Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: 2014 Rebuild is finally on

Havent been on here in a long time. No reason to as my bike has been in bits in pieces for about 4 years. A move across the usa and back hasnt helped.

Regardless, here I am and here the story unfolds over the course of the next few months.

I took the bike off the road after someone tapped me in a parking lot and put a kink in the rear seat loop so much that the fender was not lined up and my ass felt slightly off center.

I am going to be doing a complete paint job and a half restoration as a LOT of this bike was perfect before I took it off the road.

Here she is as I was taking her apart (I got the smarts to snap a pic after the exhaust was off


Here it is the day I got it in 2002. It was found in a local shop in the basement for a long time. The owner of the shop said the owner had passed and it had been left to the shop. He brought it up, cleaned it up and a week later I drove this home.


The bike has reasonable modifcations to it, or so what I deem reasonable.
-750 pipes with no crossover
-Sparx ignition
-Belt drive
-Kawasaki headlight thats cheap, plastic/chrome, bright, super light, and not sealed. Love it.
-Tomaselli adjustable clipons
-Corbin seat (made custom for me, being FREE of any animal products or hides. Vegan.)
-Single Mikuni carb

Upon reassembly, I dont plan on doing much other than clean this up and clean that up, and get bits powdercoated and polished by my friend Jay who runs The Shine Lab ( http://www.facebook.com/That.Shine.Lab ).

Ill update this as progress continues.

Hopefully I can find time between wrenching on my 84 Audi, my 87.5 Audi, my 81 GPz 550, and life. But I am desperate to get this thing back on the road.

Thanks for listening!
Mike

Re: Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: The resto begins

You must be feeling very excited knowing that you'll soon be back at the helm.

I am excited for you and feel fortunate that you are sharing it with us.

Nice to meet you, Driggs.
Peter

Re: Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: The resto begins

pvisseriii said:

You must be feeling very excited knowing that you'll soon be back at the helm.

I am excited for you and feel fortunate that you are sharing it with us.

Nice to meet you, Driggs.
Peter

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Thanks Peter.. Its Mike btw. Pleasure to be back on here!

Re: Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: The resto begins

first things first. the sparks ign needs to go in the round file. they have shown to be VERY UNRELIABLE.
the belt drive is one of the best things you can for the transmission.
the single mik is also a good thing for a daily rider. KISS principle
as for the Audi's, well with 2 of them you have a full time job keeping them on the road and I don't see much spare time for the Norton :lol: :lol:

Driggs said:

-Sparx ignition
-Belt drive

-Single Mikuni carb



Hopefully I can find time between wrenching on my 84 Audi, my 87.5 Audi,

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Re: Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: The resto begins

Haha. The Audis are great! Never an issue!

I was thinking of pickin up the new old britts ignition system they have.

I love my belt drive. Err loved it for the limited time I rode it.

Re: Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: The resto begins

Your carb looks like a single amal in the photo.

Re: Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: The resto begins

RennieK said:

Your carb looks like a single amal in the photo.

Click to expand...

In the first photo there is a MAP to Mikuni single

In the second photo there is dual Amal's. That was when I picked the bike up. It was 100% stock.

Re: Driggs' 74 850 Roadster: The resto begins

Uncovered my tank after 3 years of being in storage. Orignal paint still looks great



Got some tools in the mail via craigslist.


(Above are some locking lugs for my Audi's BBS wheels, Timing belt kit for the Audi, Whitworth spanners, and a european bumper straight from Germany for the Audi)

Picked up some Ko-Ken sockets for Uber cheap

I really slacked off the last few years.

BUT NO MORE

I am now out in Oregon. Rebuild and organizing will start this week.

Going to get the frame perfectly measured and then I will start painting and slowly rebuilding.

Ill be keeping this thread updated. And probably asking questions because its been years since I wrenched on the norton, and my mind is full of old audi and kawasaki measurements, parts and methods.

Be aware that most of the fasteners on a Commando are UNF in the cycleparts.
And a few stray UNC, although the bolt head sizes are same same...
AF wrenchs rule, OK ??

Engine/gearbox is a bit more mixed, with some UNF and some British Cycle 26tpi.
They are whitworth hex head sizes - and like to be torqued to spec...

Look forward to progress reports.
Have fun !

Rohan said:

Be aware that most of the fasteners on a Commando are UNF in the cycleparts.
And a few stray UNC, although the bolt head sizes are same same...
AF wrenchs rule, OK ??

Engine/gearbox is a bit more mixed, with some UNF and some British Cycle 26tpi.
They are whitworth hex head sizes - and like to be torqued to spec...

Look forward to progress reports.
Have fun !

Click to expand...

Thanks Rohan.. I have rebuilt this norton before, in 2004 and also a few triumphs since then. I know all about the mix match of bolts/hardware.

Years ago I bought a ton of sets of hardware that was the proper threads and pitch, but all had metric heads on them instead of the mixmatch that comes with the bike. Ill have to see if that company is still in business. I believe they were out of Massachusetts.