Speedo conversion

[noire]

I am looking at converting my speedo on my 07 from mph to kph. I did this with my previous bike(Vstrom)and it was no big deal using a Speedo Healer but they do not seem to have a model that accommodates the 07 FJR. and I'm having trouble locating another brand. Anyone out there have any experience in this area.

PS I'm a new member and this is my first posting so hopefully it ends up in the right place.

From the great white north(not so white these days) Thanks

Les

 

[FJRay]

On my 03 it's just a matter of pushing buttons on the panel. All splained in the owners manual. I think.

 

[Ignacio]

On my 03 it's just a matter of pushing buttons on the panel. All splained in the owners manual. I think.

Another one of those tidbits where some parts of Gen 1 are better than Gen 2. He doesn't have that option being '06 and later.

 

[wfooshee]

And it doesn't change the speedo, just the digital LCD panel. The speedo on ours has both scales, although the metric is microscopic and invisible for old men with failing near-field eyesight.

 

[302]

I am looking at converting my speedo on my 07 from mph to kph. I did this with my previous bike(Vstrom)and it was no big deal using a Speedo Healer but they do not seem to have a model that accommodates the 07 FJR. and I'm having trouble locating another brand. Anyone out there have any experience in this area.PS I'm a new member and this is my first posting so hopefully it ends up in the right place.

From the great white north(not so white these days) Thanks

Les

I just installed a Speedo Healer to correct the speedo error on my 2007 AE and it works perfectly. teh only problem is you have to cut and splice the wires going to the anti lock brake module.

 

[noire]

I am looking at converting my speedo on my 07 from mph to kph. I did this with my previous bike(Vstrom)and it was no big deal using a Speedo Healer but they do not seem to have a model that accommodates the 07 FJR. and I'm having trouble locating another brand. Anyone out there have any experience in this area.PS I'm a new member and this is my first posting so hopefully it ends up in the right place.

From the great white north(not so white these days) Thanks

Les

I just installed a Speedo Healer to correct the speedo error on my 2007 AE and it works perfectly. teh only problem is you have to cut and splice the wires going to the anti lock brake module.

That sounds encouraging. Was it difficult to do are the splicing points accessable? Speedo healer site showed nothing available for the 07s. Which model did you use?

and yes the gen 2 don't have the "push button" option. To bad! Thanks for all the feed back guys. This forum is as awesome as I was led to believe.

Les

 

[madmike2]

When I was in Canada last year I toggled my GPS to metric. Constant speed KMH reading and converted the travel distances to KMs, too. Just a thought as an option.

 

[RenoJohn]

Here is the problem with what you're doing on a Gen2. The bike assumes the signal is in MPH and the odometer in Miles. Sure, you can trick it with a speedo healer to have the needle on the speedometer point to 70MPH when in fact you are really going 70KPH ..no problem. And in doing so, every Kilometer you ride will bump the odometer up one Mile ...so your odometer (and trip odometers) will all start bumping each mile up at the rate of Kilometers traveled ....no problem. Right?

Well, maybe not. Because the Gen2 bike only shows what it believes are "miles" your odometer will be grossly exaggerated, so, come time to sell the bike, your "miles" on the odometer will be much higher than actual miles ....and perhaps that is something you don't want. The variance will be to the tune of about 61%. So when you go to sell the bike, and say it has 10,000 actual miles on it, because of your speedo-healer tweak, the odometer is going to read 16,060 miles. Might make some interesting dialogue between you and potential buyers. Also if DMV or other agencies up in Canada track your distance, you could be putting yourself in a bad situation.

Just sayin' you might want to think it through.

Speedo-healers are handy devices, I've used them ..and I've always wondered how many people are doing goofy things with them to discount their miles and or potentially cheat in miles graded competitions. Not saying it happens, but it would be tempting for those with low scruples.

Example: set the speedo-healer to measure half of actual speed - ( 80MPH means 40MPH on the speedometer), easy for the rider to do the math in their head ..meanwhile your bike's odometer is only showing half the miles actually traveled ...and a benefit come time to sell the bike. 10,000miles actual shows up as 5,000 on the odometer.

The reverse could also be done ...which in essence is what you're doing.

I hope this makes sense, if not ping me off line and I'll give you better examples. Or, maybe it doesn't matter to you. It is your bike after all.

 

[bramfrank]

If the mileage goes up at the rate of 1 kilometer/kilometer, then when he sells the bike in Canada, the odometer will indicate the appropriate number of kilometers - unless, of course his bike was purchased used and had a significant number of MILES on the odometer, in which case, the number will be low by the appropriate amount.

The healer is a simple install - there's a good description HERE on how to do it with the Yellow Box on the Gen-II - the Speedo Healer installs exactly the same way.

Buy the generic interface cable - the connections are made on the wiring going to the ECU. You cut one wire.

