How Old is too Old?

My BSA Super Rocket was from an estate sale. The executor was the deceased owner's son. The family owns a Harley dealership in Texas.
The old man raced at Daytona in the 50s and managed to beat the Harley's of the day with his Daytona Special BSA.
He got away from riding for many years, then at age 78 asked his 55 year old son if he would help him find and purchase the two motorcycles he had always lusted for. The first on his short list was a late model BSA SR(61-63 have the hot cam and good clutch)
They found a nice 63 for him, the last year for the A10 so it has all the factory improvements.
Next he wanted a MK3 850 Commando. They also found and purchased a very nice one of those.
After getting them home and putting them through their shop for a checkover, the big day came for his demo first rides. With family and friends gathered, he rode the Commando first off. I guess he started off ok, putted down the road a bit then dropped the bike when making a u turn to come back to the crowd.
The son said that was the end of it, he never rode the BSA and never rode the Norton again.
So don't wait too long, get at it!

Glen

worntorn said:

My BSA Super Rocket was from an estate sale. The executor was the deceased owner's son. The family owns a Harley dealership in Texas.
The old man raced at Daytona in the 50s and managed to beat the Harley's of the day with his Daytona Special BSA.
He got away from riding for many years, then at age 78 asked his 55 year old son if he would help him find and purchase the two motorcycles he had always lusted for. The first on his short list was a late model BSA SR(61-63 have the hot cam and good clutch)
They found a nice 63 for him, the last year for the A10 so it has all the factory improvements.
Next he wanted a MK3 850 Commando. They also found and purchased a very nice one of those.
After getting them home and putting them through their shop for a checkover, the big day came for his demo first rides. With family and friends gathered, he rode the Commando first off. I guess he started off ok, putted down the road a bit then dropped the bike when making a u turn to come back to the crowd.
The son said that was the end of it, he never rode the BSA and never rode the Norton again.
So don't wait too long, get at it!

Glen

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At least he quit when he did !

Dan1950 said:

I received a private email from the seller. He is going to hold the bike for me. We have done a lot of corresponding and he know that the bike will get a "good home". I think that's important to him. He is not hard up for cash or in a hurry to sell. He just need sto get rid of some of his 7 Norton Commandos. He is also selling and Interstate of similar vintage and condition.

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The seat cover has been replaced, but the shape looks a bit swaybacked. Maybe the seat pan needs attention. 18" rear wheel. Nice looking bike. OldBritts oil pressure gage... BRAVO!
Instrument cups are the shallow, unpainted from earlier bike.

The mention of 35 year intermission in riding deserves further comment.... I took a 22year time out from riding, and it was pretty shaky when it began again. Fixed up the Commando first and it was quite a handful when starting again. Scared myself bad a few times during the first couple of months.... then the GL 1000 was given life and proved even more difficult to master again because of the mass, top heaviness, and generally crappy brakes on the series. I managed to survive the ordeal.... for born again riders I find the Commando to get my vote because of the overall nimble character in handling.... even stock brakes are better than the GL and being nimble and lighter if one minds the throttle and maintains awareness it is a much more forgiving bike to get back into shape with.

I've never ridden a Goldwing, so I'm unaware of the braking deficiency. I know my Fastback's stock
drum braking system has it's limitations. That is saying something to give the Commando the
nod in that department, and surprising. The nimbleness has to be a given- I can guess the GL feels top heavy, as You said, and, a good word for it, they just look to have a lot of 'MASS,' I don't guess I'd want to fight it either. I know my hips and lumbar wouldn't appreciate it !

My hip seems to lock up riding that wide bastard forcing me to stop and dismount until it eases up.... not so much on the Commando. A commando you think turn and they seem to do it of their own accord rather than having to shove into a turn like a GL. My 850 stops PDQ unless MC fails...... which it has.

rvich said:

Search this forum for threads on blue paint or blue metal flake and such. There are a lot of people who want that paint scheme, so if you should decide to change it please buy new tins and paint them however you like and pass the original blue stuff on to somebody who wants it.

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Actually, I'm beginning to like the idea of the not so common color scheme.

That blue roadster looks like a good specimen. This may have been mentioned in this lengthy thread but Norton's (except 75) don't have the the traditional 1 down 3 up shift pattern. Instead, 1 up and 3 down. Just a heads up in case you get a test ride, you don't instinctively take off in second. There should be a little needle pointing to what gear you are in but many have been removed.

