First the background. Back in September of 2012 i acquired my newest incarnation of ?Trigger?: A flawless, black, 2006 ST1300, with only some 9000 miles on her. Interestingly enough though on the initial ride home, I became aware that the speedo was some 10 MPH off at 60 MPH. I was able to come to this conclusion by pacing other vehicles and later with the use of a GPS unit. The other real nice thing I noticed was the fact that Trigger was on track to hit some 44+ MPG...that would darn near double the range of my previous bike. A real plus in my book.
OK, fast forward 8 or so weeks...Trigger and I are patiently waiting in an intersection and BAM! I?m rear end and sprawled out on the ground with Trigger some 15 feet away in a similar position...but that?s another thread for another time...so with that in mind i spent most of the winter stripping Trigger down; a fargle here and there, cleaning and replacing the parts and pieces that i could.
Now jump to the recent past, Trigger is back on the road, less a saddlebag, but on the road nonetheless. As good as new, except ? my mileage has dropped off. I?m lucky to average some 39 or so MPG. Still not bad, but not what it was cruising at 70+.
Now present day, just moments ago, off for a quick ride in what feels like the first sunny day since last September in the Pacific Northwest. There i am turning a pleasant 75 on the speedo (assuming an odd 65 mph give or take a few), until i spot the brake lights off to the right, followed by the red & Blue strobes calling to me, suggestively telling to me to stop and pull over; since i was the only one around, the light show had to be for me. The short version...I got lucky, the Washington Trooper let me go with a verbal warning [thanks again officer] incredibly, he stated that I was doing 72 in a 60 and that i need to slow it down. The following 4 miles home passed in an eye blink. All i could think about was how? I know I wasn?t going that fast. What did i screw up over the winter. Did the accident mess something up? I know the speedo was off by a large percentage back in the fall...but what changed? DOH...one of the winter projects was NEW TIRES. i replaced the OEM tires with a set of Road Pilots. Could that be it? Once home I grabbed the old GPS and hit the road. Sure enough, now the speedo is off only by a couple. While the speedo now read 64, the GPS displayed 60. oops! And my displayed MPG had also increase immensely, now that i?m only doing 60-ish...go figure.
So the moral of the story is...take the time, check your speedometer after new tires...don?t assume.:bow1:
OK, fast forward 8 or so weeks...Trigger and I are patiently waiting in an intersection and BAM! I?m rear end and sprawled out on the ground with Trigger some 15 feet away in a similar position...but that?s another thread for another time...so with that in mind i spent most of the winter stripping Trigger down; a fargle here and there, cleaning and replacing the parts and pieces that i could.
Now jump to the recent past, Trigger is back on the road, less a saddlebag, but on the road nonetheless. As good as new, except ? my mileage has dropped off. I?m lucky to average some 39 or so MPG. Still not bad, but not what it was cruising at 70+.
Now present day, just moments ago, off for a quick ride in what feels like the first sunny day since last September in the Pacific Northwest. There i am turning a pleasant 75 on the speedo (assuming an odd 65 mph give or take a few), until i spot the brake lights off to the right, followed by the red & Blue strobes calling to me, suggestively telling to me to stop and pull over; since i was the only one around, the light show had to be for me. The short version...I got lucky, the Washington Trooper let me go with a verbal warning [thanks again officer] incredibly, he stated that I was doing 72 in a 60 and that i need to slow it down. The following 4 miles home passed in an eye blink. All i could think about was how? I know I wasn?t going that fast. What did i screw up over the winter. Did the accident mess something up? I know the speedo was off by a large percentage back in the fall...but what changed? DOH...one of the winter projects was NEW TIRES. i replaced the OEM tires with a set of Road Pilots. Could that be it? Once home I grabbed the old GPS and hit the road. Sure enough, now the speedo is off only by a couple. While the speedo now read 64, the GPS displayed 60. oops! And my displayed MPG had also increase immensely, now that i?m only doing 60-ish...go figure.
So the moral of the story is...take the time, check your speedometer after new tires...don?t assume.:bow1: