850 Nourish billet crankshaft

Who really tested a Nourish crankshaft on a 850 MK2 and have something interesting to say about it?

NKN said:

Who really tested a Nourish crankshaft on a 850 MK2 and have something interesting to say about it?

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No experience running them in Norton's, but I've run them in Triumph and Nourish engines.

They do not flex much, so you can run a tight squish. The lack of flex also takes stress off of the crank cases.

They are incredibly strong, practically indestructible in a Norton I would say.

They are very heavy. This is a plus for the heavy crank fans and a minus for the light crank fans!

Dave Nourish himself was a true gentleman and a pleasure to deal with in my experience. I have no experience of dealing with the new Nourish Engineering Ltd outfit.

Yes Dave Nourish was a pleasure to deal and talk with. Mind you getting up to his workshop in the snow was an interesting exoperience!! One day, if I live long enough and find the enthusiasm, I might even put together the short stroke 500 Domi rmotor with his 68mm stroke one piece crank but I am going to have to fit a real front brake to slow the bike down with the weight of that crank!! As for the energy stored up in it as it flys around at say 8,000 rpm, plus the energy input to get it to evenrtually reach 8,000 rpm.....then of course it has to slow it down at times...... Wonder where one would close the throttle to slow down enough to get round Sulby Bridge?? But better to have the flywheel at the crank rather than on the end of that designed in the 1920s piddle small diameter gearbox mainshaft as every Commando bronze plated clutch owner has!!
Ever compared the static weight of Norton clutches produced over the years? Tis an interesting little evercise.

I have three Nourish Commando crankshafts that I have raced extensively over the last several decades, in both Commando and featherbed frames. The first was a 91 mm stroker crank that I bought from a sidecar racer. The other two included one in standard 89 mm stroke, and one in 80.5 mm short stroke configuration. The short stroke crank was made to the wider MKIII dimensions, and had the large lightening holes that Dave would drill in the flywheel at request. The other two were standard pre-MKIII width with no lightening options. That does make for a heavy crankshaft, which I prefer. I've used both the 89 mm and 91 mm cranks in 920 engines, one in my Commando Production Racer and one in a MKIII. I used the short stroke mostly in the Production Racer, but also ran it once in a featherbed chassis at Bonneville. All three have been well flogged on the race track with never a problem. I did have a problem with the output shaft being slightly small on one of the cranks, but don't recall which one it was. I had it hard chromed by a couple thousandths, and it has worked fine ever since.

I spent a day with Dave at his shop and home back in the '80s, and as Mr. Leadbeater says, he was a pleasure to deal and talk with.

Ken

Was the brewery working when you were there?
I did a couple of shifts across from the back it, the aroma was wonderful.

I don't recall a brewery, but the visit was back in 1985 while I was on a business trip, and my memory is a bit fuzzy now. I do recall him showing me his two Manx and his Velocette, but that's about all.

Ken

Is Dave Nourish still in business ? We bought one of his cranks in the 70s and used it along with Puma cases to build what was probably the most successful Triumph 650s in Australian historic racing for many years.

acotrel said:

Is Dave Nourish still in business ? We bought one of his cranks in the 70s and used it along with Puma cases to build what was probably the most successful Triumph 650s in Australian historic racing for many years.

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Yes, they send me a quote.

Here is the contact: Chris Bushell info[at]nourishengineering.co.uk

NKN said:

acotrel said:

Is Dave Nourish still in business ? We bought one of his cranks in the 70s and used it along with Puma cases to build what was probably the most successful Triumph 650s in Australian historic racing for many years.

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Yes, they send me a quote.

Here is the contact: Chris Bushell info[at]nourishengineering.co.uk

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The business is trading as Nourish Engineering under new ownership. Dave retired.

The only time I've ever had a problem with the heavy crank was when I tried to race using the standard wide ratio Commando gearbox. It was disgusting. With the close 4 speed box on a tight circuit, it is perfect everywhere except off the clutch start. With the wide ratio box and the heavy crank, it is almost impossible to do a smooth down-change. I've found that with the close box, when you race-change up through the gears acceleration is much faster than with the wide gearbox. The four speed close box I was using was bought from the US - first gear is higher than in a Manx box. Whenever I have raced with it, I have been petrified when I've dropped the clutch while the motor is revving hard at the starts of races. That heavy crank stores up a lot of energy. I really like it.

