Inaccurate Speedometer. Bad Speedo-Tuner. Is their any fix?

ChuckyG4

Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
3
Location
Murfreesboro, TN
Bike
2005 ST1300
I am the second owner of a 05 ST1300. First time I commuted to work, I was surprised that I needed to go 85 - 90 mph to keep up or pass traffic to get to work. Now I24 in the Nashville area can be fast, but most of the traffic travels at 75+ during rush hour (speed limit is 70 mph). With a little timing with stop watch and comparison to a GPS unit; I find that the bike is off by a whopping 12%! I call Honda and express my dismay, and they say that motorcycles are intentionally over-clocked in America by up to 10%. Do all motorcycles have inaccurate speedometers? My other Honda is not that far off. I tell him that mine is off by 12%, and he says that this is still within the range that Honda would not fix it under warrantee.

I quickly learn to subtract 10% plus a couple more for every time that I look at the speedometer. So 80 mph is about 9 or 10 less, so about 70 mph right? The ST does not use the old fashion gear on the transmission to measure the speed. Thereby, you can't just ask for a different geared pickup like old cars. Changes in tires can also goof-up speedometers, but my still had original tires. The ST has a magnetic pickup on the right side of the gear box that measures revolutions and it is calculated in the electronic speedometer. Apparently no adjustment is possible or so I'm told. Wait a minute, aren't ST's sold to police for official vehicles? I thought an accurate speedometer was a legal requirement for police vehicles. How do they calibrate theirs? Does anyone know? Any nice cops out there that can tell us the secret?

Well I looked for products online and chose the Speedo-Tuner, cheapest option out there. It is sold by a company in Las Vegas by the name of Total-Fuel.com. That was in September of 2010. I installed it in-line with the speedometer wiring and tried to calibrate it to make the correction. The unit never would calibrate no matter how many times or how long I held the single red button. After several phone calls and emails they were convinced that I had done everything right, but it just wouldn't work. I returned the unit to Total-Fuel for a replacement. I again installed it and again it did not work. After more phone calls and emails, Total-Fuel told me that they are not able to test the units they sell on every vehicle that they claim it should work on. And it just doesn't work on my make and model. They offer a full refund plus shipping in May 2010. I returned the second unit by certified mail . . . and received no such refund. After months of waiting and more emails without reply, I complained to CliMax Riding Gear, the original catalog company, that sold the unit to me. After all they were the one that received my payment, not Total-Fuel. After they had no success in raising Total-Fuel on the telephone, Climax offered me a $40 discount on future purchased. Half of the original price was $80. A couple weeks later, to my surprise, I finally get an email from TopFuel saying that they forgot and I would received a full refund plus some shipping costs shortly. This is Feb 2012 that was over two months ago . . . still no refund!

So from this we learn that
1) Honda sells inaccurate speedometers, and
2) Speed-Tuner is sold by cheats and liars that will steal your money outright!

I don't feel that the marketplace in America is safe from online thieves. It is only through forums like this that we can band together and try to boycott the criminal companies that feed on us. He is a clear case of false representation, false advertising, and outright theft. Who can we turn to for any justice? It is an interstate purchase, I can't go to Nevada to file a small claim. BBB and Gov't are interested in protecting the companies that own them, not customers.
 
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Same here, mine works flawlessly. The only side effect is when I key my cb the speedo signal gets interruped and goes wacky, but that's usually ust for a second.
 
Average seems to be about 7% optimistic for the ST1300 and not too far off from other motorcycles I've had. The speedohealer seems to work ok although it will thro the odo off.

I just use the GPS to better estimate how much my ticket will be LOL.
 
I would pursue remedy with Honda. Start with the dealer then a regional representative. My 1999 Odyssey van bought new was just under 10% off and the regional Honda rep I talked to said that Honda would not remedy a speedometer that was less than 10% off. If yours is 12% I believe you just have to complain loud enough and long enough.
 
Remember that a worn rear tire will make a speedo read slightly high as well. Piggyback a worn tire with our typical 10% error, and it might get his 12%. I highly doubt Honda will cover the error if, indeed, the tire might be pushing it past their allowable 10%.

Just an idea...

Jim
 
Or get used to it. Cost's nothing!
My bike I'm safe at under 70 MPH on a 55 road. Right about 10 over actual.
Safe at 80 MPH on a 65 MPH road. Right about 10 over actual.
I-91, I-84 I can do 90 indicated without passing many.
 
