speedometer error

[HavBlue]

"Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible under California law but must done in a safe and prudent manner."

It's open to interpretation - it's apparently challenging to find a cop that thinks it's "safe and prudent" at speeds 35+

In other words - the faster traffic / you are going - the more likely you are to get a ticket. The "rule of thumb" is to go no more than 10 MPH than surrounding traffic. Again - very subjective. The courts tend to side with the siting officer as to what "safe and prudent" for the conditions are.

Yes, lane splitting is permissible but not under law as there is "no law" or section within the California Vehicle Code (CVC) to make it in any way legal. It is therefore at the "officers discretion" in terms of the rider getting a citation. After splitting for decades I can tell you there are more than a few incidents I have run across where the rider was simply going way to fast hence the reason the cager never had a chance to even begin to know the rider may have been in the gap and this is the reason that rider went down.

I will also say that throwing things at the rider and opening a cage door are very illegal and that is covered by law in the CVC.

 

[pchbreeze]

Everything in CA is up to law enforcement discretion. Lane sharing is legally covered in precedent (allowed) but anything you do can be 'illegal' by the officers opinion.

For example, car pool lanes...I've been in them many times by myself in a car...never got a ticket no matter how many times I was seen in it. Same goes with 'speeding'...if everyone is going 80, no one is going to be singled out, unless they stand out for some reason. It's the key to avoiding tickets...don't stand out.

 

[HavBlue]

Everything in CA is up to law enforcement discretion. Lane sharing is legally covered in precedent (allowed) but anything you do can be 'illegal' by the officers opinion.

For example, car pool lanes...I've been in them many times by myself in a car...never got a ticket no matter how many times I was seen in it. Same goes with 'speeding'...if everyone is going 80, no one is going to be singled out, unless they stand out for some reason. It's the key to avoiding tickets...don't stand out.

You don't suppose luck has anything to do with it now do ya? Just because you were alerted by the officer's presence is in no way a positive indication they saw you. Rather, this is an assumption on your part simply because you knew if you were caught it would not be cheap. What I want to know is how many times you went into that HOV lane or out of that HOV lane in an area that was not designated for entry or exit? It was my experience folks that were single users of the lane "illegally" generally loved hopping in and out just to get a few minutes ahead. I've even had those single operators jump in across the double yellow only to slam on the brakes right in front of me because guess what, the HOV lane was stopping too.


As far as singled out goes don't believe this for a minute. An example of this would be the freight train of people all going the 80mph you have suggested. The caboose (last car) in the series gets tagged. This is very common and I'll go you one better, while traveling down the I15 from Corona to Temecula I have seen the CHP pull over multiple cages. I will however agree the secret to avoiding a speeding citation is the art of blending in but this doesn't always work.

As to officer's discretion, the officer's opinion is meaningless if he can not support that opinion through the rule of law and your actions. An officer may have the opinion something is illegal while the rule of law suggests otherwise. Precedent may allow for the safe use of lane splitting but in no way does it limit an officer's ability to write a citation should that officer find in his/her opinion you were not being safe and this is the beauty of it all. In this case you can get a citation for blowing through the gap at 40mph while the cages around you are going 10mph and that would be an awesome call on the part of that officer as the rider is a public safety issue due to his/her actions.

Around here you can be stopped by unmarked cars meaning that vehicle may look like a soccer mom ride and there is no way to even remotely tell it is law enforcement. They may stop one vehicle or like the other night I saw 4 get popped all at once. Now that's something they need in California.

 

[pchbreeze]

They have looked right inside my truck / Mustang many times and not given me tickets.

They don't have to prove anything in a court of law...I've been fighting traffic tickets all my life, and been to court I don't know how many times (couldn't even guess).

You can talk about theory (even law is theory) all you want...I'm just saying the way it is.

 

[HavBlue]

They don't have to prove anything in a court of law...

???????????? Yeah right. The reason you lose is because you can't prove your case...

 

[pchbreeze]

???????????? Yeah right. The reason you lose is because you can't prove your case...

