How to set old mileage on new speedometer
 

I’m getting a new Zanella cluster next week. I would like to start the new odometer at my current mileage which is around 1800 miles. Could I use I drill on the new wheel speed sensor to run the mileage up? I was thinking of using a cone shape dowel of some sort. Any suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks.

Sure you can. Depending on the type of cable terminal, you may be able to just pinch it in a drill's 3-jaw choke and spin away. Keep in mind that this is not a fast method by any means -a 1800 rpm cordless power drill only got a Yamaha XT600 speedo I have up to an indicated 60-70 km/h.

Depending on the odo mileage you're trying to match, it may take a looooong time to complete the job. Even with a 3000 rpm drill, and an entire day of "riding" the odo in this way, you will not be able to put more than 1400 or so miles/day on it. And that is, with the drill constantly engaged and rigged.

Even if you jury-rig the drill to drive the speedo gear instead of the cable, you cannot go any faster than the maximum registerable speed, -so again, we're talking about hours or days of spinning. With it being so time-consuming, it's no wonder that mileage matching is often performed by the seller at a charge. Then again there might be some hidden setting...

The speed sensor with the digital cluster is a magnetic sensor.

It is possible to flash the chip that contains odometer information, but I don't know what chip contains that information, how to connect it to a computer or how to read and change the raw binary data.

Try getting ahold of the seller and ask if they can do this for you and how much they'll charge.

You can use the drill method with a magnetic sensor as well, just a different kind of jury-rigging is required. You don't want magnets flying around like bullets, for one. Or, if you want a more refined approach, attach a digital signal generator to the speedo's input in order to simulate the pulse from the magnetic pickup.


A really ghetto way to do this would be to use a computer or other audio player as a generator and play back this pulse through the headphone jack, with a suitably modified lead. A low audio level should be enough to trigger the electronics in the cluster -just don't overdrive them! There are even real-time signal generators apps you could experiment with.

Personally I wouldn't even worry about it. It's only 1800 miles and really won't make any difference in value a few years down the road. I would just get out and enjoy the ride. ;)

The 1800 probably isnt accurate anyway. On my hawk it was closer to km than miles. Also the Zannella wasnt accurate until I reset it to the 19 inch setting with a 21 inch wheel.

I was thinking that if you're going to use the drill idea, you might want to take your time and not get too crazy with the rpms, and let it cool off every few minutes. I can't imagine the speedometer is lubed particularly well or made with parts that would take allot of heat from spinning at higher than normal rpms for long periods.

Might be better off writing down the "China miles" listed on your odometer and keeping track with that. As someone I think has pointed out, the speedometer from the factory tends to read MPH (kind of) and the odometer tends to measure "China miles" (KM).

Well, even if we let slide the fact that he cluster in question seems to use a magnetic sensor... the 1800-2400 rpm that a regular drill puts out seems to be in the normal input range for a traditional Yamaha XT-style speedo. The worm gear + pinion at the wheel act as a rpm multiplier. A typical 18" front wheel with a 100/90 profile tire spins at about 500 rpm @ 60 km/h, so even with a conservative 2-3 multiplication we're well within the few thousands rpm range.


You certainly don't want to try attaching it a dremel-type tool though, those can idle at 10k+ rpm at the lowest setting, and up to 30k rpm at the maximum.

Well shoot, if that's the normal operating range, then at it roughly showing 60mph, it'll only take 30 hours with a drill and adapter for the magnetic pick up sender to get to 1800 miles. Lol! Prob gonna want to let your drill cool off...

I’ve never seen such an honest group of people.

I had to get a new speedometer. I didn’t worry for a second that 2000 miles is gone. Ha ha ha

Around here about the only time it would be important is during the state inspections. They would catch it if your vehicle had less miles than the previous year's inspection. Lol

Less, definitely. I guess for new bikes it’s not much of an issue. But if you have 12K miles it might be a little more difficult. Some states have an “odometer not accurate” provision too.

There's a box to check on the titles in NC to declare that the odo is incorrect. You can't plan to get much money for a used Chinese bike anyway.