Speedo Broken on NEW 2012 Ninja at 26 miles

[frankhenderson1]

I bought my NEW 2012 Ninja last Saturday and 4 days later, the speedometer breaks. Dealer was great. but GEEZ!

[Mxslick]

What was the part that failed? The actual speedo in the cluster, the cable or the drive unit on the front axle?

If it was the drive unit on the axle that is usually caused by the dealer's assembly person forcing it when assembling the front wheel of the bike.

If it was the cable that can be due to either a bad cable or one that was not lubed properly when it was made.

If it was the actual speedo that could be any number of things, but still mainly a defect.

I am betting one of two things was wrong: bad/damaged drive unit, or the cable wasn't tightened properly at the cluster end.

Also, did you notice anything odd before it failed? Twitching needle, low indicated speed, etc?

[frankhenderson1]

It made a crunching sound and then stopped. I traded in a Harley for the Ninja.

[tadster00]

Mine's been messing up lately. I just bought a suction-cup phone mount, download a speedo app, and have been using my phone as my speedometer until I can get the thing fixed or replaced. Just an idea you may want to try if you have an android of an iphone, until you can also get it fixed

[frankhenderson1]

Thanks - great idea!

[frankhenderson1]

The parts should be in today and they said come by. I am getting first service for free compliments of Kawasaki HDQ Irvine.

[Mxslick]

The parts should be in today and they said come by. I am getting first service for free compliments of Kawasaki HDQ Irvine.

Good to hear that. Kawasaki is doing the right thing.

Yeah it sucks when a brand-new bike has problems, but with the mass production and just random bad luck sometimes defects get through. The real measure of the quality of a bike (or anything else) is how well the company responds to problems like this one.