 

[RenoJohn]

If the mileage goes up at the rate of 1 kilometer/kilometer, then when he sells the bike in Canada, the odometer will indicate the appropriate number of kilometers - unless, of course his bike was purchased used and had a significant number of MILES on the odometer, in which case, the number will be low by the appropriate amount.
The healer is a simple install - there's a good description somewhere on the site on how to do it on the Gen-II - buy the generic interface cable - the connections are made on the wiring going to the ECU. You cut one wire.

Well correct me if I'm wrong, but on the Gen2, the odometer only shows miles, and no way to change that. So, when you trick it to click a mile at ever kilometer traveled .....the odometer is still not making any reference to Kilo's only miles.

In other words, I come to buy the bike, and the odometer shows 16060 miles, and you tell me those are KM's ....and it is really is 10,000 miles, why would I believe you? The odometer and speedometer are designed to show miles only.

 

[bramfrank]

Actually, the odometer is programmed to count pulses. The speedometer is programmed to display speed. Both are based on the same number of pulses per mile.

So if you take the speedo healer and dial it up to read in kph, then at 60 kph the odometer will advance at the rate of 1 count per minute, as would be expected.

Obviously there would be issues with the fuel efficiency calculations, because the instantaneous and average mpg readings will now be in kpg, which is a mixed metaphore.

But it sure is cheaper than trying to fit a set of Canadian clocks on a US bike - especially considering that the Canadian machines have the immobiliser integrated into the system.

An alternative is simply to purchase a replacement speedo face - you can find them in Europe, but they are fairly expensive for what they are (think more than $100) and you get the pleasure of disassembling the dash and carefully trying to replace the face without breaking anything . . . . interesting though is that if you did this the speedo will indicate in kph, the odometer and everything else will be in US measure.

And this is just one of the issues that result from importing a motorcycle from one of the few venues in the world that still bases distance measurements in miles and volume in gallons.

 

[Patriot]

gee, sounds like not everybody uses a GPS...I haven't looked at my analog speedometer in a year :blink:

I pasted a pic of my dog in front of it...

 

[wfooshee]

Bramfrank, I guess I'm missing your point. How is "programmed to count pulses" going to make rigging the odometer a good thing to do?

When he says it counts miles, that's what it does, by knowing how many pulses there are in a mile.

When the odo is labelled "Miles" and he goes to sell the bike and says "Well, I modded it to be metric. It's really km," I'm turning around and leaving. No longer interested. The display is labelled "Miles."

I don't see anything wrong with taking a Sharpie to the gauge glass, myself, if it's really that important. but why not work on some close reference points?

80 kph is just about 50 mph, 60 k is about 37 m, 100 k is a bit under 65 m, and 120 k is about 75 m. 37,50,63,75 gives you 60,80,100,and 120k. Round it off to 35,50,65, and 75. Work from there in your head.

You guys wanted to be metric. Deal with it!

 

[RenoJohn]

Actually, the odometer is programmed to count pulses. The speedometer is programmed to display speed. Both are based on the same number of pulses per mile.

exactly, which is the bases for my examples of why this might be bad on a GEN2 because miles will be greatly exaggerate if tweaked to roll at the rate of KM's traveled.

So if you take the speedo healer and dial it up to read in kph, then at 60 kph the odometer will advance at the rate of 1 count per minute, as would be expected.

correct, and the odometer will click one more unit, but because everyone is expecting this "unit" to be in miles it wont be accurate, it wil be 1.61miles per each KM traveled. Now if there were a way to tweak the display to reference KM's maybe no problem, but it is universally known to be miles. That is where the problem lies.

Obviously there would be issues with the fuel efficiency calculations, because the instantaneous and average mpg readings will now be in kpg, which is a mixed metaphore.

yep same issue, those calc's are assuming miles, just as the odometer is assuming miles

An alternative is simply to purchase a replacement speedo face - you can find them in Europe, but they are fairly expensive for what they are (think more than $100) and you get the pleasure of disassembling the dash and carefully trying to replace the face without breaking anything . . . . interesting though is that if you did this the speedo will indicate in kph, the odometer and everything else will be in US measure.

Yep! now there we agree!!

And this is just one of the issues that result from importing a motorcycle from one of the few venues in the world that still bases distance measurements in miles and volume in gallons.

Yep, and our measure of miles/gallons is stupid, ridiculous and D U M (dumb) ...metric system makes infinitely more sense.

 

[etcmjoe709]

I'm just relieved that this thread isn't about riding in a speedo.

 

[wfooshee]

That's why I clicked it in the first place. I really thought for a minute maybe I'm not the only one ! ! ! !

 

[RossKean]

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever checked to see what Yamaha would charge to replace the instrument cluster? i.e. change from a US cluster to metric? I would consider it for my bike if it wasn't stupid expensive (which I expect it is). I live in Canada and have a 2007 US bike.

Ross

 

[Geezer]

gee, sounds like not everybody uses a GPS...I haven't looked at my analog speedometer in a year :blink: I pasted a pic of my dog in front of it...

+1, except for the dog picture. B)