Odometer Calibration

[Tolstoy]

A few weeks ago I posted (in New Members) a concern I had with my 2008 FJR1300A odometer. Comparing my bike's odometer reading to roadside mileposts, my odometer recorded a 20% longer distance than the mileposts indicated. Warchild, and others, told me that much error was unusual. One member questioned my methodology - and the accuracy of the placement of the mileposts.

Since the point of the exercise is to accurately calculate gas mileage, for trip planning purposes, I tried a different method to check the odometer.

Using a Rolatape (checked for accuracy), I measured a 528 ft (1/10th mile) distance on the street in front of my house. I placed my bike at the starting point and zeroed the trip meter. The trip meter clicked over to 0.1 mile at a point 7' 10" short of the 528 ft mark. Converting to inches to decimals, that's approx. 520.17 feet. Adding 1.5% to 520.17 feet = 527.97 feet, which is close enough to 1/10th of a mile for my purposes.

If my calculations are correct, using the +1.5% odometer adjustment, my bike has been averaging 47 mpg. That's 8 mpg more than Yamaha estimates for my bike.

 

[Colonel Panic]

Get a GPS with trip distance function then go take a nice long ride.

 

[Wolfhound]

I've seen 51 mpg running at 60 mph. Where is Eastern AZ ? I'm in central AZ I guess . . . .

 

[Checkswrecks]

That long of a measuring tape will actually change in length with temperature, so you've built in a new error. As Panic wrote, simply go ride with a GPS and see how the it compares with your odometer.

As FJRobert wrote, my mileage is normally 47+ mpg.

Enjoy the new bike!

Bob

 

[Tolstoy]

That long of a measuring tape will actually change in length with temperature, so you've built in a new error. As Panic wrote, simply go ride with a GPS and see how the it compares with your odometer.
As FJRobert wrote, my mileage is normally 47+ mpg.

Enjoy the new bike!

Bob

A Rolatape is a measuring wheel, not a tape measure. It doesn't care what the temperatue is. What's a GPS?

 

[Ignacio]

If my calculations are correct, using the +1.5% odometer adjustment..

That's much more in the range of typical in my experience.

 

[Tolstoy]

I've seen 51 mpg running at 60 mph. Where is Eastern AZ ? I'm in central AZ I guess . . . .

Your 51 mpg makes me feel better about my own mpg calculations. Since Yamaha estimates 39 mpg on average, I was wondering if I had miscalculated.

I'm in Cochise County, 11 miles north of the Mexican border. The roads here are mostly flat, fairly straight, and BORING! I'm joining a local MC touring club, hoping to find some interesting roads within a day's ride from here.

 

[El Toro]

What's a GPS?

I'm getting gas mileage in your range too, so I don't think its that unusual. It just depends on how you ride, and how much climbing you have to do.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. I'll assume you're not trolling (afterall, its not Friday), and point out that you can buy a portable GPS unit for your car or bike and it will keep track of where you are via satellites in geosynchronous orbit. More sophisticated units including mapping software, and you can use them for trip planning and in place of paper maps.

Portable GPS units typically have the provision to not only figure out where you are, but they can also track where you've been and use the information along with elapsed time to estimate your ground speed. Distance travelled is also available.

 

[HotRodZilla]

A few weeks ago I posted (in New Members) a concern I had with my 2008 FJR1300A odometer. Comparing my bike's odometer reading to roadside mileposts, my odometer recorded a 20% longer distance than the mileposts indicated. Warchild, and others, told me that much error was unusual. One member questioned my methodology - and the accuracy of the placement of the mileposts.
Since the point of the exercise is to accurately calculate gas mileage, for trip planning purposes, I tried a different method to check the odometer.

Using a Rolatape (checked for accuracy), I measured a 528 ft (1/10th mile) distance on the street in front of my house. I placed my bike at the starting point and zeroed the trip meter. The trip meter clicked over to 0.1 mile at a point 7' 10" short of the 528 ft mark. Converting to inches to decimals, that's approx. 520.17 feet. Adding 1.5% to 520.17 feet = 527.97 feet, which is close enough to 1/10th of a mile for my purposes.

If my calculations are correct, using the +1.5% odometer adjustment, my bike has been averaging 47 mpg. That's 8 mpg more than Yamaha estimates for my bike.

