She looks very nice indeed. Your speedo, it's likely the internal gears have turned to plastic dust. New gears are available tho. Pull it apart and see what's inside. It's not an electronic speedo inside...

Re: speedo - before you dissasemble the unit, check the wiring plug connectors [ in fact check ALL the connectors].

I stripped 7 Kays down in the past 18 months and every one had more fur on the instrument connectors than a catwalk model. All but 2 responded to the cleaning and lube treatment.

As an automotive design engineer, I too am impressed with the engine unit [ mostly ], very pleasant to work on and very straightforward.

Thanks for the help and advice guys!

club_c : I already had the speedo unit off and apart..all the gears looked fine - I think its more likely a connection thing - I need to check all that before going further - also, I don't trust those flimsy looking electronic ribbons inside the speedo unit - mine ar folded in what looks like quite a nasty way inside...

Barry,

Welcome to the forum.

Go to the download section of this forum. We have a couple of documents related to speedo repair.

Thanks crazy frog - will definately do that!

Hi Barry,
Welcome to the forum, the first thing to try for sprag clutch problems is to put some very high quality diesel engine oil in and go for a good run (after bump starting of course) many people find that cleans up the sprag clutch and it works fine from then on. So some 20-50 high quality diesel and let it pulll out all of the nasties coated around the sprag clutch mechanism and everywhere else too. Keep an eye on the level glass and if it goes black fairly quickly in say a 100 miles change the oil and filter and put more diesel oil in to carry on the good work. Unless irretrievably failed it should be working by then.
Get yourself some DeoxIT from Caig Labs http://www.caig.com/ and treat every connection on the bike. Inside the speedo there are a number of plug and pin assemblies which suffer from moisture which gets in by various routes. Do a search on this forum and I have written a few pieces on speedo waterproofing.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Thanks K-Bike,

I tried the diesel idea, and it solved the problem for a few days, then the problem came back.

I've now stripped everything and about to remove the gearbox - going to give the sprag clutch a thorough cleaning.

Its taking longer than anticipated because I just can't bring myself to start reassembling the bike without first restoring each and every nut and bolt...

Thanks for the tips with regard to the speedo - will definately look into that! I have had the speedo apart already and everything looks dry and decent - but I am concerned about the state of the "ribbons" inside in terms of the electrical connectors - mine looks like somebody just stuffed and folded them in, possibly breaking the connections inside the plastic...but I will have to do more proper investigation, testing with a multi-meter etc...

barryt wrote:Thanks K-Bike,
Its taking longer than anticipated because I just can't bring myself to start reassembling the bike without first restoring each and every nut and bolt...

Oh, you've got it bad!

It's a disease K_Bike....it's a disease....and I've had it for years...

There's no cure apparently, which I am extremely grateful for, but my wife on the other-hand....I think she would like to find a cure - I'm careful to make sure I exit the workshop 18h00 sharp each day - otherwise I may need a new wife as well!