Digital Speedo and Tacho

phil yates said:

I am going to bin that ridiculous long speedo cable in the neighbours rubbish bin, not mine.
Because if Jenny finds it, she will stick a handle on it and turn it into a whip!!

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I'd like to see picture of that.

pete.v said:

I found it rather satisfying plugging the tach drive. It just seem so right, particularly after properly setting the cam endplay.

I have a mag and it requires a special conversion or pickup to function. I had the KOSO HT lead sensor and I really wanted to keep it hidden. It didn't work well in the location on the lead that allowed for this, seemingly hunting for a signal all the time.

I got a Joe Hunt converter and it is butter smooth. However, it does not seem to work well below 1500. Must be all that conversion crap going on. I guess that's ok though because my cam doesn't idle below 1500 anyways.

My speedo is quite fresh from Nisongers and although it would fetch good money to offset a purchase, I would really like to eliminate another mechanical line/drive. Although the GPS unit are a little pricier, they are loaded with function. I love functions. The issue/fear with these is the placement of the GPS device. They speak of and boast about the functionality while tucking them under fiberglass fairing, tanks, seats, etc. I would and I believe I have seen them peek-a-boo-ing out the back of the seat. I am not so sure I like this but that is my concern.

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I agree Pete. When I started my quest to find the best replacement for my original Smiths gauges so to gain axle space for a rear Brembo brake caliper hanger, I looked at everything around including the Chi-wan copies (found that some were actually made slightly off size and didn't fit original holders) and the GPS units. I'm pretty particular on my builds (hope to update my thread on the Stealth Canyon Racer soon) and staring at gauges on my Commando from the orient just didn't sit right with me. The GPS units (not sure of their country of origin) looked pretty cool but I looked over my Commando pretty thoroughly and really couldn't find a place to put the gps antenna that aesthetically suited me. We also ride a lot of narrow canyons and mountain passes here in Utah and I wanted something that I knew was always "on". When the opportunity came to bring the new Smiths gauges from the UK to the US, it was the perfect solution. We have some pretty cool new gauges coming out soon including a self contained race tach (I can finally replace my vibration sensitive Scitsu with the constantly cracking suspension rubber straps in a cradle) and a new 5 inch chronometric for Vincents with optional bezels in chrome or brass for the café racer/custom builder steam punk crowd. Well...back to getting 44x ready for back to back races at Willow Springs and Sonoma. Will have a display of the gauges at both events (near the AHRMA tech garages) I will also be displaying my new alloy triple clamps and adjustable rear sets. Stop by and say hello if your there.

Cheers,

Tom Kullen
AHRMA 44x
Formula 750/BEARS
2010 AHRMA Sportsmen of the Year
http://www.smithsgaugesusa.com

utahnorton said:

The GPS units (not sure of their country of origin) looked pretty cool but I looked over my Commando pretty thoroughly and really couldn't find a place to put the gps antenna that aesthetically suited me. We also ride a lot of narrow canyons and mountain passes here in Utah and I wanted something that I knew was always "on".

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Good point about the GPS speedos, Tom. I fitted one to a Honda/Yamaha mongrel I built recently, and it takes a little getting used to. First, I learned that I had to wait till it found some satellites before riding off, or it wouldn't work. Not a big issue, just a minute or so, but I can't just fire it up and ride off from the café and expect it to work. Other than that, it seems to work well, as long as you have line-of-sight to enough satellites. It does sometimes drop out in canyons. That's not a real problem for me, I mostly only worry about speed on long sections of highways and freeways where tickets might be an issue, and the speedo seems to work fine there. I would be more than happy with a GPS speedo on a Commando, as long as it looked like the originals.

The race bike tach sounds like a great idea. I've used a lot of Scitsu tachs over the years, but am not a real big fan of them. I have an electronic tach from Mick Hemmings that works well on a standard bike, but caused us a lot of trouble trying to run it on our streamliner. I think maybe it didn't like the long length of wire it took to get from the coils at the back of the liner to the tach at the front.

Ken

i don't understand why speedometers are not used on race bikes as I found out on my "*unbelievable*" smooth and wind and speed sense cancelling Ms Peel to check it before entering turns on commutes to stay above tire skipping lean angles to get on around with just routine G's forces to tolerate. Its also helped determine it I had enough speed to breakfree on insane sharp turns when out to have a blast. Any delay to take in speed at a glance, such as focusing on digital numbers rather than needle postion wouldn't cut it with me flinging around in canyons. With help of speedo I could creep up harsher on a turn to discover when reversed controls set in then could decide ahead of time how I want to take it w/o surprises.
Next thing we need is water cooling too.

