Daily Commando riders speak to me please

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Hobot

Hobot

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For several seasons in a row over a few years I essentially lived on my Commando. Hardly ever came straight home and explored gallons worth off hwy seeing wonderful vistas and meeting strangers attracted to the Norton. 90 yr old's dead to life's interest would jump off stools at rural stations and light up at memories it stirred.
If i'd not put off Trixie recovery for homestead projects she'd be the one taken down by goats. Carnage stress accumulates. I don't know if I'm stick to want to ride or just sick of fearing to. Tell me how you live on your Commando's please.
Daily Commando riders speak to me please

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1094415 ... 1179yyKlOC
 
hobot said:
Carnage stress accumulates. I don't know if I'm stick to want to ride or just sick of fearing to. Tell me how you live on your Commando's please.http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1094415 ... 1179yyKlOC
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How do I live on my Commando? Well I avoid aiming for wildlife for a start and I'm not trying to out-do Casey Stoner on the corners either. I go out on long solitary rides for the sheer bliss of it and stay off main roads. Sure, had some entertaining times funning with Jappers where the Commando excels but I don't anticpate beating them when the road straightens out. The only stress I get is running out of gas in some outback wilderness. I just need a bigger tank, and I'd be even happier.

Mick
 
My circumstances don't let me ride every day, (work van) so I shouldn't answer your question, But,

I find this Commando thing intriguing, and I can't help but like it.

I have always had Ducatis, mostly old ones. I like all of them for what they can do, make me smile. (and curse)

I've been favouring the Norton for the last few months due to old mans disease in my right wrist, (clip ons are out at the moment) and it has something about it that keeps me wanting to ride it.
It does Pi$$ me off too, with its faults. That should be character. Maybe they are my faults. Don't know but I do like it.

I would ride it every day I wasn't working on it if I could, I enjoy both.

graeme
 
I ride my Commando most days/evenings in the Summer and also in Winter as long as there is no salt on the roads. I have a few bikes including an old Triumph Thunderbird, Aprilia RSV4 1000, MV Agusta Brutale, Triumph Bonny 865(Hinckley), but I enjoy riding the Commando Mk2 Roadster best of all. I also use it much more than my other bikes, it is a lot more relaxed to ride and is great around the country lanes in my area as the handling is good, I have Avon Roadriders with 100/90/19 front and 120/90/18 rear. The engine is quick enough for this type of riding and I have a PW3 cam fitted which I feel improves acceleration so it will keep up with most around the lanes (if I want to!). There is no way that I would use the Norton for trackdays or fast road riding etc as I don't go much over 90mph on it even though it could easily go a lot faster. The modern bikes are much more suited to the faster stuff, however the Commando always feels quick enough on its own in the right environment.
 
I don't ride my Norton right now but ran it daily for a few years. If you don't beat on it and get a few of the issues ironed out it can be rewarding. It is easier to keep on top of the maintenance when your on it all the time. You tend to notice things that aren't right sooner. That being said, it wasn't commuting that was the problem, it was the weekend fun that left me stranded, pushing , kneeling on the side of the road tools in hand.
I was often pulled over for "visual inspection" by admiring cops and occasionally for burnt bulbs and speeding .
There are easier bikes to live with on a daily basis, some are soulless appliances, some aren't.

Slow down, don't ride faster than you can see. I know it's fun, but hitting the ground, goats, etc. isn't. Next time it could be someones child. Public roads aren't a racetrack. I feel like a hypocrite typing this but I haven't had nearly as many encounters with the ground as you have lately, maybe it's time for the hobot to cool off a bit. Or if you don't get yourself a cheap used dual-sport and flog it and crash it to your harts content.

Will
 
I've owned my Commando since new. At 23 and living at home with Mom it was daily transportation during Summer months. As time and life progressed priorities changed.. wife, kid, house, job... the bike became a sunny weekend treat to clear cobwebs from the mind rather than transport. Now later in life the Norton goes out as often as possible but only when there's no chance of rain. Sunny day rider? Ya, I guess. But I'll take it on vacation trips hundreds of miles without fear.

The Commando does everything well but doesn't excel at anything. Great torque, nimble handling, and classic styling that spans the ages. I have no desire to modify it into something it's not. Nor do I desire to do wheelies at 120 mph or scrape my knees in corners. I'm too old for that crap now. And it is what it is.

I live in a nicely paved semi-rural suburb. Steve, you live in a war zone with THE gravel and wildlife that wants to kill you. I can't give you any advice, as I can't relate. Ride on, brother.
 
