There may be something out of whack that is causing the damage to your sprag clutch. However, without further information, it's difficult to diagnose. But I can tell you that the electric starter system on Norton Commandos is fairly delicate. In fact many people will remove the starter rather than repair it when it fails. And it tends to fail often.
Electric-start-owners that do retain the starter tend to use it sparingly and judicioulsy. For instance, they will kick start the bike when cold and reserve the starter only for the relatively easy hot starts.
If you do decide to @#%-can your electric starter system, be sure to save the end caps from the starter motor. These can be used to make a clean-looking cap to plug off the gaping hole in the inner primary cover were the starter used to live.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 2:35 pm Post subject: Electric Start
I had my engine profesionally rebuily about 4 years ago,so the engine is fairly tight making it quite hard to kick over,I really appreciate all the responce on my electric start.
Norton850,
If you are destroying your sprag from kickback, I would try to eliminate the kickback first. This is usually timing. As Dynodave has said many times, the analog Boyer can be a problem if the voltage drops below 10.8. That said, I know a couple people who use an analog Boyer and have had no problem. I did on my cafe racer for a while, but switched to a Rita and have had no kickback problems since.
When you are certain that you have proper timing and the engine starts easily with the kicker (no kickback), then pay close attention to the "anti-kickback device". This is a cupped spring washer (bellville washer) which is designed to slip if the engine kicks back, saving the fragile sprag clutch. Make sure this assembly has not been drawn up tight and will slip. I had to draw it up tight on my 10.5:1 850 or the starter would spin wihout spinning the engine. Of course the price I pay is no kickback protection. That's when I realized the Rita works better!
With the cost of new sprag clutches, you want to make sure the kickback assembly works.
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At the end of 1967 the Norton Commando was announced.
The Norton Commando was greeted with a certain amount of scepticism because on first sight the commando appeared to comprise of the old Norton Dominator twin cylinder engine mounted at an inclined angle in a set of new cylinder parts.
It was not realized that the new Norton Commando Isolastic method of engine suspension damped out all engine vibration and produced a machine which had uncanny smoothness for a vertical twin. In due course the critics were silenced and the Norton Commando had the distinction of being regarded as the first of todays so called superbikes. There can be little doubt that the original design concept of the Norton Commando has proved correct, since comparatively few modifications of any real consequence have been made since production commenced during 1968.
Now nearly 40 years later Norton Commando riders like us are a breed of our own, and as far as we are concerned its still more fun to go for a blat on the old Norton Commando, and fast. As a Norton Commando owner and enthusiast, my goal here is to promote and give credit to those who keep the Norton name going.
It is more deserving to give credit to the Commando itself, for after all these years it continues to be respected. The original Commando designers like John Favill are those who deserve the credit for developing this incredible motorcycle.
The Norton Commando Roadster and Interstate of the late seventies, never died. Although the Norton Villiers factory dispersed the tradition lived on. Today Kenny Dreer in the USA is developing the new 952 CC Norton. What a great looking bike this is, and its engineering is still based on the original layout. It will be interesting to see how the new 952CC Norton does in todays tough motorcycle market. One thing is for sure, I would own one if I could afford it.