Steve, You really need to get out a track. I barely look at my tach and never have felt the need for a speedometer. There are no cops with radar guns on the track. I've raced my Commando for so long and am so familiar with the way I've set it up that I rely on hearing the engine, feeling the bike and trusting the tires. Watching a speedometer on the track is irrelevant (many race bikes don't have them). Your only focused on getting ahead of the person in front of you, looking through turns, brake markers and improving your lines. The real test is going to the boards after practice or racing and looking for improved lap times from your transponder. You may not win but looking at improved lap times is sometimes satisfaction in itself.

Cheers,

Tom Kullen
BEARS/Formula 750
2010 AHRMA Sportsmen of the year
http://www.smithsgaugesusa.com

ken I have the ones from legendary motorcycle. they are custom done for him by speed hut. they have pretty much replicated the green globe ones as close as the gauge would allow. I like the added features and have not had but one place in the mountains here in NE Ten. where it was an issue trying to lose signal. these have a hot option that shortins the start up time after the first start within 4 hours of shut off. the initial cold start up is approx 45 second's and the hot start is approx 15 seconds so I have not found this to be an issue. another nice feature is you can see them at night as they are very well light.



also this is where I mounted the antenna. with it being black I find not very obtrusive.

lcrken said:

I learned that I had to wait till it found some satellites before riding off, or it wouldn't work. Not a big issue, just a minute or so, but I can't just fire it up and ride off from the café and expect it to work. Other than that, it seems to work well, as long as you have line-of-sight to enough satellites. It does sometimes drop out in canyons. That's not a real problem for me, I mostly only worry about speed on long sections of highways and freeways where tickets might be an issue, and the speedo seems to work fine there. I would be more than happy with a GPS speedo on a Commando, as long as it looked like the originals.


Ken

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Could tuck the antenna under the tail light mount but pretty tidy on top. The GPS units I look at for cycles have mph displayed anyway.

hobot said:

Could tuck the antenna under the tail light mount but pretty tidy on top.

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That's true, I forgot it's fiberglass. Thanks.

pete.v said:

hobot said:

Could tuck the antenna under the tail light mount but pretty tidy on top.

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That's true, I forgot it's fiberglass. Thanks.

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Pete
You won't get a reading on a GPS pushing your bike around the back yard for photo shoots.
You can run, but you can't hide my son.

I am very close to making the leap to these new Smiths gauges. Although both my instruments work (with a whole lot of shakin' goin on), I want to clean things up by dumping the two ugly cables.
I will get the wheel magnet sensor version of the speedo. Wondering how to replace the soon-to-be-useless rear speedo drive.
There is a 'blanking plate' available to the tach drive from Old Britts.
Is there an equivalent piece I can use to replace the drive gear unit?
[Yes, I could just leave it on. but it works, so I can sell it to recoup some of my upgrade costs. Besides, it would not look 'cool' :lol: ]

tomspro said:

I am very close to making the leap to these new Smiths gauges. Although both my instruments work (with a whole lot of shakin' goin on), I want to clean things up by dumping the two ugly cables.
I will get the wheel magnet sensor version of the speedo. Wondering how to replace the soon-to-be-useless rear speedo drive.
There is a 'blanking plate' available to the tach drive from Old Britts.
Is there an equivalent piece I can use to replace the drive gear unit?
[Yes, I could just leave it on. but it works, so I can sell it to recoup some of my upgrade costs. Besides, it would not look 'cool' :lol: ]

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Don't look before you leap Tomspro.
They are fast disappearing with your spring season coming on. I grabbed two out of four coming in from Wales.
Call Tom, real FAST!!

Phil

Jerry,
I like them, good job. Of course, I am bankrupting my myself keeping up with the Does net door!

Tom,

do as I did 20 years ago, simply remove the dangerous speedo drive unit and cable

you don't have to replace it with anything else as it looks very good with it.....gone forever

Saber13 said:

Jerry,
I like them, good job. Of course, I am bankrupting my myself keeping up with the Does net door!

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I forgot to even ask Tom how much they are.
I guess I'm going to find out!

1up3down said:

Tom,

do as I did 20 years ago, simply remove the dangerous speedo drive unit and cable

you don't have to replace it with anything else as it looks very good with it.....gone forever

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That cable is even more dangerous if your wife gets a hold of it.
You'll be wishing you had an e start Commando then!!

phil yates said:

tomspro said:

I am very close to making the leap to these new Smiths gauges. Although both my instruments work (with a whole lot of shakin' goin on), I want to clean things up by dumping the two ugly cables.
I will get the wheel magnet sensor version of the speedo. Wondering how to replace the soon-to-be-useless rear speedo drive.
There is a 'blanking plate' available to the tach drive from Old Britts.
Is there an equivalent piece I can use to replace the drive gear unit?
[Yes, I could just leave it on. but it works, so I can sell it to recoup some of my upgrade costs. Besides, it would not look 'cool' :lol: ]

Click to expand...

