Dreer VR880

And, we notice, no one answered the question about whether Dreer engines used heavier pistons/rods, that they needed more metal in the crank to get them balanced. ?
Or if the balance factor was different, and needed more metal to counterbalance ??

Finally, yes finally, we notice that when JPN went racing Commandos SOME 40+ YEARS AGO NOW, they upgraded the brakes, wheels, suspension, gearbox, engine, frame, carburation, exhausts, etc etc etc.

What does that tell us about how suitable the basic Commando was for racing/performance work ??? And 40 years on, folks are still struggling with this concept !!!!

Well that was clear as mud,. You must have a lot of time on your hands,

myself,,,, me ,myself and I, are going out to my shop to sort old motorccycle parts and basket cases, try and make a co-hesive and organized pile of a huge pile of motorcycles and parts, before my wife turns me in to one of those Hoarders TV shows..

I got some cool pix you you laddies ill get up here one of these days, but shop work takes precedence.

Those who do do,, those who cant ,,, well, i suppose theres forums for that. Get out and ride, winters coming in this hemisphere.

anyone who includes these two in the same sentence hasn't been reading this forum much, or has been sniffing the glue heavily :shock:

DaveSmith said:

..... It was the first superbike and some people, like Hobot and Kenny Dreer, view them as that.....?

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No glue sniffing. I've never met hobot in real life. Maybe he doesn't exist at all. But from what I've read about what he does to his bikes, he's a lunatic in a good way. Kenny was trying to sell bikes. Hobot just works on his own. I meant my statement in a rather broad way not as a direct comparison. Now I'm reminded why I avoided posting for 5 years.

What oil do you use?

didn't mean to hurt your little feelings (honest!) - just sometimes there are those that talk and those that do...

seeing as you have had 5 post assumed you were new to the forum, sorry, i shall sit in the corner for the rest of the night :roll:

Is my laptop camera on? Thanks for noticing my tears. I may be little, but I'm tall for a midget. I can't tell how much of the drama on this board would actually happen if we were all sitting around a pub drinking beers and bench racing.

Stop racing your Norton, hobot and stick to your Suzuki! That's what Kenny Dreer did. He's down to 7.02 in the quarter with his Suzuki.

I like where your heads at Dave.

DaveSmith said:

I I can't tell how much of the drama on this board would actually happen if we were all sitting around a pub drinking beers and bench racing.....

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ha - damn good point!~ :mrgreen:

bad thing about the written word is sarcasm/humor etc if often lost in translation

internetannoyance said:

Well that was clear as mud,. You must have a lot of time on your hands,
etc

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More empty words - and still nothing to back up anything.
We are starting to think empty words is all we are going to get.

Clear as mud ?
Nortons had known for decades that their crank wasn't the best for racing, knew it all too well 40 years ago, tell us something we don't know. ? Show us these amazing 'defective' cranks that are throw away items ??

10 minutes is lots of time ??
Most folks can spin their coffee out longer than that...

Gosh Dave, what an honor for hobot to be called out for loving pressing Commandos beyond expectations in same vein and post as Kenny Dreer! What we tend to forget is the Commando was stop gap design til Norton could come up with something to leap ahead of the rest of the world again - and they did, eventually - with the rotary engine and chassis. At least its been pointed out how much finance and politics crippled full potential of the designed product. Very pleasing to read history and hear tales of our old clunkers more than holding their own rather past their golden era design. The jump rope crank is the weakest link to limit rpm in Commando engines yet plenty of examples of them winning against more moderns by spinning over 8 grand like TC indestructible essentially stock component engines and desert and road racers pressing to 8500 to walk away form the inline 4 wonders even with some extra cubes on tap. Honda CB 750 was impressing the world by 1968 with mid 60's hp yet that was the first year of 5 in a row the Commando was bike of the year and can't tell ya how many tales I've heard of 750 Commandos whipping up on them in bee line and snakey curves all w/o the buzz of the valve train annoyance when just flowing along. Kenny Dreer is a God to me in his character and risk taking, like explorers that blizzards and hurricanes outside their control simply overwhelmed.

