I'm currently looking to buy a used motorcycle, and today I was inspecting a 2005 Honda CBF 600, whose VIN was: ZDCPC38B05F065417. (I'm specifying the VIN in case it was stolen; perhaps the owner might google it.)
The bike looked fine, but the odometer had no reading. It wasn't zeroed out, but more like "dashed out", i.e. displaying dashes: -----------
My first suspicion was that someone (not necessarily the seller) was trying to manipulate the reading, failed, and left it "dashed out".
But perhaps I'm wrong, maybe the on-board computer had crashed? Or there might be some other cause? I was hoping to get some info from CBF owners: have you seen something like this happen? And if so, how can I reboot the computer?
EDIT: it turned out that, as DucatiKiller suggested, the regulator/rectifier was (most probably) not working properly. The seller admitted that he didn't want to get into the problem of buying a new, costly one, because he figured he'll find a buyer, even with no reading on the odometer.
But I found a better deal on a Honda CBF 600, so I can't say for sure that that was indeed the truth.