Why do I keep breaking speedo cables?

[radbrad]

odometer

The conditions that you describe are definitely not normal. I've never actually seen the inside of a speedometer on a bike, but if they're built like cars, then you have a series of gears that drive the speedometer and the odometer. You have something jammed in the speedometer for sure. Don't try brute force unless you're ready to purchase another speedometer and yet another new cable. Did you try resetting the odometer to zero? Occasionally they get jammed in between numerical resets and can cause some issues. One thing's for sure. You can't use it the way it is so you may as well take it apart slowly and carefully and see if you can discover the cause of the failure. You might want to consider taking it to a professional speedometer repair shop. Do they still exist anymore?
Don

Yeah I tried resetting the odometer to zero, and spun around to different numbers just to see if it made a difference, it didn't seem to.

[radbrad]

From what I'm reading, fixing a busted speedometer head is not easy, I'm going to post in the parts wanted section for a new speedo for the 82 650G, let me know if anyone has one they want to sell. I probably will cut this thing open, I'll take pics and post them when I do.

thanks

[Redman]

I dont now if you said how soon the cable breaks and if the speedo does work before the cable breaks.

BUt:

One way that I tested a speedo:
- I looked into the speedo where the cable fits, and noticed that the square hole was about the size of a wooden match stick. So I got a wooden match stick and used a drill motor (varaible speed) to drive the speedo, slowly start it and slowly speed it up (trying not to shear the matchstick).

- Or.... if you still have have a broken cable available, maybe you could take the end of that instead.

.

<<later note>>>
Oh, now I see your post about how it seems that the speedo unit is bound up. So you already know what I am suggesting you test to determine.
I dont have any experience with a bound up speedo.
.

[radbrad]

well...

I dont now if you said how soon the cable breaks and if the speedo does work before the cable breaks.

BUt:

One way that I tested a speedo:
- I looked into the speedo where the cable fits, and noticed that the square hole was about the size of a wooden match stick. So I got a wooden match stick and used a drill motor (varaible speed) to drive the speedo, slowly start it and slowly speed it up (trying not to shear the matchstick).

- Or.... if you still have have a broken cable available, maybe you could take the end of that instead.

.

<<later note>>>
Oh, now I see your post about how it seems that the speedo unit is bound up. So you already know what I am suggesting you test to determine.
I dont have any experience with a bound up speedo.
.

Well, what I did was take the speedo off of the bike, got the end of the cable and stuck it in there and tried hard to rotate it by hand - it wouldn't move at all. I put some lubricating oil in there and letting it sit overnight but I doubt that will do anything.

What I think happened here was that something broke as I removed the cable. It had been bouncing around in there a occasionally, it probably got damaged from doing that too much. When it was bouncing and buzzing, I could bang the top of the speedometer to stop the buzzing, I'm sure that didn't help! ha!

- Brad