135,000 mile 850 Commando

I've posted a bit about this 73 850 in the past. It belongs to my friend Ian. He bought the bike in the mid 70s from a friend who purchased it when new. When Ian bought the bike it had about 10k on the odometer.
It was Ian's only vehicle until about 1990, so he racked up a lot of miles commuting to work year round.
About 2 years ago at 128,000 miles he decided to refurbish the bike and added an Alton e start.
Along the way to 128,000 he had rebuilt the top end, as the bike was starting to use a bit of oil at around 70,000.
The cam and followers still looked good at 128,000 but he treated the bike to a new cam and ground the existing followers. The crank was also ground and cylinder rebored. I'm not sure what headwork was done but I suspect it needed the works.
It's nice to know that a Commando can be ridden that far and then be totally renewed with a reasonable amount of effort and expense. Here is a photo of the bike that was posted on the Alton Facebook site. It looks all ready to do another 128,000 miles.
Current mileage is around 135,000.

Glen

Looks ready to go anywhere! Obviously loved and maintained.

Just before COVID I was talking to someone with a mk2a
His commando had just done over 100,000 he said he'd had to rebuild it due to many issues at a lowly 8000 miles from new
But since the rebuild it hadn't been apart and only had normal maintenance

They will do it if the maintenance is done regularly, my Norton was an everyday rider from new, average 6k to 10K miles per year until 2013, but it got its first rebuild in 1980 after the flogging I gave it when young and silly, after that the motor was built for the Featherbed frame and 40 oversize rebore, in that time it had another rebuilt about 20 years ago to replace the crank cases from hair line cracks around the main oil seal and a broken piece of the crank case where the front middle stud screwed in the case.
In the 47+ years of ownership and 42 years in the Featherbed frame, it has had a few minor fails in worn parts but I am still running the original clutch plates and the original valves.
Keeping up with maintenance is the major thing with long life of Norton motors, but I have also done a few major upgrades as well minor upgrades to my Norton in those 47+ years with the usual layshaft bearing failure (at12k miles), 2 failed EIs and coils, but the Norton 850 motors are very reliable if ridden, 750 I can't judge as I have never owned one but if looked after they should be right for long life as well.
Some times I shake my head when I hear folks on here rebuilding their Norton motors with very low mileage on them and or the bikes been laid up for 30+ years, my Norton was also an only transport I had for the 1/2 its life but it was my major transport till 2013, rode to work 5 days a week, did all my long distant travel on it and Sunday rides with the mates, the wife had the car I had the bike as my mode of transportation.
Now been retired for just over 10 years both my bikes aren't getting the mileage as they use too, the Norton is semi-retired and my 2016 Thruxton has taken over most daily ridding.
In 47+ years my Norton has only been off the road 3X ( 2 1/2 years for the Featherbed conversion another year for looking for a set of crank cases and replacing them and a few months with doing upgrades here and there) so in the long run just over 4 years of not been on the road.
Not bad for a classic motorcycle, but sometimes I think I been blessed with a freak Norton, although its semi-retired now it's still ridden regularly, but it's showing its age but still goes great.
I wouldn't hesitate to jump on it tomorrow and do a 2k+ mile ride as I have done it many of times over the years, just keep up the maintenance and run good oil, I run an oil cooler all year round and a STP mixture in my motor oil since 1979.

Ashley

"Sometimes I shake my head when I hear folks on here rebuilding their Norton motors with very low mileage on them and or the bikes been laid up for 30+ years, ..."

That's why they needed a rebuild. Things corrode, dry out and perish without regular use.

They have a value, but the great thing about these bikes is they're not so rare that they will ever be too valuable to ride and enjoy. Plus most of what wears out is available to replace.

But a lot buy Nortons because they always wanted one or just love the look of them but when they do get one find they have troubles kicking them (they haven't learned the knack ) or they are worried when they do take them out something is going to break or fail of something else major is going to happen, I have never had that problem, I don't think like that, I just do what is needed when needed and ride as much as I can without worrying what may happen, if you worry about things happening, it will happen, so best not to think about it.
3 times my Norton didn't make it home, one failed EI 100 miles from home and one broken chain from a big burn out in my youth and a chain master link come off during a quick get away at lights, I now safety wire it on and have the link on the inside of the chain, once I rode home on one cylinder only firing 70 miles from home, late at night to find out next day was just lose manifold bolts, and another time one failed coil.
The good thing these days there are so many upgrades to be had, longer folding kick starters, better ignitions, better brakes and suspensions internals, just to name a few, it's how deep your pockets are or willing to spend, but you can also make improvement cheaply and that's where maintenance comes in to play, I have also repaired broken parts while waiting for replacement to come from over seas.
Some upgrades can be very expensive to do, love to build a motor with Jims lovely bits and pieces and those very expensive push button starter kits, new Fullauto heads, way beyond my means, but with my life of working with low wages and family up bring I still managed to keep my Norton and all my bikes going, well my 2016 Thruxton I just don't do anything to it except oil changes, chain lube and tyres lol, but I enjoy working on my Norton and making improvements to it, it's my play and fun bike, we all got to have a hobby or something to keep us busy and even more so I am now retired.

Ashley

I'm one of those guys... had Greg M rebuild the engine/gearbox on my 13k mile MK3 that had been sitting a very long time with the PO. The PO had no records, nor could he tell me much of what had been done. In addition to the drive train, I inspected and refreshed every system... a complete tear down. Reason is, I ride all the bikes in my garage, including the MK3 now, and for safety and reliability I want to do my best to ensure I don't have a critical failure while riding or even an unrepairable breakdown in the mountains where I ride. I have no regrets, the MK3 rides/looks like new, and I have confidence every time I throw my leg over it and turn the key that I did my best. It takes a lot of the stress out of riding 49 yr. old motorcycle at high speeds. At this point, if something happens, so be it. Also, a side benefit is that it was fun doing it, and now I know the status of every component on my bike.

It warms my heart to hear of high mileage bikes. I did the top end at 32,000 miles and everything looked good with the cylinders off so I had Comstock do the head and fitted .020 over pistons.Has been good since with no oil consumption,etc. and really don’t want to tear it apart.
Mike

These bikes will do the mileage....How many are willing to trust it to go the miles?

CanukNortonNut said:

These bikes will do the mileage....How many are willing to trust it to go the miles?

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I will and do . You really have to perform labour and $pend to replace worn/ aged parts / fluids every year . Reliability co$ts . An average car here in frozen Canada lasts about 4 to 5 years my CAA membership tells us . That's about $ 40,000 . Getting off easy .