Miles or kms on odo?

[great white]

I'm located in Canada and my 89 fj1200 3cv, from what I can find,looks to have originally been sold in Quebec (even had the provincial certification sticker on the rear inner fender like its supposed to to show Quebec conformity).

I'm looking at the clocks today and for some reason it finally strikes me that MPH is on the outside ring and KPH is on the inside.

Normally, most vehicles sold in Canada have kph on the outside ring and mph on the inside. My vf750f is that way, my cb650sc is that way and so is my 83 xvz1200 Venture.

Typically, the outside ring is what the odo measures in. Which would mean I'm looking at miles on the odo and not kms.

Does that sounds right? If so, my FJ has a lot more mileage on it than I thought. (Conversion factor is about 1.6 kms per mile)

My bike shows ~144,000, if that's kms its only about 86,000 miles. Big difference.

It would also explain what appears to be horrible fuel mileage from the bike. I hit "100" on the trip at about 1/4 tank. 100 miles is way better than 100 kms. Not great, but still better.

I suppose I could just go measure it off against some km markers on the highway when I think about it.....

That's kind of a PITA here though. Our highways aren't marked as religiously for km markers like they are for mile markers in the States.

Any other Canadians on the board?  How is your bike's speedometer marked? Mph or kph on the outer ring?

[FJmonkey]

Steve (Moparman) how is your speedo marked on your "Lateral Frame" '86?

[paulfj03]

Just KMs...

This pic is of a 92 speedo. (non ABS).

[Arnie]

100kms @ 1/4 tank mark is about right (or at least close to what I'm getting) and I've never heard of an FJ that gets 400 MILES to a tank of fuel.
There is enough difference between km and miles that you don't need hwy markers, you can just travel a set distance according to Google Maps to see which units are being recorded.

[great white]

100kms @ 1/4 tank mark is about right (or at least close to what I'm getting) and I've never heard of an FJ that gets 400 MILES to a tank of fuel.
There is enough difference between km and miles that you don't need hwy markers, you can just travel a set distance according to Google Maps to see which units are being recorded.

See, the MPG is what has me wondering as much as the speedo rings. I'm not getting 100 per 1/4,  I've only got 100 on the trip at 1/4 remaining.

So, assuming I get an unlikely 50% of that on the last 1/4 tank, it would be 150 to dead empty.

150 miles at 5.8 gal capacity is 25 MPG. That seems low.

But if its 150kms, its even worse: 150 kms x1.6 = 93.75 miles and that works out to 16 MPG. That seems too low for sure, even around town. Hell, my 98 3/4 ton truck does better than that!

Something just isn't making sense here. At least if it's miles on the odo/trip, its close enough to say the bike is just in bad nick and causing lower MPG than I had hoped for. If its kms, something is very wrong with the bike.....

[great white]

While these are not mine, this is how the speedo is marked:



This is why I can't help but wonder of its marking miles instead of kms.

I wonder if maybe a Quebec dealer brought one in from the states to sell? They do some odd things in"la belle province" sometimes....

[ribbert]

While these are not mine, this is how the speedo is marked:



This is why I can't help but wonder of its marking miles instead of kms.

I wonder if maybe a Quebec dealer brought one in from the states to sell? They do some odd things in"la belle province" sometimes....

I don't understand the confusion, the outer markings are obviously the primary ones, how can you not tell from riding it? you must know how far it is from your place to ..........

Noel

[fj johnnie]

 Your speedo is definitely from a US bike. The Canadian bike does not have the dumb ass 55 marker on it for starters. As Paul showed the Canadian speedo has kilometers only. So therefore  your odometer would be in miles. As many do I also don't pay attention to exactly how far I ride from day to day. I look at the odometer to check when the next oil change should be.

[great white]

While these are not mine, this is how the speedo is marked:



This is why I can't help but wonder of its marking miles instead of kms.

I wonder if maybe a Quebec dealer brought one in from the states to sell? They do some odd things in"la belle province" sometimes....

I don't understand the confusion, the outer markings are obviously the primary ones, how can you not tell from riding it? you must know how far it is from your place to ..........

Noel

Never owned an FJ before, Canada is metric, reasonable to assume a canadian bike will measure odo in kms, I just ride it to work mostly. I know approximate distance, but not exactly. Kms are 60% of miles, so it pretty easy to not know if its in miles or kms unless you're measuring across a known measured distance. Hence: highway markers.

I'm also guessing you don't hear the condescendant tone you're putting out/typing out either....

[great white]

Your speedo is definitely from a US bike. The Canadian bike does not have the dumb ass 55 marker on it for starters. As Paul showed the Canadian speedo has kilometers only. So therefore  your odometer would be in miles. As many do I also don't pay attention to exactly how far I ride from day to day. I look at the odometer to check when the next oil change should be.

Time to measure it against a known distance i guess.

That also means the bike has 144,000 miles instead of 144,000 kms.....yeesh.

At least it still runs well and doesn't seem to consume oil.

Having never seen another canadian 89, I wasn't sure if all NA FJ's just got mph speedos and Canada was just left to look at the little kph markings on the inner ring. That kind of stuff happens sometimes when living in big brothers shadow....

[ribbert]

......I'm also guessing you don't hear the condescendant tone you're putting out/typing out either....

My appologies, it was not my intention. I sometimes forget where I am at that moment and do not word my replies accordingly.

Noel

[PaulG]

Mine is a '92 ABS with km only on speedo also.  Could it be possible that the speedo or whole dash was swapped out i.e. Canadian bike, but with US dials?  If you google the S/N of the bike you should be able to find where it was originally sold.

BTW my odometer is near 175,000 km - or about 110,000 mi. - and I can squeeze out 300 km or more on a tank if I keep it in the touring zone of 3750 - 5000 rpm.  At 5000 - 6000 rpm sustained, it will drop to 250 - 280 km.  I've never had to use the reserve switch (don't even know if it works).  The engine has never been apart (as far as I know) other than when I had the valve clearances checked, and the clutch changed, and all original electrics, so I count myself lucky.  I've had cars crap out on me with this "little" amount of mileage (or kilometerage?).

[anson45]

This was driving me nuts a few nights ago and it still is!
Have you figured it out yet?
How about taking a ride with someone who has a known speedometer/odometer?
Anyway.. I'd like to know.
Anson