Sean's heart sank when he saw the police car in his rear view mirror yet no speedometer on his handlebar. The worst part about riding a track motorcycle on the street is that you are riding something purpose-built to go fast at the expense of comfort and consistency. Give yourself the added comfort of knowing how fast you are going and how much gas is in your tank by installing a speedometer on your motorcycle. An accurate bicycle speedometer ($15) can be installed in 10 minutes using a tape measure ($5), a black marker ($2) and possibly JB Weld ($5) and double-sided Velcro ($5).
Go to a bicycle shop or a sporting good store and look at their selection of bicycle speedometers. The speedometers come in two types: cordless and one's with cords. Cordless speedometers are easier to install and look clean but come at a greater expensive and require a battery for the receiver and the speedometer. Either way both speedometers require a magnet to be attached to a motorcycle's spoke or JB Welded to the rim. Install the speedometer on the handlebars using the rubber bands or zip ties provided or the double-sided Velcro down you bought. Mount the speedometer so that you can easily read the display panel when you are in your riding position. Run the wire from the speedometer, down the fork stanchions until you get to the pick up. Mount the pick up as close to the rim/hub as possible so that the passing of the magnet you are about to install will trigger the pick up. Mix the JB to a grey, even consistency and paint JB Weld on the magnet and the spot on the rim/hub where you plan to mount the magnet. Install the magnet and spin the rim making sure the magnet triggers the speedometer. If the speedometer does not register the magnet, paste some more JB Weld on the magnet and mount the magnet in another place. Once we have the speedometer and magnet installed, we have to tell the speedometer the distance of a rotation of the wheel.
An accurate measuring of the wheel's circumference is essential to having an accurate speedometer. Take the bike off the kickstand and roll the bike until the valve stem cap on the front tire is at its closest to the road. Mark this as a point on the road. Roll the bike forward until the front wheel makes a full rotation and the valve stem cap is again nearest the ground and mark this point on the road. The distance between these two points is the circumference of your front wheel. Read the manual on your bicycle speedometer to see how to input this value into your speedometer and whether or not you have to convert this value into millimeters. Go for a test drive and make sure your speedometer is in the ballpark. Confirm your speed by riding to the left of a car with a digital display and see if the car's speed matches the speed on your speedometer. The next time you find a red and blue behind you, you'll be breaking one less motorcycle requirement.
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