Atlas Factory Tach Drive Cable Routing??
- Thread starter M1Lover
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- Jan 21, 2011
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- 639
It depends on what year and type of Atlas it is. The early Atlas had the tach drive angled forwards at 45 degrees, later they pointed straight up. Then there was the road bike and the Atlas scrambler. The early Atlas had it's speedo in the headlight bucket and the tach was an option only, which if installed was on a separate single instrument bracket that was held under one of the fork tube top nuts. I have seen period photos with the tach installed on either side of the bike. On the USA sold early Atlas or Dominator usually the tach was put on the right side and the cable routed outside the exhaust. The angled tach drive on these early bikes usually had the cable laying right on the exhaust pipe, they had a wound alloy shield on the cable at that point to protect it.
I believe that some later Atlas Scrambler models used the forward-angled drive after they quit using them on the street bikes.
Some 1961-1962 Dominators came with a special right side exhaust pipe that was kinked inwards to let the tach cable go by easier, I have seen lots of 650s with that kinked right pipe but off the top of my head can not remember if the 750s had it too, the kinked pipe did not last for long though as there are lots of photos of later 1962 650s and 750s without it and with the cable laying right on the pipe.
After 1963 AMC pointed the tach drive straight up on the road bikes so the cable had to make more bends, but was not laying on the pipe anymore. Some early photos show UK sold bikes with the tach on the left.
In the end if you just use the least number of bends to get it to where it has to go then you have done all that can be done. If it ends up laying on the pipe as on the early Atlas then make sure you have the protective wound alloy cover there.
The best setup I have seen is that with some custom swept-back Dunstall style pipes that work with rear-set footrests allow the 45 degree angle drive to not only have the fewest bends, but to miss the exhaust altogether. But unless you have the right pipes to do that and have a Cafe or Racing bike the parts and work to get there are not going to be attractive to solve such a small problem.
I believe that some later Atlas Scrambler models used the forward-angled drive after they quit using them on the street bikes.
Some 1961-1962 Dominators came with a special right side exhaust pipe that was kinked inwards to let the tach cable go by easier, I have seen lots of 650s with that kinked right pipe but off the top of my head can not remember if the 750s had it too, the kinked pipe did not last for long though as there are lots of photos of later 1962 650s and 750s without it and with the cable laying right on the pipe.
After 1963 AMC pointed the tach drive straight up on the road bikes so the cable had to make more bends, but was not laying on the pipe anymore. Some early photos show UK sold bikes with the tach on the left.
In the end if you just use the least number of bends to get it to where it has to go then you have done all that can be done. If it ends up laying on the pipe as on the early Atlas then make sure you have the protective wound alloy cover there.
The best setup I have seen is that with some custom swept-back Dunstall style pipes that work with rear-set footrests allow the 45 degree angle drive to not only have the fewest bends, but to miss the exhaust altogether. But unless you have the right pipes to do that and have a Cafe or Racing bike the parts and work to get there are not going to be attractive to solve such a small problem.
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- Jan 27, 2008
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- 1,607
I know the Matchless frames are different, but the general location of the instruments and cable routing is pretty much the same for the Atlas and the hybrids. The forward-angled tach mount is problematic unless you're running CSR or Dunstall swept-back pipes. The vertical mount keeps the cable away from the pipes.
G15CSR
P11 Ranger
G15CSR
P11 Ranger