Broken Revometer

El_Commi · 23 Mar 2012 at 12:48

First post so be gentle.

Anyway, last year I bought a Bike from Gumtree, a Sym XS 125 CC. I had the full intention of using it to commute.

However, one thing after another, and I never really got around to it. I've had it dropped it for a service about 8 months ago, and had the breaks/oil etc checked. I've been out on it a handfull of times, and it runs smooth.

Problem is, I now need to MOT/Tax it as myself and some friends are planning to take a biking tour of Ireland this summer.

Basically, problem is that everything works fine. Except the revometer doesn't do anything.
Speedometer works fine.

The revometer does nothing. Anyone any suggestions? I'm gonna swing by a shop tomorrow to get some advice there, but I'd rather know if it;s likeyl to be something simple I can sovle myself.

Cheers

El_Commi · 23 Mar 2012 at 15:43

VoG said:
Electric or mechanical, ie does the rev counter have a wire going into the back or quite a heftyish sheathed cable screwed into it?.

If its a cable, check the obvious, snapped cabled, pinched cable, seized cable etc. if it's just a wire, check for breaks in the wire, wire pulled out elsewhere that kinda thing.

bare in mind rev counters are pretty damn simplistic instruments, so it's rare for them to just fail.

Looks to be a sheathed cable, wil lhav eto double check when I go to my mum's.
I have started the bike btw, Even when I doing 100km/h it still doesn't move.

If it is busted? Are they expensive to replace? Just thinknig, cause it needs MOT'd soon, and "if its on it, it has to work"..

El_Commi · 23 Mar 2012 at 16:16

arctine said:
FYI: they're calls tachometers not revometers

If it's a moving one, unscrew the cable from your tachometer and start the engine. If it spins then it's something wrong with the clock, if it doesn't spin then there's a problem with the engine side of the cable.

Also, I'm fairly sure you only need the speedo to pass an MOT.

Thanks, will check that when I'm home.

Well I've heard mixed reports here, called the DVLNI, and they hadn't a clue. no one there knows much about bikes apparently. =/

El_Commi · 23 Mar 2012 at 16:29

That's a good idea

Will do that when I book my MOT.

Thanks for the advice

El_Commi · 24 Mar 2012 at 21:36

Dogbreath said:
Unless the MOT over in N. Ireland is significantly harsher than the UK then you won't need a working tachometer to pass it. The rule of thumb about items being fitted having to work really applies to lights.

It's not so much about it being harder, just that no-one here seems to have a clue about bikes. The DVLNI website doesn't even mention what they look for on a bike MOT. Safest bet I guess is to call the MOT center, see what they say

Cheers for the help tho. I got a little excited and bought loads of gear today