New owner - first 24hrs

MxMartin

MxMartin

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Nov 13, 2017
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If you have seen my post in the 50th Anniv. thread you will know that I took delight in taking receipt of my new Cafe Racer on Friday, so I thought I would share my first 24hour experiences which might be helpful to some....

Key in ignition, turn on, nothing! Turn key off, check kill switch etc., scratch head, turn key on... panel lights up :)

LCD displays ODO mileage, press mode button display shows TRIP mileage, press again display shows Volts, press again back to ODO... is that all of the modes? I wasn't expecting various traction control modes but surprised you can't switch ABS off or see fuel level or fuel consumption.

Tried light switches, all ok except the left cluster slide switch which selects main/park/off... mine is stuck on main, won't budge. Headlamp has parking bulb. Are EURO4 machines fixed to run main light only?

Turned ignition off. Added 3 Litre of regular unleaded. Ignition back on, pulled in clutch, pressed starter switch and engine immediately fired up. Throttle response was fluffy for first 20-30 seconds but soon settled and after a minute or two idling the engine responded to light throttle movement. Exhausts very quiet, engine quite noisy. Turned engine off after about 5 mins of warming up :)

Rolled bike into garage, hmm, steering lock left to right is quite minimal, had to do a 5-point turn where my triumph does it with ease lol

Found battery charge lead at top of right rear shock, same plug as on my Optimate4 so plugged her in. Optimate went straight to 0.8A charge and finished the full cycle after 2hrs so battery must have been quite low.

I found the two seat allen bolts and removed them for a peep under seat. Those seat bots are screaming for a custom replacement, thought it was quite a crude arrangement.

Tried to open oil tank filler but my cap is screwed (is it screwed or push?) on too tight, going to need some kind of wrench to shift it.

Time to change the stem mirrors to those nice billet bar end items, straightforward I thought... wrong. Both the stem mirrors also act as fixing bolts for the clutch and brake fluid reservoir brackets. Removed left stem mirror, replaced it with M8 button bolt. Removed right stem mirror... it is left hand thread... no M8 l/h bolts in my spares so used the bottom fixing of the stem mirror to hold reservoir in place as temp fix. Fitted left bar end mirror, very nice rear view. Fitted right bar end mirror only to discover that the internal ball joint of mirror not tightened up so it wobbles... easy enough to disassemble but alarmingly each mirror has a total of 7 allen bolts in it's makeup and none of them have ant thread lock, not very Norton proof me thinks so I shall strip both mirrors down and use a loctite or similar.

I then stopped admiring and tinkering and got down to the business of measuring up my new thumb brake.

My impressions so far.... she is drop dead gorgeous I am still pinching myself for being this lucky!
 
MxMartin said:
If you have seen my post in the 50th Anniv. thread you will know that I took delight in taking receipt of my new Cafe Racer on Friday, so I thought I would share my first 24hour experiences which might be helpful to some....

Key in ignition, turn on, nothing! Turn key off, check kill switch etc., scratch head, turn key on... panel lights up :)

LCD displays ODO mileage, press mode button display shows TRIP mileage, press again display shows Volts, press again back to ODO... is that all of the modes? I wasn't expecting various traction control modes but surprised you can't switch ABS off or see fuel level or fuel consumption.

Tried light switches, all ok except the left cluster slide switch which selects main/park/off... mine is stuck on main, won't budge. Headlamp has parking bulb. Are EURO4 machines fixed to run main light only?

Turned ignition off. Added 3 Litre of regular unleaded. Ignition back on, pulled in clutch, pressed starter switch and engine immediately fired up. Throttle response was fluffy for first 20-30 seconds but soon settled and after a minute or two idling the engine responded to light throttle movement. Exhausts very quiet, engine quite noisy. Turned engine off after about 5 mins of warming up :)

Rolled bike into garage, hmm, steering lock left to right is quite minimal, had to do a 5-point turn where my triumph does it with ease lol

Found battery charge lead at top of right rear shock, same plug as on my Optimate4 so plugged her in. Optimate went straight to 0.8A charge and finished the full cycle after 2hrs so battery must have been quite low.

I found the two seat allen bolts and removed them for a peep under seat. Those seat bots are screaming for a custom replacement, thought it was quite a crude arrangement.

Tried to open oil tank filler but my cap is screwed (is it screwed or push?) on too tight, going to need some kind of wrench to shift it.

Time to change the stem mirrors to those nice billet bar end items, straightforward I thought... wrong. Both the stem mirrors also act as fixing bolts for the clutch and brake fluid reservoir brackets. Removed left stem mirror, replaced it with M8 button bolt. Removed right stem mirror... it is left hand thread... no M8 l/h bolts in my spares so used the bottom fixing of the stem mirror to hold reservoir in place as temp fix. Fitted left bar end mirror, very nice rear view. Fitted right bar end mirror only to discover that the internal ball joint of mirror not tightened up so it wobbles... easy enough to disassemble but alarmingly each mirror has a total of 7 allen bolts in it's makeup and none of them have ant thread lock, not very Norton proof me thinks so I shall strip both mirrors down and use a loctite or similar.

I then stopped admiring and tinkering and got down to the business of measuring up my new thumb brake.

