Since there is a dearth of posts on this Forum, while a plethora on the Classic Commando Forum, I conclude Atlas, Dommies, and other Nortons are less troublesome than Commandos. :mrgreen: Slick
I have a decision to make next year. I have an Atlas, Mercury and an 850 Commando. Now that I am retired, realistically, I can only keep one plus my '05 Rocket III. The Mercury has a lot of work to do but I hope to have it restored by the summer. The Atlas will go but if the 650 is smooth enough I might keep it and sell the 850. On the other hand I might win the lottery........
The Altas is nice especially if you like the featherbed style, but not up to the performance of a Commando. The Mercury 650 engine is the bright point of an economy model (no tachometer) sold at the very end of featherbed life. The Commando can be used in the modern world with no excuses. The question is what do you want your one machine to do and or what are you nostalgic for? Personally I've been through pre featherbed single model 50, slimline featherbed single '61 ES2, '73 Commando Interstate, '74 JPN and the keeper is a '72 750 combat Commando roadster. I still prefer the hooligan machine.
As you can see from my picture my 99 started life 58 years ago being used for continental tours and transport for a pro photographer to cover Grand Prix car and bike racing around Europe. Despite being mostly orriginal it still gets used to go to bike events most weeks and 10 day holidays in the IOM . Its my go to bike.It has had a re-bore! and a set of new std B/E shells but little else.
