Anti-Janky-fying my 1974 Norton Commando

As previously introduced, I won a '74 Commando (I see I typed 72 for some reason) on Iconic Auctions back in January for some damn reason. I don't have enough to do, apparently.

The seller was Mike Seate, publisher of Cafe Racer Magazine, where the bike was a project bike. It has some nice stuff on it, best bit being an Alton electric start, which I have managed to screw up while it's been in my possession. I spoke with Mike over the phone while arranging transportation and he assured me that I would be "really happy with the bike". I think he intended to say I would be "really happy with the bike if you like fixing a lot of janky sh*t". Maybe we had a bad phone connection.

So, life has been hectic but I finally cleared my lift and put the Norton on it. And this is what it looks like (strategic picture angle to make garage look as uncluttered as possible).



Off to pick out tile for my daughter's bathroom. Living the dream folks.

I’d also like to hear about your Ducati track bike- I’ve just finished uncrashifying my 09 848

Janky or Not, that's a good looking ride.
Should bring some joy when sorted.
Interesting looking rear brake linkage.

mfennell said:

As previously introduced, I won a '74 Commando (I see I typed 72 for some reason) on Iconic Auctions back in January for some damn reason. I don't have enough to do, apparently.

The seller was Mike Seate, publisher of Cafe Racer Magazine, where the bike was a project bike. It has some nice stuff on it, best bit being an Alton electric start, which I have managed to screw up while it's been in my possession. I spoke with Mike over the phone while arranging transportation and he assured me that I would be "really happy with the bike". I think he intended to say I would be "really happy with the bike if you like fixing a lot of janky sh*t". Maybe we had a bad phone connection.

So, life has been hectic but I finally cleared my lift and put the Norton on it. And this is what it looks like (strategic picture angle to make garage look as uncluttered as possible).

Off to pick out tile for my daughter's bathroom. Living the dream folks.

Click to expand...

Elfix said:

I’d also like to hear about your Ducati track bike- I’ve just finished uncrashifying my 09 848

Click to expand...

Nice. How crashified was it?

My bike has an interesting history. It's an '09 that was bought to race. Still on an MSO - never titled.

I also have an '11 848 that I tracked for several years. A couple years ago, I ordered some used track bodywork to make it track-only. About a week later, that bike showed up 45 minutes away with a TON of spares. So I bought it. It was originally owned by Dennis Espinosa. Dennis was racing at NJMP one Saturday and held a yard sale with his 848. I guess Ducati had some demo bikes there so he bought one, worked all night moving the less-bent parts from his race bike over, and raced it the next day. He raced it at Daytona the following spring but retired with a mechanical.

I bought an Aprilia Cup bike a month later so I could have street/track Aprilia RS250s and ended up rebuilding it completely so it took me two seasons to go over the 848 and swap over the suspension from my other bike. It has all the junk to make it still not as good as an R6. 30mm offset triple, Kyle linear link, TTX shock, Ohlins cartridges, etc. It came with a 6" forged Marchesini in the back which, sadly, I had to swap out because you can't get Pirelli slicks that fit and why the hell do I need a 6" rear wheel with 125rwhp?

I should really just go buy an R6 or Triumph but I have so much 848 junk.