Help ID a 1969 Commando

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snortinnorton

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Friends,

Just found this site and am encouraged by some of the information and folks who post here. I am from the U.S. and have a 1969 Commando with serial number 20M3/131194. The data plate on the steering neck matches the engine number and is stamped "Feb 1969" We believe that it may be an R-Type because of the styling, but it could also be a converted Fastback. I just wanted to confirm what it left the factory as. It of course has the distributor behind the engine. It appears to have an original rear mudguard/fender and dual seat. The seat pan is fiberglass, as is the tail light body attached to the rear mudguard/fender. The gas tank is a bit of a puzzle , as it does not have a flip-up gas cap, but is identical to other R Type or Roadster tanks in mounting and all other aspects. It could have been aftermarket, which is what started me questioning the model in the first place. On the other hand, it could have been an early prototype for Berliner Motors when they first started shipping the R Types to the US. We've had this bike for 6 years and still don't know for sure what it is. Can you help?
 
From what I've seen it possibly could be an R, but if the records are available, that is your best way. The R had the first Fastback oil tank/side panels, silencers and distributor, the Roadster/S seat and tank and looks to have had a rather high handle bar. http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/NCRModel.htm

Dave
69S
 
Help ID a 1969 Commando


Help ID a 1969 Commando


Help ID a 1969 Commando


We tried once to get an opinion from the Norton Owners' Club and got no response, but that was years ago. Perhaps they are better now. We thought that we saw on another thread here that there are some former employees who may have some of the old records. We will try Norton again and hope for some kind of an answer.

The tail light assembly is fiberglass, but is in all respects identical to the metal ones I've seen on later Roadsters, and has Lucas reflectors attached. The seat pan is fiberglass, but looks authentic otherwise. Has any one ever seen anything like it in the aftermarket?

Granted, the color is incorrect, but that hasn't bothered us as the yellow is a very popular Norton color. It was nicely painted that way when we bought the bike as a basket case and rather than mess with that, we decided to focus instead on the mechanics of the machine.
 
snortinnorton said:
We tried once to get an opinion from the Norton Owners' Club and got no response, but that was years ago. Perhaps they are better now. We thought that we saw on another thread here that there are some former employees who may have some of the old records. We will try Norton again and hope for some kind of an answer.
Click to expand...

Alternatively, try the VMCC

http://www.vmcc.net/library.htm
 
Nicely done. The seat look like a 71 or newer, at least the cover. I'm not sure about f/g pans. Look how the R seat is a constant depth front to back, about 4" thick. Looks like your prop stand is longer than the early (69/70) models, I'm not sure how the fastback and earlier prop stands were. The 69/70 were quite short and mounted to a tongue bracket off the frame. I suppose the mounting for the centre stand is on the frame off brackets on a tube between the lower tubes, not the cradle? Also, I know at some point early on, the frame did not have the brace tube below the main tube off the headstock (forming a triangle), I assume yours does? I suppose you know if it doesn't have the brace, the frame is not safe. I know of at least one that someone found on the forum. There is a fella on the forum that has an R, can't remember his handle.

Is the tank F/G and sealed somehow?

Welcome.

Dave
69S
 
Interesting as I have never had a 69 with a headstock tag. The ID is stamped directly onto the frame. I could be wrong for the "S" and "R" models but I have had both and neither of mine had a ID plate that I can remember.
 
my feb 69 fast back has a id plate on the headstock, i have not seen another screw on fuel cap it may be a R.
Al
 
I have only seen one "R" model, but I do have a factory brochure showing the "R".

The "R" had a flat seat like the "S" model, so yours appears to have been replaced with a later Roadster type. The "R" tank had a flip up cap and was red metalflake with silver sidecover and oil tank. Also the Atlas-style headlight ears were chrome on all the "R" model pictures I have. Finally, the "R" used the Atlas style mufflers and headpipes like the early Fastback.

These are all things that could easily have been replaced, so does not preclude it from being an original "R", but does make it more difficult to confirm if the factory record does not show the original model.
 
Blue noser said:
I have frame 129xxx, and 130xxx, both are stamped into frame, no tag.
Click to expand...

I havwe a 1969 faastback and the numbers are stamped directly into the widow maker frame. 126982.

Manufactured in '68 but sold as a '69.

It should be the 820th production Commando.

Bob
In Canada
 
Shesh , you normally get the ' Matching frame , engine & Gear Box ! , No lecture . G'box serial the same ? ?

Looks a fine motorcycle . The Oil tank , either original , or a large oil tank COOLing fan assembled it . :D

The non roadsters were thought a bit staid so updateing them common .a possibility ? remote , that
a pair of not all there bikes put together to crate one . Or in part , horse tradeing etc, for style .

Centuries ago ( in the 80s ) there were all sorts of spare parts floating round ( flat pipes etc ) people gave away
rather than bin ing ,though thatd happen if there was no storage . So , the results could be ' interesting ' .

Just a thought , did they push them through in ' Batches ' , so if the two adjacent bikes , No. wise were a certain
model , and the same type , The ' one in the middle ' would inevitably be that model too ?? :?: :|
 
From what we can glean from the numbers, it should be the 15th of the newer braced frames, which started at 131180. However, we can find no reference to any R production runs in the literature we've been able to find. There are notes of other significant developments, but nobody seems to acknowledge the production of any R types. It would seem that the original records, themselves, are pretty sketchy. We keep hoping for some rosetta stone that would give up the answer.

Yes, it has a fiberglass tank. Yes, it is coated, but we still don't run anything but non-ethanol fuel through it. As for the kickstand, it's from a Triumph. As noted, the correct original one is quite short and therefore, less functional. The oil tank is the real deal, early Commando.
 
Ron L said:
I have only seen one "R" model, but I do have a factory brochure showing the "R".
Also the Atlas-style headlight ears were chrome on all the "R" model pictures I have.
Click to expand...
I'll agree with most of what you say Ron, but if you look at the Andover picture, and I don't know where they came from, the headlamp ears are painted black, the stays are black also, like snortinortin's. It may be that they had both chrome and black ears?

The R looks to me like a transition from the early fastback to the S and early Roadster. Notice that the 69/70 Roadster had the same seat as the S. As far as I have seen the seat changed in 71 to the banana shape.

snortonorton's chainguard is also just like the early fastbacks, full, curved and painted black, just like the Andover R picture.

I'm just being anal, don't mind me.

Dave
69S
 
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