How much did your Commando cost? (2016)

ashman said:

In 1976 I bought my 1974 Commando new old new stock was only 2 74s left in Brisbane at the time, I was 17 years old and I paid $1999 on the road, the M111 at the time was $2450 on the road, I was only earning $60 a week and got my first ever loan of $1100 to pay for it, paid it off in less than 12 months on a 2 year loan.

Ashley

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In 1977-8 at the then NVT warehouse/spare counter at Moxon Road Punchbowl N.S.W Aust'. there were crates of unsold Mk2As and Mk3s .Lots of the parts bins were empty but you could buy a complete power unit with gearbox as a spare part .

It was in the late 1990s. I had been without a bike because I had a young family and I had put bikes on the back burner. I was doing a lot of T-shirt production work with a guy and we got along pretty well. One day I was over at his shop and he was giving me the tour. He pulled pack a big tarp and under it were and Oldsmobile 442 and a Norton Commando. He pointed to the Norton and said "I'll bet you don't know what that is?" I responded with "I know every nut and bolt on that bike" and then I explained my previous life as a mechanic at a Norton, Triumph & BMW dealership. No more was said but a few weeks later he approached me and asked if I would like to have the Norton? He said he know that he was never going to get around to restoring it or even getting it running and he would sell it to me for $500 if I promised to ride it and not flip it. Somehow I managed to scrape up $500 and it was mine.

The bike had been in a screen printing shop for years and it was sticky with the spray used to registered the shirts. Worse it was covered in lint and fuzz. I took it all apart. Had the frame powder coated safety yellow. (I loved the black tank and yellow frame but no one else did.) I rebuilt the engine, fixed the sump/breather with Old Brits instructions and replaced the lay shaft transmission bearing. I don't know how much I spent. The powder coating was a trade out and all the work was done by me. True to my word I rode that 1973 750 Norton Commando as my main ride for many years.


I lived on a dirt and gravel road and the bike stayed filty

Big_Jim59 said:

It was in the late 1990s. I had been without a bike because I had a young family and I had put bikes on the back burner. I was doing a lot of T-shirt production work with a guy and we got along pretty well. One day I was over at his shop and he was giving me the tour. He pulled pack a big tarp and under it were and Oldsmobile 442 and a Norton Commando. He pointed to the Norton and said "I'll bet you don't know what that is?" I responded with "I know every nut and bolt on that bike" and then I explained my previous life as a mechanic at a Norton, Triumph & BMW dealership. No more was said but a few weeks later he approached me and asked if I would like to have the Norton? He said he know that he was never going to get around to restoring it or even getting it running and he would sell it to me for $500 if I promised to ride it and not flip it. Somehow I managed to scrape up $500 and it was mine.

The bike had been in a screen printing shop for years and it was sticky with the spray used to registered the shirts. Worse it was covered in lint and fuzz. I took it all apart. Had the frame powder coated safety yellow. (I loved the black tank and yellow frame but no one else did.) I rebuilt the engine, fixed the sump/breather with Old Brits instructions and replaced the lay shaft transmission bearing. I don't know how much I spent. The powder coating was a trade out and all the work was done by me. True to my word I rode that 1973 750 Norton Commando as my main ride for many years.

I lived on a dirt and gravel road and the bike stayed filty

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Don't have to be a show pony and dirty looking says it well ridden, my Norton only gets a good clean and polish once a year the date I rolled it out of the show room door in 1976 22nd of June.