72 Combat Dunstall Clone

Nice looking bike cmessenk. I don't remember my bike ever looking that clean although it must have at one time for a short while at least. What I do remember is how it liked to rock n' roll!

grandpaul said:

I've got one of those Dunstall 3/4 fairings as well, in Maroon. I'm thinking of trimming off the right side lower/rear flap to match the broken left side (missing the broken off piece anyway), painting it Black, and putting it on my Mark III Interstate for winter/highway use.

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It wouldn't be hard to fix, but no one would ever know if you trimmed them even.

You cant tell unless you look hard, but mine is cut on the inside bottom of the right side, so you can open the reserve petcock. I'm thinking of trimming the left to match.

cmessenk said:

Ok, a rare Dunstall thread...better weigh in while I've got the chance. I've had the Dunstall tank, seat and fairing setup on my bike ever since I got the bike in 1978. I know a lot of folks don't care for the look, but to me no other vintage style shouts "FAST" while just sitting there better than this! Yeah...sometimes it's a labor of love...it's a pain in the a$$ to get the tank off when you need to get at something...and most of my Norton buddies ask me when I'm "going to grow up"(and ride sitting up!) it's true my 56-year old wrists complain after a 200-mile day and Advil is a given after an extended time in the saddle...still, I'll probably never change!

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cmessenk Never grow up!!! I'm not to far behind you and I don't plan on it.

Have you tried a nice set of rear sets to make it a little more comfortable? I couldn't imagine leaning over that big tank and having my feet on the stock pegs being too comfortable.

I'm looking for a good pattern for Dunstall Z plates to fab up my own, then I can mock up my rear sets before the frame goes to powder coating.

You have a very nice bike there and I cant wait till mine is finished so we can go for a ride together

Caferider said:

Have you tried a nice set of rear sets to make it a little more comfortable? I couldn't imagine leaning over that big tank and having my feet on the stock pegs being too comfortable.

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I agree...rear sets are a MUST with this setup. It's got Clubman rear sets on it....gotta look carefully at the photo...they're kind of lost in the reflection off the primary cover.

We'll definitely go for that ride when you're all finished. BTW...we have a group of guys in the Tampa Bay area who are into British bikes. We get together on Thursday nights at a local watering hole and blast up to the Brooksville area on weekends...about a 200+ mile day in the hills around Floral City and San Antonio. In fact we were down in Sarasota last year for the "Badentucky Burn" event....my bike won best Cafe Racer in the competition.

cmessenk said:

Caferider said:

Have you tried a nice set of rear sets to make it a little more comfortable? I couldn't imagine leaning over that big tank and having my feet on the stock pegs being too comfortable.

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I agree...rear sets are a MUST with this setup. It's got Clubman rear sets on it....gotta look carefully at the photo...they're kind of lost in the reflection off the primary cover.

We'll definitely go for that ride when you're all finished. BTW...we have a group of guys in the Tampa Bay area who are into British bikes. We get together on Thursday nights at a local watering hole and blast up to the Brooksville area on weekends...about a 200+ mile day in the hills around Floral City and San Antonio. In fact we were down in Sarasota last year for the "Badentucky Burn" event....my bike won best Cafe Racer in the competition.

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I have been looking at the Clubman Rear sets, but I have given Frank way too much money as it is now. Soon though!

Bradentucky.... I thought I was the only one to use that name. I can't be too loud cause I do live just north of the SRQ / B-town line. Next year you will have some competition

Jan 7-9 is thunder on the bay here in Sarasota mostly HD folks but a good time. I Saw Robbie Knievel in a Pub down the street the year before last, he road his Harley in and around the bar for a while until they threatened to kick him out. (like Father like son I guess) Evil lived in Feather Sound or close by until 2007 May he Rest In Peace. I would see him at the bar in the Chop house on Ulmerton on occasion and shoot the $ht with him, its a small world but My mother went to school with him back in Montana.
You should come down, we Need to have some British showing down here for Thunder, I cant ride the 53 G80S cause I'm still waiting on a new petrol tank (4 british bikes and I cant ride one, its a Darn shame). And I'm Kinda going to be busy getting married on saturday. But I'm thinking Ill still get downtown for some of it.

I have a friend who is also building a Commando from a basket case. we both need Spares and lots of them, all sorts. We will defiantly ride this summer if we find all the parts.

The Trany for my 650SS just got here so I gotta go play with it.

I got the Idea for adding additional support to the rear frame loop to the Commando frames, from Oldbrits, so I drew up a pattern and took it to the machine shop to have a quote and template made. This gusset is longer than theirs and and at least 4 inches longer than the 850 gussets, it extends just past the bend in the frame loop. Not to sure if it is to long but the look is clean I will have to have 10 made to keep the cost down, if anyone wants a set let me know and please pipe up as to how it needs to be modified if any.