Recently I've finally gotten as much time on Commandos as I've had on my boney SV650, only gotten because of how much time and lesions to correct what was found wrong in pre-Peel Combat that was in constant use as show room demo hot rod and then a few owners who continued - extended its fame in the surrounding counties known for their boot legging fast craft tradition. When I got good enough on SuVee to out corner more powerful bikes of similar mass I took Code's School to lean traction limits on pavement to see if THE Gravel travel applies, boy howdy does it! Ninja 900's was so impressive compared to pre-Peel I gave up on long term vision of Norton and just wanted to get it running and sold off to put into a real hot rod and leave the squirming obsolete to the old farts that can't even keep up with well ridden lumbering Harleys that abound here. Last I rode SuVee was to deliver to a friend in city to use and flash on how torquey smooth it felt, for first few miles to 70'-80's, then a few miles more the buzz began to annoy and its lack of pull over that where a good Combat is just starting to catch its second wind. When I fielded pre-Peel with Tri links, she flat disappeared to my sensation and almost blinded me in corner G's blood drain well beyond anything I'd experienced prior and she spoke her name to me the next day in cage still tingling in disbelief of the bone/joint imprinted G's. I now class SuVee and all the other wanta bee's as twangy mis-tuned dangerous buzz bomb corner cripples that can't handle forward leaps w/o wheelie cut backs, at least to point my ole clunker ran out of hp.

So much as I look up to all the racers and developers my plan is to just add excessive torque spike engine and remove some mass then put Norton name back in the news with UN-Apporachable in the headline. The tri-links transformed my world view of power handling and so simple even a cave man can do it so any timid novice can thumb his nose at balloon tire wonders in any leaning conditions. Then we just need to source a updated blower to stick on to carry the games past 150 mph w/o exceeding 7000 rpm. I have little respect for what a breast and head links do as still run into the evil hinging , at rather faster excitement horrors, so Peel's whole being hinges on the rump rod, which should allow side cars safely too.

Personally if I was going around the world I'd pick a Commando engine as so world wide supplied and supported and instant ice breaker even armed troops would be dis-armed to give you a helping hand for safe passage on such a hopeless clunker un-expectingly making its way on and on and on... sounding so good like a real motorcycle should. I'd bet you could be supplied almost free with parts and support and constant attention if fielding a globe trotting Norton Commando.

Dave Smith you are a God to me too as risk taking - make one life time enough- spit in the face of God on riding fates into the unknown. I'm thinking about putting my ashes in a Commando gas tank with plug in to play photos and video and links to online archives to be ferried around biker bars and rallys by other crazies that get off on flaunting the wondering flying fickle finger of fate trophy. You'd sure be a hard show to top don't ya know. Its raining now and coldish and no desire to get on Trixie or SuVee but its the prefect conditions for me and Peel to free so alive as already know how dry and warm she keeps me as long as flying faster than the rain and wind its uncanny comfortable confusing to others gap jawed at the crazy dude, but no one yet knows but me what they are so close to missing out on...

Thanks, Hobot! I think that was 20 bucks well spent by me!

Damn, that was supposed to be a private message. Just ignore that everyone.

Commando side car teasers here to leave ya more restless Dave.

post71487.html?hilit=sidecars#p71487

internetannoyance said:

Actually, Me and another fellow had a nice visit with Mr Dreer today, 3.5 hours of the mans valuable time... I was rather amused when reviewing a VINTAGE custom Commando he is nearly done with for a well known TV star, but the bike, while stunning in every respect, was largely stock internally....

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Doesn't surprise me at all.
Exchanging e-mails with him a few years back and he commented he tried to bring Modern day performance from a Vintage design but was unsuccessful. Hence the new design.
Then he commented the Norton is a nice bike and should be enjoyed as it is. I was stunned, he had gone full circle.

I'm curious, did you notice what carb / carbs he was using?

MichaelB said:

Then he commented the Norton is a nice bike and should be enjoyed as it is. I was stunned, he had gone full circle.

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All he had to do was ask here, most here could have told him that ?!!

