Another one from the ashes

A friend of mine asked me to help him bring his 74 High Rider back to life. It has been in his garage for at least 10 years. He got it from a bar owner who had it on display for at least six years before that. Someone took the time to prep this bike to be dormant for a long time. The gas was drained. The cylinders were misted with oil, etc.

When we got it to my house, we added new oil and filter, gas and a new battery. We changed the fuel lines to a new set Steve bought from Old Britts. Before trying to start it, I checked to make sure the idle jets were open. They weren't. I used an itty - bitty drill bit and cleaned the crust out of the idle jets. I tickled up the two Amal carbs and crossed my fingers. It started on the fourth kick. The first two kicks were not good, my bad technique. After holding the throttle off idle for about a minute, I let go and the bike settled into a smooth low idle.

This is about the cleanest, unmolested survivor I have ever seen. The frame looks new. All the decals are in place and almost perfect. The wheels look new. The tires are brand new and still have the painted stripes from the factory. Unfortunately they are badly cracked and easily bulge when air is put in them. Can't wait to get this old doll all the way back.

We have to get new tires, rebuild/sleeve the front master cylinder, new front brake hose, new front pads and probably a few other things we haven't discovered as yet. The important thing is this will be another Norton back on the road.

Beautiful bike but I want the Nova. My brother had a garage find four door 283/auto with 16000 miles.

very cool find. My tailbone hurts just looking at the seat :mrgreen:

Great job !!! Hi Riders rule 8) Arm pit hairs cooling in the breeze in modern day easy riding coolness. It ain't about comfort nosiree, but all about lookin' cool. Try riding this more than 10 miles, argh ...



This one, very similar to your orange time capsule, not so bad really on long, easy rider lookin' trips to ultimate Commando coolness. 8)

Very nice looker its very rare to get one in such good condition, the Hi Rider isn't my cup of tea but you can change things and keep all the orginal parts as well if you decide to go that way, it looks like its new from the factory, now enjoy what you have and hope it goes as well as it looks.

Ashley

As I said in the original post, this is my friend's bike. I am just making the propeller spin for him. Front brake master needs to be rebuilt or sent out for a sleeve job. Just a few other things to do and I can send it back to his house and give my little Nova room to breath.

I have never been a fan of the High Riders and would have to make some serious changes if it were mine. Wouldn't life be dull if we all liked the exact same things.

Can we have some more photos before you send it home, please?

calbigbird said:

As I said in the original post, this is my friend's bike. I am just making the propeller spin for him. Front brake master needs to be rebuilt or sent out for a sleeve job. Just a few other things to do and I can send it back to his house and give my little Nova room to breath.

I have never been a fan of the High Riders and would have to make some serious changes if it were mine. Wouldn't life be dull if we all liked the exact same things.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't waste time and money getting the so called "sleeve job" to a stock master cylinder. Many people have had issues with them heating up and seizing or not working, want to join them ??? The stock unit was rubbish, even when new, as it didn't have the proper ratio; and not having the proper ratio ... is how the "sleeve job" came about. What horrible engineering IMO.

Much better to get a modern, like a Nissin, Master cylinder and have actually good braking and if you want to retain the garbage from new Lucas switch gear, like I did, but a front master cylinder THAT WORKS from Don Pender (madass140 on this forum) ... and save yourself alot of headaches ... unless you like headaches. Hey, to each his own. Cheers.

http://www.tritonmotorcycleparts.com/



And a better closeup picture :

concours said:

very cool find. My tailbone hurts just looking at the seat :mrgreen:

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Mine started out as a Hi-Rider. That seat was a vinyl covered rock.
Great find. Enjoy.

John Ebert
Texas

So - I have been working on getting this bike to start reliably. It fires on first kick after tickling the carbs. Good! It appears to be leaking gas past the float bowl gasket, and dribbling down the outside of the float bowl, especially when on the side stand. Bad!

Is it possible the float bowl gasket has dried up and gone bad in the 16 years this has been sitting empty, or is it more likely an issue with the float itself? The gas leak seems worse when the bike is on the side stand.

Thoughts anyone?

calbigbird said:

So - I have been working on getting this bike to start reliably. It fires on first kick after tickling the carbs. Good! It appears to be leaking gas past the float bowl gasket, and dribbling down the outside of the float bowl, especially when on the side stand. Bad!

Is it possible the float bowl gasket has dried up and gone bad in the 16 years this has been sitting empty, or is it more likely an issue with the float itself? The gas leak seems worse when the bike is on the side stand.

Thoughts anyone?

Click to expand...

Well, sounds to me like the float isn't closing the float needle when the float bowl is full of gas. If you want it fixed, now you get to take it all apart, clean it really good, make sure your float needle, seat, and float are good (I would buy new) install new gaskets, and put it back together. Lucky you. But hey, that's what these 40 year plus Norton are all about :shock:

However, when properly sorted, they are reliable and very fun to ride bikes. 8)