First ride

The set of shorties that Norton sent me (and I sent back) also had "Not for road use" stamped on them. Yea. No kidding. I wouldnt have sent those to war. Glad you guys are getting good quality shorties now.
 
Britfan60 said:
The set of shorties that Norton sent me (and I sent back) also had "Not for road use" stamped on them. Yea. No kidding. I wouldnt have sent those to war. Glad you guys are getting good quality shorties now.
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I think all the shorties are stamped 'not for road use', mine are stamped that way. It is usual practice for aftermarket silencers that are not 'E' marked (euro). We just have to make sure that the police and the MoT testers can't read them :)
 
Just back from a 70 mile run. This bike is so easy to ride . I bought a Triumph S.3 675 and that bike was light , fast and maneuverable .This bike is soooo much better. I thought to myself , this is what riding is all about. 122 miles on the clock . Would have gone further but was getting a bit cold and my hands were numb .
 
Should have it ready for first service , change of pipes ( ordered them ) and remap after this weekend. A run up to the Barn ( local bike meet ) today and maybe St. Annes tomorrow. Book it in Teusday and ride up at the weekend , be around 500 miles. I may raise the bars about an inch (I have some spare risers) and get a screen ..............no push yet.
 
piper 600 said:
Should have it ready for first service , change of pipes ( ordered them ) and remap after this weekend. A run up to the Barn ( local bike meet ) today and maybe St. Annes tomorrow. Book it in Teusday and ride up at the weekend , be around 500 miles. I may raise the bars about an inch (I have some spare risers) and get a screen ..............no push yet.
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Some info and pictures of bar risers on the 961 here.

https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/low-price-961.24299/page-4

I think you can manage an inch, as long as you raise the fork tubes a bit above the top yoke. I raised mine by 21 mm, and with the top of the forks even with the yoke, it was pretty close to the limit on brake hose tightness. I later raised the forks by 6 mm, and the brake hose now has a tiny bit of slack at full extension. I'd still like to raise the bars a bit more, but don't want to take the time now to deal with making longer hoses, and maybe having to extend the wire harnesses. The weather here is perfect for riding, so I'd rather ride than work on the bike. I'm fine with it the way it is for shorter rides, say 25 miles through the canyons to my friend's ranch, a bit of a stop, and 25 miles back. Anything longer and I end up with a sore neck from having to raise my head so much. I think another inch would help a lot. The bike really does handle well, but with the forks flush with the top of the yoke it does tend to push a bit. Raising the forks 6 mm made a noticeable difference, but I think there's still more improvement to be had by raising them a little more. I'm not looking for super quick race bike steering, just something with a neutral feeling at turn-in. I haven't even tried changing any of the damping settings yet, just working to get the basic geometry to suit me first.

The bike is actually a pleasure to ride as it is, but I can't resist the urge to fine tune it a little. I've never owned a street bike that couldn't be improved with a little attention to details.

Ken
 
I had the bike up on the stands today, so I measured how much I could raise the bars before the brake hoses limited fork extension. With the forks raised 1/2" above the top yoke, and the bars raised by 21 mm, I still had full extension, but I had to remove the wire guide for the brake hoses on the bottom yoke to get any slack at all. If I want to raise the bars further, I'll definitely need longer brake hoses. Not sure about how limiting the wire harnesses might be. I'll have to look into that when I get around to raising the bars some more.

This is a picture of the bike on the stands, and shows how the brake cables run with the wire guide removed.

First ride


And this is a shot showing the amount the fork is raised, as well as the taller bar risers.

First ride


I'm not sure how the forks are on a stock bike, but I've just been experimenting with raising them to get a more neutral feel in corners.

Ken
 
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Fork tubes are flush on a stock sport . I like the idea and may try it. I Just don't want to hit my oil cooler.
 
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TonyA said:
Fork tubes are flush on a stock sport . I like the idea and may try it. I Just don't want to hit my oil cooler.
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Certainly a consideration. I'll watch for that on next ride. I had no problem with it with the forks raised 6 mm, but they are now up to 12 mm, and I haven't had a chance to ride it yet.

Ken
 
Ken,

Did you drop the triple trees on the forks to get a quicker turn in from the bike?
Have you adjusting the front end sag?
 
