850 Nourish billet crankshaft

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Fast Eddie said:
Really? Wow! Can't imagine you'd get a cheaper billet crank than that. Did you order one?

Not yet, they are not able to send me a picture of what they've already done, so I'm wondering... And like it's not next door... And looks that not that much Norton owners ever heard of them...
 
Well google 'Farndon crank problems' and see what comes up.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... &t=1322899

Did your experience go anything like ours?

1. You enquire about them making something for you.

2. They give you a price.

3. Whilst you're dealing with the customer, other quotes, setting up the deal etc they constantly harass you with badly punctuated emails and calls about starting the job (which you only ever contacted them about once) from various different women.

4. Thinking they are keen to do a good job you discuss a date, give them the order and your money.

5. The production date gradually changes to much much longer (months) than it originally was due to various different excuses.

6. The supply date is now so far out that you can fulfil other orders from customers.

7. They refuse to add any more to your order regardless of it being the same part and you ordering 2 months in advance of your greatly increased delivery date.

8. You make a separate order which then follows the same procedure.


It's like dealing with British Leyland in the 70s!
I'm not surprised that people take their business out of this Country, everyone I have spoken to recently has the same story, aren't there any other crankshaft making companies in this country any more?
 
kommando said:
Well google 'Farndon crank problems' and see what comes up.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... &t=1322899

Good shot, thanks. Even three years after, they are working the same:

Whilst you're dealing with the customer, other quotes, setting up the deal etc they constantly harass you with badly punctuated emails and calls about starting the job (which you only ever contacted them about once) from various different women


That's exactly what I've got :lol:

Reading till the end also gives: Farndons, Arrow and DK all had their own problems. Hmmm
 
NKN said:
kommando said:
Well google 'Farndon crank problems' and see what comes up.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... &t=1322899

Good shot, thanks. Even three years after, they are working the same:

Whilst you're dealing with the customer, other quotes, setting up the deal etc they constantly harass you with badly punctuated emails and calls about starting the job (which you only ever contacted them about once) from various different women


That's exactly what I've got :lol:

Reading till the end also gives: Farndons, Arrow and DK all had their own problems. Hmmm

That's why, IMHO you would have to be a very brave, rich and inquisitive guy to embark upon such an endeavour when, alternatively, you can simply buy a proven crank from a proven supplier of proven repute, ie Mr Maney !
 
Fast Eddie said:
.......That's why, IMHO you would have to be a very brave, rich and inquisitive guy to embark upon such an endeavour when, alternatively, you can simply buy a proven crank from a proven supplier of proven repute, ie Mr Maney !
I suppose this is a thread hijack but what's wrong with the Andover crank?
 
jimbo said:
Fast Eddie said:
.......That's why, IMHO you would have to be a very brave, rich and inquisitive guy to embark upon such an endeavour when, alternatively, you can simply buy a proven crank from a proven supplier of proven repute, ie Mr Maney !
I suppose this is a thread hijack but what's wrong with the Andover crank?

AN cranks were suggested 'way back' on page 3 of this thread.

Criticisms were that it's only available in stock stroke, and that it's expensive.

They look good though, has anyone tried one?
 
Fast Eddie said:
That's why, IMHO you would have to be a very brave, rich and inquisitive guy to embark upon such an endeavour when, alternatively, you can simply buy a proven crank from a proven supplier of proven repute, ie Mr Maney !

Just the fact that it's not a billet one and is lighter than stock :wink: But I might finish with that :lol:
 
NKN said:
Fast Eddie said:
That's why, IMHO you would have to be a very brave, rich and inquisitive guy to embark upon such an endeavour when, alternatively, you can simply buy a proven crank from a proven supplier of proven repute, ie Mr Maney !

Just the fact that it's not a billet one and is lighter than stock :wink: But I might finish with that :lol:

Its for a MK3, and it would need an extension to accommodate an alternator, nice crank though: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOURISH-Billet- ... MC&vxp=mtr
 
Fast Eddie said:
jimbo said:
I suppose this is a thread hijack but what's wrong with the Andover crank?

AN cranks were suggested 'way back' on page 3 of this thread.

Criticisms were that it's only available in stock stroke, and that it's expensive.

They look good though, has anyone tried one?

I would like to add to the above that the cranks are for pre-Mk3 engines, and that they are probably too light for a tractable road bike. The design was developed for the Peter Williams replica racer actually, the engines of which were/are built by Mick Hemmings.
I discussed this with him and in the end he refused to take my orders. The crankshafts have never been tested in roadgoing engines!! AN will not give any warrants either. Following my specific enquiry, they now state "As used in the Peter Williams F750 Replicas".

Regards,
Knut
 
[quote="mdt-son"

I would like to add to the above that the cranks are for pre-Mk3 engines, and that they are probably too light for a tractable road bike. The design was developed for the Peter Williams replica racer actually, the engines of which were/are built by Mick Hemmings.
I discussed this with him and in the end he refused to take my orders. The crankshafts have never been tested in roadgoing engines!! AN will not give any warrants either. Following my specific enquiry, they now state "As used in the Peter Williams F750 Replicas".

