Imperial to metric units for continental touring

[brianmaslen]

But with the Nav V a flick to the left on the twist wheel gives you MPH or I believe KM readout, use it all the time in speed restricted roadworks.
I always use divide by 10 and multiply by 6 much easier maths...but then maths was never my strong point unless it was working out expenses or wages of course.

 

[MikeO]

Having had this facility on other bikes, I also found it very surprising that the GS doesn't have it. This is the other reason why I fitted an auxiliary GPS driven speedo to my bike, which can be changed between mph and km/h at the press of a button. (The other reason was to have a readout big enough to take in at a glance with my aging eyes!)

 

[wessie]

What I tend to do in reality is do the speed it says on the signs !

So when in Spain for example and it says 90 i do 90

No need to bother with all this conversion malarkey

I was in France last week and often adopted your method in the past - anyone doing so now would be very conspicuous. Seems the French are becoming awfully compliant with speed limits. Loads of speed cameras everywhere and I set off plenty! Hardly saw a gendarme with a speed gun.

 

[fred_jb]

I was in France last week and often adopted your method in the past - anyone doing so now would be very conspicuous. Seems the French are becoming awfully compliant with speed limits. Loads of speed cameras everywhere and I set off plenty! Hardly saw a gendarme with a speed gun.

Yes - and I believe after May any fines you incur will be winging their way to your UK home address following implementation of an agreement allowing EU countries to have access to the UK driver database.

 

[Wapping]

Easy answer, stay in the UK. All the speed limits are in easy to understand imperial units, there are miles of great roads (so we are told), near enough everyone speaks Engerlish and you'll be able to find the latest update on who is biker friendly and where you'll be bound or not to have you awesome steed nicked from.

 

[WaterMonkey]

Having had this facility on other bikes, I also found it very surprising that the GS doesn't have it. This is the other reason why I fitted an auxiliary GPS driven speedo to my bike, which can be changed between mph and km/h at the press of a button. (The other reason was to have a readout big enough to take in at a glance with my aging eyes!)

Am I the only person who can clearly see the speed in miles and kilometres on that dial thing on the left?

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Am I the only person who can clearly see the speed in miles and kilometres on that dial thing on the left?

nope..

 

[Wapping]

Am I the only person who can clearly see the speed in miles and kilometres on that dial thing on the left?

Don't be a caaaaahnt! It's an outrage, ruining bikermates' Adventures (with a capital A) European experiences. They'll run out of fuel, not know how fast they are going and they'll never know if it's five, 10, 30 or 100 miles to their biker friendly B&B digs.

 

[bowser]

All very helpful with the man-maths and much appreciated.

I have a Nav V so will set that the KMs however I do find it strange that main display on the GS can't be more easily changed between imperial and metric. I'd find this especially useful with the trip meter, for example when its 40KM to the next petrol station, I'm not having to rely on my man-maths to see if I have enough range when doing the miles->km computation in my head on the fly!

Having built a bike for Touring I'm really surprised BMW haven't made this easier. I've owned other makes of bikes (Honda) and this was easy-peasy to change the speedo and distance trip from mph to kmh and back again without have to visit a dealer and be relieved of more pounds.

A quick trip to the KTM dealers will sort out your problem, just push a button on the dash, hold it and it will change, or on the new ones navigate on the menu to display and choose which you wish to display. Of course you will have to part with your BMW and move to the orange side, or keep one for UK and one for touring abroad ;-)

 

[WaterMonkey]

Don't be a caaaaahnt! It's an outrage, ruining bikermates' Adventures (with a capital A) European experiences. They'll run out of fuel, not know how fast they are going and they'll never know if it's five, 10, 30 or 100 miles to their biker friendly B&B digs.

lol, they won't run out of fuel they'll be carrying 2 x 5L jerry cans on the back of their panniers just in case..

 

[casbar]

What happens when in a car then, mine doesn't have a digital speedo, so just read the bloody dial, in built sat nav doesn't show speed either, just use the speedo. Technology eh.

 

[fred_jb]

Am I the only person who can clearly see the speed in miles and kilometres on that dial thing on the left?

No. I can read it if I peer at it for a second or so while my eyes get the tiny letters into good enough focus to read - but I prefer to not take my eyes off the road for that long. Bear in mind that the photo I posted has the camera lens zoomed into the instrument panel area. I have a tall body with my head a long way from the instruments, and I don't get anything like that clear a view from my vantage point.

Given that the demographic of bikers these days is tending towards the age range where reading glasses are required, then I think instrument panel designers are not keeping up - at least the ones at BMW aren't.