Stella speedometer reading slow?

Anachronism · Post by **Anachronism** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 2:33 pm

My town has a few signs with built in radar detectors that flash your speed when approaching dangerous curves- I live in Colorado Springs and in addition to the mountains just to the west, there are bluffs all around town with very steep downhill sections.

Anyways, I've noticed the speedometers on my other vehicles line up pretty well with what the signs say, but Stella seems to ride slow.

Last night, me Stella speedo read 17, the sign read 21. I've noticed this on other radar areas as well.

Is this normal? I've heard most scooters have an optimistic speedo, rather than the opposite. I'd hate to get nicked for speeding because the speedo says 5 over and I'm really doing closer to 15...[/u]

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 2:42 pm

Not exactly a Stella, but I'm pretty sure my P200E is the same way. When I ride the Buddy my speedo shows
about 45 when I am going 40-ish. The P200 shows more like 37 when I'm going 40-ish... When my dad rode
the Buddy with me the other night I was on the Vespa and I kept saying speed up, you're not even going the
speed limit!

How can you adjust these things or do you just have to remember how far off it is?

ObjectAgnosia · Post by **ObjectAgnosia** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:59 pm

Most if not all motorcycles are like this. I'm experiencing the same readings you are on my 09. My brothers Vulcan 1600 is the same way. Bike tires are different from car tires; when you turn on a bike your wheel diameter is smaller than when you are going straight so that throws off the speedometer. It makes your speedo think your going faster than you really are on turns so they have to set it slower to make up for it. Additionally, bike companies are allowed to be off by a certain percentage (not sure how much) but it's better for them to be safe and say your going faster than you are instead of the opposite.

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:38 am

Okay, so we tested it again tonight. We were following the flow of traffic, keeping up with the surrounding cars in a 45mph zone. I was on the P200 and I asked my dad what the Buddy speedo was reading and he said 57mph! And mine was reading 45! That's 12mph difference!!!

I figure the traffic was probably moving at about 50 or so, which means both speedometers are off by about 11%, the Buddy being optimistic and the P being pessimistic. There's gotta be some way to calibrate these things right?

DennisD · Post by **DennisD** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:37 pm

Sorry, that was supposed to be a pm.

PeterC · Post by **PeterC** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:26 pm

That's weird. My 2005 Stella's speedometer has always been optimistic (measured 50 mph at an indicated 55), and my P200E has always indicated a lower speed than actual (indicated 38-40 mph while tailgating cars in a 50 mph zone). If I've learned anything from this forum, it is that scooters follow their own rules.

Arjumand · Post by **Arjumand** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:31 pm

I have the Sito +............made a nice difference, and if I put a 177 kit, it will still handle it fine. You don't necessarily need a giant expansion chamber for such a small engine. The other thing I like, is the Sito + looks stock.

Raputtak · Post by **Raputtak** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 6:55 pm

It seems that all speedometers read inaccurately. All of my scooters have read high, sometimes very high. They all seem to be self consistent i.e. at a given GPS speed the needle is always in the same place. I have placed a little sticky disc on the glass to remind me where the needle is at 55mph and 70 mph.

Check the Error section in this wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedometer

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:52 pm

( In old man voice, even though I am only 48 )..." Before you young whippersnappers and your gurdarned fancy GPS we didn't worry bout such things"

srbbnd · Post by **srbbnd** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:32 pm

My speedometer is optimistic on my Stella 4T. The fastest I had her going was 65mph on the speedometer but my GPS said 60. According to Genuines web site:

According to my GPS, your speedometer says I'm going faster than I really am. Is that covered under warranty?

Practically all scooter and motorcycle manufactures calibrate their speedometers to read optimistically. This is because several safety studies conducted by the motorcycle industry proved that if the speedometer read slightly fast, accidents are dramatically reduced.

People also have found that their fuel economy goes up because they are traveling at slightly slower speeds, and they are less likely to get tickets for speeding.

Wild Handyman · Post by **Wild Handyman** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:45 am

Genuine Website wrote:Practically all scooter and motorcycle manufactures calibrate their speedometers to read optimistically. This is because several safety studies conducted by the motorcycle industry proved that if the speedometer read slightly fast, accidents are dramatically reduced.

People also have found that their fuel economy goes up because they are traveling at slightly slower speeds, and they are less likely to get tickets for speeding.

Now there's a diaper load of crap for you!