Speedo and Tach Question

I recently purchased a NOS tachometer for my '72 Commando restoration project and am considering buying the matching speedometer from the seller. The tach is an original Smiths with the solid green globe, not the model with the serrated globe. My question is, will the solid green globe tach and speedo for the earlier Commando models work on my '72? Any help would be appreciated.

Differences are purely cosmetic so the solid one will work as well as the serrated.

French Veglia *green globe* marked instruments were also used from 1973-on, these Veglia items need the deeper 1973-on (black) instrument pods as the instruments are deeper than the Smiths.
Smiths will fit either pod type, extension bolts being required to fit them to deeper pods. Otherwise there's no problem.

Many thanks for the responses. I was hoping the answer would be that there's no difference. I have a never-used original Dunstall fairing that the tach and speedo should complement quite nicely!

Be a bit careful with the speedometer interchageability. When we first started testing the two prototypes, we had the "new" instruments but an old Atlas drive gear for the speedo cable.

Someone had decided to go to a lower wheel revolutions per mile for the instrument (I think it was 1000 rev/mile) and the drive was putting out 1600 rev/mile. If you somehow get a bike where an Atlas or older Dominator gear drive and instruments have been fitted and then you put the Commando speedo on, you'll have the problem we had.

If I remember rightly, the part number on the speedometer face (at least on the Smiths) had the revs/mile as the last 4 digits.

Standard Commando speedos are normally marked with '1000' (cable turns per mile) next to the instrument number at the very bottom of the dial, the matching drive boxes are 15/12 (1.25:1) ratio, so to check it (if the drive box is already in position?) the cable should turn 1.25 turns for every wheel revolution. If the drive box is off the bike then the ratio is stamped on the inner steel ring, along with the drive box model number.

Was there ever a speedo displayed in Kilometers? My 75' is in MPH and It'd be nice to find a used speedo in KPH. No big deal really but if I could find one I would probably use it.

Yes, bikes destined for the European market had speedometer in KPH (P/N 062278). I would have thought that Canadian market bikes would have been supplied with these as well?

Ron:

I don't think Canada went to Metric weights and measures until after Norton had collapsed, so there wouldn't have been any call for Canadian market Commandos to have kph speedos.

We came to Washington State in 1968 and I remember Canada using the British system then. A friend of mine said that he always got better gas mileage in Canada and couldn't understand why. I said "is it about 20 percent better?" He hadn't realized that Imp gallons were 20% bigger than US gallons.

Just about any Smiths (or Veglia) magnetic type KPH (600) speedo as fitted to many British bikes should work? Unless you are specifically looking for a KPH "NVT" style unit to match your NVT tacho?
Although some instruments like those fitted to the Triumph Trident T160 or late D & E models-on T140 Bonneville or TR7 Tiger will probably not have the required case mounting studs.

L.A.B. said:

Just about any Smiths (or Veglia) magnetic type KPH (600) speedo as fitted to many British bikes should work? Unless you are specifically looking for a KPH "NVT" style unit to match your NVT tacho?
Although some instruments like those fitted to the Triumph Trident T160 or late D & E models-on T140 Bonneville or TR7 Tiger will probably not have the required case mounting studs.

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Good info and thanks.

I would prefer an NVT speedo. I assume the ones on the MKIII were made by Veglia?

I guess it's off to British ebay for me unless one of you guys has one for sale.

Coco said:

I would prefer an NVT speedo. I assume the ones on the MKIII were made by Veglia?

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Both Smiths type and Veglia KPH types are listed, as both makes were used (in pairs) on the Mk3 models, apparently the Smiths were used on the Roadster models and Veglias on the Interstates according to the Mk3 parts book, but I doubt that was always the case!

The Norton part number for the Smiths unit is 06 5645 (the 062278 unit suggested by Ron L is the earlier 71-74 "Green Globe" type) and the Veglia is 06 5876, but these numbers are the *Norton part numbers* the Smiths and Veglia units will have their own model type identification numbers printed on the dials, the Smiths NVT KPH is probably the SSM 4003/01. Sorry, but I don't know what the numbers are for the Veglia NVT unit, I did try to compile a list of all these different instrument types some while ago with the help of the forum members, but unfortunately the list is still missing a few of those vital instrument numbers.

http://accessnorton.com/norton_commando ... light=4004 >page 4

Bike is in pieces so I'll check my guages tonight and see whether I have Smiths or Veglia. I did not mention that my mkIII was a Roadster. Thanks L.A.B.