Modern Buddy

I know most modern scooters and motorcycles have speedometers that read faster than they are actually going. Does this mean that the odometer reading is also off?

mamboman777 wrote:I know most modern scooters and motorcycles have speedometers that read faster than they are actually going. Does this mean that the odometer reading is also off?

I think these two are seperate. Interesting story, Honda lost a big lawsuit in which they made the odometer "optimistic".

After our 300+ mile road trip last year, my husband was thinking my Buddy was optimistic. Can I say that it is for a fact? No. Guess I'll have to drive the car to work one day, note the miles, then make sure I ride the scooter the same route and report back. It's a 20+ mile round trip, so that should be a sufficient test.

You've got me curious now...

While both the speedo and the odo are driven by the same cable and gearing from the front wheel, the display mechanisms are completely independent of each other.

The odometer display is geared directly off the cable, and will normally be very accurate as long as the front wheel is the same diameter as the gearing was designed for.

However, the speedometer is driven from the cable by a somewhat more "mushy" mechanism. The end of the cable spins a magnet which nests inside a metal cup attached to the speedo needle. The spinning magnetic field inside the cup tends to twist the cup and needle on its shaft. This is balanced by a hairspring working in the opposite direction. The calibration of the speedometer depends on the precise balance between the twisting force generated by the spinning magnet and the resisting spring, and it is usually adjusted at the factory to be a bit on the optimistic side.

EDIT: I edited the above... I unintentionally said "pessimistic" originally when I should have said "optimistic." Brain fade.

^^^ Only on ModernBuddy can I get this. +1

By my GPS the odometer is just about spot on +/- ~1 mile, the speedo is quite a bit happy though, I'd say 4-6mph depending on the actual speed.

AWinn6889 wrote:By my GPS the odometer is just about spot on +/- ~1 mile, the speedo is quite a bit happy though, I'd say 4-6mph depending on the actual speed.

That's just about what I found for my speedometer also.

My experience with this was on my Iron Butt ride. According to GPS and Google Maps, my ride was 1064 miles. According Buddy's odometer, it was 1,046. A difference of 18 miles in over 1000. That's pretty darn close.

Howard

Howardr wrote:My experience with this was on my Iron Butt ride. According to GPS and Google Maps, my ride was 1064 miles. According Buddy's odometer, it was 1,046. A difference of 18 miles in over 1000. That's pretty darn close.

It's also possible that the odometer reading is not so far off. Neither maps nor GPS track your path precisely, and by cutting corners and other common maneuvers of that sort you may have actually shaved a little distance off the estimated route (probably not 1.8%, but some).

Raiderfn311 wrote:^^^ Only on ModernBuddy can I get this. +1

Even better:
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