Hi AllI'm just embarking on an A10 rebuild project. I acquired the bike in bits and one of the bits that's missing is the speedo. Looking on ebay there are Smiths copies for what seems like an unbelievably low price. Indian or Chinese no doubt but I wonder if anyone has used them and are they any good? Also for a 1962 A10 does anyone know what range and ratio it should be?Thanks Pete
Hi Pete, If I may my 2 lira, pfennig, rubles, or yen is go to the tech section and download a factory manual and the parts book for your machine, there is also several smiths application catalogs and lists out there, And easy enough to cross reference what you need by description and part numbers.
START your search immediately for the parts you need as it always seems that some part is hard to source and not always the ones you expect to be in short supply.
Again, I have no idea of your expectations for the bike, But whether you intend to restore it to factory original or go with some custom pursuit In MY Opinion, its advisable to collect, sort and label the original or correct parts.
As to instruments and replica parts in general there is considerable variations in specs, quality & price so in my experience I set aside original chronometrics for show bikes and museum displays. If you dont know already the originals are likely to be chronometrics (Like a Rolex, or Swiss watch-full of gears and springs) but the later versions were magnetic, Virtually all reproductions are magnetic except the new digital instruments (And Smiths IS making those and might be an option for you, quite expensive but some really like them).
I used to have a shop and sold a lot of parts and bikes, and I have used a variety of reproductions and I only had one failure and its likely it was the owner of the bike who contributed to its demise. I posted some pix before here on the forum of some of these replicas, For the price and quality, Myself and all the people I sold them too were all very satisfied and many are still in use some with 2 decades of time on the clock.
Dommiracer in Ohio offered many of these and I still have one set left set aside for a project.
I have a friend who used to manufacture replica Smiths instruments in India, and his were excellent and a fair price. However the problem in India is as soon as you are successful, people will move in and compete. It got so bad he stopped production as the market became flooded and not all of them were built as well or customer service. Its a common problem.
Based on the offerings I have seen online, many of the repops are dimensionally different and suitable for a modified bike, Some one else on here built cups for theirs and did a really nice job so they are not noticeable being reproductions, So, for a rider or custom for the price they are excellent value in general
(*Keeping in mind there is so many variations I dont have experience with them all)
But not a bad plan to find the original types as well, whether you use them or not depends on what your goals are.
You WILL find that getting them rebuilt is very expensive and very few skilled craftsmen handling Chrono's and even NOS ones need a service because their grease has long ago solidified. The chronos are all mechanical so they are simply not as reliable or long lasting, Although they ARE beautiful and simply jeweled pieces of art. * same with the tachometer IF your machines is fitted with one. The tach drives are VERRRRRRY Expensive! The modern digital ones have an advantage in this area
