Wrench Tip Wednesday: Hour Meters

How many legitimate hours are on your bike? The only accurate way to know is to use a hour meter vs mentally keeping track. The problem with mentally keeping track is, did you really ride for 2 hours or was it really 30 minutes ride time and talk for the rest. Hour meters do not lie.

There are two types of hour meters:

• Wireless, which runs off engine vibration. When transporting a bike, sometimes a meter can vibrate and add hours to it. Now, PC Racing makes a meter that can be locked when not riding.
• Wired, the wire attaches to the coil or spark plug

Most of our bikes have wireless ones on but we do still have a few wired ones on and no complaints on either.

Most new bikes come with a speedometer on it and is capable of tracking hours. If we keep it on our bikes, we always put an hour meter on just for a back up and peace of mind.

A rider should keep track of the hours because it helps a ton with maintenance intervals. It will also accurately let a person know how many hours they are getting on a top end or a clutch. So, instead of breaking down during a race, pay attention to the hours and write down what you have replaced along with when (hours and date) and why. Keep the bike manufactures workshop manual handy. Most have set hours and recommendations of parts to replace or check.