Old School Analog Speedometers
 

Hope this is the correct subforum for this. I did some searching and found a few threads here, so it was an educated guess.

Anyway, I have a couple of questions about the old school speedo's like the Schwinn and Huret ones.

First, most of the Schwinn ones I see go up to 40 mph. Are there any others out there that go up to 50 (or even better 60)?

Also, I've heard that if you go above a certain speed, you can damage these types of speedometers. Is that true?

Thanks!

Are you talking about mechanical or analog electronic?

Those old mechanical speedos were cable driven, right? When pegged at max speed, they could strip the gears maybe? I dunno...I haven't used or even looked at one of those since I was a child.

Mechanical ones have magnet attached to the end of the cable inside the gauge head. The pointer has a spring and an aluminum cup on the end of its shaft. The magnet spins within the cup and eddy currents induced in the cup by the spinning magnet cause it to be dragged in the direction magnet is rotating. There is no mechanical linkage between the magnet and the pointer. To damage it the magnet would have to spin fast enough to generate enough force to break the stop, the pointer or its shaft. IMO, it's have to spin pretty damn fast to do that and it's not likely anything that could be achieved on the bike.

Thanks; I didn't know how it functioned.

It'd be like the ones with the needle and dial, like a car or motorcycle speedo.

Thanks for the info. I'd heard that you have to stay within a certain speed range, so thought I'd ask.