It's a wart, I tell you!

Very cool ZFD, and I like the luggauge too !!! Will you be at the 2011 Rally in New York ? Cheers.

ZFD, thanks for the elaboration.

ZFD said:

Engine isn't stroked, in fact it is "short stroke" in that the crank was originally fitted to a T140 engine using its stroke.

Click to expand...

Guess you mean the T150?
Standard T150 crankshaft was 120 degrees though.

A slave rod needs some room, I wonder where Doug Hele had intended to fit it?

No, I meant the T140 Twin. Look at the crank, it is nothing like a Trident one.

Won't be making it to the 2011 Rallye, sorry.
Joe S.

Sorry, forgot about the Doug Hele question- Doug Hele neither intended it for the Bonnie, nor for the Commando. He intended it for a new twin engine generation that in fact never happened, and just thought of a new principle for balancing a twin. As Bonnies and Commandos were available at practically no cost to the Experimental Dept. that is what they used to test the idea.

I wonder if BMW pay Ducati a royalty for the balancer system, believing Ducati invented it.

ZFD said:

Ahem- and the real reason I put the bike on the Andover Norton homepage was our new luggage system fitted to it, not the wart!

Joe Seifert

Click to expand...

Is the luggage system available from a US vendor? I don't like how soft bags wear and tear quickly with travel on a commando.

T140 indeed, didn't look close enough.
BMW might have got away with it because their balancer was at 180 degrees, Ducati's was at 90.

Ducati may have pioneered it's use in a motorcycle engine- I don't know- but I have seen lever balancer systems used on hay threshing machines from 100 years ago. Jim

ZFD said:

Has it occurred to anyone to make it a 2 stroke twingle?

Click to expand...

Was the original Twingle a 2 stroke, For some reason I think it may have been?
A friend of mine has one in his shop. I will have to go and take a closer look, It's kinda hard to see it.

Puch motorcycle marketed as the "Twingle"
Puch motorcycle 250 SGSPuch is perhaps best remembered in the US for importing the SGS 250, the first and last split-single seen there. Marketed by Sears in their catalogue as the "Twingle",[3] it was styled much like a BMW of the 1950s and 60s. The layout had been popular in Europe between the wars because it improved scavenging, and hence fuel consumption, a feature considered less important in the US. New models after World War II had an internal re-arrangement which improved piston lubrication, reducing wear on the most vulnerable part of the engine, while an early system of pumping the two-stroke oil, along with the twin spark-plug ignition, greatly improved day-to-day reliability. Despite the racing heritage and performance potential of the split-single engine, this particular Puch model, with a top speed around 110 km/h (68 mph), was at a disadvantage against the loop-scavenged two-strokes that arrived in the late 1960s. A total of 38,584 of the SGS motorcycles were produced between 1953 and 1970.[4]

Is the luggage system available from a US vendor? I don't like how soft bags wear and tear quickly with travel on a commando.

The luggage system should shortly be available through all Andover Norton outlets in the States. Andover Norton has just taken the first delivery of luggage systems, panniers and topboxes.
The "Commando Tripple" was used as a slave bike to do propper assemby instructions and to find out if everything that was needed to assemble is in fact included- which I found it isn't but will be as of now. Still working on the instructions, though, as I want to put some pictures in to make things clearer.
The Tripple is also often used to go to work on, and I need to take things with me from home to work and back, so panniers and luggage rack come in handy.

Joe Seifert

I love the concept.

Thanks for the info Joe.

comnoz said:

Onder said:

...times a'wastin' Mr Comnoz, out to that shed and power up
that CNC mill!

Click to expand...

Yes, I already have the crank and the rod. Now I want to cast up a set of cases with the necessary modification to fit a lever instead of doing a weld up. Of course if I had a new set of Maney cases I might be tempted to do a weld up on them. Jim

Click to expand...

Jim — I can't wait to see that. Having the Commando motor rigidly mounted in its frame really appeals. No more rubber. Would the amount of power that a counter-balancer absorbs be significant?

Dave

daveh said:

comnoz said:

Onder said:

...times a'wastin' Mr Comnoz, out to that shed and power up
that CNC mill!

Click to expand...

Yes, I already have the crank and the rod. Now I want to cast up a set of cases with the necessary modification to fit a lever instead of doing a weld up. Of course if I had a new set of Maney cases I might be tempted to do a weld up on them. Jim

Click to expand...

Jim — I can't wait to see that. Having the Commando motor rigidly mounted in its frame really appeals. No more rubber. Would the amount of power that a counter-balancer absorbs be significant?

Dave

Click to expand...

A lever type balancer would have very little friction loss so theoretically there would be more power available since less would be wasted shaking the whole motor and wearing out the isolastics. The stress on the cases would be relieved for sure. And the whole frame would be stiffened a lot. Jim

Perfect primary balance, just like a Ducati L-twin. Must look that up now to follow this wonder.
Wonder what it feels like to a princess on a pea rubber Cdo devote. Don't look like any more secondary harmonics than a single either. Is the valve train buzz felt? Is there valve train buzz in a Cdo and Ducati?
Has it been pressed to know if it surpasses regular isolastic Cdos' sweeper hinging?

Wonder if there is enough proper timed crank case pressure spikes to make it a headless hit and mis 2 stroke? Now that would be extra jaw dropper, tiny carb'd power balancer with its own header and plug!

comnoz said:

A lever type balancer would have very little friction loss so theoretically there would be more power available since less would be wasted shaking the whole motor and wearing out the isolastics. The stress on the cases would be relieved for sure. And the whole frame would be stiffened a lot. Jim

Click to expand...

And the housing looks to be about the size of an oil filter and doesn't seem that obtrusive to me. A neat and efficient solution.