Did you know you could find a girlfriend on-line? :lol:

 

[Tolstoy]

What's a GPS?

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. I'll assume you're not trolling (afterall, its not Friday), and point out that you can buy a portable GPS unit for your car or bike and it will keep track of where you are via satellites in geosynchronous orbit. More sophisticated units including mapping software, and you can use them for trip planning and in place of paper maps.

Portable GPS units typically have the provision to not only figure out where you are, but they can also track where you've been and use the information along with elapsed time to estimate your ground speed. Distance travelled is also available.

Thank you. There are so many abbreviations used on this forum I'm often left in the dark. The GPS sounds useful. Not sure I can justify buying one, though. I'm technologically challenged - struggling along with an analog brain in a digital world. I'll ask my disgustingly smart brother-in-law about a GPS. Maybe I can get him to make one for me and install it on my bike. That would give me a good excuse to ride to his home in Florida.

 

[flying junior]

In these discussions of odometer accuracy, I never see anyone complain about being shorted on warranty coverage. If your odometer is racking up miles 1 or 2 percent faster than you're actually riding, you're getting scrued out of that much warranty. It's not much, I know, but you never hear of the error going in your favor.

I'm impressed, by the way, with that 50 mpg. I'm mr. 39, 40, 42.

 

[Ignacio]

In these discussions of odometer accuracy, I never see anyone complain about being shorted on warranty coverage. If your odometer is racking up miles 1 or 2 percent faster than you're actually riding, you're getting scrued out of that much warranty. It's not much, I know, but you never hear of the error going in your favor.
I'm impressed, by the way, with that 50 mpg. I'm mr. 39, 40, 42.

And what part of the factory warranty is mileage based?

None.

The basic factory warranty is one year period regardless of mileage. And the extended YES warranty is also time based.....not mileage based.

 

[Warchild]

In these discussions of odometer accuracy, I never see anyone complain about being shorted on warranty coverage. If your odometer is racking up miles 1 or 2 percent faster than you're actually riding, you're getting scrued out of that much warranty.

As Iggy correctly observes, the Yamaha warranty (whether factory or Y.E.S) is based upon time, not mileage. Odometer accuracy is not a factor.

Perhaps you are thinking of other warranties such as BMW, which for many models carries a 36-month/36,000 mile warranty. For LD Riders, this only amounts to about a year to a year and of half of coverage...) Yet, a four-year Y.E.S. warranty nets the new owner a half-decade of full coverage, even it they rack up over 100,000 miles. B)

Tolstoy - a 1.5% odo inaccuracy is quite typical... I think you are good-to-go as you are now. If this error really irritates you, consider installing a Speed-O-Healer v. 4.0. This component allows you to calibrate your speedometer *or* odometer to virtually 100% dead-nuts accuracy.

Mind you, the Speed-O-Healer is both mutually exclusive and mutually sympathetic.

Mutually exclusive: you can accurately calibrate the speedo OR the odo... not both.

Mutually sympathetic: if re-calibrating the speedometer, the odometer will become less accurate; if re-calibrating the odometer, the speedometer will become less accurate.

 

[Capt. Bob]

A Rolatape is a measuring wheel, not a tape measure. It doesn't care what the temperatue is.

With all due respect Tolstoy.

You mean, you don't care what the temperature is because the wheel sure does.

It's about the most inaccurate device to perform measurements with.

It reacts to temps just as a tape would unless its made out of some "space age" material that refuses to expand or contract.

It also gains error by the fact that it rolls on an imperfect surface (unless you measured on dust free glass), every tiny bump and dip causing additional spin.

Add to the fact of material (i.e. dirt) being picked up on the measuring surface and inducing more error.

Wheels are good for contractors measuring how much sod they've laid but for actual accuracy, they're shit.

Now with that said.

The Earth is somewhat round and for true measurements of distance, one must use a straight line (unless the measurement is along the arc). GPS devices do just that, mathematically but...

Your bike rolls on the surface so you are really interested in the arc length. Since the Earth's radius is so large, the chord distance (straight line, point to point) will be almost the same as its arc.

In the end, it matters little. Ride your bike and rely on the gauges or be anal and get a GPS and calculate your mileage. GPSs are fun though, especially if they come with an MP3 player.

