I can not understand why you argue at all.
The speedo always show more than the actual speed. So you think you go faster, you think your car/bike has better gas milige, you drive slower because you thing you drive faster....

All the vihicles i have drive/ride show 5-10% less on the speedo compare to the GPS. A couple of weeks ago i tried my Hawk - put the GPS on and go for 200 on the speedo(km/h not miles) and the GPS showed top speed 188km/h. Same did my little Peugeot on the highway. Stock gearing, stock tire sizes.

And about the tire slip....if so the rear tire/front sprocket reading is no accurate, but what would you say about front tire readings?
My ex bike - GSX750F Katana had cable speedo connected to the front tire and guess what it showed 10% less than the actual speed -confirmed by many of the Katriders forum.

 

Funny you should say this because I actually Am an engineer at Honda! HAHA. Seriously though, Im an Electrical Engineer at Honda. The speedo and the ODO use the same signal. The reason the ODO and speedo are not both spot on is the speedo is not digital. Any analog gauge will never be as good as digital. Both the speedo and the ODO are calculated with the same signal and basic formula as well.

Speedometers are given a % from the govornment that they are allowed to be "off" and car companies try to make them accurate, but honestly for the $.01 per car price difference, honda speedo's are usually off by about 7%. Older Honda speedo's used to be off by much more till they were taken to court over it. Tire slippage at 150+mph will come into play, but not as much as 30mph.... Thats just plain too much. The bike would wobble all over the place. Most of the inaccuracy of it is from the analog speedo just being an old piece of technology that wears out and since the numbers are so freaking close to each other anyway, you will never be able to "accurately" see your speed with your eye. You will have to use a gps. I dont want to fuel a fire, but that is literally what I do here at Honda, so I wanted to clear a few things up.

 

Thanks for your input. That is a great explanation why our odometers are accurate (with stock gearing and rear tire size) and our speedometers are optimistic by a consistent ~7%. My question now though, is on the later models with the digital speedos, why is the speedo still optimistic? Or is it?

 

My 02 was off by 4%-5% throughtout the range. Corrected with a SpeedoHealer.

 

Good explanation and I respect what you do but I do have a couple of points to add in.

First I guess you either didn't read the whole thread or misinterpreted some of it.

The whole 30mph of slip was a figure thrown out buy someone who admitted they were "rounding" the numbers up in order to support their side of the discussion.

So while you are an electrical engineer, the 10% of tire slip (or 15mph @ 150 mph) was given to me by the chief tire engineer at Dunlop and I respect what he was doing also (as he is now retired)

Also my '98 is off by 4% and has been checked many times.

 

Not the &^%$#)(*!@# tire slip thing again. Are we going to pull out best oil types and ideal sprocket sizes next just to complete the trifecta?

 

Sorry if I awakened a sleeping tiger. I just noticed the thread and thought maybe I could shed some light. Digital speedos should be pretty correct. At least in our auto's they are. 1%-2% error usually and that is because of the rounding in the ECU to account for ever changing road conditions as well as the Analog to Digital conversion. Proper tire inflation, chain and sprocket wear has a tiny effect as well. Our new cars actually use GPS for a speedo signal too. Honda is not the only manufacturer doing so either.

 

No no, we need something that's actually definitive.

Yellow = Fastest.

 

I was just being a smart ***. We do appreciate the input!

 

At least you got a reply to your post.......

 

It's not what you say, it's how you say it!

 

Guess I need to use some of these !@#$%^&* next time....

 

Splatranger95 Thanks so much for the input! That's good to know. Also it's good to know we have someone on here from Honda that knows their systems and can probably be an invaluable source of information on this site!

Sorry, based off YOUR comment I rounded up by 3-5 mph.

 

You're right, Yellow = Fastest is certainly NOT definitive when we all know RED = Fastest!

Nevermind........

 

Now that is just funny..... because the way I read it is that YOU manipulated numbers and posted inaccurate information in order to try and prove You had to be right and it's all MY fault that you did so....


Roll your eyes all you want but damn....

 

Now thats funny. I bought a black one, because I have a mangina and wont go over 90. I like my life and dont feel like dying... Black = low and slow. (and loud with the jardines...)

 

Since you're the Honda engineer and have knowledge about such things, it has been rumored that extra deviation was intentionally programmed into yellow Superhawk speedometers to introduce the euphoric feeling of speed when ridden by their gullible owners. I understand that this may be proprietary information and you may not be able to confirm or deny however you could offer a few words of consolation to the owners of the yellow Hawks.

Seriously, cool to have you around and can't wait to see the bantering 'tween you and Tweety. We have a few well documented issues with the bikes and between most of us here on the forum we've seen it or heard of it. Have you changed your R/R and CCTs yet?

 

No, better yet, I propose we revive the debate about whether swallows carried coconuts to England...

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - Memorable quotes

 

There is a very simple explanation to that as proven by you in the CCT thread. You don't actually read what's being typed. You skim over it and fill in the blanks in your head then fire off rebuttals to things that were never said.

A simple suggestion would be to take a few deep breaths, count to ten, calm down and actually slow down and read what’s being typed BEFORE you rebut, that way you A) don’t look silly arguing with yourself and making claims that someone said something they never said, and B) would figure out that I was agreeing with your theory, just not how much, which was also proven different from research from a major suspension company called Ohlins.

 

1st of all... I think I've "heard" rumors of yellow hawks being absurdly biased as far as speedo readings.. But I've also "heard" Red ones come with a ***** installed in the seat for owners comfort. Seriously Im just Just kidding... Im new here and I shouldnt joke like that till I get to know people.

I have not changed the R/R or the CCT. I was debating the CCT's but I wasnt sure how big of a deal it was. I know they are plastic (??) but do they fail? I have had many honda's and have never had the R/R fail. Is it really common with the Hawk?