Evaluating the old parts on my Mk3

It's got only 5500 miles on the clock. Can I assume ( and we all know the meaning of THAT!) that my front and rear wheel bearings are still ok? If the shocks aren't leaking that they are ok? If it smoked on startup should I assume burning off sumped oil or did the Mk3 eliminate that and I should rebuild the innerds'? I'm sure I'll have some other decisions so are there other things that just drop dead over time on this machine and need to be replaced 'de rigueur'? thanks to one and all!

Hard to advise you on what is wrong without knowing what has already been upgraded or replaced on the bike over the years.

And by "wrong" I mean the bike is not running or braking properly (you refer to "if" it smoked on startup, which i take to mean that it actually does smoke on startup ??

But, if this helps, here is what I did to my Mark III when I bought it 4 years ago, with 14,000 miles on it and having been sitting most of the previous 15 years:

Repaired or Replaced right away:
- front and rear brake master cylinder rebuild - both were leaking so rubbers had to be replaced
- ditto for front and rear brake calipers - one was stuck, the other suspicious
- valve seals - bike would smoke on one cylinder after it got hot enough (about 10 minutes of riding)
- fork seals (leaking)
- tires (both were old and brittle)
- various fasteners that had rusted (with stainless)
- clutch plates (with Barnett plates). Old ones had become "varnished"

Upgrades which soon followed:
- Sparx 3 phase alternator and regulator/rectifier
- single 34 M Mikuni carb (bolt on and forget, in my experience), and accompanying K&N filter
- resleeved front brake master cylinder (big improvement - should have done it before I rear-ended that car!)
- heavy duty starter cables
- PCV valve on the breather line to the oil tank

What I delayed and should have done immediately:
- transmission lay shaft bushing (it died on me while riding, locking up the rear wheel, and luckily I was going 5 miles an hr in a parking lot)

I'm sure the smarter folks on this forum can suggest other things too.

Yes, what Keith said. And grease all the bearings (wheel,steering) replace all fluids. My mk3 was 12k miles. You won't stop there if you ride it regularly. If you get into the engine look for "D" rods, mine had one. Good luck. Graeme

I would say at a minimum a major service
replace old tires, oil and gas lines and oil and gas tank mounting rubbers
flush oil tank, new oil filter
change fork oil, new fork oil seals, check fork tubes for rust replace if necessary, new dust covers
repack all bearings, wheel and fork
inspect rear brake shoes
rebuild caliper and master cylinder
compression test
new plugs
gap points and set timing
adjust valves
adjust clutch
adjust primary chain
replace rear chain
new battery
rebuild carbs
lube speedo drive
lube control and speedo and tach cables
get lights and horn working
None of this will cost much in the way of parts unless you see something obviously defective. At that point I think I would just ride it a while and see what else needs to be replaced.
The oil burning could just be due to wet sumping. Try draining the sump before you start it next time.
Also, this will give you a good base line if you want to add things like electronic ignition and different carbs later.

Or if it all gets too much, pack it in a box and send to to me , I'll get rid of it for you.

I would just service it, oils, battery and all rubber, tune it and start riding it.

Fix it as you go or do a complete restoration, your choice, it is kind of pointless changing parts ( other than oils, battery and rubber ), as there may be nothing wrong with them.

Smoking engine, could be a number of things, have you done a compression check ?, does it smoke all the time or just on start after sitting for a while ?, are both cylinders smoking ?..

Thanks for all the suggestions; the bike as far as I know is totally stock except for a 2 into 1 exhaust. The last time it was started was right before I rebuilt the Amals, installed a Rita, and rebuilt the starter as a 4-pole. Then we moved 4 years ago, I lost my good fixit area, so it's sat. I did smoke on startup and I can't tell if one or both smoke due to to 2 into 1 exhaust. I planned to hone the cylinders as I'm going to have to remove the cylinders to paint the outsides and replace the rings. While sitting in the garage, it started to corrode but nothing else in the garage did. Brakes fore and aft are shot and I'll probably do the front master re-sleeve .

Speaking of the re-sleeve, has anyone done this at home with the kit?

The only thing out of bounds for replacement right now is the wiring harness, and I plan to refresh all the bullet connectors.

AS far as improvements, there was an article in one of the Classic Bike mags about improvements on Commandos which include most of the above suggestions. It's going to be a slow process. I hope in the end I can call it fun.

Bullet connectors,,,,,, I got rid of all mine and soldered wire to wire, hopefully no wiring issues for me.