Barn Find Cafe 72!

Greetings, all, Newbie here. Last weekend I finally acquired a Commando, something I've wanted for years. This one is a 72 that has sat in a barn for 15 years or so. The owner says he started it every 2 or 3 years. He has owned it since the early eighties and used to ride it quite a bit. Engine # is 201700. Have not inspected the head yet to see if it is a Combat. Has just over 11,000 miles.

Needless to say this is a project. It's in reasonable shape and has good compression. It's been cafe'd, including a decent looking hand made aluminum tank and a fiberglass seat that is a little tatty but renewable.

Drained and replaced all fluids first thing and flushed the gas tank. Now I'm looking for a spark. The ignition switch has been replaced by a toggle and the headlight switch is the older 3 position type (center is off). It has one Lucas handlebar switch, right side, that feels a bit sticky.

Don't seem to be getting a ground (positive ground, right?) at the battery so i'll be inspecting the alternator and points as my next move. I'll have plenty of questions I'm sure as I get further into this.

Very tempted to replace the entire electrical system, charging and ignition, with modern components. This will be a bike for Sunday morning rides and coffee runs. Turn signals are not currently on the bike and I might leave it that way, but I'm thinking of installing a harness that will allow me to restore it to Fastback trim (including signals etc) in the future if desired.

Any suggestions as to the best electrical upgrades for long term reliability are welcome. Then we'll deal with the mechanical renovation, engine, tranny, seals, hoses, carbs, brakes, suspension. Once it's fully sorted, safe and reliable I'll make it pretty.

There seems to be a lot of knowledge on this forum and I look forward to being a part of it.

bredhead66 said:

There seems to be a lot of knowledge on this forum and I look forward to being a part of it.

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There are some really fine folk here. Welcome!

Welcome & congrads. Pictures please. The electrical upgrades all depend on what you want and there is a lot of good stuff available now. If I was you I would just try to get it running & then see what it actually needs. The 72's did not come with turn signals, that didn't happen until 73 as far as I know. If it has a disc brake up front you will need to have the master cylinder sleeved to 13mm so it actualy works or you can replace it with modern stuff. Get a manual and a parts book and learn the good places to buy parts. I recomend Oldbritts for parts and they have a huge amount of knowlage on their website. One of the best ways to learn is to use the "Search" function on this forum. Just type in anything you want to learn about & read the discusions, I had a 72 & like the way they are more nimble than the later 850 frames. Differant headstock angle. Anyway enjoy it & post some pictures if you can.

Hanen't figured out the posting thing yet, but here's a photobucket link

http://s1066.photobucket.com/albums/u40 ... mando1.jpg

I don't see an oil tank in this photo, unless it is a non-standard unit that isn't obvious don't start the bike without making sure you have a good source of oil for the engine.

I removed the side covers but the oil tank is still there. It looks like you can see right through the frame where the oil tank should be, But that is actually the battery in front of the black oil tank.

Think I got the image loading process figured out. Here are a couple more









She ain't much to look at but she's mine all mine.

Very nice! That will clean up good.

Looks like someone made a cafe-style bike. Never seen that tank before, looks like it was patterned off the Proddy tank.

Good job.

I'm pretty happy with it for the $2500 I paid. PO said it had about 11,000 miles and I don't see why I should doubt that. It's clearly been ridden and enjoyed but I don't think it's ever been left outside for long. Rims and hubs are pretty good, even the headlight bucket is decent.

It looks like someone added a gusset to the head tube when they painted the frame; I'll post a picture of it when I get home from work tonight. The overall impression I have is that any mods were done pretty well. I have yet to hear the "custom" exhaust, though...

I would like to find someone good to hammer out the tank, there is a crease in the left side. It's pretty well made and worth keeping. Tailpiece is growing on me, too, decent proportions, decent job of padding and covering, needs a good wet sanding and repaint. I'll do this when I do the frame, but first I want to see how it runs.

Hope to come up with a spark soon... might have time to dig further in to it tonight.

bredhead66 said:

It looks like someone added a gusset to the head tube when they painted the frame; ......

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A word of caution. Something to look for is whether this is one of the earlier "widowmaker" frames. The lower triple clamps look like an earlier version and frame tags can be easily swapped. The "widowmakers" were the earliest of the Commando frames circa 1968/1969 and were notorious for the front down tubes breaking near the head steady at the bottom of the head steady to down tube gusset. Some or all of the fastbacks came with this flawed frame.