Nice polishing work Greg, I bet this will be one shunning bike when your done. And cmessenk, that's not fair everytime I think I have chosen a color for my bike a real nice one comes along in black & I'm back thinking it should be black again! Anyway my question: I have had a couple bikes with Dunstall tanks & seats, rearsets & clipons but I have never mounted the fairings. I have one now & am thinking of mounting it but I have been told it can be a pain on the street due to the reduced turning radius. Is this true? How bad is it? Does it make U turns at intersections difficult or risky? Thanks, Glenn.

The Dunstall and pattern replica fairings are best mated with the fully adjustable Tommaselli clip-ons, so that you can adjust everything for max range of motion. Drawback is, you then have to live with the angles produced by a full range-of-motopn setup.

gtsun said:

"...but I have been told it can be a pain on the street due to the reduced turning radius. Is this true? How bad is it? Does it make U turns at intersections difficult or risky? Thanks, Glenn.

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My bike's been set up cafe style ever since I bought it in 1978, hence I've never ridden a bike wiith a "normal" handlebar setup. I suppose I may make U-turns a little more slowly (and carefully) than the other Norton buds i ride with, but effortlessly flicking through traffic is just a matter of leaning and throttle control mixed with a lot of practice. And GrandPaul's right, the Tomeselli bars are the best...really transformed my bike and riding comfort after switching from the Clubman's I used to have.

I have been thinking of trying the Tomeselli adjustable bars. Do you guys know of any North American (California) connection to buy a set? Pro Italia maybe?.. Also I hate the big bulky cheap looking mounting hardware for the fairing. Does anyone have this stuff in aluminum and nicer looking?

Tomaselli adjustable bars show up on ebay every once in a while. I found a California distributor if you're interested:

http://www.guzzino.com/toadcl.html

The Dunstall mount (and copies of it) all have a big curved plate that clamps with 2 big "U" bolts to the headstock, covering the data plate. Then, you have a pair of tabs that mount to the gas tank mounts and support the bottom "flaps" of the fairing.

I've seen at least 6 or 8 mounts, and they were ALL like this.

Clubman's typically carries Tommaselli; talk to Frank and tell him I sent you. If you have time to chat, ask him what's the expected ETA on rearsets for MkIII hee hee

I also dislike the standard fairing mounting, it obscures and ruins the data plate and the U-bolts on mine were always coming loose after a spirited ride. I plan to weld 4 threaded tubes to the sides of the headstock and make up a mounting with a couple of stirrup shaped brackets. This would be easily reversible with a Dremel grinder if required to put the frame back to standard.

Maybae you could fab up something like this, the original production racer fairing bracket. It's pretty minimal.



Ken

Thanks for the illustration Ken. My mount is terrible and I've been thinking I need to come up with something different when I get started with my build.

The thing is, and splaying of the central mount tubes will start to interferfe with the inside of the fork leg's travel and shorten your turning radius. I'm betting those production racer brackets didn't allow full range of motion (although not an issue in actual racing application).

What about instead of splaying the two outside brackets witch does look like they would hit the fork tubes, using a strong middle brace straight out & having the two other ones T off it forward of the path of the fork tubes?? Does that sound possible???

grandpaul said:

The thing is, and splaying of the central mount tubes will start to interferfe with the inside of the fork leg's travel and shorten your turning radius. I'm betting those production racer brackets didn't allow full range of motion (although not an issue in actual racing application).

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When I first bought my Production Racer from Dan Gurney, I rode it on the street for about a year before taking up road racing in 1972. It did have a very limited turning radius. I took my motorcycle license test on it, and had some issues with the test official when I couldn't make a u-turn in a city street without stopping at the far curb and backing up. He finally believed me when I showed him the limited travel.

If you made a similar arrangement for a street bike today, you would probably want to modify the design a bit. As I recall, there was also a problem of interference betwwen clip-ons and levers with both the tank and fairing. The clilp-ons were pretty short, and things were pretty tight up front. I'm not sure you could have managed to get more travel, even with a different faring mount.

Ken

gtsun said:

What about instead of splaying the two outside brackets witch does look like they would hit the fork tubes, using a strong middle brace straight out & having the two other ones T off it forward of the path of the fork tubes?? Does that sound possible???

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That's what all the newer ones and specifically the Dunstalls have.

Frank at Clubman's has a really cool fully adjustable one that is definitely worth the price.

grandpaul said:

gtsun said:

What about instead of splaying the two outside brackets witch does look like they would hit the fork tubes, using a strong middle brace straight out & having the two other ones T off it forward of the path of the fork tubes?? Does that sound possible???

Click to expand...

That's what all the newer ones and specifically the Dunstalls have.

Frank at Clubman's has a really cool fully adjustable one that is definitely worth the price.

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Yes, Frank has several mounts for different fairings and they all look great.

Before I mocked up the Faring I noticed the Data plate was all buggered up and wondered why. It was obvious once I mounted the fairing. Here is a shot of the Dunstall mount.





I don't have any limitation on travel and since the Clubman Racing Trees dont have a stop it is worse. I will have to fab something up to prevent damage to the tank and fork tubes. I was thinking of tapping out the side of the fairing mount and screwing bumpers into it so the tubes will hit the bumpers instead of the mount or the tank.