alternative to right rear speedo drive

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o0norton0o

o0norton0o

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I am adapting a non-norton rear wheel to my bike. The normal speedo drive isn't going to work on the right rear axle with the set up I have chosen. My new axle diameter in the rear is now 17mm. I see that veglia makes a speedo that mounts on the drive sprocket side of the rear axle and I wondered if anyone knows if the veglia is reversable. (meaning that the cable take off can be switched to the opposite side of the casting's body, so it can be mounted to make the cable spin the other direction. Anyone have a triumph with the speedo drive on the sprocket side??

My other alternatives are front wheel speedo drive in 17mm axle size (but my layout doesn't leave a lot of space so the drive needs to be low profile and 1.25 to 1 which is why I am looking at the veglias...)

Anyone running an electronic speedo? I was hoping to keep my smiths guages, and just adapt a new speedo drive, but if I can't do that then maybe I'll ditch the mechanically driven speedo altogether... Suggestions?? comments? thanks in advance..
 
Modern Smiths electronic speedometers are available, aren't they?
 
I put a Mk 3 speedo drive on the left side of the front wheel (KZ750) with a custom spacer and notches for the speedo drive . I had to cut away some of the speedo drive's inner face because the axle is larger. I put a Venhill cable for a triumph I think and all works fine for the past several years. The ratio is correct because its still a commando with a 19" wheel and the same speedometer. The standard (but drilled) disc bolts on the right side as per normal. Some of the work was done before I got the bike, front and rear wheels changed to cast tubeless but the speedo was a bicycle unit and I wanted the normal clocks - working. Not difficult in my case. Tin snips and a dremel tool is all I used if I recall correctly. The inner felt rides directly on the custom spacer (greased) no top hat used. It may fail someday (even the standard stock ones can fail and spin I've heard) but so far all's well and I'd nearly forgotten about it. Sorry I forgot my photobucket password and haven't remedied that situation so no photos.
Lance
 
grandpaul said:
Modern Smiths electronic speedometers are available, aren't they?
Click to expand...

Yes, they are... I've only begun to investigate that option, because it seemed so much easier to just keep my speedometer and adapt a new drive to the front wheel, since a front wheel speedometer drive should last a very long time because it would hardly even have a bend in it from drive to the gauge.




L.E.N. said:
I put a Mk 3 speedo drive on the left side of the front wheel (KZ750) with a custom spacer and notches for the speedo drive . I had to cut away some of the speedo drive's inner face because the axle is larger. I put a Venhill cable for a triumph I think and all works fine for the past several years. The ratio is correct because its still a commando with a 19" wheel and the same speedometer. The standard (but drilled) disc bolts on the right side as per normal. Some of the work was done before I got the bike, front and rear wheels changed to cast tubeless but the speedo was a bicycle unit and I wanted the normal clocks - working. Not difficult in my case. Tin snips and a dremel tool is all I used if I recall correctly. The inner felt rides directly on the custom spacer (greased) no top hat used. It may fail someday (even the standard stock ones can fail and spin I've heard) but so far all's well and I'd nearly forgotten about it. Sorry I forgot my photobucket password and haven't remedied that situation so no photos.
Lance
Click to expand...

Thats where I think I am going with my modification for the same reasons. The 19" front tire and 1.25 to 1 drive allows me to use my current speedometer, BUT if you switch a speedometer drive from the right side of the bike to the left, then the cable will spin in the opposite direction, UNLESS I can reverse assemble the speedometer cable drive mechanism and the blanked end piece to swap sides on the body of the drive unit.

Thanks lance I'm going to look into re-using my rear wheel speedo drive.... or buy a veglia reversable one if I can find one in 1.25 to 1.
 
I gave in bought the new Smiths electronic speedo, Ive also installed a Smiths tach since pic was taken.

alternative to right rear speedo drive
 
L.E.N. said:
I put a Mk 3 speedo drive on the left side of the front wheel (KZ750) with a custom spacer and notches for the speedo drive . I had to cut away some of the speedo drive's inner face because the axle is larger. I put a Venhill cable for a triumph I think and all works fine for the past several years. The ratio is correct because its still a commando with a 19" wheel and the same speedometer. The standard (but drilled) disc bolts on the right side as per normal. Some of the work was done before I got the bike, front and rear wheels changed to cast tubeless but the speedo was a bicycle unit and I wanted the normal clocks - working. Not difficult in my case. Tin snips and a dremel tool is all I used if I recall correctly. The inner felt rides directly on the custom spacer (greased) no top hat used. It may fail someday (even the standard stock ones can fail and spin I've heard) but so far all's well and I'd nearly forgotten about it. Sorry I forgot my photobucket password and haven't remedied that situation so no photos.
Lance
Click to expand...

