Commando Street Scrambler questions

Also David, for my purposes anyway, an original machine is one that is in the same model style as shipped - and complete with no mods.
Changing tires, spark plugs, grips, etc, does not negate originality.
I suggest for example, that a certified original 1953 Corvette does NOT have it's original tires.

The seat for the '71 SS was different from any other Commando seat. It was shared only by the equally odd Hi-rider

Click to expand...

Really??? I think the only similarity is the taper at the front.

roberts1948 said:

I looked through my books and there is a road test and review of the s/s in cycle guide sept 1971 this has some great photos and also the bike they tested was a early one with a 21 inch front wheel. Look at the bike on my profile and that is a 21 inch now does that look correct,perfect with the high front fender

Click to expand...

Hi.
First SS had a19 inch front wheel!
Ciao
Piero

Obviously you're quite right about the Hi-Rider seat Ron.
I could pull that liberal political BS and say that I said that to see if anyone was reading the posts but, I screwed up.
I was typing so quickly that my brain fell behind.

In fact, to change an SS into a Hi-rider you need handlebars, a seat with suicide bar, longer cable set, stock Commando muffler brackets, headers and maybe a headlight (if your SS came with the slightly small version). I think that's it.

For those into the history of Norton, by 1971 the sales of Japanese bikes were really starting to hurt the British bike industry. I won't go into the reasons why the Jap bikes were more popular. That's a whole book in itself into the British manufacturing history and malaise. Suffice to say that some historians claim the reason the Japanese became such a worldwide manufacturing giant in such a short time is because of the atomic bomb.
However, the SS and the Hi-Rider, the subject of this thread, were the only two Nortons that were specifically designed for and exclusively sold to the US market (and Canada of course) AND they were the two poorest selling Nortons ever. No comment is needed.

I recall two new N. Commando SS came to Dunedin to Allan Crightons in Leith Street in 1972. They were sold as 1972 models and the brochure indicates the revised side panels different to the angular f/g 69 -71 side panels [were the new side panels steel at that point?]. The 72 range had deleted the halo ring. One SS was solid yellow gel tanked and one was solid Orange. Insulated styling strips on high pipes each side, high front guard and MCH 66 headlamps. Two brothers bought them .I have the actual shop brochure from Crightons and they were around $1575 NZ dollars making them a dear bike in comparison to the Triumph T120 R that was about $1350-75 NZ back in 1970 .I cannot recall the oil in frame Triumph prices for 72. It was a great shop; Robin Mathia's new 70 TR6c all covered in flour when they unpacked it from the crate. God it was something seeing that go up the Stuart Street extension past Otago Boys High School, and the sound those pipes made. Allan Bland had one of the first Commandos in Dunedin. It was a Fastback variant with two high pipes out the LHS side just as an S model. Silver large flat side panels and Ferrari bright red f/g Tank and rear cowl. The black wrap around seat. Cannot recall if the front light mounts were chromed or black? This bike was sold at the old Allan Crightons Shop in Moray Place Dunedin when Allan was an apprentice there.

derailled said:

I recall two new N. Commando SS came to Dunedin to Allan Crightons in Leith Street in 1972. They were sold as 1972 models and the brochure indicates the revised side panels different to the angular f/g 69 -71 side panels [were the new side panels steel at that point?]. The 72 range had deleted the halo ring.

Click to expand...

The change of side panel shape (still all fibreglass at that time, I believe) and deletion of the halo occurred at the beginning of 1971.

http://www.classicbike.biz/Norton/Broch ... mmando.pdf

https://andover-norton.co.uk/en/shop-drawings/3

Production of the 750 SS was supposed to have ended in October '71, the last, being 150723 so the SS doesn't appear in the '72 brochure.

http://www.classicbike.biz/Norton/Broch ... ochure.pdf