Just like my '67 Thunderbolt. My biggest concern is the brake being on the left side. I wouldn't want to shift gears up when I try to brake.

Dan1950 said:

Just like my '67 Thunderbolt. My biggest concern is the brake being on the left side. I wouldn't want to shift gears up when I try to brake.

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I have Japanese bikes that shift on the left and Nortons that shift on the right with Burman derived up for first . The footbrake / gear change has never been a problem for me but the shift pattern sometimes catches me out if I haven’t ridden the other style bikes in a while .
If the Commando will be your only ride I don’t think it will be a problem for you at all , especially since the the brake pedal and gear lever feel so differently.

71 and still my daily ride is my 73 ironhead chop, Kick only. Just redid my 72 commando and got it back on road yesterday. Kick only. Only difference now- is I don't leave home int he rain......................... over 50 years in the saddle.

"Actually, I'm beginning to like the idea of the not so common color scheme."

Nah, go with your initial reaction; paint it a color you like. Having a "rare" color is fine IF you like that color. If you don't, paint it! If you don't paint it now, you will later. Painting now, when you're doing other fettling anyway, is easier. I'd be painting it Red, Black, BRG, or Yellow.

Hmmm...yellow is the only one of those colors that my Commando (Roadster/Fastback) hasn't worn...HMMM...

Keep it blue everyone has a black or red Norton + blue has been a good luck colour for me anyway, I think you will get to like the blue just let it grow on you and enjoy the bike as it is.

ashman said:

Keep it blue everyone has a black or red Norton + blue has been a good luck colour for me anyway, I think you will get to like the blue just let it grow on you and enjoy the bike as it is.

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My father and grandfather were boat builders by trade . Upon completion of a sailing yacht a wealthy gent chose a non traditional color for his toy . At the christening/commissioning the traditionalist craftsmen in the family boat shop were not pleased with the owner’s tastes .
His ( the owner) response was : “ Gentlemen - one of the benefits of owning your own boat is you can paint it any color you like “
Do what you want - it is ( or soon will be ) yours .

I have no problems with changing colours on paint jobs but if the paint is still good why spend money changing it I think spending money on better upgrades is more important, but of course we all have our own opinions, I went from black Commando to green when I converted to the Featherbed, then carcoal when I had the major fire back in 82 then 12 months later to the blue that it is now, the original black paint job started to crack only a few years after buying the Commando new, was no undercoat was used from the factory on the steel tank.
It cost a small fortune to change paint colours these days and hard to find someone who is good with motorcycle tanks and side covers and doing small paint jobs just not worth their troubles unless you have the gear to do your own and can use the gear.
Also the paints these days are so much better, but as I have said if the original paint is still good I would leave it alone, but maybe you have money to spare for such a job, I don't and when I do have spare cash for the bikes then better upgrades are more important to me, remember any bikes these days can put big holes in your pockets, I just try and make them holes a bit smaller and spend the money on things that need to be spent on the bike, like better front brakes, suspension, ignition, exhaust, carbs etc etc, how deep are your pockets.
Yes its up to the owner to decide what he wants to do and as I have said its my opinion as we all have our own opinions and to the OP the Norton looks good as it is in my eyes.

Ashley

Original paint? Learn to love it.

Well...painting a motorcycle tank/side covers is pretty simple stuff though you need a compressor and spray gun. I would think most folks that do much of their own maintenance on cars or bikes have an air compressor already. Admittedly, if you have never painted before, some practice would be good before attempting the work. But if you are just shooting a single color, not doing pin striping/color shading/other fancy work, it's really pretty easy to get results equal to what a paint shop is going to do for a lot of money!

I have difficulty with the "get used to it" philosophy but, as has been pointed out, the owner gets to decide what is done with the motorcycle. To me having "original paint" or original paint color on a Norton Commando is of no consideration; OTOH, if it was an old Ferrari, my view is the opposite! Go figure...

Bikes are only original once!

Repainting good original tins that have survived this long is a kind of sacrilege.

Why not see if you can trade your metal work with someone ?

Dan1950 said:

Just like my '67 Thunderbolt. My biggest concern is the brake being on the left side. I wouldn't want to shift gears up when I try to brake.

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I've tried that....shifting gears when trying to brake is no biggie, you should be focused on the front brake for stopping anyway, but trying to shift down gears with the brake pedal can hurt your big toe!

1 up 3, 4 or 5 down is the 'traditional' pattern! Don't ride a race bike without it!