A Triumph T160 speedo drive is also run from the sprocket (drive) side, same unit as a Mk. 3 Commando.

sam
 
I used to run a Yamaha twin disc spoked 19" front wheel with the original Yamaha speedo drive.I used an original Norton 17mm front axle modified to suit.
But the issue is that the drive is not the correct ratio so I had my then speedo man change the internal ratios on the Smiths gauge to suit the Yamaha drive.
This worked well till I changed to a Ducati 18" front wheel and then used the Veglia speedo drive which is still on the bike now.
Brett
 
trident sam said:
A Triumph T160 speedo drive is also run from the sprocket (drive) side, same unit as a Mk. 3 Commando.

sam
Click to expand...

ok, thank you! I didn't know that the Mk3's were mounted on the left side, so that speedo drive might be adaptable to either my front or rear wheel... awesome.



Rosey said:
I used to run a Yamaha twin disc spoked 19" front wheel with the original Yamaha speedo drive.I used an original Norton 17mm front axle modified to suit.
But the issue is that the drive is not the correct ratio so I had my then speedo man change the internal ratios on the Smiths gauge to suit the Yamaha drive.
This worked well till I changed to a Ducati 18" front wheel and then used the Veglia speedo drive which is still on the bike now.
Brett
Click to expand...

I've already swapped out the front wheel bearings on the donor yamaha wheels to fit the norton front axle, The original yamaha speedo drive was too thick and threw the front wheel off center in the forks. I took the yamaha drive apart and machined it down to it's thinnest workable thickness and it was a little to thick. I had the option of machining down the face of the norton fork slider to make the yamaha speedo drive work, but I didn't want to alter the fork sliders. I wanted my cast alloy wheel modification to be a simple parts swap which could be switched back to stock parts pretty easily.

thanks for all the help.
 
I forgot to write before that aswell as a T160/mk.3 Norton drive gearbox , you could also use a drive side T140 Veglia gearbox, these were fitted to the alloy wheel T140 bikes (possibly others) and are the same ratio, also a bit smaller physically than the Smiths .
sam
 
Throw it all away and fit one of the speed hut gps units, some one markets them in the states
 
splatt said:
Throw it all away and fit one of the speed hut gps units, some one markets them in the states
Click to expand...

Arrgh! Inflicting such modern stuff on our vintage classics would be like painting lipstick on the Mono Lisa! (Just my opinion ... dont get uptight :D )

Slick
 
texasSlick said:
splatt said:
Throw it all away and fit one of the speed hut gps units, some one markets them in the states
Click to expand...

Arrgh! Inflicting such modern stuff on our vintage classics would be like painting lipstick on the Mono Lisa! (Just my opinion ... dont get uptight :D )

Slick
Click to expand...

Yes they may be a bit advanced but once you use them you'll wonder why you put up with the other 'crap' for so long, no more broken cables, friendly waving speedo needles, speedo drives falling apart .....
I fit the SPEEDHUT ones to my series landrovers and love them.
Windy posted on here awhile ago showing the one he fitted
 
Check out LEGNEDARY MOTORCYCLES has them made by speedhut with the correct face
 
RGM sell a GPS speedo with a traditional style face that looks very much like Smiths original (but not perfect so as to avoid legal issues i suppose) a matching Rev counter is also available.
 
I'll throw my hat in as well. Check out the Smith Drive Conversion Kits. There is a YouTube video on the website. Also have magnetic senders. Tach hooks up to the coils. Made to original specs by Smiths in the UK but now electronic. All three Norton faces currently in stock.

Cheers,

Tom Kullen
Smiths Gauges USA
http://www.smithsgaugesusa.com
801.557.4255-cell/text
 
toppy said:
RGM sell a GPS speedo with a traditional style face that looks very much like Smiths original (but not perfect so as to avoid legal issues i suppose) a matching Rev counter is also available.
Click to expand...

I would say that is a speed hut unit
 
Just to follow up on this thread.... for the sake of those who use the search function to find answers. I finally got the time to dissect my right side speedometer gearbox and it was not difficult to convert it to a left side speedometer gearbox by simply reversing the output shaft on the body of the gearbox. The wormgear still meshed correctly with the drive gear even though it was spinning in the other direction in the body and driving the cable to the opposite direction on the body.

Now, all I have left to do is to fabricate a few more minor parts, shorten the existing (shabby old) cable and I've got my existing smiths speedo back to working order, for cheap...
 
Just to follow up on the final results of my speedometer modification,... I was able to reverse the output of the right side speedo drive to make it into a left side speedo drive. I had to fabricate a few parts to drive it from my front wheel, which was challenging. (we'll see if it lasts) I made a drive sprocket out of black ABS plastic, so it would be the "weakest link" part that breaks (rather than the wheel hub) should there be any problems with the mechanism as I have it set up.

Overall, the whole project was a huge pain in the ass to do. I also had to machine down the face of the cast wheel hub, to make enough space to fit the speedo drive inside the fork leg. Both my tach and speedo are now working again.

alternative to right rear speedo drive
 
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