Speedo needle at high speeds...

[ResidentWarui]

So umm over about 95 the speedo needle flies arround like crazy... waves back and forth and what not...

Is there anything I can do to fix this on a 78 550? Change a spring or something?

Watcha guys think?

TIA
Simon

[shortlid]

Wow my '80 GS850G's speedo doe sthat around 65 mph and only goes up to 85!!

[Jethro]

The problem will solve itself at some point. Your speedo cable is going to break- I promise.

A new speedo cable will fix it.

[bwringer]

You can often lubricate the speedo cable and achieve a temporary improvement.

But a new cable is, what, maybe $12?

[ResidentWarui]

cool thanks for the input guys, i'll change the cable

[steve-lloyd]

The rev counter on my GS450 does the same thing, wavering around at anything over 8000 rpm. Does this mean the cable is going to break?

[Jethro]

The rev counter on my GS450 does the same thing, wavering around at anything over 8000 rpm. Does this mean the cable is going to break?

Well, it will break at some point, that's true for everyone... what is happening is the cable gets old and it twists and winds up more than new. The inner cable has a little resistance on the outer casing and the twisting/rubbing casues a pulsing which you see at the needle. The speedo is actually a very low tech device, basically a wire attached to the front wheel that spins a wheel inside the gauge. The wheel has a certain amount of resistance built into that with a spring.