There but for the grace of the internet...

Everyones an expert.

I've said I'm talking about something that I've experienced thoroughly about as good as you can while still keeping your license but some country bumkin in kentucky is going to tell me how California traffic court goes.

You win- I've said all that matters...and you haven't said sh.t.

 

[HavBlue]

There but for the grace of the internet...

Everyones an expert.

I've said I'm talking about something that I've experienced thoroughly about as good as you can while still keeping your license but some country bumkin in kentucky is going to tell me how California traffic court goes.

You win- I've said all that matters...and you haven't said sh.t.

Let me tell ya about this country bumpkin. I spent 42 years riding in southern California up to 2006. I had bikes in California before bike licenses were even a required part of riding. I also spent 6 years on what you would consider the other side of the table from you when you went to court so yeah, you could say I know just a bit about how a California traffic court works. I will however say I used to love taking your money and enjoyed all the expert opinions from those who thought they had what it took to beat one of my citations.

Think about this, if you are spending the kind of time you suggest in a traffic court something is really, really wrong and I doubt it can be attributed to speedometer error.

 

[Bo67]

Things are looking a little heated in here so now probably isn't the best time to mention that my brother is a cop in CA. Originally though we're from just north of Bumpkinville, in IL.

 

[HavBlue]

Things are looking a little heated in here so now probably isn't the best time to mention that my brother is a cop in CA. Originally though we're from just north of Bumpkinville, in IL.

Yeah, I moved to Southern Bumpkinville just to get out of that SoCal rat race. Used to work Ortega Hwy for you folks still riding in So Cal.

 

[GravisMaximus]

i did a test with my speedo, just using a car following me. because i to was geting passed on the highway. my findings show mine off about 5% at 80mph (4-5mph). i know i will be calling the dealer to see if they can calibate (flash the computer) or what ever they need to do, its a new bike with 500 miles on it. i see the suggestion of getting a speedo healer, but i cant see paying 100+ for a correction that shouldnt be there in the first place, even if it was on purpose by yamaha to help us stay under the speed limits. isnt the purpose of a speedometer to read how fast your going? then damit, work right--lol. this tells me that its broken out of the box. i also see that 1-2% is allowed to be out of calibration, which i would not mind but i still thnk they could do better. but 5-10% seem to be on every bike.
:Lurking:
if a fz6 speedo is run off from a pulse/waveform (speedsensor) the same as say a crank sensor. does that mean the computer is missing 240 signals (2%) from a crank sensor at 12000 rpm a min. i doubt it, then again who would leave there bike at 12000 for a min. i think that they may have just done a sloppy job buying speedsensor/ pick up gear parts. or a gap that is just way to big. and yes i know that these two sensors dont work the same way completly, just a matter of thinking :innocent:

 

[HavBlue]

theres no speed limit for splitting lanes, at the DMV they call it lane sharing, its perfectly legal. (thats one good thing about CA.)

:Sport:

No its not. In fact you will not find a word about it in the CVC nor will you find any reference other than a phrase on the CHP website that says it is "permissible" and there is a huge difference. San Diego PD does write citations for it because they do not consider it safe. One of the riders on this forum posted a small message about this not long ago while splitting in San Diego and being hassled by a cop at a construction area. Riverside PD will ticket you for it if it is done at a point where the white line in the street is solid and I used to live there. They will also write paper if it is done on the outside of a multi-lane where there is a solid yellow line. Regardless, it is not "legal" and there have been numerous articles in magazines like Thunder Press explaining the California position on splitting.

 

[FzPilot]

Yamaha engineered it like that... The speedo is slow but the odometer is dead on... I wish I had an extra guage pannel to rip apart and find what resistor to change to make both correct rather than using a speedo healer to correct and then have the odometer off.

Khyren

I ride with GPS most of the time, it does both, trip-o-meter and speed. Both are off by equal amounts. The speedo is off by about 3mph (shows higher than actual) it gets worse as you go up. At 90mph (indicated on speedo) it is off by 5mph.

