Here's my post from about 18 months ago when I had speedometer issues: I went through this a few months back and had the shop replace the cable, it was cheap, under $40 but then it still did not work, not sure why they don't bother t-shooting anything at the shop, but their comment was that the mechanic reported a clicking noise in the head end meaning instrument cluster and recommended replacing it. Anyway after shopping a bit for instrument clusters I realized that that was a little too expensive to just jump into blindly and decided to take a closer look. My suggestion is to identify if the cable is spinning first. Remove the speedo cable from the head unit and with your bike on center stand and you may need a little help here, but you need to get the front wheel off the ground. I used a floor jack under the motor with the bike on the center stand. Once its off the ground spin the wheel and watch the cable, it should spin very slowly. Anyway, If its not spinning, you need to remove the speedo cable from the front hub, (note - you may also opt to use the drill on the other end of the cable method, this will bypass your need to elevate the wheel, at least for now...). Once you get the cable assembly and speedometer drive off the hub inspect it closely, mine was bound up with thick gooey gunk with the relative viscosity of 20 year old window caulk with broken pieces of plastic mixed in. Once I went back to the drawings I identified my problem was a broken speedometer gear which is actually on the parts list for the front wheel identified for the 84 CB650SC as " 44806-MB0-003 GEAR, SPEEDOMETER " It's a pricey gear at approximately $28, but much cheaper then replacing your head unit / instrument cluster. It's also my recommendation that you inspect and service when necessary and repack the unit with fresh grease whenever you replace your tires or brakes since you have it apart anyway. In my opinion if mine was lubed properly it would likely have never gone bad. At least not with less than 25,000 miles. In any case good luck. Mike
In a message dated 5/27/2014 7:31:27 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Ok, my issue/question: My '96 CB250 Nighthawk has been having speedometer issues for a number of months now. At first the speedo needle would jump wildly up and down when riding down the road, but then it completely stopped. I checked the cable and that seemed to work fine. I then bought a "new" speedo, installed it, and it worked for about 15 miles before it stopped working as well. After some more research, I read that a pin could be bent under the front break cover, so I took the front wheel apart, played with it, and noticed that when I turned the gear inside the cylinder, it would turn fine one way and pop out if I turned it the other way. Is that normal? Hi Amber, I'm not sure if the gearing would work right with the brake panel removed. Here's one test you can do. If you look inside where the speedo cable fits inside the front wheel brake panel, you will see a flat dog that mates with a groove on the speedo cable (basically, like a flathead screwdriver). Raise up the front wheel, either by putting the bike on the centerstand and putting something heavy on the back, or by putting a jack under the engine block. Then, spin the front wheel and see if the flat dog rotates smoothly. Might need to shine a flashlight in there to see it well. If the dog isn't rotating, problem is in the front wheel. If it looks fine... I found that getting the groove on the speedo cable to align with the dog in the brake panel is a bit fiddly. You could probably check this by removing the other end of the speedo cable from the speedometer, spinning the front wheel, and seeing if the top of the speedo cable is rotating. Hope that helps. Cheers, -ntd -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) . To post to this group, send email to [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) . Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
