British Wiring

Last night I decided to commission my 72 combat for the season. I filled the tank with gas and drained the sump before pushing it out of the garage. After about 10 kicks she was running great and idling on her own. I decided to run her up and down my driveway which is long enough to hit 3rd gear. I hadn't run her since I replaced the layshaft bearing last fall.

Going down to the road every thing was fine, when I turned around to start back up to my house she started to sputter. She was running rough and when I shifted into 2nd she sputtered and died (at the bottom of the hill!)

Fortunately my brother in law who lives next door saw me pushing her up and came to lend a hand. Bike was dead, no lights, nothing.

I took the seat and side cover off and saw the battery had come loose and slid back in the box stressing the main fues holder which separated and the fuse came out. I always keep extra fuses in with my tool kit so o got one out and noticed the one side of the Lucas inline fues holed was broken. I figured I'd have to wire in a replacement, but checked Old Britts website. I didn't see a new fues holder listed although I didn't look around too long. I did a Google search and found a company called British Wiring that had the whole assembly in stock with the 35 amp fuse for $5.50. It turns out they're 3 miles from my house!

I stopped by and picked one up tonight and it's an exact replacement wired to the correct blue brown wire. They have wiring harnesses and components for a lot of Nortons not just Commandos, and also other British bikes. Their sister company Triumph Rescue restores all kinds of British cars and trucks. Both companies have websites worth a look.

Glad the shoe eve mischief over winter nights hit in drive way but learned a number of times them glass fuses looking fine installed and those stored in took kit jarred to malfunction plus fuse holders tend to break up every few tire changes in my area so now shun them for modern blade type. Still its what Norton issued so best owner learn to live with their warts and quirks.

Nice find. Heres a Heatshrink kit ($10) I picked up a while ago. Great for makingyour splices color correct http://www.countycomm.com/heatshrink.html

British Wiring...Great products and people..

that heat shrink kit is a great find also. I'm going to order one.

A little off topic but appropriate:

If you want to label your connections, use a Brother Label Maker machine, then place a sleeve of transparent shrink tube over the label and shrink. Without the shrink sleeve, the label is sure to "flag" or unravel.

I label the connections with the Norton factory color codes .... Example, brown with blue trace is NU.

Slick

Back in 1981 I was crossing the Pennines in April in a blizzard. ( the Pennines are the Brit equivalent of the Rockies ………………..oh well, nearly) My battery was retained by a bungee and decided to move around a bit and shorted to earth. Lots of smoke, off with the seat quick and the main earth lead running up the spine was red hot disappearing under the fibreglass tank. I just grabbed a handful of hot wires and yanked the whole lot out.
The battery has been properly screwed down ever since. (not the same battery)

The wiring harnesses for the Commando were made by Lucas, which makes electrical stuff for most of the UK motor industry. The Norton stuff was below the radar in terms of annual quantity. The amount of mistakes we found was ridiculous.

I tried to get management to set up a small electrical shop to do them in-house, but they wouldn't dare reject Lucas! Their nickname "Thr Prince of Darkness" was appropriate for many years! They're still in business (I think) so someone must have turned things around.

Lucas may well be the same as Triumph: jack up the name plate and roll in a new concern underneath!

if you think Lucas is bad you need to work some old Italian stuff, now there stuff gives a new meaning to prince of darkness.

frankdamp said:

I tried to get management to set up a small electrical shop to do them in-house, but they wouldn't dare reject Lucas! Their nickname "Thr Prince of Darkness" was appropriate for many years! They're still in business (I think) so someone must have turned things around.

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