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mike mcmanus

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Is it just my imagination or has there been a large increase in new registered Forum Members in the last month or so.

I'm just curious to know if there is a vast and untapped number of closet Nortonians in hiding, Outing themselves, or is it a testament as to how popular our Nortons have become.

I know here in OZ they are very sought after, though not large in numbers, they are snapped up as soon as they become available.

Does any one have any thoughts, is it a style thing, is it because they have an individual appeal unlike a Harley etc., is it because they are no longer in production and therefore more desirable, is it a nostalgia thing, is my judgement clouded, or as i said earlier is it just my imagination.

Mike.
 
why all the new members?

Hi Mike,

Speaking for myself, I always loved the look and sound of Norton Commandos when I was a kid in Ontario but my first bikes were Japanese because I wanted a bike for transportation and was afraid of the maintenance requirements of Brit bikes. Now, twenty five years later, I had the financial resources and needed a hobby so rebuilding Brit bikes it is!! I bought my 74 Commando 2 years ago in pretty fair shape with low mileage and have been working away at it pretty much continuously while still being able to ride it. I have three other Brit bikes including two Triumph TR6Cs and a Matchless G12 so my interests in Nortons does not exclude other British marques. I also quite like old Ducatis and Guzzis. That said, my Commando is still my favorite!!

Tobin
 
I dunno, when I bought mine it was about the newest proper bike I could afford. It was merely second-hand then although they were of course old fashioned when they were made !

I suspect this forum has become easier to find when "Googling" lately - I only found it recently.

I keep thinking that the Commando bubble must burst soon. Those who were around to buy the first models new must be pushing 60 by now with all the dodgy knees that come with it !

There is an over-supply in the UK, caused I suspect by all the bikes that came back from the US in the late 1980s. Most ebayUk Commandos stay unsold but then the reserve always seems to be above £3000 which is a lot of money for an unreliable old clunker (and it will be ! - Nobody sells good ones !) A tidy "modern" Ducati can be bought for a lot less than that if all you want is a big twin with a nice noise.
 
Thanks for the replies, i think i am right in saying that 10 thou OZ gorillas is the asking price for a reasonable one here, i didn't realise they weren't as popular elsewhere as they seem to be here, it may well be my clouded view about Nortons that is at work.

Mike.
 
I stumbled accross this forum by mere accident. I decided to start looking for a Commando last week!

I was into buying a V-twin Harley-type custom and changed my mind and am determined to own a Commando. V-twin customs are too expensive and it seems a lot of people have them. I know of a couple Nortons running around the streets up here and figured a Commando would be a very cool and uncommon bike to customize and ride up here. Doing a ton of on-line research I am slowly becoming hooked on Norton.

My very short week of being immersed in Norton reading, tech articles, scouring web sites, looking at after market parts and the nice people on this forum have greatly piqued my interest and I am convined once I get ahold of a Commado, it will be all over for me. I'm hooked and I have not even ridden one yet! Soon, very soon.
 
mike mcmanus said:
, i didn't realise they weren't as popular elsewhere as they seem to be here,
Mike.
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Didn't mean to suggest that they're not popular, just that there seem to be enough to go round and if the price isn't right, they don't move immediately.

Bit disturbed by Coco's post suggesting that Commandos are "cool". Wait until you fluff your starting drill in the rain with a queue of cars behind, only to watch the kickstart rubber fly off and bounce down the road. Cool it ain't :) (I've drilled and tapped mine now and put a plate on to stop that happening :wink:
 
more on the new members

Just found this forum as well and am hoping to share some of my experiences rebuilding my Commando as well as solicit some help from others. Currently in the middle of a transmission rebuild (layshaft bearing blew out!) so have learned a lot about the AMC gearbox! Have rebuilt most of the bike now except the engine. I am on a few other forums related to Nortons but they haven't been that useful to date in terms of sharing technical advice. One of them seems more like some sort of social club with guys bitching at each other and arguing about leadership of their club rather than working on and riding bikes.

I think another attraction of the Commando for me is that it is the only classic Brit bike that can cope with modern roads and traffic and feel relaxed doing it. My other British bikes are 650s and they feel a little small and light for extended trips.
 
79x100 said:
Bit disturbed by Coco's post suggesting that Commandos are "cool". Wait until you fluff your starting drill in the rain with a queue of cars behind, only to watch the kickstart rubber fly off and bounce down the road. Cool it ain't :) (I've drilled and tapped mine now and put a plate on to stop that happening :wink:
Click to expand...

There are maybe 4 in my city compared to a couple thousand Harley's so my choice is for a nice, different bike. I guess I could just buy a Sportster, buy a bunch of crap from Custom Chrome and blend into being mediochre. If they were'nt *cool* there would be no Commando forum. How many forums are there dedicted to Ford Aerostar minivans? Not too many I bet. :D

I have owned a Porsche for a while, which I have since sold, so I am familiar with quirky, maintenance hungry machines. I'm not scared.
 
hey mike, getting a norton has led me to some great characters in my town, a great forum like this, and the most fun i have ever had on a bike. it started for me in the mid seventies, on a desolate stretch of coastal highway I in northern cal. my friend had an 850 commando and used to let me ride it. i knew the way that bike pulled and sounded if i ever got a bike, this would be it. 30 years later (bikeless) i decided the time had come. of all things against my belief on how to aquire one, i got on e-bay. the 3rd one i saw was a candy apple red 73 roadster, 850. it was in salt lake city, striking distance for me (220 miles) with 26 sec. left, i was high bid and the bike was mine! $3150.00 us. pure manifestation! when i picked it up, i flipped. the last gent had it 10 years (2nd owner) and put on 2000 mi. 9,600 total. he did some nice improvements and an unreal paint job with hand painted lettering. that was last oct. it just hit 14,000 tonight! it rides like my dream. i have done little and i ride it every day i can. there is a guy in town with 2 and 12 other bikes including a vincent. 3 other around. owning a norton almost feels like a cult. everywhere i go someone has to say something. they are so timeless. so........it does not suprise me that more people are re-discovering these time bombs and the info highway seems to be a bit of gold at the end of the rainbow. i know i have been lucky so far with what i have had to do, yet when the time comes, i will lovingly tinker. cheers and happy riding to all, jerome
 