Good luck on your quest.

 

[Checkswrecks]

That long of a measuring tape will actually change in length with temperature, so you've built in a new error. As Panic wrote, simply go ride with a GPS and see how the it compares with your odometer.
As FJRobert wrote, my mileage is normally 47+ mpg.

Enjoy the new bike!

Bob

A Rolatape is a measuring wheel, not a tape measure. It doesn't care what the temperatue is. What's a GPS?

Like the other Bob wrote, the Rolatape is great for specific uses, but is as dependant on temperature as any other physical item and will be really accurate at a specific temperature. The standard temp for calibrations in the US is typically 59 degrees F. Plus, if you are counting out a shorter distance and then multiplying to correct the bike's odometer, you'll also be multiplying any error from the Rolatape measurement. But if that's what you wanna do, go for it.

I'm sure that somebody could lend you a hand-held GPS for a half-hour and if your location is as open and flat as you say, getting a really accurate check of your odometer ought to be really easy. Just zero the trip meter on the bike and on the GPS, drop the GPS in your pocket, then ride for exactly 10 miles on the bike's trip meter. Pull out the GPS and write down what each says. (You could do any distance, this will just make the math easier for you.)

FWIW, my speedo error is not linear and increases with speed. This is consistent with what is in the Bin-O-Facts for the Gen I (nothing there for Gen 2) and people have reported anything from 1.5%-8% or more in prior threads.

Welcome to the group.

Bob

 

[Fred W]

A few weeks ago I posted (in New Members) a concern I had with my 2008 FJR1300A odometer. Comparing my bike's odometer reading to roadside mileposts, my odometer recorded a 20% longer distance than the mileposts indicated. Warchild, and others, told me that much error was unusual. One member questioned my methodology - and the accuracy of the placement of the mileposts.
Since the point of the exercise is to accurately calculate gas mileage, for trip planning purposes, I tried a different method to check the odometer.

Using a Rolatape (checked for accuracy), I measured a 528 ft (1/10th mile) distance on the street in front of my house. I placed my bike at the starting point and zeroed the trip meter. The trip meter clicked over to 0.1 mile at a point 7' 10" short of the 528 ft mark. Converting to inches to decimals, that's approx. 520.17 feet. Adding 1.5% to 520.17 feet = 527.97 feet, which is close enough to 1/10th of a mile for my purposes.

If my calculations are correct, using the +1.5% odometer adjustment, my bike has been averaging 47 mpg. That's 8 mpg more than Yamaha estimates for my bike.

So according to your newest calculations your odometer has only about 1.5% error? That kind of absolute accuracy is hardly worth worrying about when making those mpg calculations, eh? Do you really care if you are getting 40.0 or 40.4 mpg? The relative mileage will be more meaningful and that calibration won't vary unless/until you change tires.

The only problem that I would point out in your most recent "calibration" method is that the distance traveled is too short, and the point that the odometer reading "clicks over" a tenth is too subjective to get any real amount of accuracy. You really need to check it over a longer measured course. Don't you have any of those "measured mile" signs somewhere nearby?

 

[old&slow]

Damn ,,,,

520 ft. -vs- 528 ft. ,,, Rolatape ,,, arc length - vs- straight line ,, earth radius ,,, Pies are round .. or is that square...

( interesting thoughts ,,)

Must be cold out there and Cabin fever setting in early ,,, The lack of riding and a idle mind must be

causing strange things to happen to the mind...

I just ride until the little flashy thing on the gas gauge starts blinking ,,,, put more gas in ,,, then repeat.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving... Tooo cold here in Ohio to ride ,,, think I'll put another coat

of wax on the bike ,,, and dream about an early spring.... :yahoo:

old & slow Dan <<<<<<<

 

[Capt. Bob]

Damn ,,,, Must be cold out there and Cabin fever setting in early ,,, The lack of riding and a idle mind must be

causing strange things to happen to the mind...

old & slow Dan <<<<<<<

Well Dan, for me it's my day off. Only get one a week this time of year so I'll be out and riding in about a hour (when temps reach 50).

As for strange things happening to the mind well....

Old land surveyors are notorious drunks and drug users and both have been linked to the mind and strange things. :blink:

 

[wfooshee]

Hey! How good an assumption is it that the mile markers are actually correct?