First Ride in Many Years

Yesterday I was able to ride my old 1972 Commando 750 for the first time in 12 years. This is a project that I have been working on off and on for 20 years. I bought the bike in what I thought was rough looking but good running shape to have something to work on while I restore the 650 Triumph. I hauled it into the shop for a weekend's work and found more & more wrong with it. It wasn't too long before the poor old Triumph got pushed aside until the Norton was finished . . .

The project expanded to become a complete rebuild including a new crank, Superblends, pistons, primary chain, trans bearings, swing arm bushes, Mk III isolastics and many other new and modified bits. The bike was built to be better than new, or as good as I could make it anyway!

I ran the bike about 700 miles mostly with the local chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club and it developed a number of issues that needed to be addressed, the worst of which was a speed wobble that developed and got worse on my last ride. The thing tried to chuck me off on the Santa Ana Freeway and it went right back in the shop to await its day in the sun.

The wobble turned out to have been the circlip on the rear dummy axle coming loose and allowing the rear hub to go its own way independent on my wishes. Other issues were addressed also including a very heavy clutch.

Prior to the ride, we installed a Barnet 850 clutch with the 850 pressure plate and the pull was reduced but is still rather heavy. Even worse, there is almost no free play at the lever and it engages right off the bar. At the end of the ride, the clutch was dragging and neutral was hard to select. This is going to need more attention.

The speedo which had been overhauled by Nishonger, equipped with a new cable and drive unit packed up after wobbling its needle a bit. We found the drive cable had come undone at the gearbox unit. It was reinstalled but the needle still swings in 20 mph arcs. Something is amiss here!

There were a few other minor issues to be resolved but the overall impression was just how good a motorbike a Norton is. It is light, powerful and inspires great confidence. It wants be ridden with spirit and not just plodded along. I had a new 1970 model that made a lasting impression, nothing since has measured up. Here are a few snaps taken before & after the first ride. The bike is still not done, but it has reached a new milestone.











Vintage Paul

Hehe, see you still cling to quaint Triumph paint schemes, but I like its beautiful difference from routine.

Be scared of the dumbass axle now your strained it at speed. Serous consider a way to trap RH axle up against its adjust and from working out of hub if this 850 don't already have such a safety factory feature.

Consider poking out the factory restictor in master cylinder to get a more easy effective front brake.

Practice tighter and tighter lower and lower circles in good traction parking lot to get sense of lean limits and secure balance of it. Will come in handly as you creep up attacking turns at speed. Just beware long held powered sweepers as that is what upsets C'do the most or any bike for that matter.

C'do's are very tire and pressure sensitive, so plan on that for fuller fun flings.
I just ride around few 100 miles safe as I can before creeping up on this or that flinging fun, seems innate sense of balance builds up by then to better handle the recoveries surprises to file away to avoid forever more. I'm about 700 miles into a few years off Commando and just this weekend finally got able to scape pegs ends off in parking lot, then axle broke, but better slow than flying around the Mt. twisties. C'do's can feel darn good going hard into turns till pavement gets lumpy mid way then all hell can break loose. Bring back fun tales in on piece.

The red accents give it a nice look.

Jean

No "run-of-the-mill" Commando, to be sure.

Great to be out and about again!

hobot said:

Consider poking out the factory restictor in master cylinder to get a more easy effective front brake.

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Looks like a TLS front brake to me Steve.

Your clock problem is probably the cable. Make sure it doesn't poke out past the nut when installing on clock and is lubed properly.

Your clutch pack may be too high, you may have to relieve the height somehow. You want it to just come up to the large circlip. There is no reason to have a bad clutch or heavy on the Commando.

Dave
69S

I really like the look of the bikes from the 30s, 40s & 50s. Chrome was used as an accent rather than as a major theme in the color scheme so I painted many parts that were originally chromed on the Commando. When folks see it they often think it is older than it actually is, OK by me. Norton was really building an updated antique bike even when it was new so it all looks right to my eye.

The clutch is an issue. It was very heavy before and now with its 850 upgrade it is lighter but still rather heavy. One of my fellow Notoneers who recently had a fistfull of it said there is something wrong. It does not have the overcenter feel like his 850 does. That combined with the lack of free play & dragging indicates that I have got something wrong someplace.

I can lube the cable again, it was last done only 700 miles ago, but it was done in the mid nineties, perhaps the grease has dried out . . .

Vintage Paul, still over the moon about that Sunday ride!

ugh ok didn't expand photo to see the front hub.

As stated correct stack just allows spring to slip in groove w/o further slack or any shoving pressure to seat. Might peer in at the cable ball lever, that can slide off and still sorta work but harder. MIght just be rusted up rod in main shaft. Grease coats helps its oil drool to clutch plates. Cable route and its condition matter too. Pressure plate is what is usually altered if stack not quite right. Check clutch hub splines for wavey wear and re stack clutch plates feeling for the smoother 'rounded' stamped edge facing inward so spring can have its way closing and hand can over come opening up. Clutch plate teeth should not be pointy.

Hats off to you, Hudson29!! Nice job, I'm Jealous......have you concidered the hydraulic clutch conversion? Cj

Took a 3rd look to notice the '47ish chevy pu. Neat, I put a lot of time in those and theres a few still going where I live and work. My ride buddy Wes has the long bed one ton version.

cjandme said:

Hats off to you, Hudson29!! Nice job, I'm Jealous......have you concidered the hydraulic clutch conversion? Cj

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I really know little about the hydraulic conversions beyond that they are expensive and add an extra system to the motorbike, always a risky thing on a bike that vibrates so much. Would such a conversion lesson the pull dramatically?

Vintage Paul

hobot said:

Took a 3rd look to notice the '47ish chevy pu. Neat, I put a lot of time in those and theres a few still going where I live and work. My ride buddy Wes has the long bed one ton version.

