AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Hello,
My bike haven't a speedometer.
I want to buy a new Replica Smiths speedometer in kilometers (for Belgium) for my G3LS 1955 Heavyweight. The original cable 5' 5'' is good with this speedometer? (18mm, the pitch of the connector thread?) Look at the picture..., thank you!

The original speedo cable is unlikely to fit. You will have to get a special new one to fit. The replica speedos are not very accurate, but they are cheap.

I just looked in the Smiths catalog for the years 54-58 and the reference of the cable is the same for AJS 16MS 1955 and Royal Enfield 350 bullet of the years 50 is 53395/1

These are replicas made in India. They wont fit the old cable off an old Royal enfield or a Matchless. talk to whoever is supplying the speedo. Done it once, never again.

For comparison, the Smiths thread outer diameter is 12 mm

If it covers more than 1,000 km before it breaks you will be lucky! As others have stated original cables will not fit, the ferule on the original is 1/2” and 26 tip, the Indian speedo has metric thread.

Some time back a friend bought one of these speedometers from an Ebay site to fit onto his Royal Enfield. The unit worked fine and has been very reliable to date.
You may need to use a new cable, but this is no problem as cables are readily available from J&J Cables. They will make you a cable with any end fitting and length that you specify. There are plenty of parts made in Asia that are sold as pattern parts for older British machines, including the majority of the comp fuel tanks, lights, cables, electrical parts, etc. Hence the variation in quality. However these speedometers do seem to be quite well made and work well.

http://www.motorcyclewebsite.com/j-j-cables-ltd
Quote from their web site.: Specialist manufacturer of cables control cables, bowden and nylon lined speedometer/tacho from stock or made to pattern D.I.Y cable materials & fittings.

rudelan wrote:Hello,
My bike haven't a speedometer.
I want to buy a new Replica Smiths speedometer in kilometers (for Belgium) for my G3LS 1955 Heavyweight. The original cable 5' 5'' is good with this speedometer? (18mm, the pitch of the connector thread?) Look at the picture..., thank you!

Might be a good idea to seal the Bezel with some silicone.
Why?
I had one some years ago and destroyed it by driving 5 hours in heavy rain.
Regards Ib

Hello
I bought 2 Indian made Speedometers MPH but they are available in KMPH off ebay that fit the original cables no problem but I did give the seller the length of my genuine cable that was on the bike so I could order a Cpl of Indian made cables as well just to make sure I had spares, and the price was only about £23 for all items including postage. As it has been said reliability/accuracy could be a problem but I have done many miles with the one fitted to the bike in the pic with no problems at all

maybe use one of this type with the M12x1 thread , i have a tacho with m12 thread and the original type cable will screw on , i think i had to grind the square inner end a little to get it to fit the tacho but it works fine , the speedo is same .
if you cant find a KPH version you could use one of these speedos with the M12X1 thread and change the mph face to a KPH one by taking the face from a KPH replica speedo .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-120-m ... Swq9lZiZ08

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Speedometer- ... Sw2xRYPwmC

the m18 thread cables are easy to obtain for the speedo if you want to use the KPH speedo .