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wrong Odometer!

O

orlysky2

New member
Hey there!
Last week I did a ride that I plan and measure the distance and I came with at about 210 miles distance. After my ride my Odometer on my bike (2012 R1200GS just in case make a difference) was measuring 346 miles total.:banghead I stay pretty close to my plan route to see that accuracy of the Odometer. My Odometer indicates Miles. Is that normal? Is that something that I can fix?:scratch

Thank for the help...
 
Welcome to the forum! Is the bike new to you? Have you seen this happen in the past or have your readings been pretty normal until this one ride?? Not familiar with the instruments on the R1200GS...is it programmable...can you select KM or miles?
 
20774 said:
Welcome to the forum! Is the bike new to you? Have you seen this happen in the past or have your readings been pretty normal until this one ride?? Not familiar with the instruments on the R1200GS...is it programmable...can you select KM or miles?
Click to expand...

Thanks.
This is actually the first trip that I do this with care. Before i did have some discussions with my friends about it so it make me question the odometer in the bike... the bike is selected to read mile...
 
My math is never great, however 346 - 210 = 146 miles, I find it hard to believe an odometer on a R1200GS is off by *that* much.

1) How did you originally measure your route? Did you create and measure the route using Garmin Basecamp or measure the route on a paper map? Are you positive the route was 210 miles?
2) Was the route off road or on road? Not that I think that great a discrepancy makes a difference.
3) Have you tried checking your odometer against a measured mile? I've checked mine against the interstate system mile markers and never had a discrepancy.
4) Were you the only one riding the route? If not, what mileage did your companions have at the end?

I'm not discounting that a modern digital odometer could go bad, but frequently I find it's often "operator error". Now, the odometer on my '74 R90/6 is another story.... ;)

And BTW, if your odometer *is* off that's a big issue. A dealer should be able to verify accuracy/recalibrate it.
 
61242 said:
3) Have you tried checking your odometer against a measured mile? I've checked mine against the interstate system mile markers and never had a discrepancy.
.
Click to expand...

Before I had a GPS I used to check the speedometer and odometer on all our vehicles by running a 10 mile stretch on a interstate.
 
Last edited:
61242 said:
My math is never great, however 346 - 210 = 146 miles, I find it hard to believe an odometer on a R1200GS is off by *that* much.

1) How did you originally measure your route? Did you create and measure the route using Garmin Basecamp or measure the route on a paper map? Are you positive the route was 210 miles?
2) Was the route off road or on road? Not that I think that great a discrepancy makes a difference.
3) Have you tried checking your odometer against a measured mile? I've checked mine against the interstate system mile markers and never had a discrepancy.
4) Were you the only one riding the route? If not, what mileage did your companions have at the end?

I'm not discounting that a modern digital odometer could go bad, but frequently I find it's often "operator error". Now, the odometer on my '74 R90/6 is another story.... ;)

And BTW, if your odometer *is* off that's a big issue. A dealer should be able to verify accuracy/recalibrate it.
Click to expand...


I did the initial measure on google maps. I did the ride that day by myself, and I did not have a comparison with another bike. Now the math is 346km to miles is 215 miles. So is really close to what I did measure initially on google map at home.

Now, I will do some more riding to see those test that you suggest... Thanks for the ideas :thumb
 
One last suggestion

Welcome to the MOA forum, and please update your profile!

If we know where you're located there could be someone just down the road to help you.
 
210 miles is 338 km. 338 km is within 2.3% of 346 km, which is reasonable. Although I have never done it, I understand that my GS-911 will allow me to set my odometer in miles or kilometers. My bike is a Canadian 2011 R1200GS which came with the odometer set in kilometers. My guess is that your bike's odometer is currently set in kilometers.
 
Does changing the bike setting from kilometers to miles or visa versa affect the speedometer as well as the odometers. If so, it seems like a rider would notice which setting was in effect.
 
The odometer should be following speedo. Is there a master reset for electronics to set to defaults, maybe a reboot by disconnecting battery?
 
61242 said:
Hmmmm, I'm going on complete speculation here, but I think we have an answer to the mileage discrepancy....
Click to expand...
Having little faith in Google maps for that kind of accuracy- +1
Find a measured mile (local or state police?), and check it for real. Semi-real would be having someone follow you for 10 or so miles and you could then compare notes.
OM
 
Gas Milage Check

Perhaps a gas milage check would help verify which distance units you are in. A 60% better-than-average value would be telling.
 
BlueWaterCooled said:
Does changing the bike setting from kilometers to miles or visa versa affect the speedometer as well as the odometers...
Click to expand...

No, not on my 2011 R1200GS. The speedometer numbers (kph in the case of my Canadian bike) are hard painted on the face of the speedometer and cannot change.

The odometer, on the other hand, is an LCD.

I still think his bike odometer is probably set to kilometers and could probably be changed to miles with the GPS.

While I didn't choose to change my odometer to miles, I did change the ambient temperature from C to F; the tire pressures from bar to psi; and the fuel consumption from liters per 100km to miles per imperial gallon.
 
jagarra said:
...Is there a master reset for electronics to set to defaults, maybe a reboot by disconnecting battery?
Click to expand...

No, when I changed some settings using my GS-911, disconnecting the battery does not reset my bike to the defaults. They stay at the new settings that I selected.
 
Doesn't one of the menus in the bike's computer have the option to select miles vs Kilos? Check the on-board computer and make sure all the settings are in sync with each other.
 
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