It's a Gift and a Curse?

I got a surprise gift today.

This is my friend's '73 750 Commando with 6000 miles on it that I have kept in my garage. This was the first Norton I had ever ridden and loved it. Until the engine had a catastrophic failure, that is. The motor was sent to Denver for rebuild and has not been recovered. I've posted about this fiasco before. Steve's will leaves the bike to me, but he decided to give up on the frustration of not getting his motor or engine back and even if he did he has lost interest. Other than the engine, it's in great shape. It looks like I'll be building a motor from parts. I may as well build a combat motor since it won't be matching numbers. If the original one is ever recovered, then I'll have a spare and/or a choice.
My '74 is a black 850. In the background is my black '55 Harley. I also have a black '79 Bonneville, a black (of course) Vincent....

Good luck with whichever way you go with the bike.

Frank

That will make a lovely bike, especially with the personal history attached to it; the story of the motor is the one that makes anyone nervous about leaving valuable or irreplaceable parts with third parties.

There is an oddity on the bike though......that mirror in the picture appears to be an early 'nutted' style Honda item, typically fitted to the first CB750s etc.

If it has all the correct early stamps on the back it could be quite desireable to the Honda Sandcast crowd......if the stem is 11mm in diameter (the later common ones were 10mm) it would be a real rarity and correspondingly valuable, original very rare parts can fetch silly money.

Unusual to see a metric mirror on a Commando in any event, but if you were to swap it for a Norton item, don't just bin that Honda one, it may not be junk.

Good luck with the bike, hopefully you can track down that engine and get it back where it belongs.

Mick........kettle738

kettle738 said:

That will make a lovely bike, especially with the personal history attached to it; the story of the motor is the one that makes anyone nervous about leaving valuable or irreplaceable parts with third parties.

There is an oddity on the bike though......that mirror in the picture appears to be an early 'nutted' style Honda item, typically fitted to the first CB750s etc.

If it has all the correct early stamps on the back it could be quite desireable to the Honda Sandcast crowd......if the stem is 11mm in diameter (the later common ones were 10mm) it would be a real rarity and correspondingly valuable, original very rare parts can fetch silly money.

Unusual to see a metric mirror on a Commando in any event, but if you were to swap it for a Norton item, don't just bin that Honda one, it may not be junk.

Good luck with the bike, hopefully you can track down that engine and get it back where it belongs. Mick........kettle738

Click to expand...

Been looking for one of those mirror for yonks’, but don’t want to pay silly money for them. :shock:

Good eyes, guys.
The mirror was made in Japan, so it's off the bike. The markings on it are HM in one spot and what looks like a large thin S superimposed on an M. I would gladly trade it for anything Norton/Lucas/Amal.

You have a twin oval stamp mirror.....HM in one as you mention and MS in the other.....you may also find you have a patent number (or possibly even pat pending) around the MS logo.

If you do, it's a genuine early Honda mirror (there are repos and modern equivelents available that don't have these features) which is the one any CB750 restorer would want.

It would be worth putting a vernier gauge across that stem to check the diameter though, if it's 11mm it's a valuable thing, far more so than a 10mm.

I'd be very happy to put it on my 69 CB750, but I'm on the wrong side of the pond and there are plenty of people in the US who would like it I'm sure.

All this stuff is discussed at very great length on the Sandcast Only Owners Club forum....my knowledge only extended to recognising it as a twin stamp mirror.

Swapping it for Norton parts is probably a good move, but check that stem first.

Good luck with the bike..........Mick..........kettle738

I did not note the patent number, but I think it is a 10 mm stem. If you want, I can look at the patent number when I get home from work. It is worth nothing to me but if it is worth something to you, you can have it. One of my quirks is that I avoid Japanese parts/bikes.

Just in case...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Norton-7 ... 1e7d0757c3

If I read this correctly, the shipping is free. Not a bad deal.

Russ

rvich,
thanks for the heads up. I will ponder this. Despite "running 5 years ago" and with ports plugged up, it at least looks like it has everything I need to have another running Commando.

Damn, he is also selling a Dunstall Roadster. Looks sweet.....