohealer which will change the reading you get but is needs to hook into your speedo sensor output cable and your speedo  and be calibrated to the speed you are doing ie you need to know what speed you are doing then tell the healer what it is so it knows what its output should be at that speed which then goes to the x500 speedo as a signal which overrides the usual one..i couldnt see  myself doing all that so resorted to mechanical means. Agree you could join together the sections of the steel sensor rather than taking some out maybe wrap some wire around them , but the sensor head needs to be in close proximity so you run the risk of knocking it off  if too close or not getting a signal if too far away..or you could fit up a pushbike speedo they seem to be more advanced and have good readouts..... but the odometer would still be getting the wrong distance signals from the OEM speedo output

[sidthesloth]

Yeah, I have seen some threads on here about the pushbike speedos and they do seem good, I think with my scooter that might be the way to go. First I will try a larger tyre size to see if that brings it in any closer.

[jan.strydom]

  guys I used the GPS to check and now know my scoot is 10kph optimistic - in fact it suits me just fine as it gives my some safety margin for speeding tickets - lol - I hope!!!!

[sissy mary]

The nearest I can tell is that I am going about 65 MPH @ 110 KPH? Plus or minus 1 or 2 MPH?

[DaveRinPA]

Bite the bullet and get a Sigma BC 509 bicycle speedo from Amazon.com for $18.00!

[sidthesloth]

For $18, it is the way to go. Could make a panel to put it in with a tacho that Shaka has.