Speedo Cable - crap! - Ducati.ms

nathanTX · Feb 28th, 2006, 4:55 pm

Today's weather in TX is what all motorcycle enthusiasts live for. High 70s and sunny with a mild South breeze. So I decide to spend the afternoon in the twisties. Don't even have to come up with an excuse to play hooky since I don't have a job right at the moment. But I get about 10 miles from home and my speedometer dies. WTF? Turns out when I changed tires recently the speedo sensor shifted and caused a kink in the speedo cable which finally wore through from pulling tight over and over as the forks went up and down. So, it was straight home for me so I could investigate and make sure I wasn't doing any further damage to the front wheel/fender/speedo .

Big props to AMS Ducati, though. They had the part in stock for $32 and are just dropping it in the mail since they're about a 45min drive. Should have it fixed before the weekend. Plus he told me exactly what I did wrong on the spot. He said that when you tighten up the wheel, the speedo sensor has a tendency to rotate clockwise, pulling the cable tight. Says just about everyone does it once.

*** LESSON TO BE LEARNED: When reinstalling the front wheel (on 748/916/996 at least) make sure that the speedo sensor unit stays pointing up rather than back as you tighten everything up, otherwise the cable won't have enough slack to accomodate turning and suspension travel.

So, who else has done this?? (please? so I don't feel so stupid)

kingsnake1650 · Feb 28th, 2006, 5:01 pm

Mine broke up and the top by the guage cluster.Not sure why though.... that is a good tip about putting it all together though

grendels_arm · Feb 28th, 2006, 5:35 pm

Wow this is good to know. Now I know why the Haynes manual or Ducati Service manual said to keep the tab on the speedo sensor pressed against the white stop tab of the fork ring while tightening. I was wondering why they were pointing that out. I thought it was because if it moved or something you couldn't turn it back once the wheel was on. But then I saw you could so wondered why. Hmmm. My track bike doesn't have a speedo cable.

xr1owner · Mar 1st, 2006, 4:10 pm

I broke mine after 50 miles of putting on my PVM wheels.. ooopppssss... .

stiver2 · Mar 1st, 2006, 4:52 pm

The same happened to me. I had the tyres changed at a tyre fitting place and 38 miles later snap at the bottom of the cable, you're not alone!

cheech · Mar 1st, 2006, 7:47 pm

One more thing too, don't bind your forks by overtightening the axle nut. I would usually tighten it up nice and snug, spin the wheel for smoothness, untighten nut, slide out the axle slightly with rubber mallet and reseat it back in, and then retighten to specs. This insures that it doesn't create too much pressure between the bearings/speedo when you're forcing the axle through the forks and bearings.