Speedometers

[RodneyK]

My 55 G9 rebuild must have had a speedometer once as the hub drive is still attached. I have seen various speedometers for sale but I cannot see how or where they would be mounted. I have zoomed in on every photo I’ve found but still cannot figure it out. Where would be the best place to look for one, and the mounting hardware to go with it?
Thank you for all the help I have received so far.

185A20FF-1E36-4850-BE55-BC23DA13605C.jpeg

[dave16mct]

The standard G9 would have the speedo mounted in the nacelle type headlamp. yours has the seperate headlamp so you could mount the speedo as on the CS. This fits on a simple bracket which fits in a slot at the front of the top yolk. A bolt holds it in place. The bracket is a strip of steel with one bend. Later CS had a strengthening fillet welded in the bend. These are for sale in club spares.
Dave.

[RodneyK]

Thanks Dave. I’ll look for the bracket and then a speedometer.

[RodneyK]

Thanks again Dave. It seems that I have the 55 front end with a different headlamp. I’m not familiar with the CS. What is it? I could not find the bracket in the spares listings. Is it like a clamp with a set-screw? Perhaps I could fabricate one if I had a drawing or photo. I appreciate your help and will keep looking.

[Groily]

The bracket, in my case anyway (1954 model), is in alloy , its 'vertical' section attached by a single setscrew going into the top yoke 'from the front' as it were (into a snug-fitting rebate provided on that sort of yoke, exactly where your front brake cable passes across), the speedo being rubber-mounted on the horizontal(ish) section at a right angle to the upright..
I can't get a good pic in situ as the bracket doesn't show from any angle really, but I seem to recall it is either reinforced at one point or is of different thickness for one 'face' or the other.
The key thing if you make something is to mount the speedo far enough forward to allow the drive cable to clear the headstock comfortably and also allow you to get a weapon on the headstock bearing adjuster.
You might think it would break - but mine's been there for hundreds of thousands of miles and hasn't, so the alloy must be a decent mix. I'm thinking it might actually be a small casting . . .

PS edit: 010696 in stock at Club is nothing like what I have (after looking it up). That wouldn't go on my version of top yoke any which way.

[clive]

Ok first question are you aiming for an "original" bike or one that looks good? If you are going for original I think there may be a number of issues here. The 55 machines had a half nacelle headlight with the speedometer mounted in it with a bottom reset for the trip mileage. (They also had 1 1/4 fork stanchions rather than 1 1/8 but yours could be as for that year only they had bolt rather than domed top bolts). The headlight was held to the fork "ears" by a torpedo sidelight on each side and the top bolts on the stanchions were covered by a chromed domed cover. Quite a bit to find.
If you are going to use the headlight you have you will need to get a speedometer with side reset for the trip and it will need to mount to the top yoke with a right angle bracket (I have welded a small gusset on mine to avoid fatigue fracture). This will require milling a slot into the top yoke and drilling and taping a hole. This would probably look better as you have an alloy front mudguard and you would have to add mudguards to your list of parts to track down if you were going for original!

[Trefor]

Looks exactly like the yoke and head lamp on my G9 which is 1953. It should have the grove for the speedo 'L' bracket, and it has longer 'ears' than the later speedo in headlight models. The bracket is 30mm from threaded hole in the yoke, to the bend, a right angle, and then extends 85mm. The speedo is a Smiths Chronometric S480/3/L with as Clive noted has a side trip reset. A small point, once you have the speedo mounted you need to turn the light switch knob 180 degrees otherwise it is very difficult to operate.

[Duncan]

If you are heading for original the following will give you a guide to the original equipment:
http://archives.jampot.dk/technical/Ele ... 6-1957.pdf
http://archives.jampot.dk/technical/Ele ... 6-1957.pdf
This assumes that export was the same as UK specification though.

[RodneyK]

I am in awe at the depth of knowledge I can access through this forum. I am just getting started by understanding what I have to work with. It seems my best option will be to build a hybrid bike by assembling the parts I have with the few I must still access. It’s an exciting project and I’ll end up with a good looking and unique ride. Thank you all for your thoughtful responses.