Actual vs. Indicated

[PhotoAl]

Mine is +1 on the speedometer.  Previous bike (BMW F800GT) was similar but was +2 sometimes +3.  My Kawasaki ZX6R was off 10% - 77 indicated was 70 MPH.  My 2012 CBR600RR was off by 1MPH.  I can correct in my head but gets frustrating when  having to do it all the time and then when switching vehicles to remember which correction to use.

[stringman]

9 hours ago, bwringer said:

My 2015 is also very close (within + 1 or 2 mph) but I don't know if it came that way, or if there was a correction done when the original owner had the ECU flashed. I've heard it both ways, so I dunno what the truth is here.

In any case, it's nice to have an accurate speedo, and I definitely have to remember it's a lot more accurate than my other bikes.

My 17 reg tracer was flashed and the difference stayed the same (7%)

[2and3cylinders]

Frankly Scarlet, I don't give a dam.

Close enough for the girls we go out with.

And any LEO who nails you for as little as 8 mph over is a prick, unless of course you were doing it stupidly.

Some say makers made them purposely to read fast as an ego booster and to save yourself from yourself.

My 98 VTR reads as much as 10% over above 65 mph

[betoney]

23 hours ago, dazzler24 said:

Mine was out 'considerably' as well so, and because I already had the McCruise installed, I went with their Speedo error correction kit which, as it turned out, was a very simple addition to the existing hardware and with a software tweak/recalibration, viola - spot on!

EDIT - found the reference for anyone who may be interested.

I didn’t know that they offered that. 
My FJ is off 2 mph and VFR is spot on, both have MCCruise, I’m not worried about a 2 mph difference but it’s nice to know they offer a correction. 👍🏻

[knyte]

17 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

And any LEO who nails you for as little as 8 mph over is a prick

You may not have photo radar where you live, unlike where I live, and other places.  So it's not LEO so much as camera sentries.  Not only that, prior to installing new ABS rings, I'd at times have traffic piling up behind me, because I was travelling well below the limit.  So, an accurate speedo helps me a lot to, well, be able to see exactly how fast - or slow - I'm travelling.

Besides, prick or not, a ticket is a ticket!

[2and3cylinders]

I never ride anymore in Chicago where they do have speed cams but the limit is very low like in school zones.  If I ride legal in town and speed traps we're 1 or 2 under anyway.   But besides on superslabs here cagers blow by me when I'm doing 10 and 20 over!  Most likely when I'm in the boonies a Local Yokel may nail me if I'm very unlucky but more often I'd been well over the limit sufficient to handcuff me and impound my steed if they caught up with me enough to get a clock on me (which happened once when they couldn't, so he wrote me for passing more than 1 cage at a time that the judge threw out).

I rarely get caught in traffic as I don't commute anymore, and closely watch my 6 and stay with the flow and keep a cushion bubble around us.

[Wintersdark]

Mine reads 7% fast.  

It'll always be a percentage, though, not a fixed number.  

The upside is, if I get a speeding ticket, it's for less than I expected.

At least here in Canada, 100% of people I've tested have speedos that read 6-8% high.  Literally 100%.  People argue and say theirs are correct, but then admit to not having actually tested at high speed.  So, I get them to ride at 120kph on the highway, and I follow them and track actual speed, and sure enough...  6-8% high reading.  Every single time.  This has held true and consistent with a variety of devices too; as well as across multiple apps.  Key is at least a kilometer riding at consistent speed, however, to eliminate any GPS error. 

The T7 is much worse, though - it reads almost 10% high - this is probably due in no small part to the Motoz tires and their insanely deep tread however. 

Edited May 22, 2022 by Wintersdark

[OldBikers]

My 2021 T9GT's speedo reads 2-3 mph more than Google maps GPS.

[ZigMerid]

On 5/22/2022 at 1:49 PM, knyte said:

You may not have photo radar where you live, unlike where I live, and other places

Exactly. Around these parts the radar systems automatically issue a ticket if you're less than 13km/h over a 110km/h limit. That's a little over 10% First time you hear about it is a letter from the government stating you owe them ~ USD150.

So yeah, LEOs aren't even part of the process.

As has been mentioned here before, speedos purposely display a higher indicated speed than actual to protect the manufacturer from lawsuits. Imagine a bazillion people challenging speeding tickets because their speedo reads low and how many challenges would flow on as calibration lawsuits to the manufacturer?

It's simply strategic and sensible for manufacturers to err on the side of caution as there are far fewer legal consequences.

Further to that, different tyres with different inflation levels are going to have slightly varying circumferences which will also affect speedo accuracy, so again, manufacturers are going to err on the side of caution and assume max tyre size at max inflation.

All in all, it comes as no surprise that virtually everyone reports their speedo reading high and that we rarely, if ever, hear of speedos reading low.