Don't look before you leap Tomspro.
They are fast disappearing with your spring season coming on. I grabbed two out of four coming in from England.
Call Tom, real FAST!!

Phil

Click to expand...

Hi Phil,

Your NVT Norton gauges have been sitting in customs in New York for 3 days along with the rest of the shipment. I apparently cleaned the shelves off at Smiths with this last order but have been told they finally ramped up production and things are getting better. I have been buying everything I can get my hands on but still have to compete with the distributers in the UK and Europe. Guess this is how it is dealing with a small factory in Wales. Been tracking them so hopefully they will be here in a couple days.... Good news is that the Green Globe and Green Dot "N" gauges are in stock. Also my first batch of self powered race tachometers should be shipped shortly. The new Smiths five inch Vincent gauges should be here sometime in June. Have made reservations for the Norton Rally in Oregon and hope to have a decent supply there. If all goes well we will be there in my latest restoration project (like I really needed one) :roll: the new race hauler....a 1954 Flxible Bus that had been sitting in a farmer's field for over 20 years. The good news is not only did we get it running in 4 hours but drove it 70 miles on back roads and passed a car going uphill at 60 mph. Can't wait to see what it will do when we shove the Cummins 8.3 Turbo/Allison 6 speed in it. It has a baggage compartment that I have already measured and my Norton race bike will fit in sideways!

Cheers,

Tom Kullen
http://www.smithsgaugesusa.com

utahnorton said:

phil yates said:

tomspro said:

I am very close to making the leap to these new Smiths gauges. Although both my instruments work (with a whole lot of shakin' goin on), I want to clean things up by dumping the two ugly cables.
I will get the wheel magnet sensor version of the speedo. Wondering how to replace the soon-to-be-useless rear speedo drive.
There is a 'blanking plate' available to the tach drive from Old Britts.
Is there an equivalent piece I can use to replace the drive gear unit?
[Yes, I could just leave it on. but it works, so I can sell it to recoup some of my upgrade costs. Besides, it would not look 'cool' :lol: ]

Click to expand...

Don't look before you leap Tomspro.
They are fast disappearing with your spring season coming on. I grabbed two out of four coming in from England.
Call Tom, real FAST!!

Phil

Click to expand...

Hi Phil,

Your NVT Norton gauges have been sitting in customs in New York for 3 days along with the rest of the shipment. I apparently cleaned the shelves off at Smiths with this last order but have been told they finally ramped up production and things are getting better. I have been buying everything I can get my hands on but still have to compete with the distributers in the UK and Europe. Guess this is how it is dealing with a small factory in Wales. Been tracking them so hopefully they will be here in a couple days.... Good news is that the Green Globe and Green Dot "N" gauges are in stock. Also my first batch of self powered race tachometers should be shipped shortly. The new Smiths five inch Vincent gauges should be here sometime in June. Have made reservations for the Norton Rally in Oregon and hope to have a decent supply there. If all goes well we will be there in my latest restoration project (like I really needed one) :roll: the new race hauler....a 1954 Flxible Bus that had been sitting in a farmer's field for over 20 years. The good news is not only did we get it running in 4 hours but drove it 70 miles on back roads and passed a car going uphill at 60 mph. Can't wait to see what it will do when we shove the Cummins 8.3 Turbo/Allison 6 speed in it. It has a baggage compartment that I have already measured and my Norton race bike will fit in sideways!

Cheers,

Tom Kullen
http://www.smithsgaugesusa.com

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Thanks Tom
The old cable is still grinding round, doing its thing but I'll be glad to see the end of it. I'll need a second set for the new Commando, but will chase you up towards the end of the year for those. I presume the NVT's won't just suddenly dry up?
The bus sounds real good, same year as me. I just told hobot his Norton can replace a tractor. Sounds like your bus would replace a bulldozer!

Phil
ps I'll tell my Vincent mate about the June date.

Just want to thank Tom for all his help and info before dispatching my digital clocks. A real nice guy.
Poor Tom realised at the last minute that Oz is metric and running kph whilst the clocks he had for me were mph.
But what sicko would run a Commando with kph clocks in Oz? How would you ever know when you are doing 100mph?? Short of the booking cop telling you so!!

Thanks Tom.

Phil