Effin' speedos

[fredintoon]

Hi List,
between us, my son & I own 4 XS series Yamahas and the speedo has crapped out on every one of them.
Both XS650 speedos shook their dial screws out, the XS11 speedo seized up and broke the drive cable and today I was pushing the XS750 backwards to make some access room and it's speedo started making nasty noises. I pushed it forwards again and the noises stopped but the needle went to 160 kph and stuck there.
OK, I split my own XS650 speedo's bezel to remove it, put the screws back in with Loctite and epoxied the bezel back on. Now the odometer is accurate but the speedo reads 45 at 60. My son did the epoxy trick on his XS650 speedo but he must have forgotten to Loctite the dial screws because the dial is spinning round again.
Speedos on other Japanese marques we have owned have never acted up like this, so I gotta ask, who builds Yamaha's speedos for them?

[b.walker5]

China, maybe... Apart from a crushed one when I came off i've never had a problem with them, on either my 11 or it's predecessor, the 750. But, a couple of replacements for the 11 I got out from the states both had fairly healthy sized bug nest's inside them, which could have been a problem if I hadnt cleaned them out.

[planedick]

Odometer

I have had trouble with the odometer giving out and I found that the little worm gears wear out. The solution is to remove the little plastic switch for the canceling unit on the back and put some grease on those gears with a toothpick.

[Mstaab]

Now why would you want your 11 to wear a speedo? that's just wrong on so many levels.

[Phoenix Rider]

Been There, Had That

I've had the exact same thing happened to me a few times. I am on my third speedo in 11 years. 45,00 is the average. The one that is on there now is about to go too. It fickers between 20-30kms at higher speeds.
The problem with the speedoes is a straight shaft that has slots cut horizontal and a worm gear that runs 90* that runs your speedo. What happens the worm gear wears the horizontal slots out. No slots, no speed. I had mine go completely on route to a rally last year. No speedo, no odometer. I ride a special and rely on my odo for fill ups. My solution was stop when everyone else does if I needed it or not.
I redid my faceplate screws too. What I did was carefully pry the metal trim ring from the bottom with a very small flat screwdriver. Be patient it definitely takes a long time, but it can be done.
I am going to use my GPS when the next speedo goes.

Good luck Fred,
Wayne in Port Perry, Ontario

[fredintoon]

[QUOTE=Phoenix Rider;290628]I've had the exact same thing happened to me a few times. - - -
I redid my faceplate screws too. What I did was carefully pry the metal trim ring from the bottom with a very small flat screwdriver. Be patient it definitely takes a long time, but it can be done.
I am going to use my GPS when the next speedo goes.

Hi Wayne,
with ours, the faces fell off and the speedos ran slow but the odometers never gave trouble. Except for the latest one, the Speedo on my son's XS650 grenaded itself, shattering it's casing.
The Speedo now on my XS11 is a $5 bargain from the US that looks all beat up but keeps going and going.
My last good speedo is now on Eric's XS650. It too is a US model in great shape, low miles and the red is still red. Alas it's a pathetic 85mph unit. Ah well.