Speedometer off

apierce · Post by **apierce** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:01 am

Is everyones speedometer around 5 miles off???? The dealer said that's normal for all kinds of scooters. I get irritated that people ride my butt out there, but the dealer says there's nothing they can do about it. Just drive 5 miles over. Any suggestions?

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:04 am

Most motorcycles and scooters are done this way, most in general are around 10% off, that's about 5 miles per hour off. Say you go 45 indicated, 10 percent is 4.5mph, so really you are going 40.5mph real speed.

In lower speeds, just ride with the needle a little above the speed you should be going, on higher speeds, ride 5 miles indicated faster to be going the actual speed (or close to it)

apierce · Post by **apierce** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:11 am

Thanks a bunch! You're very helpful!!

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:13 am

You might wanna test it out with GPS, or have a car behind you follow you at certain speeds, have them record how fast they went when you went a certain speed, and test out different speeds. You can calculate how off your speedo is. GPS is a bit easier since you dont need to borrow a friend and his car, plus, GPS is the most accurate there is.

EP_scoot · Post by **EP_scoot** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:25 pm

apierce,
assume all scooter gauges are very optimistic.
Your fuel gauge might read empty and there might still be 1/4 tank of gas left in it.

It is part of scooting.

jmazza · Post by **jmazza** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:42 pm

Since you mentioned getting irritated that people ride your butt, I'd also advise to ride with the flow of traffic whenever possible (which is to say whenever you are comfortable with those speeds). It's very dangerous to be the slowest thing on the road, especially when you are as small as a scooter.

Right or wrong, if you hold up traffic you'll open yourself up to a lot of dangers (people passing you unsafely, no room for an emergency stop, etc.) If you find the speed of traffic on any given road is faster than you are comfortable riding, it's probably time to stay off that road until you are comfortable with the speed, regardless of the speed limit.

This may or may not apply to you, but I just thought I'd add this in!