140 mph speedo?

[impalablue]

Considering the purchase of a 140 mph speedo offered as a being for a Special so I don't have to look at that silly 85 mph number on my recently purchased 81--but could this be a legit piece of equipment? The standards had a 160 mph unit, so it makes me wonder and I haven't been able to pull the answer off the web anywhere.

P.S. Hi folks, my first post, my second XS--sold the first one (a true junkyard dog but what a wild ride) in 1991, so it's been a long, dry spell.

[Bigfoot]

Welcome to the site.

Not sure about the speedo, I am sure others here will have an answer to that.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Yes, it's legite. 85, 140, 160... depending on which year & model.

Either 140 or 160 will work, but there is some dremel surgery involved in the swap.

Did mine on my XJ. from 85 to 160... works great. Looks great.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey ImpalaBlue,

The 160's were the XS11's, but the 140's were the 850's/750's, the 650's have 120, but as long as they are XS series bikes/models....and they had specials in all of these, then it'll be a round gauge, and is fairly plug and play, will read the speed correctly. The wiring of the lights may be a little different. The Dremmel work was for putting one into an XJ's instrument cluster, but for an 81Special, should be relatively easy! I have a 140 on my 81SH!
T.C.

[impalablue]

more on the 140 speedo

OK, that's good to know--next question is whether or not the guts will switch out into my nice speedo, as the 140 speedo is not pretty enough as is.

[TopCatGr58]

The chrome is just a cosmetic cover, will unbolt and swap just fine!
T.C.

[Pat Kelly]

I have the 140 speedo from an XS750 on my 1100. Works just fine. My 1100 only goes 135 anyway ........ once

[DeanR]

I put the 140 on my Special. Easy swap, works fine, but did loose my self-cancelling turn signals in the process.

[CatatonicBug]

I put the 140 on my Special. Easy swap, works fine, but did loose my self-cancelling turn signals in the process.

Why? What did you do to kill that feature? Shouldn't all the connections still allow the Self-canceller to work with any of the XS Speedos?

[Pat Kelly]

My self-cancel still works after the swap

[DeanR]

Why? What did you do to kill that feature? Shouldn't all the connections still allow the Self-canceller to work with any of the XS Speedos?

Something to do with that little reed switch thing. Hasn't bothered me, so I haven't looked into it further. It was a brand new 140 speedo that went on, and the self-cancel immediately was kapput. It was a straight plug and play swap otherwise.

[Mad Dog Doug]

160 mph speedometer

My 160 arrived yesterday, it only has 4000 more miles registered on it than the original shows.

I'm thinking that I should wait until they match to do the swap.

Any tips or hints needed, or is it a straight plug in replacement?

[tarzan]

I swapped in a 160 in my old special.It is an easy deal.I was lucky enough to get a speedo with about 1000 miles more than my original.I waited to install it untill it was within 100 miles of the same reading.

[fredintoon]

The chrome is just a cosmetic cover, will unbolt and swap just fine!
T.C.

Hi TC,
you mean the chrome bezel that holds the glass onto a round XS Special speedo?
If that were so my son's XS650 speedo face wouldn't be rattling around loose in there.
That bastard ring is coined on and is a right swine to remove and replace.

[fredintoon]

Hi TC,
you mean the chrome bezel that holds the glass onto a round XS Special speedo?

Hi again TC,
on sober second thought, you mean the chrome bucket the gauge sits in?
OK, that swaps easy enough, be careful not to lose the little rubber donuts on the attachment bolts.
Gawd, those chrome buckets are vulnerable to tip-over damage. We must have six or so speedo buckets either on bikes or in the spares box and every last one of them has an ugly dent in it.