How does a Norton compare?

Dave
69S[/quote]
Is this an April Fools' ??[/quote]

has to be!

Look, all I am saying is that I like driving the Miata for a car as I like driving the Norton as a bike, I drive both with a smile on my face on the back roads here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge when the weather is nice. They both come out of a tight quick corner in a neutral position without oversteer or rear end breakout. I never made any mechanical/racing comparisons. If I offended someone because they don't like Miatas or the people that drive them, too bad, not my issue. I should give up my Norton because I drive a Miata? Sorry, no. I like working on the Norton just as much as I like the no hassle -change the oil- of the Miata, two sides of a different stick. If I had unlimited funds, it would probably be a Lotus Elan, but I'm not going there. Everyone to their opinion, no skin off my nose. It's not worth my time to get into a big rant about this. Final comment.

Dave
69S

Dave,

My apologies.

I didn't realize how anti my post sounded till I just went back and read it. Wish I hadn't worded it that way. I think the Miata is a great little car. In fact, I've recommended it to friends who want a fun, no hassle machine. I guess my point is that I don't see the parallel. The Norton is a machine that almost demands a constant mechanical involvement. For most people, that's a bad thing. For some of us strange birds it's part of the allure.

Happy Easter.

Steve

Steve,

I'm hoping when I get finished with all the little peeves of my 69, that it will be fairly free of the original issues it had earlier in it's life. I think the biggest issue will be the oil leak from around the primary to trans case. I've put real seals and better bearings throughout, working now on the bottom end with new equipment there too. Hopefully it will give me a few years of good service with minimal maintenance, not to say I don't mind messing with it, part of the mystique.

Thanks, Happy Easter,
Dave
69S

Dave, FWIW, have you confirmed that your "primary case" leak is not chain lube getting thrown forward onto the case and migrating down to the lowest point before dripping off? You know what you're doing; that's clear; but mine did this for a while and while intellectually I knew this was a possibility, somehow I managed to ignore it forever while searching for other possible causes. Finally, it became apparent such that even I couldn't deny it!

Last time I installed a new primary seal I wondered how ANYTHING could possibly get past that sucker, warped cases or not. That thing is like the mother of all O-rings!

Best of luck to you Dave. - Brian

Brian,
Yes, thanks for the heads-up. I remember that there was always a lot of oil coming off the chain from the "chain oiler" which was always dripping off the bottom of the chaincase, the lowest point. I disconnected the oiler early on, and there may have been quite a lot of left over oil splashing around. I think I know now a lot more of what is going on in the primary case and I may not have had everything set up correctly in the past. Hopefully with the new main bearing seal, new real gearbox seals, a real tach drive seal, installing the clutch rod seal, correct setup of the primary case to the gearbox and cradle, things will be vastly improved. I also had the old timed breather going into the oil tank and that was also coming out into the airbox and dripping down on top of the gearbox which is never going to help. I'm sorting these issues as I rebuild and we'll see what happens. Believe me, there will be a report on this effort. I also know there is always going to be oil coming off the main drive chain, something I'll have to live with until Norton gets a final belt or shaft drive (no way).

Dave
69S

Dave, hi. Yeah, I am always cleaning blobs of black grease off EVERYTHING in the rear half of the bike - chain lube mixed with road filth. Bottom of the seat, you name it. I take the seat off to check the oil level, put it back on, and - HEY! why are my hands filthy!!!?!?

Had the top end off recently (rings) and when it went back on, much improved performance but oil EVERYWHERE dripping off the front, bottom, etc. of the engine. After a bit of checking, I figured out that it was bubbling up the tach cable and dripping off and then going...everywhere!

Yes, I have the rebuilt tach drive, which worked before but something changed in the process of taking it off and reinstalling it (a bit of teflon tape on the drive housing SEEMS to have cured the problem).

My point being, these oil leaks are incredibly difficult to pinpoint. The tach drive leak looked like it was coming out of the very bottom of the crankcase. It took a bit of elimination to finally figure out the actual cause.

Effing Nortons! (I love 'em!)

Best of luck.

When a Norton doesn't leave a drop of oil somewhere...it's time to worry! When I first started mine up, there must have been ten or twelve leaks. Now, after a year and a half of pretty regular riding (about 8000 miles), its down to about a drop a day off the bottom of the crankcase (I had forgotten the dental floss trick).


I had a friend who had an old Ferrari (275 GTB). When another acquaintance stopped by with his (then) new 308GTS, his little boy refused to believe it was a real Ferrari. "Where's the oil?" was his query.

That is the wrong question .
So how does everything else compare to a commando.
A norton its art in movement .

I see my 72 manufactured, 73 registered Commando as a thorough bred racehorse of the 70's and as tempramental as one. I commuted to work, 100 miles per day on it in 1990, but was always messing with it, nothing in particular, but always something needing ajustment, so I bought a new Kawasaki GT750 shaftie to commute on. With 17yrs between the manufacture of these bikes, the GT Kwaker being the carthorse of its day ,the Norton had far superior handling and equivalent or better performance (my Norton engine is original build and low mileage) and just as comfy to ride. (In defence of the Kawasaki it did 40,000 trouble free miles)

Obviously performance would not stack up against a sports bike in 1990, although up to 100mph I could keep up with a friend on a VFR750 Honda.

The other point that has been made is the rider, I have been riding bikes since 15 and on the road since I was 16 (which is far too long to mention) and its suprising how much experience you have. I also have a Triumph 955i and rode round the inside on the twisties of friends on GSXRs and Fireblades and wondered why they go so slow with a look of fear on their faces and a bit of wibble/wobble. BUT, on the same Triumph (my Norton is being rebuilt) I went on the back roads with the Norton owners club (some having IOM (Isle of Man) race experience) and I could not keep up with Commandos, Dominators or Internationals. I must have had twice their power, modern fat Battleaxe tyres, twin discs up front with four pot pot calipers and I still had no chance.

So I agrree with :

Re bike performance... somebody like Nicky Hayden riding my Norton Commando would out lap me riding a Ducati 1198R Corse at the Isle of Man (or anywhere else in the world) with no trouble at all!

Click to expand...

and I would even go one further to say that Rossi on a road circuit in T-shirt, jeans and trainers on a featherbed framed Dominator would beat someone with no history of biking, dressed in the most expensive one piece leathers with Knee sliders etc on the latest GSX1000 that he has just bought as a toy with his annual bonus.

"When a Norton doesn't leave a drop of oil somewhere...it's time to worry!"

With my original '71 back in the day I always told people that if it wasn't leaking oil it was out of oil. A friend used to say about his that it leaked oil from everything but the headlight but that maybe there should be oil in there because the headlight didnt' work.

My 850 doesn't leak much at all though occasionally there is a drop or two of crankcase oil underneath but not often. However, on a ride the other day, the threaded rod that holds the two end caps on the swing arm broke and dumped all the 140 gear oil out of the swingarm and onto the garage floor. It must have broken just as I got to the driveway.

I had snapped the little nut off the end of the rod a while back when I was filling up the swingarm with 140 oil using a small grease gun...I didn't realize the stiffness in the gun was because the swingarm was full and the next squeeze of the handle stripped the threads and popped off the cap nut/right side swingarm cap. I soldered the capnut back on, thinking it would be sufficiently strong. Nope - broke during the ride. So lots of 140 on the floor after I got back.