An item on the Smiths SSM and RSM speedometer, tachometer and Merry Christmas from DQ.....

Firstly, this is the last blog from me this year and in fact until around the 10th January 2010.....
Thanks for dropping in so regularly, revisit again in early 2010, I've a lot of interesting items in the pipeline.....
I'm off to Eastern Canada. the Miramichi in New Brunswick Province to be a little precise with Mrs DQ......
Brrrr I hear you say....Bloody oath I agree with you, but family calls and we have accepted a long standing invitaion to spend Christmas with my son-in-law's family.....
But what of this blog.......??
Thought I'd start an item on the Smiths SSM Speedometer and RSM tachometer......
Firstly what do the initials mean?
SSM is "speedometer shallow magnetic" and the tacho RSM is obvious.....
The shallow refers to the previous Smiths magnetic instrument the SN and RN type or "Nemag" instrument and this new magnetic instrument was shorter in height, hence the "shallow" reference....
They were introduced in 1963 in 60mm diameter case size for what are deemed Lightweight motorcycles....250cc and under, and the dials were usually a shade of grey and the scale often 60mph and 80mph, although later in the 1960's and early 1970's this instrument was supplied in 120mph, and 150mph/180kph for the single cylinder range of Ducati motorcycles ....the 350/350/450 versions.
The speedometer and tacho were called the 2000 series... i.e SSM2001/00, used amongst other things on the BSA C15 and D7 BSA Bantam.
Left click on the illustrations to enlarge.....
Acknowlegements to Mortons Motorcycle Media and Smiths Motor Accessories for items used....
























The Smiths Chronometric instrument had become an expensive instrument to produce and was labour intensive, and with the major motorcycle manufacturers compaining of supply costs, Smiths produced an 80mm diameter version for the end of the 1963 season.
















The 80mm diameter type, often refered to as 3" instruments, but Smiths were metric in their chronometrics and continued this into the SSM/RSM at least with the bezel rim and case.
They were initially offered in a grey dial, with a lighter grey circle in the centre with white concentric circles and of course numerals....
Known to one and all as Smiths "greyface" instruments.
Black dials with white numerals appeared later in the 1960's and illustrated is a batch of 80mm SSM and RSM instruments I built for Ducati 750/900 bevel drive motorcycles for a Japanese customer years back.















































Illustrated is a speedometer and tachometer from a Velocette Venom Thruxton 1966/67.... the red sector was discontinued by Smiths by 1968. Again rebuilt by me.























So how do you get into these RSM and SSM instruments.....??
You can use a screwdriver, carefully manipulating under the rolled edge of the chromed bezel, levering against the case. However you can expect to see marks on the case via this method...bit annoying if the case has been painted. We paint our cases after the instrument is dis-assembled.
In this case Mrs DQ is doing the honours....






















A better idea if you've a few to do, or are an instrument repairer and are curious as to how others do it is to purchase a pair of German made, Knippex brand "mirror/glass breaking pliers" and grind the ends suitably.... they work like a charm...
The original Smiths bezels were brass, pressed out and chrome plated...with time the brass, under stress from the pressing will split and you often see "new old stock" instruments with radial splits on the bezel edge. I bought hundreds over the years and often got caught, and of course needed to roll on a new bezel rim.
This means with this splitting, that it is almost impossible to re-use an original bezel after you manipilate it off.
We made our bezels in 0.7mm thick, half hard copper sheet and chromed onto it. Big advantage is that you can remove and refit the bezel several times without it looking horrible or splitting.




































































Rolling on the bezel is for another day, but illustrated is the Smiths factory tool......

Motorcycle threads...information from a pre 1930s booklet.....

British motorcycles used a variety of threads over the years, some a type that defies immediate identification......the 20 tooth thread used on Velocette driveside crankshaft nuts for example....
9/16" x 20TPI, 55 degree form....
Here I need to make a correction, brought to my attention by Dai Gibberson from his archival material on Velocette....
I initially commented that this was an Admiralty Fine thread and the chart is below, however it is also listed in the more comprehensive British Cycle thread chart provided by Dai and posted underneath this....
One can only guess whether the Cycle Engineers Institute who made out the chart from the sizes and thread types used on bicycles then later motorcycles in the late 1800s, early 1900s utilised this size from the Admiralty series.
I admit to having no idea when both threads commenced as such.
Thank you Dai....




















Illustrated below, is a Velocette KTT drive side mainshaft, re-drawn from an original blueprint that faded.

