MichaelB said:

internetannoyance said:

Actually, Me and another fellow had a nice visit with Mr Dreer today, 3.5 hours of the mans valuable time... I was rather amused when reviewing a VINTAGE custom Commando he is nearly done with for a well known TV star, but the bike, while stunning in every respect, was largely stock internally....

Click to expand...

Doesn't surprise me at all.
Exchanging e-mails with him a few years back and he commented he tried to bring Modern day performance from a Vintage design but was unsuccessful. Hence the new design.
Then he commented the Norton is a nice bike and should be enjoyed as it is. I was stunned, he had gone full circle.

I'm curious, did you notice what carb / carbs he was using?

Click to expand...

Yep, Single carb, plus upgraded ignition, Dyna Coil,, etc etc,, this bike was very cool, some Atlas parts, some fast back parts, started life as a 1969,
We took a bunch of pictures, shop, parts, projects. The bike in question will be a major media event here shortly, the owner wants Dreer to appear on TV with him, and multiple magazines want to feature it. Kenny wasnt so excited about all that. Isnt so sure he wants to be in the spotlight.
I discussed a deal where id supply him a few bikes per year as baskets out of my inventory. Sell them rebuilt Kenny style as spec bikes.
He isnt interested in working on other peoples stuff, Much the same way i feel after running a shop and managing another,, I have a circle of people I like to deal with and prefer to be left alone other than that.

I think you will see Kenny going in that direction as well, his main focus is drag racing, and he will be doing some work with our local museum.


My asistant will be gone most of the weekend, but when he gets back the plan is for him to train me on the technical aspects of cut and pasting urls so i can post a variety of peektures, I used to do it in the early eBay days but its a PIA and im lazy about posting on the web.

I will post some pix of the custom bike Kennys doing (plus some other cool stuff) but im not going to post everything, As i said, some major players in media want to feature it, so im not interested in pee'ing in some one else's cheerios. Kenny for many years has been very generous with me his advice and help so I have to be respectful of that.

Wait till you guys see the amazing stuff Sir Eddy has been up to! I got a load of pix of that mechanical genius, plus sometime soon ill do a series of pix on engine blue printing by the master himself,
In the meantime, look on eBay for Sir Eddys castings, Pure works of art, points covers, rocker covers, and side oilers, a bargain at twice the price
CNW wanted a few years back to work a deal to be the exclusive distributor, it didnt work out, Eddy offered to sell the whole operation and the casting dies, instead they wanted Eddy to continue to produce them but let them market them. CNW seem like good people but sometimes things dont work like we want.
In the interim ol' Eddy isnt going to be making many more of these, so get them while you can. Im making a deal with him for 4 sets as I dont want to miss out if they arent availible later. Time to warm up that credit card, get 'em while you can

Rohan said:

MichaelB said:

Then he commented the Norton is a nice bike and should be enjoyed as it is. I was stunned, he had gone full circle.

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All he had to do was ask here, most here could have told him that ?!!

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Seriously???? Kenny Dreer would ask you for advice? bwahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, i vowed to ignore your posts, but I couldnt let that one go,,, snicker,haha,, you kill me, wow.

Hey all joking around aside, theres a few people on here i really respect, Ken Carnaga, Mr Magyar, Kenny "The rocket man" Cummings and some others,
but come on, Guys like Sir Eddy, Dreer, and others set new frontiers and push the envelope. They for the most part dont go on here or other forums to figure that stuff out.

get out in the shop there sparky,,, im turning this internet black hole time sucker off and going to the shop for the rest of the day,. I suggest you do the same.

So he spent 20 years figuring this out for hisself, when we could have told him that in 2 minutes...

Paul Dunstall and Gus Kuhn probably could have told him the same too, since he was basically following in their footsteps. They figured it out 40 years ago, too...

Rohan said:

All he had to do was ask here, most here could have told him that ?!!

Click to expand...

MichaelB said:

Then he commented the Norton is a nice bike and should be enjoyed as it is. I was stunned, he had gone full circle.

Click to expand...

Hey, this is a FORUM right? [A jolly good one too, I.M.O.]
& If the information posted is valid, then what difference does it make who posts it anyway?