My impressions so far.... she is drop dead gorgeous I am still pinching myself for being this lucky!
Click to expand...
OIl dip stick screwed, yes they are tight, be careful undoing , use cloth under a spanner or pliers as u could mark it ,yes my previous bike was a triumph & steering lock right to left is not as great, but it’s not an issue living with bike,keep bike on battery tender when not in use at all times, Seat Allen bolts don’t work loose if that what u concerned about, how u going wait another 4 & half weeks b4 u ride it for real ? , the louder pipes sound great once ur off, u won’t hear the engine noise then either , well done & get it registered soon as
 
BLIGHTYBRIT/SF said:
OIl dip stick screwed, yes they are tight, be careful undoing , use cloth under a spanner or pliers as u could mark it ,yes my previous bike was a triumph & steering lock right to left is not as great, but it’s not an issue living with bike,keep bike on battery tender when not in use at all times, Seat Allen bolts don’t work loose if that what u concerned about, how u going wait another 4 & half weeks b4 u ride it for real ? , the louder pipes sound great once ur off, u won’t hear the engine noise then either , well done & get it registered soon as
Click to expand...
Thanks Blighty, I will give the dipstick a careful nudge just to confirm levels. What about the lighting switch on the left cluster, should I be able to slide it down to 'park' ?

4 weeks is a bit of a wait, I might squeeze in a mile or two down my backroads, only used by tractors and sheep.... would be great to have it ready for 1st service by the time it is registered lol :)
 
Ref the stock mirror stalk remains, I spoke to the factory asking them to use Allen bolts or similar in order to be able to remove the remains of the standard mirror stalks, which, of course, look pretty hideous otherwise.

The show bikes had stainless button head Allen bolts fitted in this application, which looked perfectly ok.

However, it is, and I quote: “Too difficult and expensive” for the factory PDI dept to do this...

So, I ordered a couple of left and right hand thread socket head stainless Allen bolts, off of eBay for peanuts.

So, it seems, a crisis has been averted.
 
Congratulations on your new bike. They are gorgeous. And kind of quirky, but you'll look past that eventually. Yea. The dealerships think over tightening the oil cap is some kind of joke. Of course, my dealership marked mine with a pliers right in front of me. He used a paper towel under a pliers....use a piece of leather and put it back on finger tight. As for the gauges, don't rely on your low fuel light to come on when its supposed to. Ask me how I know. Refuel at about 120 miles or so if you like spirited riding. Easy going will get you about 160 miles, thrashing it will get you about 130. Use the higher octane unleaded petrols. You'll get used to finding the bolt holes under the seat eventually. First times hard, but they work well. Welcome to the club and have a blast. You are now the coolest kid on the block.:cool:
 
Try and find ethanol free gas if you can and stick with it. Your Gas tank and gas mileage will be happier .!
 
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Congrats - I look forward to seeing you on the road! Yes the light switch is purposely locked. Yes - I haven't been able to unscrew the oil filler yet. No there is nothing electronicsy to play with. Yes I had a couple of mystery no start moments. Just stop fiddling with it and get those 300 miles running-in miles over so at least you can keep up with 125s on dual carriageways!

The factory does have some button top left/right screws - I've seen 'em and they promised me some. In the meanwhile I turned the thread off a right hand screw, drilled a piece of left hand threaded rod and shaft locked it onto the screw.

Have you got it ground anchored into your garage? A friend lost his Thruxton from his garage the other day. Really important.

And be careful - the paint has faded a little on the one side where I have been sitting and staring that beautiful beautiful bike too much........


PS I fitted Halcyon bar end mirrors - IMHO they are hugely better than the Norton offering. They look great, are a decent size and flip out the way for parking and traffic dodging. Just get someone to turn the bar end fixing to a close fit in the bars.
 
CRG mirrors are the absolute best IMHO and they have an adapter that fits our bikes perfectly!
They aren't cheap though!
 
Welcome to the cult....... I'm sorry, club. Sounds like you were in a pinch when you tried the regular gas but I wouldn't make a habit of regular anything in a Norton.
 
Light switch is locked up all the time. Can’t be moved
The clocks will only light up when bike is in the run position. You can turn the bike on with the kill switch in the off position and then switch the killswitch to run and the clocks should come on, however if you use the killswitch while the bikes on the clocks will stay on until the key is turned off.
 
gchoppin said:
Welcome to the cult....... I'm sorry, club. Sounds like you were in a pinch when you tried the regular gas but I wouldn't make a habit of regular anything in a Norton.
Click to expand...
What we call 'regular' here in the UK is 95RON (minimum) and at the moment is 5% (or less) ethanol so all should be good.
 
Clive said:
Yup they do look very nice - if you want a more compact mirror than the Halcyons.
Click to expand...
I must admit I have a liking for the Halcyons. I will see how these billet mirrors hold up to the rigors of my pot-hole ridden local B roads.
 
TonyA said:
Most light switches in USA are locked to the ON position. I know mine is.
Click to expand...
Not mine. I can turn mine off. 2013 Matter of fact, I'm constantly reminded by my riding buddy that its off because my gloved finger frequently hits it.
 
Mine is locked in the headlights on position. California requires headlights on at all times for motorcycles, as do some other states. Most motorcycles sold for use in the US come with always-on headlights, just to comply with the states that do require it. But they don't have to if they are sold in one of the states that doesn't have that requirement.

Ken
 
It's 100% in the US now. Can't say it's a bad idea. Most cars have daytime running lights.
 
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