Regards,
Knut[/quote]

Good to know!
 
Just to let you know that the AN crank weight is only 15,8 pounds as they told me yesterday.
 
Hi, so the Andover one is even lighter than the Maney..............!
Maney : 17/18 pounds
standart: 22/24
one piece billet : 28

according to Steve Maney catalogue....!
 
marinatlas said:
one piece billet : 28

That's likely a Dave Nourish crank as Dave was a proponent of heavier cranks. There are some extremely light-weight one-piece billet cranks out there

A word of caution here that total weight does not necessarily directly correspond to rotational mass. You can easily have a heavier crank that has less rotational mass, thus spin up faster.
 
Obviously the cost of producing a crank to the original manufacturer's design and drawings as AN do with other components is more than likely not a cost effective solution. Given the tooling needed for casting and forging which has almost certainly been lost over time plus the specialist machining and other processes involved. AN also are on record as say if possible they will use modern methods or materials to improve a standard component and given the high cost an probability of low numbers to be sold let alone the warranty issue if an incorrectly assembled or manufactured (bearing radius, stress raiser on internal drillings etc) they have surely taken and most sensible approach. In making the decision to buy such an expensive item form such a reputable supplier instead of getting a secondhand item or other suppliers of cheaper products you would think that there would be more information about it on the website. From what i have seen (i may that missed it) there are little or no details on wether it will perform just as the standard item or have a marked effect in any way on the engine performance and driveablity characteristics. As Dances says there is more to it than just total static weight an you would think AN would be trying to promote the thing given its much cheaper an not to difficult to obtain a usable secondhand item for road use if not racing.
 
toppy said:
Obviously the cost of producing a crank to the original manufacturer's design and drawings as AN do with other components is more than likely not a cost effective solution. Given the tooling needed for casting and forging which has almost certainly been lost over time plus the specialist machining and other processes involved. AN also are on record as say if possible they will use modern methods or materials to improve a standard component and given the high cost an probability of low numbers to be sold let alone the warranty issue if an incorrectly assembled or manufactured (bearing radius, stress raiser on internal drillings etc) they have surely taken and most sensible approach. In making the decision to buy such an expensive item form such a reputable supplier instead of getting a secondhand item or other suppliers of cheaper products you would think that there would be more information about it on the website. From what i have seen (i may that missed it) there are little or no details on wether it will perform just as the standard item or have a marked effect in any way on the engine performance and driveablity characteristics. As Dances says there is more to it than just total static weight an you would think AN would be trying to promote the thing given its much cheaper an not to difficult to obtain a usable secondhand item for road use if not racing.

I hope you will forgive me when I say that the main error in your thinking is to assume that AN had any hand in development of the crank they are now selling, which they have come by after a deal with Mick Hemmings, indeed it seems that comments already here suggest they have never used one.

As we know and as noted already, the item was developed by Mick for a specific project. I suspect that AN would not be marketing this crank at all without that deal. To sell it with the caveats they have made seems reasonable, 'if you put this in a road bike you will be on your own in terms of suitability' (i.e. it may not provide the preferred riding characteristics of a Commando road bike). I would think that reliability and suitability for a race motor (should you like a lightweight crank) are not in doubt, this is Mick Hemmings and Peter Williams, a skilled manufacturer and AN we are talking about, not a disreputable backstreet operator.

The loss of NRE as a source of cranks for road use or those who prefer heavier race cranks is very sad. I beleive there is an opening for a reputable manufacturer to step in to provide an alterative to a 40 plus year old production item.

Personally I would have thought it viable for AN to pursue a replacement for the standard road bike crank, but clearly they have not launched a product so they are unlikely to agree with me, why should they? Perhaps the range of options already on the market (and subsequently reduced market potential) has been a hindrance, that may have now changed.

If they did choose to develop one surely the choice of one or three piece would be based purely on development and production costs.

There is also a small market for race cranks, of whatever weight. For many applications Steve Maney's product is a viable choice for a high performance engine and indeed many use it, it is available in a range of strokes. It suits me personally, but may not suit everyone!

Dave Nourish sold his cranks cheaper than Steve Maney, I would suggest that his development costs were long recovered and his production costs probably minimal, so don't assume that even a copy made in reasonable volume would come to market at the same price.

My assumption on production costs is based on the fact that a few years ago (less than 5) I met a guy who told me he used to go to Dave's on a Friday, after his week of nightshifts in aerospace, to machine cranks for Dave!

(I have several parts made by this guy, now also retired, on my race bike, he also told me that Dave wasn't best pleased one week when instead of making two 90s and a 360, he made two 360s and a 90!)
 
I agree with you Steve the crank they have for sale as little information to tempt the purchaser to part with what is a large amount to most of us especially on a single part. If it match the original manufactured part (even was NOS) we would know what we were getting an not much information would be needed.
 
850 Nourish billet crankshaft
850 Nourish billet crankshaft
I saw one of Dave Nourish's cranks today. 270° for a 500.
 
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