BritTwit said:
Ken,

Did you drop the triple trees on the forks to get a quicker turn in from the bike?
Have you adjusting the front end sag?
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Sort of. With the forks flush with the top yoke the bike wanted to run wide in corners at more aggressive speeds, and took a good bit of force on the bars to hold it on a tight line. It's not so much a quicker turn in I'm looking for as more neutral steering (less force on the bars) once in the corner. It does also make it turn in easier/quicker, so maybe I'm just juggling semantics here. I know what I mean, but maybe I'm not describing it properly.

I did a quick check on front and rear sag, as well as some bouncing to be sure the damping wasn't way off, when I first got the bike. Might play with sag a little more when I get into trying the damping adjustments, but I like to work on one thing at a time, and adjusting the front ride height usually has a significant effect on oversteer vs. understeer. Right now I'm just trying to get the turn in feel the way I like it. I'll worry about how it feels in the bumpy stuff once I have a baseline setup to work from. I'm not trying to set it up for racing. I really don't go that fast any more. I just like being able to swoop through a few corners now and then and feel like I got it just right. Besides, everyone needs a hobby, and fussing with the bikes is mine.

Ken
 
Update. I checked for clearance between fender and oil cooler. I think Tony might be right about the risk of dinging that beautiful CF fender. With me on the bike, there's only about 38 mm travel left before they hit. Might not be an issue for normal riding, but definite potential for damage on extreme braking or big bumps. Might have to re-think it a bit.

Ken
 
I've got mine pulled up to 2 to 2.5 mm . I know not much but enough to get a bit more slack in the brake lines at full extension. Again as you pointed out only an issue if you raise up the bars like we have. I've got 1 in rise on my bars . Funny thing is my left hand line is ok without any adjustment . Might your lines be a tad shorter than mine ? It wouldn't surprise me ! My clutch slave cylinder is not a Brembo , Its a CP or something like that . I wonder if they ran out of Brembos and used CP when my bike was built. You also have a late 2014 Sport right ? Is your clutch slave a CP like mine . ?
 
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TonyA said:
I've got mine pulled up to 2 to 2.5 mm . I know not much but enough to get a bit more slack in the brake lines at full extension. Again as you pointed out only an issue if you raise up the bars like we have. I've got 1 in rise on my bars . Funny thing is my left hand line is ok without any adjustment . Might your lines be a tad shorter than mine ? It wouldn't surprise me ! My clutch slave cylinder is not a Brembo , Its a CP or something like that . I wonder if they ran out of Brembos and used CP when my bike was built. You also have a late 2014 Sport right ? Is your clutch slave a CP like mine . ?
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Thanks for the info, Tony.

I've also noticed that I have a little more slack in the left hand hose than in the right.

I've fiddled with the geometry a bit more, and now have the forks 7.5 mm above the top yoke (that's to the top of the fork tube, not the cap). I had full extension on the forks, but the right hand hose seemed pretty tight, so I cut down the bar risers a little. I started with 30 mm risers (21 mm more than stock), and cut them down to 28.5 mm. At that point I still get full extension on the forks, but have just a bit of slack in the right hand hose. If I want to raise the bars any further, I'll need longer hoses. If I want to reduce the height of the forks above the top yoke, I'll need to reduce the riser length some more, or go with the longer hoses. I think I'll buy or make some longer hoses, just so I can experiment a bit more. I think raising the bars another inch or so might be just about right for me. The clutch hose, throttle cables, and wire harnesses seem to be long enough for another inch bar height.

I'm also thinking about the possibility of getting a set of the new California model bars and hoses, but I haven't priced all the bits yet, and it might not be worth the cost. Besides, I really like the look of the stock Sport fat bars.

Mine is an early 2015 (manuf. date 01/15), and it has a Brembo slave cylinder.

After the last ride, I also cranked up the rear pre-load a bit. It was down to minimum, and I set it back to the factory recommendation of three turns from zero. Front pre-load is also at factory recommended three turns out.

I'm off for a ride today to see how it feels now.

Ken
 
Just put in 50+ miles in the local canyons, and I'm pretty happy with this setup. The damping settings are all set at the factory recommendations, and seem to be good for my riding style. I'm going to go with it for a while. I would still like to raise the bars some more, but maybe later. If I do any more with it, I'll start another thread.

Ken
 
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