Hey Hobot,
I too did a pavement slider back in 1985.
It took allot of courage to go out and throw a leg over her after sliding down the asphault 150'.
You are humbled after a mishap and have to psych yourself up shortly after the incident to ride again.
I just don't make the same mistakes again.
As an accident investigator with a suburban police dept I see my share of operator error.
Some as in your case is an environmental factor and very well unavoidable.
Most stuff occurs due to pilot error.
Ask the super bike riders who periodically leave the roadway.
In my specific incident I was fididling w/ a snap down face shield hence 1 hand on the bar when I hit a rut in the roadway that
placed a flat spot in an english steel rim. Yeah it was that hard I went down low side immediately w/o warning.
In my casee environmental w/ a tinge of operator error ie... 2 hands on the bars while driving.
Well helmets have improved w/ rachetting mechanisms now so no more face shields flying open when you turn your head anymore.
But I definitely keep two hands on the bars at all times now and that crash was in 1985.
Disect your ridng style and take the good out and discard the bad. Remember we are no longer 20 so it hurts more now.
I have so much time into the queen I wouldn't drive her carelessly today.
Advise from a man who had his posterior belt sanded by the hiway gremlin :shock:
Thee Marshal
 
Ahhhh, It helps to hear similar joys and scope of use and events as me.
I mostly write about the excessive states, in my early learning and testing curves.
Yet as wild as I seem I'm likely more scared all the time and tamer than most of you on mere commutes - as I KNOW every limiting crashing factor there is now and how close we always are too loosing it. My factory Combat is more than plenty for me to ride everywhere sanely 99.9% of the time. But for gosh states we don't live forever and in the right time and place for short intervals you bet I kick up my riding glee.

I have yet to crash doing the racer boy stuff in pubic. Two unintended-surprise excessive wheelies have hurt me and bike at a drag strip tire fold up and corner school Ninja leap. Corners are my thing so I don't ever miss them on my own NEVER EVER. But that's because I don't take stupid chances on silly corner cripples be it untamed Commandos or elite race bikes. Its the animal strikes and crazy traffic encounters I can't control, but I can dodge traffic like any of you do, just not the animal strikes out of the blue.

If I can't make a life on my 2 Commandos, being as safe as possible 99.9% of the time then will have to give up 2 wheels when I hit 60 in 1.5 yr.
With huge windscreen, bar shields only ice kept me off Combats, even almost freezing rain was fine to ride in a bubble of dry still air. At stops I froze till moving again. Over 100' F made too uncomfortable like hair drier blast, ugh.
My armored jacket has lots of vents and collar opens wide so it inflate for shade.
With heavy duty luggage rack and big hard bags I could carry car tires to fix, 100 lb of feed and almost as much in beer cases. Ms Peel had 3-three mud flaps to ride though thick and thin, 2 on either side of rear tire. Skid plate is fairly thin Al sheet to protect from tire grit blast and help part grass and brush and sometimes high centering which leaves dimples in it. Factory steel ones are too darn heavy, especially when picking back up.

Nothing not even great sex soothes me more than time on Commandos.
Safe Journeys
Daily Commando riders speak to me please
 
Have only had the current one two weeks but have got it out nearly every day. Owned my first waaay back in the mid 70's and rode that one every day it would run (and worked on it every day it didn't :cry: ), even made a living on it in S.F. for several months, worked full time picking up drawings and delivering blueprints...a great job until a main bearing went on my '69 Roadster.
 
i rode my 73 commando daily for 5 yrs - was my only transport, drove it to classes ever day, then afterwards to the swing shift at work. I did live in california at the time (SF), so never really saw extreme cold or hot days - though in the winter the gloves were never thick enough , and in the summer it seemed every traffic jam was a battle between splitting lanes or over heating. Looking back i think the bike let me down a few times - but was mostly little shit - water in the points cover, broken cables, stuff like that, and never for more than a day or two at most. i put about 15K on it during that stretch and i think during that time i learned alot about that bike -like always wearing heavy boots, and tightening everthing up about every 500-1000 miles or so and also the more you raced it the more you wrenched on it
I still have it 20+ year later, rebuilt 3 times, drive it only 1 or twice a week now - but still believe i could drive it daily if my body would allow it ( have reached my mid 40s is killing me!)
mike
 
GRM 450 said:
Wait till you reach mid 50's, then you'll wish you were mid 40's
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yes- guess it will be off with the clip-ons and rearsets, and start whining about fitting an electric starter - yikes!
 
Wait 'til you're in your mid 60's and you'll wish you were in your mid 20's.

