questioning the correctness of my 47 speedo

[john fretschl]

Before I make a fool of myself and make an complaint about a vendor, I would like to put this question out to you guys. My impression was that the white needle is your speed indicator, and the [here's the question] red one is suppose to be a mileage indicator, or is it a top speed indicator? My thought was that the if red needle is a top speed indicator it was a police speedo. Whats the correct answer? Thanks for any comments
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[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
In general, the needle indicating current speed was white. The needle underneath (if present) indicated maximum speed attained; and was red. Besides the one or two needles, there was one or two odometers. The main odometer indicated total mileage and was not resettable. The other odometer (if present) was a 'trip odometer' and it could be either manually reset, or it would simply roll over and start again. The main odometer, though not resettable, would also roll over and start again, but usually only after 100,000 miles. Some odometers showed 1/10 miles and some older ones apparently didn't. As far as what came with what speedometer, it depends on the year. In addition to the speedometer, all had the main odometer. Sometimes the maximum hand was standard, and sometimes it was an accessory. Sometimes the trip odometer was standard, and sometimes it was an accessory. As far as Police bikes go; they always had the maximum hand. The Stewart Warner speedometers used on the 1948-51 Chiefs did not have the availability of the maximum hand, so all of the Police bikes for these years ran the Corbin speedometer, which did always have the availability of the maximum hand. The trip odometer disappears sometimes around the mid-1940s, and the later Corbin speedometers with the later automotive type odometer, did not have a trip odometer availability. For more specific information, one would have to know what year speedometer you are talking about. Speedometers are not easy. They are complex and the ease with which they are swapped around, has made accurate knowledge difficult to come by.
I reread your thread title, and the information you are looking for, is for a 1947 Chief. The order form for a 1947 Chief shows that the maximum hand speedometer was standard on all models of the 1947 Chief; including the Police machine. A trip odometer is not mentioned. In the attached photo, the most commonly seen 1946-47 Chief speedometer looks like this one. It has the maximum hand. In some instances; Police speedometers will have a different face that has more specific miles per hour markers. The standard face had marks every 5 MPH. Some Police faces have marks every 2 MPH. Some Police speedometer faces have dots instead of dashes. Over the years, I imagine that Indian had 50 or so different faces on the Corbin speedometers. Sorting it all out is not easy. I know something, but I certainly don't know everything. Notice that the 1946-47 speedometer has a red band around the odometer numbers. Some of the earlier 1940s speedometers were almost identical to the 1946-47 type except that they didn't have the red band. Personally, I would kind of like to have the maximum speed hand, but it must be said that they are somewhat watch-like in their complexity, and they often don't work correctly. There have been so many reproduction speedometer faces made over the years, with some being less than 100% correct, that there is considerable speedometer 'pollution' out there. Good luck. 1947 Indian Order Blank front.jpg1947 Indian Order Blank rear.jpg1946-47 Chief speedometer.jpg

[john fretschl]

thank you for the reply to my question. Reading your comment I guess my speedo is correct for that year. For the life of me I can't understand why a person would really give a .... how fast he or she had gone, and would rather know how far they have traveled on a given trip. For me a trip indicator is something I use all the time to judge the distance I can go on a tank of gas with out trying to remember the odometer reading every time or looking into the tank. thank you

[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
I agree. For most civilian purposes, the trip odometer is much handier than the maximum hand. I do take my Indian up into the 80+ MPH area now and then, and looking down at the speedometer when doing it, does seem like a bad idea. A maximum hand would make looking down unnecessary to see just how fast I went. There is a story out there that back in the day; guys would take the bezel off and manually move the maximum hand up to the 100 MPH mark as supposed proof that their Indian went that fast. Most of the older Springfield Indians never got close to 100 MPH, but souped-up ones could do it easily. Most vintage motorcycles have quite a few mental details that have to be remembered in order to make the trip enjoyable. Over the years; checking my gas and the odometer has just become a habit - and knock on wood - I have never run out of gas in over 40 years and 50,000 miles.
Police speedometers are a special situation, and Corbin speedometers back in the 1920s and 1930s had very elaborate methods of keeping track of the maximum speed when chasing a speeder. Some of these earlier units were even factory sealed in order to have the claimed results stand up in court. I'm not sure if Police speedometers were any more accurate than civilian speedometers, but because of variations in the rear tire diameter due to wear, almost any motorcycle speedometer driven by the rear tire will have a range of accuracy. Front wheel driven speedometers might have less variation, as the front tire tends to wear less than the rear tire. The Vertical Indians had an engine driven speedometer, and in that instance, the tire size would have a major impact on the speedometer accuracy. I have checked the accuracy of the speedometer on my 1953 Chief, and at a true 60 MPH (one mile in 60 seconds - based on highway markers and a stopwatch), the speedometer will read + or - only a couple of MPH. For my purposes, that is plenty accurate enough. The standard civilian speedometer for the 1952-53 Chiefs didn't have a maximum hand or a trip odometer (no trip odometer ever on the later Corbins), so I make do with what I have, and I'm basically just glad that my speedometer works at all.
For the period immediately after WWII, speedometers on some civilian bikes may have been partially units left over from the War effort. The 741 Scout speedometers didn't have a maximum hand or a trip odometer, though I think a trip odometer would have been really handy in a War situation. Go figure!!!