"Freezing" speedometer

[Claude]

When I first ride my bike each morning, the speedometer remain stuck at zero for about one km or until I gently tap on the glass. While it does this, all odometer and tripmeters are still recording. Because it is not the speedo drive or cable, it must be the instrument itself. Is there a way to lube it or to eliminate this problem? Thanks!

[Kawi_T]

Not exactly the answer to your question but ....

I once took apart a speedo because the dial was really sun faded and I wanted to repaint it and make it look nice again. Problem is, they make these things really tamper proof, I think to keep people from rolling back the odo. So to take it apart was not a matter of screws, nuts, and bolts. Everything was press fit together with little stamped sheetmetal retainers and little clips that could not be purchased if ruined. It was very difficult. And this was an old KZ speedo, I doubt Japan has made it any easier over the years.

[Claude]

This unit is very easy to take apart (to replace parts though - messing with the odometer reading would be quite harder to do). So, I took the speedo off the assembly and sprayed quite some WD40 on the small shaft the needle is pressed on and that turn with it. So far, it now works perfectly. My next morning daily start will confirm if it is still OK.

[Claude]

Still working after many daily rides so I think all is perfect now.

[rnoliver]

Claude, this may be a silly question, but did your fix do anything to the classic 10% speedo error?

[Claude]

I never wondered about this but I would be surprised as the whole speedo "system" is built that way. But my "repaired" speedo does seem to read a bit lower than before; it needs about 200 RPM more than before to read the same speed. Probably just a coincidence though...