NKN said:

Yes, they send me a quote.

Here is the contact: Chris Bushell info[at]nourishengineering.co.uk

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Be warned of the new outfit. Mr. Bushell sent me a quotation some 18 months ago. Upon paying a healthy deposit, I was comforted 4 times but never saw any progress. After that, no progress was made whatsover. I eventually cancelled my order and demanded return of the deposit. 9 months later, I still haven't received my deposit. It seems going to court is a necessity, unfortunately.

-Knut

mdt-son said:

Be warned of the new outfit. Mr. Bushell sent me a quotation some 18 months ago. Upon paying a healthy deposit, I was comforted 4 times but never saw any progress. After that, no progress was made whatsover. I eventually cancelled my order and demanded return of the deposit. 9 months later, I still haven't received my deposit. It seems going to court is a necessity, unfortunately.

-Knut

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Hoho, thanks for that!

One of my old girl-friends once said to me ' you should always start as you intend to continue'.

The new owner of Dave Nourish' business has so far not been receiving very good reviews - notably because of his inability to supply.
Dave obviously is no longer involved in any way, so this tardy way of conducting the business in no way reflects on him.

For anyone seeking to obtain goods from the new owners, I can do no better than repeat cautionary warnings expressed in previous posts - don't part with any money in advance, if you do you may have to wait a very long time before you obtain satisfaction, if at all !

Re the billet cranks that Dave used to make, the 90 degrees ones were all balanced using a factor of 54%, but this was with the weights Dave chose to fit for the purpose, unless of course the purchaser advised him of the piston weights he intended to use. An interesting side to this was when fitted in some chassis, a degree of vibration was unexpectedly experienced, and in many instances the removal of a head steady completely eliminated the problem.

This was frequently noticed with engines used in both solo and sidecar applications.

For those interested Dave is fit and well and is currently enjoying regular forays onto the Continent with his sidecar outfit.

Pleased to hear Dave is fit and well. Definitely 'one of the good guys' !

Shame about the new Nourish Engineering concern. Any idea what their issue is? Dave had the system running very well. Difficult to see quite how new management, intend to bring in new management practices, could screw it up quite so much!

Snotzo said:

For those interested Dave is fit and well and is currently enjoying regular forays onto the Continent with his sidecar outfit.

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Nice to know he is enjoying himself.

I visited him when he was beginning the process of moving an clearing out his premises. This was clearly a time of mixed feelings and revival of many old memories. He was upbeat and totally charming though as i have worked in places like his in the past an on machines of similar age an condition to his i felt right at home. We discussed the pros and cons of the machining that was being done by some other men there he was teaching to use the machines. (He even offer me a chance to "have a go") The three men were trying hard to master the job in hand but it was clear Dave's decades of experience and familiarity with the processes and old worn (mind of its own) equipment made things look easy that were definitely not.
I think it is possible the new owners bit of more than they could chew as the saying goes. This doesn't excuse their customers service however but hopefully they will improve both for the sake of Dave's good name (which they obviously wanted to generate orders) an for continued supply of specialist parts (hopefully of the quality the name implies).

Strange how he can't supply, I thought and heard he had the capacity. Doing bits for Triumphs I believe these days.

A friend of mine started his career as a medical technical officer in a large hospital in Sydney. Then came to Melbourne and started racing bikes while teaching himself to become a tradesman along the way. He has had a few businesses making components, most have failed due to the fact that he always wanted to play - so making a dollar became secondary. I worked with him on a few projects including making an Egli frame as well as titanium bolts to hold the gearbox into my Seeley. The amount of small clues he has stored away in his mind is astounding. For example, I would never have known that the threads on titanium bolts expand as you machine them so you are always working one step behind. Someone such as Dave Nourish or Colin Seeley or John Renwick must have 'been there, done everything'.

'Strange how he can't supply, I thought and heard he had the capacity. Doing bits for Triumphs I believe these days.'

I am retired and I wake up each morning and decide what I WANT to do for the rest of the day. - Life is beautiful even if it is sometimes a bit frugal.

I'm guessing Dave can't supply cos he sold both the equipment and the ownership rights to the new owners!

I know that Dave's initial desire was to find a buyer who would stay local to him so that the experienced staff could be retained and Dave himself could lend a hand when required.

But sadly that wasn't to be.