Hello
Just a quick update, if anyone is interested.
Mounted a TomTom this morning.
Speed showing is spot on with the satnav - definitely in miles.
Odometer clocked 50 miles on a 31 mile run - definitely in Kilometres!

I wish I could set the odometer into miles.
Cant really comprehend how the same instrument can measure in two completely different units...

:confused1:

Hi, if the face of the speedo had been replaced with one in miles (correctly compensating) rather than km, this would explain the different readings. Andy

Andy's right, Manafas. This issue seems to have confused just about everybody but you need to forget about measuring two units because the speedometer itself, aside of the odometer section, does not display 'units', as such.

The odometer displays kilometers because that's what it's geared for.
The speedometer, however, effectively indicates just 0 to 100% and, if the panel on yours is marked up with a scale of 0-110mph, these will represent mph... Or if it were marked 0-10 bananas then maybe you'd think you were travelling at a rate of n bananas per um, season?

The point I'm trying to make is that the speedo' is just showing a linear 0-100% - whether this is to be interpreted as kph or mph is solely dependent on the markings printed/painted onto the plate in front of the needle: the needle points to the same position on that 0-100% scale, regardless. The odometer, on the other hand, actually does display an actual value.

As for the remedy, I just looked in the 4PT parts catalogue and there is only one speedo gear for two speedometers (one for the UK model), so it's a different (UK) speedo' unit that you might want... BUT I definitely recall seeing speedo kmh-mph converters advertised many (many) years ago and I'll bet that they still exist. I think they were primarily for cars, though, so I don't know whether they'd be a tad bulky or what. I had presumed them to work 'inline' - whether that would make the cable stick out too far on a bike, I don't know.

HTH

Thanks Andy and Bigfoot
Point taken about changing the speedometer face - however the current one seems to be original and has markings for both miles and kilometres (please see attached photo).
My point was I am not happy I'm pilling up the mileage (in this case KM) as if one day I want to sell the bike it will show an awful lot of miles that are not realistic at all...
Bigfoot - thanks for the explanation... Maybe I will consider changing the speedometer face into a "banana" scale reading?
I live in the UK by the way.

Interesting. Does it obscure the issue at all if I say that my 2003 XT600E's speedo does not have "110" on the scale, just the bar for 110mph?

Both the 'normal' speedo unit and the UK one were redesigned for the 4PT version - the part-number is prefixed by "4PT" in the 2001 parts catalogue. I wonder if you can get hold of a 'proper' UK speedo from a bike-breaker. Whether a potential purchaser of your bike will believe you about the old one that caused the discrepancy on the MoT mileage(!)-logging is anyone's guess, though.

I have seen a device advertised that sits below the speedo head (basically a small gearbox) and converts the input of the cable from miles to km or vice versa. Do a search for 'speedo healer', but be aware that there are other devices designed for electronic speedos which have the same name.

Or you could just get a larger front wheel - I reckon a 34" should be about right.

Either of these would correct your odo reading back to miles, but your speedo range will now be reading wrong. Perhaps best to live with it and offer any future purchaser a demonstration with the GPS to prove you are telling the truth.

Incidentally, Bigfoot, I don't think people responding to this thread were confused by the workings of the speedometer. The miles/km thing was identified straight away by chucky55 and others. What was confusing was an instrument with apparently contradictory scales for the two outputs.

__________________
2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

Hi, on a positive note, your bike (assuming they are original clocks) has only covered 10K miles. Andy

Well that's true.
It might well be the case: the engine runs very sweet and it's returning proximately 70 MPG. Also not using much oil at all.

I love the bike by the way, rides really nice, it's not heavy and handles well in traffic (I'm doing 100 miles a day, most of it on the M25, at peak times).

After getting over the speedometer/odometer "problem" I think I will be looking into painting all the plastics and fuel tank.