So from a small book I acquired years back, the exact date of publication is not known and there are no clues in the book as to this year, I scanned some charts.
It is called "Screw Cutting" in Cassell's Workshop series.....
But there is a spark plug thread chart that refers only to 18mm spark plugs....no reference to 14mm types, so this gives a clue as well as a reference to Drummond 4" lathes which a check reveals were in the early 1920's and so I've loosely decided it must be pre 1930.....
Following are some charts scanned from the book, that will prove useful if you've not already got some...
Left click on the images to enlarge.....




































































The Brass threaded listed below is the thread that most of the diameters are 26tpi, and the CEI or Cycle threaded listed further below is only 26tpi in some diameters.










































These metric threads listed below are interesting, especially the 5mm diameter thread.
Currently in S.I units, the standard 5mm thread is 0.8mm pitch.
Looking at those in the chart, the International was 0.9mm pitch while the French was 0.75mm.
The Smiths chronometric speedo and tacho use a 5mm screw to hold the frame with the movement to the case. The pitch is 0.75mm, the instruments were originally French Jaeger......
Below is a scan from an original Smiths blueprint of the screw and of the diecast frame that the screw attaches to.....

A stop gap blog of some of DQ's archival photos.......

Its time for another blog, I've been otherwise occupied in preparing for printing the latest Aust. Velo OC magazine and, well admit it DQ you're just too lazy to complete the research of some items in the pipeline......

So bear with me, with this offering of photos of no particular theme from my collection and apologies if the odd one has been featured before.... acknowledgements to S.R. Keig Ltd, Fox Photos and Morton's Motorcycle Media who own the copyright on several photographs....

Left click on images to enlarge...

This Mk.7 KTT, photographed 23.01.1947, owned by Bill O'Rourke, features a Rex McCandless conversion to a swing arm rear suspension....

Taken in 1954 following their victory in both the 250cc, 350cc and unlimited class with a 250cc BMW and a 600cc BMW in the first 24hour race held at the Mt.Druitt circuit on the western outskirts of Sydney. L-R...Wal Hawtry, Jack Humphries, Don Bain, Don Flynn, Jack Forest, Len Roberts.The 250 won its class by 54 laps and the 350cc class by 19 laps....Don Bain was involved with the machine's preparation as well as riding it, and I recall he told me scrutineering was not of the standard for originality of later years........

Brookland banking under repair during the winter layoff, 22.11.1935.

A pic scanned from a book on the R75 BMW...shows an outfit bogged to the axles in mud on the Eastern Front in 1941.......

H. Tyrell Smith aboard the Excelsior 4 valve, IOM TT 1936....

I originally had this photo above as the mechanical marvel Excelsior, hover and email in June 2012 corrected me...

".....Your photo of Tyrell Smith does not show him on an Excelsior Mechanical Marvel, these were 1933/34 bikes and pushrod, christened Mechanical Marvel because they went from the drawing board to win the TT. Tyrell was still riding Rudge in 1933/4 and did not ride for Excelsior till slightly later.

  Tyrell is in fact on one of the later works overhead camshaft 4 valve racing bikes made by Excelsior. if you need any further info, I have done a book called Excelsior the Racing Years , there are loads of period shots showing both types of bike and riders.

 I hope this helps .All the best regards, Paul." 

Ulster GP, probably 1959...MZ.

Smiths IOM raceshop, or rather tent...likely 1947 or 1948 .

Bathurst, NSW 1978, Tony Hatton aboard my ( then) Carey engined MAC in a Smiths frame ( copy of an English Beasley frame).....

The 2009 National Australian Velocette Rally....a brief wander through some of my rally photos....

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I would be absent for some 10 days....
I'm back in Sydney, currently finishing the editing for the lastest Australian Velocette OC magazine, FishTailDownUnder, which I want to get to the printers in a day or so, such that with a little luck, the 710 members of the Club will get their copy for a Christmas read.....
Organising the many photographs I took, seemed a good time to briefly take you, via some pics, through the rally, superbly organised by the Club's Western Australian centre, based as mentioned in an old , now disused, timber town, Donnelly River, some 4 hours south of Perth.
We checked in Sunday afternoon 15th Nov. meeting up with fellow club-members not usually seen for a year, due to the vast distances the Club encompasses...Sydney is some 4500 Km away...
Incidently one rider, Stuart Hooper - a name perhaps familiar to some as the man who is currently setting records on the salt lake, Lake Gairdner, South Australia on a Velo...131mph earlier this year- rode his Venom from Brisbane in Queensland the over 5000km in 5 days to the rally and of course proudly accepted the long distance award...
Stuart is featured below with myself on the left, Stuart in the middle with the award and Jim Day on the right. Stuart insisted we be photographed together...all cross Australia Velo riders ( mine and Jim's were done in Dec/Jan. 1969 on a Velo Thruxton and MSS).
Left click on the images to enlarge....




















While we are on awards, and the Club really isn't made up of "pot-hunters", but we do have some special awards...featured is the Keith Hamilton award for the youngest rider at the rally...for the second year awarded to Annette Albrecht from South Australia. The late Keith Hamilton had many friends worldwide and was a frequent contributor to the several Velocette internet sites.
Rally organiser, Paul Barfoot presents the award.
























The ride was a "hub rally", with us going for daily rides over 6 days.
Below is a stop at Walpole, on the southern coast followed by an aerial tree walk though a Tingle Tree forest. These trees grow only in this area.

