Just don't come up here...I just got a performance award last week for 10 over (60 in a 50).
 
nhdiesel said:
Remember that a worn rear tire will make a speedo read slightly high as well. Piggyback a worn tire with our typical 10% error, and it might get his 12%. I highly doubt Honda will cover the error if, indeed, the tire might be pushing it past their allowable 10%.

Just an idea...

Jim
Click to expand...

I run both a GPS and the Speedo Healer. I see VERY little speed difference from a new tire to a worn out tire. I know math and yes the circmfrance does change from new to old, Just saying that I can not see a measurable difference of indicated speed to the GPS over the life of my tires. My error was the typical 7% before the correction. Yes my odometer is now 4% short. Better for trade in, as it will show fewer miles than actual.
 
nhdiesel said:
Remember that a worn rear tire will make a speedo read slightly high as well. Piggyback a worn tire with our typical 10% error, and it might get his 12%. I highly doubt Honda will cover the error if, indeed, the tire might be pushing it past their allowable 10%.
Click to expand...

While it's certainly true that a change in tire circumference can influence the speedometer reading of a vehicle that uses a tire (usually the front) to drive the speedometer. Tire circumference on a vehicle that uses a speed sensor (usually driven off the final drive of the transmission) as the ST1300 does, will have no effect on the speedometer reading.

As the calculated speed is a function of the rate of pulses over time, and the pulses are a function of engine RPM times transmission gearing, the speedometer will give the same speed reading (for a given RPM and gear selection) regardless of what tire is on the motorcycle. Of course tires with different circumferences will move the motorcycle at different speeds, while the speedometer continues to display the same speed reading (again for a given RPM and gear selection).

A quick check of the ST1300 parts fiche indicates that indeed the Civilian, and Police models use speedometer assemblies with different part numbers, interestingly the Police version is slightly less costly then the Civilian version. Though at $779 for the Police version, changing out speedometers will be a very expensive proposition.
 
If the speedometer is reading 10% inaccurate does that mean the total milage the bike has done is also 10% insccurate.The last time I was out on my ST1100 I noticed the GPS and speedometer were giving different readings
 
Not sure about the USA (probably the same) but in the UK the speedo on a bike or car can read anything from 0 to 10% higher than the actual speed but NEVER read under the correct speed.
This is so the driver/ rider cannot "blame" the speedo if they are caught speeding, as their actual speed will be the same or slightly less than their speedo tells them.

On my ST1100, the speedo is an RS unit which comes with it's calibration number on the sticker, used when in "service" to keep a record of when they are calibrated and rechecked.
The last time I "checked" this against a GPS system (last year), at various steady speeds, the readings were very close to the GPS readings.
 
Fearmor said:
If the speedometer is reading 10% inaccurate does that mean the total milage the bike has done is also 10% insccurate.The last time I was out on my ST1100 I noticed the GPS and speedometer were giving different readings
Click to expand...

At least in the US the speedo is c. 7% optimistic. The odometer is not similarly affected.
Applying the speedo healer iirc will mess up the odometer.
 
My speedometer reads faster than my GPS and the odometer reads more miles than the GPS although it's only off 2% or so rather than the speedos 8.
 
Anna'sDad said:
Tire circumference on a vehicle that uses a speed sensor (usually driven off the final drive of the transmission) as the ST1300 does, will have no effect on the speedometer reading.
Click to expand...


Actually that isn't true. Changing the diameter of the rear tire will still make the speedometer read inaccurately even if its read off the final drive.

My speedo has always been almost exactly 10% off according to a couple different GPS's. My rear tire is about 25" tall when new. Remove .25" of tread due to wear, and the height shrinks by .5", or about 2%. Add that 2% to the 10% the speedo is normally off with a new tire, and it comes up to the 12% the OP said his was off. If Honda allows up to 10%, as another poster claimed, then I'm sure they would do nothing if the speedo is off by 10% with a new tire, but 12% with a well used tire. That was really the only point I was trying to make.

One other point to make- Be careful with a Speedo-healer. Since it throws the odometer off while correcting the speedo, you could be in violation of federal odometer tampering law.:
"B) Disclosure that the actual mileage is unknown if the transferor knows that the odometer reading is different from the number of miles the vehicle has actually traveled."

I'm sure none of us would ever get nailed for it...but the law exists, and you never know when they might decide to "make an example" of someone.


Jim
 
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