Head pipes

I purchased a new set of hea pipes and pea shooters for my '72 Commando. The right side head pipe is about 2 inches away from the frame! Trying to put the silencer on puts undo stress on the head assembly. My brother had the same problem with his 850..What gives??


Jim

There are a number of suppliers of new headpipes for British motorcycles. Unfortunately, the quality of manufacture is not consistent among all. The "S" type pipes and 850 cross-over style pipes seem to be the worst. Most "S" pipes I have seen required at the least some careful tweaking (bending) to fit without strain. The last set of cross-over style pipes I tried to mount were so bad that when mounted the stubs to the crossover were so far out of line it was impossible to mount the crossover pipe. Many are also made at least 6 inches too long and need to be trimmed back to mount the muffler.

I'm sure others will comment here, but the better fitment seem to be brands from TOGA, and Viking.

Same problem...had to push and shove on the right side, push the connection point between the pipe and the muffler way in at an angle, just to clear the kickstart lever and thereby put stress on parts. Even had my mate mention it to me, as the mufflers point whole different directons when viewed from the rear, and he noticed when following in his car that something was strange. Just didn't line up as the old one did. Also had a bit of difference on the left side, the brake pedal then hit the pipe, when full pushed full down...use rearsets...had to bring the adjust way up to where it never had been, just to avoid hitting the pipe before the brake even came on. Have gotten used to this now, but it comes on way before it used to. Old adjust must have had a good three/four inches pedal travel before coming on, I liked it that way, but the new adjust is maybe a half inch.

Main point is...you are correct, the new pipes are not made in the same form as the old ones... :wink:

Ill fitting pipes really spoil the lines of the Commando, and it is a real disappointment that poor quality workmanship still exsists......as if Norton owners didn't have enough trouble getting everything else to fit!

I've got a pair of downpipes on back order with Mick Hemmings, in the hope that they will fit properly as they will be from Andover Norton. I have deliberately done this in the hope of avoiding the disappointment and frustration of ill fitting pipes. Time will tell. :?:

Another Norton owner that I know has just got a pair from Norvil M/C Co, and they were a good fit!

Another time consuming option, is to get the original pair re-chromed if they were a good fit. That way you at least know what you're getting.

Reggie said:

Another time consuming option, is to get the original pair re-chromed if they were a good fit. That way you at least know what you're getting.

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Unfortunately not always an option...even with pipes that haven't been ground off on a hundred corners over the years, and don't need a lot of repairing of pits and such. One of you out there, mentioned to me that some chroming firms won't touch old exhausts as the residue of carbon inside them will dirty up the mixtures in the chemical baths used in the plating process and that spells bad results for other customers items... A point worth remembering and a factor which can be understood, even by thickheaded old me... :wink:

Having just replaced my pipes I found that not all pipes are created equal, the ones I ended up using were good quality British made pipes that arrived all wrapped up in nice brown Crepe Paper, I think they call it over here.

They fitted straight into position without any great problems and they seem to have a high level of Chrome Plating on them.

On the other hand there is the 'Others' which I think originate in Asia or else where similar, they don't fit, even the fellow at the Bike Shop said there were issues with these pipes fitting, something about the bend on one pipe being a different radius or in a different position to the other pipe. The chrome plating on these pipes is also of a lower standard.

The British ones might be considerably more expensive but they are certainly a lot more user friendly.

Mike.

mike mcmanus said:

The British ones might be considerably more expensive but they are certainly a lot more user friendly.

Mike.

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You know the old saying, you get what you pay for.

I would say in the Uk there are 2 diferent type the so called 'pattern made' and the genuine Norton type.

When I bought my Norton it had pattern pipes and pea shooter silencers.

The difference being the patteren had a weld near where they enter the exhaust port and the angle of them is different. This caused the kick start to hid the side of the silencers.

I got a genuine set from Colin of Thor Motorcycles Bodmin Cornwall, who is a commando specialist and a good guy to deal with.

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and they fit correctly as they should; since then I have had no further problems.