The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: diggers on April 16, 2008, 04:12:14 AM
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I live in NZ and have just bought an 81 R65, imported from the US. The speedo is not going and I could get it fixed, but would like to get a metric one (we do metric in NZ!).
Can I simply take off the imperial one and fit the metric one? Or are there expensive/cheap modifications required as well? Also can I fit a speedo from any R series bike? Or what about K series? Or does it have to be specific for the R65?
I'm a mechanical ignoramus and this is my first bike at age 45 so would like to find out a few things!
Can anyone help me out here?
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First congratulations on buying a great first bike!
good news - you should be able to change to a metric speedometer without changing anything else.
bad news - only an R65 speedometer will fit. the mounting is unlike other airheads and the ratios are unique.
Otherwise if you fit a MPH speedometer you can change your thinking - 62MPH = 100kph, 31 MPH=50 kph. this worked for me when I rode in Europe with a US market R60/2.
Used R65 speedometers do show up occasionally on ebay - rebuilds are available. You could get it fixed and have a metric faceplate installed but the odometer would still read miles.
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Hey thanks drewboid! That's exactly what I wanted to know, cleared up some of the fog in my brain about the topic! I now know what I'm supposed to be looking for! Cheers