Cheers!

 

[GravisMaximus]

just got off the phone with my local dealer, he said he has had problums with yamaha's and susuki's lately. he said that he has called both companys for warrenty info on replacing speedo parts and they told him that unless you can prove that they are more than 10% off they wont warrenty them. he also said that they would not accept a gps unit to be used for testing, due to the fact they can be slighly off also. he suggested calling the police to see if i can arrange a speed trap for myself, because i would need that type of documentation. i asked about adyno run print out and he didnt know on that, (asnt asked yamaha about it) he did tel me thou that there is no way to do a elect test/ computer to fix it. yamaha would just send a factory part to replace it, which of course would still be 5-10% off. so basicly yamaha has sold us some crap parts when it comes to the speedometer.
:Flip: to us all

 

[jamesfz6]

I can't quite understand why there'd be any error on a speedometer. There's a straight linear relationship between engine rpm and wheel rpm, and again between wheel rpm and bike velocity.
That should be cake to calibrate. And if the speedometer is accurate below a certain mph threshold, it should remain accurate above that threshold, too.

Our speedo is measured through the trans not the front wheel like a lot of other bikes. On the bikes measured from the front wheel you can change all the sprockets you want and your speedo will still read the correct speed. I wish ours was measured off the front wheel......:sinister: ohh how nice that would be.

 

[jamesfz6]

No its not. In fact you will not find a word about it in the CVC nor will you find any reference other than a phrase on the CHP website that says it is "permissible" and there is a huge difference. San Diego PD does write citations for it because they do not consider it safe. One of the riders on this forum posted a small message about this not long ago while splitting in San Diego and being hassled by a cop at a construction area. Riverside PD will ticket you for it if it is done at a point where the white line in the street is solid and I used to live there. They will also write paper if it is done on the outside of a multi-lane where there is a solid yellow line. Regardless, it is not "legal" and there have been numerous articles in magazines like Thunder Press explaining the California position on splitting.

I agree. It sounds like a good concept of being able to get around slower individuals but i wouldnt do it because the risk factor is too great. I'll take being lat to my next meeting rather than be run over anyday.











I also know a lot of people are here from california and you guys/gals probly do it all the time, thats your right. I guess some of you feel the same about this as you do about the wheelie threads.........all us fz6 riders are freakin daredevils...:mikebike:

 

[Bri]

So... I just bought a new 09 FZ6 and the speedometer is off by 7%. Cars were passing me all the time and now I know why. I don't think anyone should settle for this BS. Yamaha can have the bike back if they can't do better than that.

 

[LERecords]

So... I just bought a new 09 FZ6 and the speedometer is off by 7%. Cars were passing me all the time and now I know why. I don't think anyone should settle for this BS. Yamaha can have the bike back if they can't do better than that.

wow.. a little speedo error and you want to give back the bike to yamaha .. I believe that ALL motorcycle manufactures have some speedo error, so changing wouldnt really help you.. if you have access to a gps, you'll proabably find that even your car has some speedo error... :thumbup:

 

[Bri]

According to Wikipedia:

"As of 1997, Federal standards in the United States allowed a maximum 5% error on speedometer readings.[13] Aftermarket modifications, such as different tire and wheel sizes or different differential gearing, can cause speedometer inaccuracy."

Thus I would think Yamaha should be required to correct the problem.

 

[Bri]

wow.. a little speedo error and you want to give back the bike to yamaha

7% is a lot. Instead of 9300 actual miles, my odometer will read 10,000...

Actually I use use GPS with WAAS in my other vehicles and their speedometers are all within 1mph at 60mph(gps). I was surprised that regulations allow a 5% on a new vehicle. Certainly there will be some variation as tires wear, but a new vehicle should easily be within 2 or 3%--the only real sources of error for a new vehicle are the tolerance of the tires diameter, and the amount of tire/road slip which is negligible on dry asphalt.

 

[dturpen]

Get a speedohealer. Done.