Highly tuned docility ...!

I dusted off the Trident Hunter today and fitted its ‘MOT plate’ and took it for its last ever MOT (won’t need one after May).

For those who don’t know, it is supposedly ‘highly tuned’ with 10.5:1 CR, Comnoz head job, big valves, JS rods & pistons, JS stage 1 cam, 35mm FCR flatslides.

As I dawdled along through town and out onto some country lanes I was really surprised to remind myself how easy going and docile it is.

It pulls from nowt, ticks over like a Honda and is really smooth. Just like a good Cdo should be.

But then at 4K, Dr Jekyl suddenly becomes Mr Hyde and it ain’t like no normal Cdo no more !!

Blue skies and a well running Nort, life is good!

Hi Nigel,
I am just back from a 10 days holiday in Spain, painfull to be far away from the Seeley... I totaly agree with what you say, and even with a gearing from 23 x 36 on the TTI 5 speed gearbox, I dont lost mutch RPM as I go up in the gears, two different bikes, as anormal Codo below 4K but once over 4K you come in a other world, crayzy world, I will ride tomorow and sunday, hope it will going well
Yves

I have a mini version with the 650ss , head ported by Herb Becker.
It is very smooth and docile below 4 k then rips to 7 k.
I imagine the porting might have lost a bit of the below 4 k oomph, so the feel of the powerband gets amplified, a calm then a storm.
Its great fun for ripping around locally.
The stock 850 kills it for dragging up a long mountain pass.
The stock 850 does not have a noticeable power band, it's like an electric motor controlled by a rheostat ( throttle)

Some days the revvy powerband bikes are just what you want. Other times the one that will slug it out on loaded climb is perfect.

Glen

Fast Eddie said:

I dusted off the Trident Hunter today and fitted its ‘MOT plate’ and took it for its last ever MOT (won’t need one after May).

For those who don’t know, it is supposedly ‘highly tuned’ with 10.5:1 CR, Comnoz head job, big valves, JS rods & pistons, JS stage 1 cam, 35mm FCR flatslides.

As I dawdled along through town and out onto some country lanes I was really surprised to remind myself how easy going and docile it is.

It pulls from nowt, ticks over like a Honda and is really smooth. Just like a good Cdo should be.

But then at 4K, Dr Jekyl suddenly becomes Mr Hyde and it ain’t like no normal Cdo no more !!

Blue skies and a well running Nort, life is good!

Click to expand...

Hi Eddie, what do you put the smoothness down to, the JS rods and pistons?

cliffa

Know how you feel its a great feeling having a hotted up Norton and how well they go after the hot cam kicks in, I am still running stock rods and oversize Heplite pistons but crank balanced for the Featherbed frame and plenty of port work, plus my bike is wearing as little weight as I could take off it.

One day I was at a set of traffic lights and a moden AC bonnie pulled up beside me it didn't look stock and we both were checking each other out when the lights changed we both just opened up, he got the jump on me, my reaction time was a bit slower but I was with him till 3rd when I backed off then when we stopped at the next set of lights he said to me fuc. that thing hammers well and I didn't even open it all the way up, he was very surprised.

Ashley

That's why I love my 71 it kicks ass.

cliffa said:

Hi Eddie, what do you put the smoothness down to, the JS rods and pistons?

cliffa

Click to expand...

And having the crank dynamically balanced.

I don’t think mine is any smoother than any other ‘good’ Cdo though, but it’s surprisingly smooth for a 10.5:1 CR 850 twin!

Mine could be smoother, but I run the ISO’s quite tight.

Before the rebuild, it vibrated horribly under 3k. It was worst when slowing down through 3k, it really felt bad.

All of that is gone now.

Once you do all the work to get your commando to a point where you just gas up and go, you begin the 3 advanced phases of commando ownership

1) OK, something will be failing soon.... clutch slippage, boyer plate wire break, clogged idle jet,... something... I'll just ride around until it shows up...

2)Then you go into stage 2 where everything works well all the time. You get to the point were it starts on the first kick 90% of the time. It purrs at idle. The clutch feel is light but never slips. Handling is good and doesn't change for ride after ride which helps you develop a feel to the point where you comfortably scrape footpegs... With some disbelief you ride places over and over where other people ask about your Norton's problematic issues, and you answer with an amount of self bewilderment, "There are none. It runs great!"

3)Finally something fails, like a bulb, the flasher unit, or the handlebar contact corrodes enough to make the directional dodgey and you feel releived to "fix something". Then you go out for more rides wondering is you'll ever have a real problem like shooting a connecting rod out the crankcase someday at the reasonable RPM range you ride in, or have you done enough to your frankenstein's monster to have built a norton commando with honda reliability.... NO, surely that's impossible,... or is it?....

I'm at stage 4; like the guy who paints the Golden Gate Bridge, by the time I get to one end, the other is ready again.

No, stage 4 is when your engine runs perfectly, but you still can’t resist the urge to tinker, but you also can’t bear to undo the good work in the good engine. So you do the only sensible thing there is to do... build another engine...!

It’s a f***ing disease !!

Hi there, back on the road to day, the break-in is almost finish, and you can feel it on the engine: so smooth and powerfull...
Even with almost not one piece original anymore, it is still a Codo, only with squared strenght!
Some of my friends says "'buy a modern bike" ! No way, never again, no bike give the pleasure from a Norton engine in a Seeley frame, and what a satisfaction when you search the last HP, witch I don't have at the moment, and you feel the results from your work and money spend, great! you step in another world, belive me, and if you don't believe me, I plan to ask Bruno to do a road test with my bike and he will post his feeling on Access.
Tomorow I go to a fair with a auction, and there is someone there with a Dyno, maybe I will put my bike on it...
Yves

Nigel, do you have a dyno chart for the engine in its current state? It would be interesting to see the whole power curve.

Glen

Dyno man had an issue on the day and couldn’t read my HT for some reason, so revs have been pencilled in according to the bikes tacho. This also meant there were no torque readings.

Blue line is with stock 1 3/8 pipes and peashooters.

Red line is 2:1 Maney type system, as I mentioned before, the engine has reduced duration here, I think that virtually negated the potential benefit offered by the 2:1 pipe.

Nice smooth curves though, especially the blue.

Ignore everything below 2.5k, they’re erroneous.

I see it gets a little steeper at 4200 but plenty steep before that too.
Very impressive!

Is the 961 with its extra weight gonna keep up?

Glen

Ha! Good question.

Actually, I’d like to take both to the dyno one day, just out of interest.

Jeez, they run below 4K