83 speedo

[Superfly]

Hey Guys,

Well, I just installed my 83 gauges (love em!) and wanted to know how accurate they are.  I was cruzin down the street, keeping up with traffic (doin' 80), and on my 82 speedo, when I was doin 80, I was passing traffic!  I know the 82's are inaccurate, but how accurate are the 83's?

I cant remember which way it works, but can a 82 petcock work in a 83 tank, or can a 83 petcock work in a 82 tank.  I do not want to switch over to 83 carbs, (way too many 82 carb parts) and plus I do not have a set of 83's

[QBS]

No and no.  Cheers.

[Lucky]

83's seem to be more accurate, but then there are fewer of them to compair.  best way to tell is to have someone pace you with a car, or use a GPS
--Lucky

[Sable]

Or, if you want to get realy complicated, you can calculate your speed and all you'll need is a friend with a stop watch and a 1/2 or 1/4 mile straight away.
Accelerate up to 30 mph and cruise the 1/4 or 1/2 mile stretch at a constant 30 mph (on your speedo). At the "finnish line", have your friend stop the stop watch as you cross. For a 1/2 mile stretch at 30 mph, it should take you 60 seconds. At the 1/4 mile stretch, should be 30 seconds.
Simply put.... at 60 miles an hour, you are going a mile a minute. Half of that (30 mph) you are going a mile every 2 minutes.

~John

[Rob_OS23]

Or for even more reliable results, go out for a ride.  Drive around as long as it takes, until you pass a black and white car with lights on top.  If it is just sitting there, now is your chance.  Continue approx 1/4 mile in the same direction.  Turn around in someones driveway, and head back, this time winding it through the gears as quickly as possible.  When you begin to approach the place you saw the car with lights on top, level out and maintain a constant speed of approx 120 mph until you have passed the car.  They know the game, and will flash their lights to tell you they have your results for you.  Pull over and wait.  When he asks "Do you know fast you were going back there?"  just say " I was hoping you could tell ME!"
 ;D

Seriously though, if you know someone who has access to equipment like that(they use them in baseball to track how fast pitches are too), or if you have any cop friends, that would help you.  Also, I don't know if you guys have them down there, but the odd time set up in different places arond here will be signs saying"you are going(so many) kms an hour".  It is a speed reader, that displays the speed it is reading on the sign.  It is to make people slow down I guess.  I used one to test my speedo, and assuming it is right, my '83 guages seemed to be dead on.  Maybe next time I'll try a couple times.

Hey Superfly, I really like the look of that black bike of yours.  Could you post some pics of it, or send them to me at robunderscoreholleyathotmaildotcom?  That is not really it, that is spam bot proofed(for now).  I am sure they will improve them to filter out the "dots, ats, underscores" eventually  :)

[jasonm.]

you really have to be doing 60mph to check the speedo. My '82 was WAY off @ 60+. It said 60 but I wa doing 70. It said 40, I was doing 43. My '83 only reads about 2-5mph low. But this depends on speed. Speedo says 45= a true 47, 70 = a true 73 or 74. You can true the speedo slightly by carefully twisting on the pointer as you hold the "bell". But you MUST be careful. I set mine so the pointer just touches the "0" stopper. Lift the needle over the stopper and see how much below "0" it is pointing. This will give you and idea of how low it is from reality.

[Brian Moffet]

My 83 reads 10 percent fast.  I clocked it with a GPS on a long straight freeway.

Brian

[Blake]

I still live by the Sigma Sport Bicycle speedos.

with my bigger tires my speedo is off anywhere form 3-10mph depending on speed.  always thought i was off until i measured it with the sigma and had a police officer radar me going 45.

bicycle speedo is dead on because its set by wheel size.




Blake

[Superfly]

That Sigma sport was great, I had the BC1200, During the accident, the pickup sensor part went flying off somewhere....  I still have the top part, now I just use it for a clock. ;D