Crashed Today

italia · Mar 27, 2021

Sorry Ken. Glad you're OK

xbacksideslider · Apr 5, 2021

Gosh, Ken, I didn’t know. Thank God you are better off than I am and that I seem to be recovering quite well. You are the senior Grandee Of the Southern California Norton riders and writers, at least as far as I am concerned. Furthermore you are probably one of the most knowledgeable in this part of the country about commandos. ThereforeI am quite concerned about your perpetual health and safety. LOL

Steve Highfield · Apr 5, 2021

Glad your not to badly damaged and it looks like the bike is gonna live to see another day also

lcrken · Apr 5, 2021

xbacksideslider said:
Gosh, Ken, I didn’t know. Thank God you are better off than I am and that I seem to be recovering quite well. You are the senior Grandee Of the Southern California Norton riders and writers, at least as far as I am concerned. Furthermore you are probably one of the most knowledgeable in this part of the country about commandos. ThereforeI am quite concerned about your perpetual health and safety. LOL

You're making me blush, John. Thanks for the kind words. It's really good to see you back on the forum. I took a couple of rides Saturday and Sunday on the other bikes, and didn't have any problems, so I think I'm almost back to normal now, at least for a 79 year old. It's not the same normal it used to be.

The bike is almost ready to go again. Just waiting for some cable bits from Venhill to make new throttle cables, and it will be back on the road.

Ken

lcrken · Apr 15, 2021

Latest update, the bike is back on the road again, and seems to work fine, other than the tach. I did 50+ mile ride today and really enjoyed it. Still some cosmetic damage here and there, and I still haven't managed to re-finish the windscreen, but I expect to get that done soon. These are pictures of the bike this morning, ready to go.

Ken

TonyA · Apr 15, 2021

lcrken said:
Latest update, the bike is back on the road again, and seems to work fine, other than the tach. I did 50+ mile ride today and really enjoyed it. Still some cosmetic damage here and there, and I still haven't managed to re-finish the windscreen, but I expect to get that done soon. These are pictures of the bike this morning, ready to go.

View attachment 79271

View attachment 79272

Ken

You weren’t down very long at all !

cjandme · Apr 15, 2021

TonyA said:
You weren’t down very long at all !

Ditto

lcrken · Apr 15, 2021

Yeah, it's nice to be able to enjoy the bike again. The shoulder is still healing, but fortunately, riding the bike doesn't irritate it.

Ken

Murph · Apr 17, 2021

lcrken said:
Yeah, it's nice to be able to enjoy the bike again. The shoulder is still healing, but fortunately, riding the bike doesn't irritate it.

Ken

Hi Ken, did you try to get the throttle cables from Norton first? What kit did you end up getting from Venhill? I would like to order one as a spare.

lcrken · Apr 17, 2021

Murph said:
Hi Ken, did you try to get the throttle cables from Norton first? What kit did you end up getting from Venhill? I would like to order one as a spare.

Norton parts department is still closed due to covid. No parts available from them. I contacted them, and that's the response I got back.

I didn't buy a kit from Venhill, just components. I recovered some of the hardware from the old cables, and ordered some new bits, mostly cable barrel ends and housing ends. I already had cable outer casing, inner wire, and some fittings from previous cable making, originally bought from Barnett decades ago. The twist grip part of the assembly was a used Yamaha style push-pull one I had as a take-off from another project bike. Venhill does sell a kit with similar parts that I could have used, if I hadn't already had so much stuff to use up.

This is the kit I would probably have used if I hadn't already had components. I would have bought a Yamaha style push-pull twist grip from Motion-Pro or one of the other suppliers.

Venhill Universal Motorcycle Dual Throttle Cable Kit | Venhill USA

The Venhill Universal Dual Throttle Cable Kit is a high-quality, "build-your-own" cable kit suitable for generally any motorcycle throttle application with a "push-pull" style, two cable throttle.

www.venhillusa.com

Ken

Fast Eddie · Apr 17, 2021

All manufacturing companies have been allowed to open for a long time now here. Now even retail is open, inc car and motorcycle dealerships.

I cannot really imagine what Norton’s excuse is for still being closed ‘for covid’.

Frankly, there must be other reasons...

Britfan60 · Apr 17, 2021

Sorry to hear about your crash, man. Been there done that when some asshole didnt want to miss his left turn so jumped in front of me and stopped. Didn't hit him. Did an endo and decided to jump off the bike for fear of leaving my nutsack on my handlebars before my head went through is beemers rear windshield. Like yours, cosmetic. Same scrape on the primary. A little ding on the tank, bent handlebars. Frame and everything was ok. The bike is built like a tank. So glad you are ok.

Vernon240 · Apr 17, 2021

Fast Eddie said:
All manufacturing companies have been allowed to open for a long time now here. Now even retail is open, inc car and motorcycle dealerships.

I cannot really imagine what Norton’s excuse is for still being closed ‘for covid’.

Frankly, there must be other reasons...

Yep, I don’t get the ‘closed because Covid’ story either. Everything is opening up and many companies have been doing business throughout. I can get spares from Theil in Germany, but not Norton uk. Seems overly cautious if Covid is the reason.

Onder · Apr 17, 2021

Here in the UK a lot of places aren't opening until second week of May.

lcrken · Apr 17, 2021

Well, if I'm lucky, the parts department closure won't immediately matter. I was trying to order a new tach and anew decat pipe. Fortunately, my welded repair on the decat pipe seems to work fine. The most surprising bit is that after a few miles of riding, the tacho starter working. It was erratic at first, but by the end of the ride seemed to be reading about right. I'll have to check it out some more, but maybe it healed itself.

Ken

Fast Eddie · Apr 17, 2021

Onder said:
Here in the UK a lot of places aren't opening until second week of May.

Yeah, hotels etc... NOT vehicle manufacturers !

I‘m sorry to sound pessimistic here but I think covid is a ‘cover’ for other reasons for delay in opening...

ntst8 · Apr 18, 2021

Fast Eddie said:
Yeah, hotels etc... NOT vehicle manufacturers !

I‘m sorry to sound pessimistic here but I think covid is a ‘cover’ for other reasons for delay in opening...

Cynical old me has had that deja vu all over again feeling for while with some of their announcements, very Garneresque in saying what people want to hear and then not much seems to happen. Hoping i am wrong this time.

Onder · Apr 18, 2021

Probably not.

EstuaryBoy · Apr 18, 2021

Mind you, given the parent company is Indian, and the Covid situation out there appears to be going loopy loo at the moment, there may be some substance behind their excuse??