- Joined
- Apr 28, 2008
- Messages
- 191
So after fiddling with oil pressure gauge I took my bike on a 40 mile round trip test ride, meeting a friend for dinner 1/2 way. I also inspected all the fluids to include the gearbox and primary, which were all good and needed no topping up.
As I pulled into my buddy's street from a stop sign, the kickstart lever momentarily rotated against my leg. Parked the bike, thinking I now need to add tearing into the gearbox to the list of things to do.
Bike restarted fine after dinner and no unusual noises or symptoms. A few miles down the road while at speed the tranny started making some god-aweful noises and the kickstart lever rotated downwards and jammed against the rearset footpeg.
At this point I was about 15 miles from home but just down the road from the only classic bike mechanic within 100 miles (he personally owns 2 Commandos). Pulled over and pushed the bike to his parking lot. Some smoke coming from the gearbox vent. The kickstart lever was now rotated back to normal, but it won't engage to turn the engine until about 2/3 of the way through rotation. Left the bike there, I'll be back in the morning to throw a cover on it as the shop doesn't reopen until Tuesday.
Hopefully just looking at a layshaft bearing failure. Bike is about 1500 miles into a complete rebuild. The shop that did the rebuild (not the same as the local mechanic) assured me that all new bearings were used for the transmission. I did not know enough about Nortons at the time to inquire as to whether roller bearings were used on the layshaft. We shall see... Feel very lucky that the wheel did not lock up.
Cheers,
- HJ
As I pulled into my buddy's street from a stop sign, the kickstart lever momentarily rotated against my leg. Parked the bike, thinking I now need to add tearing into the gearbox to the list of things to do.
Bike restarted fine after dinner and no unusual noises or symptoms. A few miles down the road while at speed the tranny started making some god-aweful noises and the kickstart lever rotated downwards and jammed against the rearset footpeg.
At this point I was about 15 miles from home but just down the road from the only classic bike mechanic within 100 miles (he personally owns 2 Commandos). Pulled over and pushed the bike to his parking lot. Some smoke coming from the gearbox vent. The kickstart lever was now rotated back to normal, but it won't engage to turn the engine until about 2/3 of the way through rotation. Left the bike there, I'll be back in the morning to throw a cover on it as the shop doesn't reopen until Tuesday.
Hopefully just looking at a layshaft bearing failure. Bike is about 1500 miles into a complete rebuild. The shop that did the rebuild (not the same as the local mechanic) assured me that all new bearings were used for the transmission. I did not know enough about Nortons at the time to inquire as to whether roller bearings were used on the layshaft. We shall see... Feel very lucky that the wheel did not lock up.
Cheers,
- HJ
