Hi Ian

My duaghter has been riding dirt bikes since she was 9, but she is out growing her Honda 100, she has ridden my CRF450X but is a bit big for her she can't pick it up if she falls off, so her next bike will be a CRF 230 with elec start soon I hope, but it will be up to her if she takes the project bike on, but I think she will have to learn how to kick start it, that will be fun, but she has long legs just need to build them up a bit. Hows your new year going.

Ashley

Do you feel it goes , handles any better, more fun , than a com'n'go frame, definatly looks like fun with no poofy xtras

Hi Splatt

My 850 in the Wideline Featherbed is a great bike to ride, the motor has been built for the Featherbed frame, the crank has been balanced at 72%, has a SS cam grinde and lots of head work but still run standard valves, the new adidtion is the JS flatslide carbies, the forks have the Lansdowns damper kit installed and the Joe Hunt maggie for a big reliable spark, full Grimca front brakes set up so it stops pretty good, the bike is very light and handles unbeliverly great, its hard to explain how it handles, its like riding on rails, the harder you push it through corners the better it handles and its very quick off the mark, the exhaust pipes have been made for this bike they are tucked right in close to the frame so they don't scrape at all, the foot pegs sit high for the same reason, for 30 years now the Norton ran without a stand at all except for the last 12 months it has a side stand but as soon as it starts to scrape when riding hard into the corners it will come off (there is always a fence or building to lean on)

Yes it is a fun bike to ride, I ride it 6 days out of 7 and never get tired of riding it, I get so many poeple coment on it ever time I am out on it and the only time I get pulled up by the cops is when they want to look at it and ask questions about how nice it looks, I also got a dual seat for it so I can take the wife and kids out or scare the living shit out of my friends when I have them on the back

Ashley

Maybe get some aluminum bolts holding that magneto in place, so if you lay it down on that side it will come off easily without damaging any expensive bits....?

One step ahead of you I put soft bolts in it so they break if I go down that side and hopefully it will just slide away from the bike, but the Joe hunts are tuff as I have alread gone down that side last year, with a hard front tyre and faulty front brakes, won't happen again, only smashed the maggie cover and my friend had a spare one, but I got a new one sent from Joe Hunt plus a tune up kit, only 5 days shipping to Australia and a lot cheaper that buying from here.

Ashley

Well the frame has been paited black now, will let it sit for a few days in the hot shed to go nice and hard, will get new steering bearing today and start on the front end first as well the rear end, with any luck will have a rolling chassie by the end of the week and on the weekend I will start cleaning engine parts plus a few more pics.

Ashley

ashman wrote:One step ahead of you I put soft bolts in it so they break if I go down that side and hopefully it will just slide away from the bike, but the Joe hunts are tuff as I have alread gone down that side last year, with a hard front tyre and faulty front brakes, won't happen again, only smashed the maggie cover and my friend had a spare one, but I got a new one sent from Joe Hunt plus a tune up kit, only 5 days shipping to Australia and a lot cheaper that buying from here.

Ashley

Hope you partially drilled holes in them to allow them to shear off.

Hi Bernhard

The idea is to stay upright, I have owned this bike for 36 years now and have only layed it down 4 times and fallen over 3 times from a sinking side stand, any accerdent will do damage, its the risk we take when ever we are riding.

Ashley

Hi all

Here some more picks of the project so far








going to get rubber gaiters for the forks legs.

Ashley

Love your benches, they make mine look clean

That looks like a nice start, keep posting pictures of your project as you make progress, I for one love to see th evolution.

Jean

Hi Jean

When my benches are in a big mess I know where my tools and parts are, I find when my work area is nice and clean I have troubles finding things as it means I haven't been doing much, hoping to pull the crank apart this weekend and give it a good clean out of the sluge traps and oil gullies as well will be micing up the jonuals to see what over size they are for new bearing, all the motor cases have been cleaned and will hone the bores as well, the swining arm has been mounted but have to put to old shocks on till I get new ones as the old ones are stuffed, will take more pics when I get the wheels on.

Ashley

That is a neat 650. Did you say once that it had a local racing history?

Hi Beng

Yes it has racing history, the last owner who I got it from brought it from Mick Ferrall (not sure that is the correct way of spelling his name) over 15 years ago he builds and races old Nortons in the 70s and 80s, he is still around building Norton race engines, but I haven't been able to make contact to him yet, a friend of mine who got me into Nortons knows him, the motor is a 65C but has been built with SS spects, twin carbs, ballanced crank, hi comp pistons 20thu oversize, has straight through mega phones that have been welded to the headers, the head was missing from the bike when I got it so don't know what work had been done to it, it took me 8 months to chase up a good head for it, the frame number is 18 95000 61 Manxman and the engine number is 95076 so will be intresting to find out more about this bike.

Ashley

Hi All

The crank is all apart and is very clean inside, should have kept it together but best to be safe than sorry later, the Conrod bearings are standard size but one set is showing some bronze from wear, but is evenly worn, the crank where the rods run have no marks and are very smooth after I gave then a good clean up, have got new starndard size slipper bearings, but my supplier had run out of stock of Supablend main bearings and will get them this weekend, but this give me a chance to make a list of things I need to put the motor together, so the bottom end will go together next week all parts have been cleaned and ready to go.

As I am going to run a open belt drive on this bike I have decided to run a Commando clutch plus the Commando belt drive kit is cheaper than the Dommie belt drive kit, as well the Commando belt is 5mm wider, haven't decided what altenator set up I will run on this bike yet but I won't be running a battery at all, the Lucas racing maggie is in great condition and puts out a great big blue spark just turning it with my hand slowly, just can't find anyone to hold onto the plug lead when I turn it

Things will start to pick up a bit of speed with this project in the next 2 weeks, just keeping the beer fridge full will be the hardest part
The bores are in very good condition and will only need a slite hone to clean them up from sitting for 16 years on the self and the piston rings look like new with no sign of any wear at all, the gear box is still all together so will just pull the outer and iner case apart and see what it look likes inside, if things look ok I will just close it up and leave it alone.

Will get more picks up as I go.

Ashley

Hi All

Have all the parts now to put the motor together, just got to find the time, just have to get rid of the wife and kids

Ashley