Dave at 66
69S
 
Mid 20's ?
I'd have to look at old photo albums to even remember that.
I know I was very fast back then, and next year I would have been even faster back then !
 
1 don't out ride your abilities
2 don't out ride your bikes abilities
3 don't out ride the conditions
4 all three combined=disaster
 
1 don't out ride your abilities
2 don't out ride your bikes abilities
3 don't out ride the conditions
4 all three combined=disaster
Click to expand...

As good of advice as this is, it only covers some road fates and has nothing to do with the vast majority of my bad events. If ya think being mature with self talk to go slow, take it easy look before leaping and pussy foot around turns and traffic you can still be maimed or killed without any fault of you or your ride.
I quit cycling age 25 to 48 after I lost the P!! in Houston as was too crazy risks for me. Moved to Ozarks where more cycles are out than traffic and bugs thinking I could ride with only me to blame for boo boo's. Boy did that illusion get shattered. I hope yo'll remain in blissful ignorance I've lost. In my strange case I've saved myself more than injured by wild acts of excess power speed brakes and slides. Then had to clean pants and saddle.

Better tell Lawrence Grodsky what a fool he was to ignore the advice above.
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/archive/ind ... 10077.html
The news is already getting around but for those who have not heard, Rider Magazine contributing Editor and founder of StayinSafe Motorcyle Tours was killed Saturday evening while on assignment for Rider Magzine in Texas when he had a collision with a deer.

Lawrence Grodsky, a nationally known motorcycle safety expert and author who taught thousands of riders to handle themselves on the roads, died Saturday on his bike in Fort Stockton, Texas, after being hit by a deer.

Lawrence Grodsky and his girlfriend, Maryann Puglisi, in August 2005 as they prepare to leave Washington, D.C., for a ride through the mountains of Virginia.

He was 55, and had been on his way from a safety conference in California to Pittsburgh for his mother's 85th birthday, said his sister, Marcia Grodsky.

"Larry was the most talented, experienced and competent motorcyclist in the country, but this is the one thing he knew he couldn't do anything about," said his girlfriend, Maryann Puglisi, with whom he lived in Squirrel Hill and Washington, D.C., and who helped run his business.

"Just a few weeks ago he said to me, 'That's how I'm going to go, it's going to be a deer.' He could deal with all the idiot drivers, but at night when a deer jumps in your path, that's it and he knew that."
Click to expand...
 
Steve I use that advice for "myself" and it generally keeps me out of harms way. You are the one that started this thread asking for advice. Personally I don't care if you choose to ride otherwise or enjoy throwing yourself at the ground and hitting it, but I do find it rather weird and creepy that you seem to take great pleasure in displaying your pain and exaggerating your tales of woe to the world, but hey have at it pal it's entertaining sometimes. :roll:
 
Sorry I was misunderstood, I was seeking long term easy going daily commuting and errands and la la puttering around not balls to the walls concentrated extremes.
This is what I do 99.9% of the time and the .1% I do get wild I never miss as I know exactly what tires and chassis and my limits are, so sure I even leap over them in glee, in my own time and places. Its cattle truck-trailers pulling slowly in ways after they wave at ya, log skidders pulling logs out with chain across the ways on steep loose slope only escape is slow some before dropping in ditch, school bus driver pissed off and no regard with their right of way pinching ya off in tights, coming upon the grader over a crest with foot plus high berms where there ain't head size rocks tumbled all about, wash out ruts axle deep oblique to tire travel, wayward over loaded truck tipping into you lane on hwy tights and must run off edge to dodge, pulling down very steep hwy exit switch back no view of traffic coming till in their lane to do stoppie a 5 mph to avoid grill but no ground in reach to catch the rebound on drop back, leaf filled ruts-holes that snatch front right out form under going too slow to have ballistically made it past, exploding vultures suprised by such easy rates they didn't hear me till right on em, turkeys flooding into road like thrown medicine balls all around, mud flats that life and throw one end while grabbing and dragging down the other,
4 wheelers bonding out of woods into mid road while traffic on coming, in front and right behind, ditches and fence at edges, limb falls, stuff falling off passing trucks, people pulling out in front then lossing traction so don't get out of way as planned or suddenly do get traction and in you way sooner than planned, etc.

Its the low rpm torquey smooth cruise that appeals most to me, not manic panic states. I'd tended to visit people way more than when in cage. I tend to make side trips way more than when in cage or appliance cycles. I've lost some friends on cycles that chided me same way as here, taken out but not their fault.
Sick part in back of mind is having some feedback to reflect on if ever reading of another rider I once knew.

Safe Journeys
 
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