KLR650 (07->) speedo accuracy check

[shards]

Just bought an 09 (black) and the speedo reads way different (lower) than the 07 that I had earlier.

What speed do you guys read at 5000rpm in top gear? Or, if it's easier, what's the kph per 1000rpm in top gear?

Mine seems to get less accurate as the speeds increase.

Just for comparison :

Last bike (07) 5000rpm in top was 125kph
This bike (09) 5000rpm in top is 115

Thanks in advance for any input.

Steve

[marks]

5000 rpm is 125kph on my 07 - I suspect it reads a bit high

so you decided to get one after all?
you going to put all those bits and pieces on it?

was the 07 you sold an oil burner?

[cooneyr]

Is there different gearing? (suspect not but had to ask).

Get a GPS of somebody and check it out that way. Seems most cars are 5km optimistic and most bikes are 10km optimistic.

Cheers R

[shards]

The 07 didn't burn ANY oil, just didn't like the colour, (sorry again Pete) and I wanted a new bike since I am going to put all those (expensive) bits on.

I know that the first owner of that 07 would most likely have run it in hard (his previous bike was a Hayabusa!!!!) and I wonder if that is (at least part of) the secret to NOT getting an oil burner.

I will not be babying my one either so I'll keep you posted.

If my 07 was 10kph optimistic, that means that my 09 is "true". That's impossible isn't it?

[pete376403]

According to the various forums (KLR650.net, advrider, etc) the KLRs usually report 10% under (ie 110 indicated is 100 actual) but given that these are mostly US forums and therefore talking miles rather than kilometers per hour maybe we get a different speedo.(and different degree of inaccuracy).

IIRC 4000 rpm (or very close to it) is around 100k/hr. Will check if I get out on the Wgtn Wednesday night ride tonight.

Also, given that mechanical tachos (apart from old Smiths Chronometric*) work on exactly the same principle - rotating magnetic field dragging a steel cup against a return spring - as mechanical speedometers, who's to say a tach reading is any more accurate than a speedo reading?

Anyway, KLR speedos should be calibrated in millilitres (of engine oil) per kilometer - that apparently is the most accurate measurement of all.


*Obscure trivia - Smiths Chronometrics (tacho and speedo) as found on old Brit bikes were very accurate as they measured rotation (or the drive cable) against time.

[shards]

Pete, You are very cynical regarding the oil burners, does that mean you have one?

[warewolf]

*Obscure trivia - Smiths Chronometrics (tacho and speedo) as found on old Brit bikes were very accurate as they measured rotation (or the drive cable) against time.

Rotated once last year, and twice the year before that??!!

[marks]

if your old green one, Pete's green one and my green one all indicate 125 @5000 it just proves that the green ones are faster than the less desirable black ones

[shards]

Maybe so, but the black ones will last longer!

Joking aside, since the final drive sprockets (fr $ rr) are the same size, I wonder if Kawi changed any internal ratios to make the bike rev higher. Common folklore or heresay has it that a bike runs better if it revs higher even though our "human" tendancy is to keep the engine relaxed.

[marks]

seeing as you advertised a copy of a manual would you mind looking up the torque settings for the clutch center nut and the water pump impeller nut - I have to install my rekluse clutch this weekend and don't have a manual.

cheers


Mark

[shards]

Murphy's Law! The manual sold to a guy in Aussie before I had a change of mind and pulled the ads. Today, I re-purchased another from the same place in New York (and paid a lot more DOH!!!) but it probably won't be here until next week. You'll have to find out from somewhere else, or just use the "human" torque wrench, and I'll let you know what they should be when I get the replacement manual.

Maybe post a question on klr650.net, someone there is bound to have a manual.

[pete376403]

Yeah I've got an oil burner. Doesn't really worry me and I love the bike despite that. Kawi NZ are going to replace the rings and valve guide seals under warranty so I'm quite happy about that.

Re the speed/rev difference on the '09, maybe you have found the elusive 6th gear that the users manual mentions. try as I may, I can't get mine to change up from 5th

Marks - I've got the KLR manual in PDF format. Its actually the KLR600 manual with the 650 supplement. However these things changed so little over the past 20 odd years that it's still largely current.

Anyway clutch centre nut 13.5kg/m or 98 ft/ib, water pump nut 0.8kg/m or 69 in/lb

[pete376403]

Rotated once last year, and twice the year before that??!!

Nah, bit more complex than that.
See http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com/20...er-and_21.html for a long description of how they work and
here http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=q8-OdL43z6k to see one working.

They were extremely accurate - the MOT used to fit the old chrono speedos to the new cop bikes (back in the day when BSA and Triumph 650s were used)

[warewolf]

Common folklore or heresay has it that a bike runs better if it revs higher even though our "human" tendancy is to keep the engine relaxed.

It's a complex issue but there is some truth to that.

"Relaxed", or slow-revving? More people tend to labour their engines (= high load low rpm) rather than rev them (= high revs low load), a point of view shared with many and varied riding instructors over the years. I don't call a labouring engine "relaxed". Modern engines are built to rev, not just because they are better built but because they are designed to utilise that better build. Motorcycle engines more so, given the small displacement (and resultant mass) of each piston and it's associated hardware. Even so-called "torquey" engines these days are short-strokers.

Some bikes are said to be configured "loaded down", that is at cruising speed where the noise & pollution tests are done, the engine is at artificially low revs (from a power/performance point of view) to score well in the tests. Response and maybe economy can improve by gearing down the bike. Allegedly the manufacturers also do things like play with the ignition curves to improve the test results, such as reducing the engine's tendency to accelerate out of the test zone (where the results may not be as good).

Really the only way to improve things is to 'suck it and see'. Some bikes will improve with taller gearing, some by going the other way... it just depends on where it's at and where you want to be. And golly gosh, occasionally the factory will have reached the same compromise you will!

[warewolf]

Nah, bit more complex than that.

I wasn't doubting the capability of the instrument, but rather the bike it was measuring!