[ZiggyZipgun]

I've been seeing these replicas on Ebay from India, and since I'm planning on putting a Euro Headlight Bucket from Benji's Cafe Racers on my 350, I thought maybe I'd go with a non-stock speedo to mount in it. If I've ever disconnected my speedo cable, I didn't bother to look at the end of it to see what kind of cable it uses; never thought about it. I also have to no idea what the stock Honda drive ratio is on their speedometers (this one is 2:1). It is the same exact diameter as a stock speedo (the openings on the 6" headlight buckets and 7" headlight buckets are made to fit whatever size speedos came on bikes with that size headlight), and though the bulb inside is probably pretty dim, I have clever friends who can fix that with LEDs. Any thoughts?

 

[tbpmusic]

I think it has more to do with the front wheel diameter.
Nearly any speedo for a 19" Honda wheel should work on nearly any other one.
If your 350 has an 18" front wheel, there will be a small discrepancy.
We swapped speedos between models for years, with good results.

If I'm wrong, please someone correct me???

 

[66Sprint]

Bill, You aren't exactly wrong...... All the Honda Twins used the same ratio speedo (most Japanese bikes of the era did too).... The difference in wether or not it would "read" correctly is actually ..."Does the DRIVE (unit) Ratio match the wheel diameter..... Putting a drive from a 19" wheeled disc brake CB 750 on an 18" wheeled bike (an 18" disc CB 350 G for instance) would lead to inaccurate speeds being indicated..... However, putting the CB 350 G SPEEDO on a 750 with the 750 wheel and 750 drive unit would read accurately......
Ziggy's problem would be finding the exact ratio of those speedo's and comparing it to the Smith's......
I believe the Japanese ratio was more like 2.56/1 or some other "odd" factor, but I can't really remember......
I think it's a KPH to MPH conversion problem as much as anything.....

 

[jayel]

think the honda ratio is also 2:1

 

[66Sprint]

If you are right Jayel, He's gold.... It's possible I'm thinking of the TACH ratio discrepancy.... Steve

 

[jayel]

could make a pointer to fit on the cable end, then with front wheel off the ground rotate it ten times, counting revs of the pointer, rev of pointer/10=ratio

 

[66Sprint]

Jayel....THAT would be the DRIVE UNIT ratio, NOT the meter ratio......
He needs to know the meter ratio........ He could see how many turns of the cable (or wheel) it takes for a .1 mile to show on the odometers of both meters and compare that though....

 

[jayel]

Doh! well I guess that's why I don't like them thar' mathmathtitical problems er sumin' like thet :lol:

 

[ZiggyZipgun]

I could do that...but it's really not that important to me. I was also considering getting a digital speedo/tach/clock/etc, but I haven't found one with the right diameter, and wiring that up would probably be a nightmare.

 

[66Sprint]

I don't think the wiring would be much of a problem......Getting a mount that fits and looks "factory" might be the hard part.......

 

[ZiggyZipgun]

Keep in mind I'll be using the speedo/headlight combo from BCR - anything that's 3.25" should fit, even if I have to make a bracket for it.

 

[mopar_man]

Just personal opinion but I think that Smiths speedo would look much better in that headlight bucket if you can get it to work. I've never seen one like that before but I really like it.

 

[ZiggyZipgun]

Agreed.