was riding home today, was going about 45, looked down 6krmp and 0mph.....

Stopped, realized that the spedometer cable had come loose from under the gage cluster. screwed the little cap that holds the cable in back on. Started driving back home and looked down.....0mph again.

when i got home i found that when i screw it on it seems to screw off really easily. I just can't seem to get it tight enough. anyone have any ideas?

 

Ahoy Man-o-Mule.
Get some low- or medium-strength threadlock and apply them to the barrel before tightening it on again. And to be sure that you're not cross-threading it, remove your upper/front fairing/headlight assembly.
It's kind of a stretch to reinstall that little bugger with the fairing/headlight assembly still in place. Besides, when you remove that mammy-jammer, you will be able to detail your bike from the gynecologist's perspective.
Once you've got any kind of threadlock on there, it will stay forever.
It's happened to the speedo-cables of all three of my 500's. This is the downside of the old-school speedometers, but there are plenty of downsides to the driveshaft-based speedos too!
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Peace!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA

 

I too had a problem with my speedo cable staying put on my KZ. Do what Chris says, and throw some blue threadlock on it. Or, use a pair of pliers and make it just tighter than finger tight. You may use a cloth so you don't scratch up the cable ring.

 

I just discovered the same thing has occurred on my 500R on the way to a motorcycle store. I saw the speedometer get all wacky bouncing around, then it went to 0. I went into the store anyways and tried to tighten it, but plugged it in and left it without screwing it in.

Halfway home I looked down and saw the cable dragging on the ground while I was going maybe 60 mph. I'm guessing it had been dragging for more than 2 miles! It seems the vibration as well as the torquing it gets when you steer left and right works it loose. The cap screw wasa bit scratched up, but the rod was untouched.

It may be a good thing to let all people with 500R's know so they'll be able to loctite the threadsbefore the cable works its way out.

I'm grabbing some loctite this afternoon and hopefully that sucker will stay on.