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Barcelona Enduro 1970 Commandos .
- Thread starter Matt Spencer
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- Dec 3, 2009
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Quoting www.guskuhn.net:
Long distance races were a Gus Kuhn speciality and an outing for the whole family - especially Barcelona. Vincent entered Barry Sheene and Pat Mahoney in the 1970 24-hour race while Ron Wittich partnered Tom Dickie. The idea was for Pat and Barry to set a cracking pace to break the opposition while their team mates plodded on to finish and hopefully win. As it happened the 'tortoises' broke down and Pat and Barry were going strong until gearchange problems near the end culminated in the back of the gearbox falling of as Pat came into the pits.
Dave Sleat remembers the endurances as being very educational. He used to wander round the paddock noting all the clever mods that other teams had made. "You can learn a lot like that," he says. "Especially by looking at the bike that won."
The weak points of the Kuhn Commandos were the gearbox and exhaust. The clutch was very heavy and their last endurance Norton had the lighter Atlas clutch which had a shock absorber. It also had a roller bearing on the drive side of the layshaft, while a single chain replaced the standard Triplex. Dave spent a lot of time hand stoning all the gears so that they meshed correctly.
Broken exhaust pipes were the most common reason for the team's non-finishes in Barcelona. The Metalistic bushes for the engine and the swinging arm were set up tight, but the pipes were rigidly attached and used to break. As a cure they used a length of flexible exhaust pipe and did away with the clamps. The pipes were pushed into the megaphones by several inches and the whole ensemble held on by spring clips.
Dave used to try out all these mods on the hack Commando he used for transport but one he couldn't test was the addition of a pair of slender downtubes to the Seeley frame, welded to the engine plates and clamped to the top frame rails behind the steering head. Vibration had caused cracking of the chaincase and the crankcase but the extra tubing cured all that.
Long distance races were a Gus Kuhn speciality and an outing for the whole family - especially Barcelona. Vincent entered Barry Sheene and Pat Mahoney in the 1970 24-hour race while Ron Wittich partnered Tom Dickie. The idea was for Pat and Barry to set a cracking pace to break the opposition while their team mates plodded on to finish and hopefully win. As it happened the 'tortoises' broke down and Pat and Barry were going strong until gearchange problems near the end culminated in the back of the gearbox falling of as Pat came into the pits.
Dave Sleat remembers the endurances as being very educational. He used to wander round the paddock noting all the clever mods that other teams had made. "You can learn a lot like that," he says. "Especially by looking at the bike that won."
The weak points of the Kuhn Commandos were the gearbox and exhaust. The clutch was very heavy and their last endurance Norton had the lighter Atlas clutch which had a shock absorber. It also had a roller bearing on the drive side of the layshaft, while a single chain replaced the standard Triplex. Dave spent a lot of time hand stoning all the gears so that they meshed correctly.
Broken exhaust pipes were the most common reason for the team's non-finishes in Barcelona. The Metalistic bushes for the engine and the swinging arm were set up tight, but the pipes were rigidly attached and used to break. As a cure they used a length of flexible exhaust pipe and did away with the clamps. The pipes were pushed into the megaphones by several inches and the whole ensemble held on by spring clips.
Dave used to try out all these mods on the hack Commando he used for transport but one he couldn't test was the addition of a pair of slender downtubes to the Seeley frame, welded to the engine plates and clamped to the top frame rails behind the steering head. Vibration had caused cracking of the chaincase and the crankcase but the extra tubing cured all that.
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