Looks like you have a nice starting point. There are a few panel beaters I can recommend to straighten out the crease in your gas tank; Andrew Cowell and/or Dick Gambino are two names that come to mind. They work magic. I would save the tank straightening till last, something like hanging the ornaments on the tree when ready. Sort out the course mechanical stuff first and see what really needs tending to. If possible, get it on the street for a summer of shake down and breakdown testing and then you will know what needs attention.

Hi, Great looking bike, love the tank.

My '71 when I reasurected it had tha old style triple trees like yours, I rode it for a while with them. When I replaced them with the 850 style so I could add the oil pressure gage handling drasticlly improved. The 850 trees have a different geometry that reduces trail and makes the handling much lighter. I definitely recommend the upgrade. I am very pleased with my handling now.

john

I'm confused about your post jnstrong. I've owned three Commandos, a 68 Fastback, a 72 Dunstall wannabe and my current 73 850. Seems to me the 850 is more stable at high speed but defenetly does not have lighter steering. I remember my 72 as being much quicker to steer then my 850 & both have the same set up with clippons & rearsets. Is the headstock angle also differant?

Good news from the garage tonight.

A little exploration with a wiring diagram and meter, some emery cloth and a needle file and I was able to come up with a nice blue spark. Put the tank back on (I flushed it last weekend while changing all the fluids), turned on the taps, tickled the Amals, ignored a couple leaks from the old lines and took a couple good jabs on the kickstart.

And damn, the old girl fired up!

She sounded good, no smoke to speak of, and actually settled in to an idle. This I did not expect. I let it run a few seconds before shutting her down... I want to see oil coming from the return line before running it more. And I've got to do some work on the front brake before taking her down the road , but I can't wait to see how the clutch and tranny are doing.

My plan for this summer is to slowly check the bike out , getting it into basic running order and getting a real sense of its condition. Making improvements as needed.

I will need tires ASAP. Any recommendations?

Very gratifying to hear it run. And that exhaust sounds OK, not as loud as I expected.

Cosmetics will be the last thing I focus on. First I want to build a bike that runs reliably and handles the way I like, then I'll take it down to the frame and make it pretty. And, yeah, that tank could be a very cool crown on a fully sorted bike.

Here are some pics of the frame gusset. I'm a little curious about the Widowmaker thing...

Interesting collection of parts from what it looks like several different years. Be aware of that as you're ordering parts. It would be best to identify all the major parts and what year they are from. For example you'll want to know what year the frame is from if you're looking for center stand parts.

The frame is gusseted on both the headstock (good) and the down tubes (unusual).

bredhead66 said:

Here are some pics of the frame gusset. I'm a little curious about the Widowmaker thing...

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That actually is a very early Commando frame (and btw they did not have VIN tags but had the nos punched in old style, at least some(most?) of them) and thus it originally started life as a widowmaker. The half-round bracket underneath the top tube is the original part - the lower tube and the gusset on the front legs are later add-ons. To be honest they don't look like the best craftsmenship at all however the problem has at least been adressed already. I'd at least think about getting the frame down to bare metal and have a very close look at the welds.

Andover Norton offers new replacement frames if you want to be absolutely sure.



Tim

The quality of the welds is visibly questionable, for sure. I'll be checking that area more thoroughly when the bike comes completely apart. A frame swap is not out of the question... my title is based on the engine # anyway.

Here's a pic of my 69/70 frame. I'd say you have the widowmaker frame that's been repaired, but I'm no expert there. Main difference after 70 is mounting of the side stand and centre stand. Centre stand on 69/70 on frame, 71 up on cradle.



Dave
69S

Did a little more exploring and found my master cylinder leaks. I'll be rebuilding and a previous post mentioned something about sleeving it. Is this a worthwhile mod and if so who does it in the midwest? I'll probably upgrade to stainless lines and rebuild the calipers too. Anything else I should consider while the wallet is open?

Carbs are leaky and, most likely, worn. I'm trying to decide whether I should put money into them or into a dual Keihin flat slide set up. Want to stick with duals. Past experience with barn finds has proven that a new carb setup is a major headache reducer so I'm leaning toward the Keihins. Is there an advantage, other than originality and character, to resleeving the Amals?

More questions to come. I can't wait to get the leaks patched up so I can take her down the road.