Hi all, Im Dave, currently slowly restoring a 70 Halo headlight "whistling" Commando, which I am the second owner of.
How I aquired it is an unusual story, the first owner would ride past my place every day on his way to work around 1979 ish. I was 17, and eventually i tracked him down, and tried to buy it, but he wouldn't sell, it was his daily transport.
Fast forward 30 years and the guy wanders up my drive, and asks if I want the bike, which has sat in his room, non running for the last 25 years.
I did a deal and acquired the bike, and slowly pulled it apart. I would like to say it is an unmolested time capsule, but several things have been done to it.
In the early 70s it was stolen, and recovered with several components missing, the owner replaced the missing parts, noticeably with a Dunstall exhaust system.
The next event in the bikes life was his brother throwing it down the road, resulting in a repaint in spew green, with a blue and black seat cover.
The final event in the bikes life appears to be a bottom end bearing letting go, resulting in some damage to the internal of the crankcases and the generator rotor flapping around in the stator.
In the resulting rebuild the bike got ported and polished, superblend bearings and a hot cam that has no lobes left on it.
What is useful is that all the small details, usually lost in restorations, or over the years, are all present, including the elusive white caps that cover the halo headlight mounting screws.
Also all the original bolts are in place, including the stamped "8" high tensile nuts throughout the frame. I am currently cleaning all these nuts and bolts in a caustic soda bath rather than replace them with new ones, to keep the authenticity of the bike.
Originally the finish was fireflake blue, and I will be gently sanding the green coat back to see if I can find the decals that were used so I can replicate them again, I am hoping they are silver rather than the black/gold outline versions.
One interesting thing I have found with this bike, apart from the fact it had red oxide primer under the frame paint ( now 2 pac black) is that the swing arm was assembled to the engine mounts, and the complete assembly, including all the nuts and bolts, was painted rather than the way we would restore it by painting individual components. While I haven't done this myself, I have made notes as to which bolts did get painted black during the process, and I have copied this.
At this stage I am leaning towards restoring all the roadster parts, and carefully storing them, and completing the Dunstall conversion with a view to painting it fireflake purple, which is not a colour I have seen on a Commando in the flesh, and is one I like the sound of.
Your thoughts?
How I aquired it is an unusual story, the first owner would ride past my place every day on his way to work around 1979 ish. I was 17, and eventually i tracked him down, and tried to buy it, but he wouldn't sell, it was his daily transport.
Fast forward 30 years and the guy wanders up my drive, and asks if I want the bike, which has sat in his room, non running for the last 25 years.
I did a deal and acquired the bike, and slowly pulled it apart. I would like to say it is an unmolested time capsule, but several things have been done to it.
In the early 70s it was stolen, and recovered with several components missing, the owner replaced the missing parts, noticeably with a Dunstall exhaust system.
The next event in the bikes life was his brother throwing it down the road, resulting in a repaint in spew green, with a blue and black seat cover.
The final event in the bikes life appears to be a bottom end bearing letting go, resulting in some damage to the internal of the crankcases and the generator rotor flapping around in the stator.
In the resulting rebuild the bike got ported and polished, superblend bearings and a hot cam that has no lobes left on it.
What is useful is that all the small details, usually lost in restorations, or over the years, are all present, including the elusive white caps that cover the halo headlight mounting screws.
Also all the original bolts are in place, including the stamped "8" high tensile nuts throughout the frame. I am currently cleaning all these nuts and bolts in a caustic soda bath rather than replace them with new ones, to keep the authenticity of the bike.
Originally the finish was fireflake blue, and I will be gently sanding the green coat back to see if I can find the decals that were used so I can replicate them again, I am hoping they are silver rather than the black/gold outline versions.
One interesting thing I have found with this bike, apart from the fact it had red oxide primer under the frame paint ( now 2 pac black) is that the swing arm was assembled to the engine mounts, and the complete assembly, including all the nuts and bolts, was painted rather than the way we would restore it by painting individual components. While I haven't done this myself, I have made notes as to which bolts did get painted black during the process, and I have copied this.
At this stage I am leaning towards restoring all the roadster parts, and carefully storing them, and completing the Dunstall conversion with a view to painting it fireflake purple, which is not a colour I have seen on a Commando in the flesh, and is one I like the sound of.
Your thoughts?
:lol: 