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The pickup is a 1951 3/4 ton model 3600 with a sick 216 splasher in it. I have a usable '59 235 full pressure motor on the stand for it whenever I get some time to install it and rewire the whole truck. It will get the 12 volt treatment to run an A/C heat unit and stock looking AM/FM radio/CD player but will otherwise remain just about the way Chevy built it.

This truck is not a restoration, it has been and will be again a working truck. For my needs the old Chevy six will do very well. I would like to up gear it though. With the stock rear end, it likes 45 mph and feels decidedly unhappy over 50.

Some previous owner painted it the brown/bronze it is now, it left the Van Nuys CA assembly plant in a blue just a couple of shades darker that the one on the Norton.

Vintage Paul

hobot said:

As stated correct stack just allows spring to slip in groove w/o further slack or any shoving pressure to seat.

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Old Brits offers a set of precision ground clutch shims that promise to fill the gap between the top of the clutch stack and the snap ring. The shims not used can be returned for refund. I ordered this set along with a new cable that is supposed to be teflon lined and a new O ring gasket to reseal the primary cover. This should make the stack as good as it can be. What about the adjustment on the screw & locknut? As I recall, the screw should be run down until it just touches the pushrod then backed off one full turn and the locknut tightened. Sound right?

The manual suggests 7 ozs of motor oil but somewhere I got to using the same amount of ATF. Any issues here? The clutch is really the only thing left on the once lengthy list of squawks that will keep the Norton off the road. I can't wait to have another ride and not worry about running out of clutch at a stop!

Vintage Paul

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Nice work Sir, and good to see you out there. Simply beautiful.

Cheers, Don

Thanks for the truck background, they didn't have freeway back then just lot of rough two lane and farm land.

AFT is best for primary if not electric start tensioner but only fill so barely touches bottom of sagging chain run or let it splash out til it does.

Wet new or resurfaced clutch plates with ATF and just wipe off excess to prevent chatter on first even bedding it.

Adjust clutch adjuster in till seats then back off 1/4 turn or so to give best full release on lever pull yet no hang up on lever release. New plates may take a bit to get so only 1/4 turn works but one full turn is as excessive as factory oil tank an tranny and primary listed volumes. Fork need 175-ish ml not mere 150 ml.

My clutch adjuster (in the primary case) needs only 1/4 or less turn after contact to make things work right. If you don't feel the clutch lever breaking over the diaphragm spring and then it gets real easy to hold like a compound bow, something is wrong and you need to make all the adjustments until it does. I keep hearing about the Barnett plates and mostly it's whining. My original clutch pack is working just fine after 13K miles, but could use a shim from Old Britts to bring the pack height up to the circlip, but it's not working bad right now at all. There's also the oil issue and so far I haven't had that either.

Dave
69S

Yes like Dave-DogT says, my experience on a both my Combat is rather light force that gets lighter like a compound bow past its peak, can hold steady till Bambi get run completely though its innocent chest...
I must do a lot of clutch feathering and poor ole Wesley even more and both of us have no complaints of effort or delicate engagement. Wes's clutch has been slipping lately but not mention of clutch effort increasing or even noticed. My SV650 felt a bit more effort and less delicate engagment but its a spiral-twist type mechanism, which has a weak stamped crimped sheet metal construction not as robust as Norton.
I've worn one out in 25K miles. I've over 35K miles on SV, only about 10K on Commando's d/t too many things to list. When I say I like C'dos better in almost every way than moderns its not because I don't know better.

It does sound like something is not as it should be with your stack up. although i don't have one yet the hudraulic conversion uses a slave valve as on modern bikes, so the pull should be less and you get the added benefit of not having to adjust it anymore. I think the cost is worth it, and I'm not worried about keeping my bike looking original, but that's just me. The more I look at the way you've finished your bike the more I like it. Cj

Hydraulic clutch conversion is all well and good as long as it does not mask a mechanical issue. I am sure this is done far too often.

hobot said:

Thanks for the truck background, they didn't have freeway back then just lot of rough two lane and farm land.

AFT is best for primary if not electric start tensioner but only fill so barely touches bottom of sagging chain run or let it splash out til it does.

Wet new or resurfaced clutch plates with ATF and just wipe off excess to prevent chatter on first even bedding it.

Adjust clutch adjuster in till seats then back off 1/4 turn or so to give best full release on lever pull yet no hang up on lever release. New plates may take a bit to get so only 1/4 turn works but one full turn is as excessive as factory oil tank an tranny and primary listed volumes. Fork need 175-ish ml not mere 150 ml.

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Gee, I wish I had heard about the 175 ml of fork oil a couple of weeks ago. I carefully filled each leg with the book recommended 150 ml. What about the trannie & motor oil levels? I have both right up to the factory recommended levels.

Vintage Paul

DogT said:

My clutch adjuster (in the primary case) needs only 1/4 or less turn after contact to make things work right. If you don't feel the clutch lever breaking over the diaphragm spring and then it gets real easy to hold like a compound bow, something is wrong and you need to make all the adjustments until it does. I keep hearing about the Barnett plates and mostly it's whining. My original clutch pack is working just fine after 13K miles, but could use a shim from Old Britts to bring the pack height up to the circlip, but it's not working bad right now at all. There's also the oil issue and so far I haven't had that either.

Click to expand...

I know that the stack is too low, it is below the snap ring. The lever does not have that overcenter feel at all like to two other Nortons I have recently tried. Both of those were 850s and I now have the 850 clutch installed. BTW, when I had my first Norton, a new 1970 Roadster, it never had the overcenter feel even when first picked up. The pull was tough but I was 18 and my hands soon got used to it. Many things gave trouble on that bike but the clutch was not one of them!

Vintage Paul