The rally as mentioned was based in an old timber camp and illustrated is the Rally HQ, aptly named "Hall Green Works" for the rally duration.

















There is always a funny side to everything and on day 2 we called in a "Gnomesville"...well it was an area near a round-a-bout on a road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, except there were gnomes or rather gnome statues everywhere!
I wont go into why...but we created a new gnome hamlet amongst then, named "Ven-gnome-ville"....
















There was native fauna everywhere to the delight of the international visitors, all loaned motorcycles, mostly Velocettes, by West Australian Centre members. Four from The Netherlands, two from New Zealand, one from the UK, five from the USA.
We organised as best we could a final photoshoot...seems the Western Grey kangaroos, lorrikeets and emus also participated....














































Regretably all good things come to an end and this occured with a farewell dinner on the final Saturday evening.....
A nice touch was the special Velocette oriented place-mats and the special menus, Velocette red wine, black, gold and silver balloons......









































































The next day, Sunday 22nd, was the closing of the two shipping containers, re-loaded with Velocettes for the trip back to the Eastern States via train...they are in transit as I write this....
Next year the 2010 National Australian Velocette Rally is in Northern NSW at Lennox Head on the East Coast...we look forward to it and thank each and every member of the Western Australian Centre of The Velocette Owners Club of Australia for their generosity, hospitality and companionship.
A great rally in what has become a tradition for the Australian Velocette Owners Club....

DQ's off the the 2009 National Australian Velocette Rally in Western Australia...the TT Rally...this blog an introduction.....

This will be my last blog until around 25th November....
The 2009 Annual Australian Velocette Owners Club rally is about to start....called the TT Rally it is to be run for a week based from Donnelly River, some 4 hours south of Perth, Western Australia.
I live in Sydney on the East Coast of Australia as do a large percentage of the 700 or so club membership.....but the WA crowd are a resorceful lot and took up the challenge again to run a large national Velocette rally, again with an international flavour...they last did it in 2003 when they ran the Cape to Cape Velocette Rally, at nearby Margaret River.
A great success.....
They had a large international attendence then as now and John Jennings, JJ to his friends, has co-ordinated it again and tells me over 10% of the entrants are Internationals, all loaned Velos by WA locals.... on ya John and the lads....
In 2003 I drove over, trailering two Velos with three in the car, a 10,600km round trip....Jim Day and I rode 500cc Velos over and back in 1969...for a while I had a rush of blood to the head and the thought of redoing the ride, some 40 years later entered my mind...but only for a little while, then, for me anyhow, reason prevailed and 10 hours in a plane plus 8 hours in a rental car seemed a lot easier than 12 days in my car or on my Velocette's seat....
Yes I know...a whimp!
There is to be one Velocette ridden across this year, Stuart Hooper from Brisbane has set off to ride the 5000km there...but he will ship it back.
A real rider.....
So how to get a Velocette, rather a quantity of Velocettes over to the rally?
Clubmember Lee Hewitt in Melbourne works in the shipping game and came up with a proposal to fill 20 foot shipping containers with Velos from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, all to be on the same ship to Freemantle, a port near Perth, WA, then road freight to the rally and the return trip to be via rail across Australia...this being the most economical way to do the exercise.
Almost immediately it started to unravel...the Melbourne container cancelled out, then the Sydney container was unhappy with the shipping idea and opted for rail over, then the Brisbane container, a week or so before loading was due faced a cancellation of the shipping date and were forced to also rail across...
We used a Perth based transport company, Sadleirs Transport, the Sydney container loaded with 9 Velos plus at the last minute a Velo replacement, a BMW....caused a little hiccup in the loading due to it's size, 10 bikes in all.
The Brisbane container loaded with 8 Velos.
The trains re-assemble in Parkes, some 300km west of Sydney into a 2.5km long train with 4 huge diesels locomotives for the 4000km run across Australia.
In Perth JJ, who had bought two Velos in Brisbane and used the Brisbane container to transport them across, opened the Brisbane container in Sadleirs Perth yard and recovered them. Then Cutts transport of Manjimup, some 20km from Donnelly River transported both containers to their yard. Tomorrow, Friday, both containers are delivered via a side lift truck to the rally site and we will unload them Sunday at the start of the rally.....
Following are a series of photos of the container loading in Sydney and JJ collecting his bikes in Perth.
Likely my next blog will feature some of the rally with a followup in future blogs....
Left click on the images to enlarge.....
Think of me, Velocetting over the next week.....
Sadleirs Sydney yard...load starts
















As well as two tie-downs front and rear, wooded slatts aside the wheels, screwed to the next bikes slatts, old sleeping mattresses, recovered from the roadside cleanup campaing, were slid down between each bike so it one came free it would likely not damage the next bike.
































































Sadleirs yard in Perth, the Brisbane container awaits JJ


















John's "new" Velocettes, both 1948...a 350cc MAC and a 500cc MSS.