Wait until you fluff your starting drill in the rain with a queue of cars behind, only to watch the kickstart rubber fly off and bounce down the road. Cool it ain't Smile (I've drilled and tapped mine now and put a plate on to stop that happening Wink
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Forum Membership


Couldn't resist........... :wink:
 
jerome said:
owning a norton almost feels like a cult.
Click to expand...

When I finally get mine do I have to drink hot motor oil or take a bite out of a beating ram's heart? I certainly hope so. :wink:
 
I just bought a commando, I saw this forum before I bought it and read a lot of the posts, then once I bought a commando I registered here. I have to agree, Norton's are just cool! I get many compliments on the bike, usually everytime I take her out.
 
Coco said:
jerome said:
owning a norton almost feels like a cult.
Click to expand...

When I finally get mine do I have to drink hot motor oil or take a bite out of a beating ram's heart? I certainly hope so. :wink:
Click to expand...

You don't have to drink hot motor oil, but it does help if you don't mind your clothes smelling of it !

TIP :- When you drain your oil tank, make a little cardboard "trough" to fit under the drain plug or most of the oil will run down the back of the footrest plate and down your sleeve as well as you desperately try to mop up the mess :)

I'm still struggling a bit with this cool thing. I'm not, so how can anything that I own be ? I'm usually on the end of one of four comments if anyone talks to me about the bike :-

1) "Do they still make them then ?"

2) "I used to ride one like that in the army"

3)"What's it worth then ?" - Correct answer is "About half what I've spent
on it over the last few years."

4)"Is this your motorcycle, sir ? Do you know what speed you were travelling ?"

Old and cynical ? Who, me ? :shock:
 
I'm still puzzled by the fact that a late '60's unit twin Bonneville will fetch as much as $10K (Daytona '06 auction) while an immaculate Commando will be lucky to top $8K! It seems there were two Bonnevilles sold to one Commando, so it isn't rarity. E-Bay has 4 Commando's on auction and nearly 20 650 Bonnevilles! We all know the Commando is a superior motorcycle :roll:

I'm not complaining, because I have this habit of buying more Nortons than I sell.
 
As a new member to this forum this looks like a good time to introduce myself,I got my 850 roadster in april this year, its my third commando
the first I had in the late seventies / early eighties it was a mk3 interstate had a lot of fun with it, it was my first big bike, toured france and germany loaded up with camping gear and the wife. It had the usual faults ,lay shaft bearing gave up and took the gearbox shell with it , one camshaf worn out in six hundred miles,wet sumping oil causing blowing base gasket,exhausts that un screwed themselves, electric start that didn't ,brakes that were marginal when fully loaded, had to sell it when I got married to finance a washing machine .the second was a true basket case, 95 % of a british racing green fastback(1970) that had been stripped for rebuilding including many new parts, it gave me the chance to build the bike with many improvements and fit norvil prodution racer front brake, alloy wheel rims, mk2 amals,electronic igntion, norvil headsteady, mk3 isolastics. 2s cam
lightened rocker gear, and lots of stainless fasteners, it felt like a completely differnt bike to the mk3, kept it a couple of years in which time it never missed a beat but my wife didn,t like the shorter seat and I ended up swapping it for a K100rs , the fastback went to a scottish gentleman who lived in the boarders region and if any one knows of this bike now I would be interested to hear , I got my latest norton for reasons that have alreadey been metioned in other replies, you don't see many about so its a little unusual,( I went to a local bke show and was invited to put the bike in the exhibition, it was the only norton there) it can be used in modern traffic , you can get away with it being loud , its fun to ride and having owed them before I know how to pull them apart. something this one will need this winter because the crank seal has gone and it puts about half a pint of engine oil into the chaincase every fifty miles.
 
Many main seals have been changed out by just removing the primary. It's harder to remove them this way but putting the new one in isn't hard at all. Draining the primary every fifty has got to be a pain. Bet it keeps your oil nice and clean though. Great to have another owner on the board.
 
TIP :- When you drain your oil tank, make a little cardboard "trough" to fit under the drain plug or most of the oil will run down the back of the footrest plate and down your sleeve as well as you desperately try to mop up the mess Smile
Click to expand...

I took a used and cleaned up old dish washing detergent bottle, cut the bottom off, custom cut it to fit well up under the oil tank and put a good sized drain hole in the other end of it so the oil has a place to flow out. You just loosen the drain bolt, shove the bottle at a downward angle, up in place, push against tank, hold tight, undo the plug with fingers and let the oil drain into the oil drain pan you have placed below. Hold in place till all oil is out. Might have to tip the bike a bit to get the dregs of old oil out of the tank.

As stated above, keeps the oil from running all over the rearsets and such. Better than cardboard and you can reuse it, as I have mine, for a good twenty years... :wink:
 
What am I supposed to do with all the old Cornflakes packets then ? :roll:

Actually, a cunningly folded piece of card will stay in place on it's own between the bottom oil tank seam and the footrest plate, giving me the opportunity to go off and drink a cup of tea :D

Good point about tipping the bike. That's when all the old rubbish comes out, isn't it ?
 
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