Here's something I forgot to mention earlier concerning my search for a speedometer : apparently some of the earlier circa 1939 WM20's were not fitted with speedo's , and presumably (?) in such cases, no mounting lugs or bolt-holes for a speedo mounting bracket would have been present on the steering head. On my bike , which is a 1944 machine , no lugs or bolt holes are present , which could simply be because the front forks have been replaced at some point in the bikes life , I suppose , or then again there could be another reason of a more historically interesting nature . Does anyone have any ideas?

email (option): leifevans75@yahoo.co.uk

Hi Leif

I think Speedos where an optional extra on most bikes in the civilian market before the war. But the military specified them as standard on all machines except the lighweight James ML, RE Flea and Welbike. Even in the experiments with the lightweight BSA B30 and Triumph 3TW in the early 1940s when every ounce counted they still fitted a speedo.

In the case of the M20 there were some bikes in 1940 which had the early front brake plate with the hole for the speedo drive fitted with a screw in aloy plug because the newer speedo drive was fitted on the other side of he wheel.

I don't know why your bike is missing some speedo related fittings but I would guess its more to with the fact its about 70 years. Rob.

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks Rob for enlightening me re the army policy on speedo's . So my bike should have had one regardless?
I suppose I can only wonder why there are no threaded holes in my steering head to mount one on the bike, and one of the frustrating things about owning a wartime machine is that so much of it's history will always remain unknown . All the best , Leif .

email (option): leifevans75@yahoo.co.uk

As far as I'm aware, speedos became compulsory in the UK during 1936. The first note that I can find on the Norton records is of the fitting of Non-trip speedos during December 1936.

The military police of the 1930s were pretty hot on speeding and of course the army wanted to know exactly how far was being ridden.

It would seem unlikely that any contracted M20s were supplied without speedos. If you look in Orchard & Madden, even the 1936 model C363543 has a speedo fitted.

Speedo's fitted to all military M20's.....even if later discarded...

If the mounting bosses are missing from the bike, they are simple to make and re-attach with weld....just a section of threaded tubing cut to size and appropriately positioned....

The actual effectiveness of the speedo once fitted is an entirely different matter....the one on my Ariel seems fairly accurate, although the one on the Norton is more of an "esti-meter"....

steve i knew there was a name for my speedo and you naming of an esti-meter is just right great naming

Speedo holes aren't on the steering head they are on the top of the fork blades (legs)
I have a set of fork blades that dont have speedo bracket holes. I bought these fork blades years ago and they look to be new but they dont have the speedo holes at the top. So maybe some didnt have them.

Hi Terry, which fork blades have you got with no lugs, long or short?
Rob.

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

Begging everybody's pardon , I now know that the correct name for the location on the front forks ,which the two speedo mounting lugs are missing from on my bike , is the top of the fork blades . Ok then , given also the fact that at least one more person out there has a set of front forks with these two lugs missing , it could be supposed that perhaps for some reason not all bikes necessarilly had these fittings originally , either for no particular reason or perhaps for a specific reason . It's true that I could easily alter the forks and fabricate a pair of speedo mounting lugs for myself, but if there is any possiblity that my bike is missing these lugs for an interesting historical reason then Im going to leave my hacksaw and welding gear alone for the moment . So there are two versions of the front fork , a long type and a shorter type? Could anyone give me any info regarding this , i.e lenghts and dimensions? Id appreciate anybody's help . Thanks to all . Leif .

email (option): leifevans75@yahoo.co.uk

I can't help with the different fork blade dimensions - I have 4 sets and they are all the same length.
What I can tell you is that the original speedo mounts are brazed on so you could add them without damaging the original blade.

email (option): rays54@hotmail.com

The difference in the fork lengths is just 1/2". You can easily spot the longer forks by the 1/2" spacer fitted between mudguard and lug under fork legs. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

It may be the case that forks for some applications were not fitted with the speedo mounting lugs...I have never come across any myself. I think it can be said with some certainty that all WD machines were speedo equipped, the parts lists confirm this and the Army laid down various speed limits.
The extra 1/2" on the forks is all below the bottom yoke..Quite why it was done is a mystery...1/2" extra ground clearance wouldn't turn the M20 into a trials bike! ...Ian

I don't know BSA girders but my thoughts are that a set without the facility to fit a speedo would be either pre-1936 or for an export market where the importer specified no fittings.

It doesn't happen with Nortons / Webbs as the tapped fittings also form the grease nipple locations, even on the earlier forks

Leif, can you post a photo of your forks? It's possible that your forks are not BSA. When I bought my M21 basketcase it had Ariel fork blades fitted into the BSA links arms and yokes, those blades had no speedo mounting lugs.

email (option): spacemonkeym@gmail.com

Interestingly the 1938 BSA sales catalogue shows the entire BSA range without speedos, but if a speedo was available as an optional extra then I can only assume there must have been some lugs to fit them on with?

The sales catalogue is available to see on Leons BSA website, thanks Leon

http://home.planet.nl/~leonhop3/1938_e.html

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk