just rode her home - eeeeekk!

YAY

Just rode her home - how sketchy was that?

I haven't started a kick start bike for about thirty years I guess. At the first gas station I musta lost about 4 pounds. Oh, and luckily they roll start quite easily at downhill intersections. Always a fun time to be stalled; at night in the middle of a busy Vancouver four lane street, light controlled intersection with my ass end hanging out of the left turn lane!! They say if your Norton is missing, start looking in the lowest part of the village.

Oh, has anyone else noticed that the friggin' gears are upside down and back ass wards? Yikes!

And the saying that british bikes are nice but be home by dark was never truer!! "Lights" aren't really.........and the quotation marks mean that the term "light" is sort of a sliding definition. Apparently Mr. Lucas figured that anyone out after dark was certainly not to be trusted and likely up to no good. It has been speculated that he may have been responsible for designing english refrigeration systems and that's why they drink their beer warm! Turn signals - pfah- Who needs 'em?

still

Wow, torquey and fast. Beat some kid off the line and across the intersection before he knew what had happened. <grin> Too bad I could'nt find second gear after that though! Kid musta wondered why I was braking about halfway across. Probably figured I got scared at thirty miles an hour or something.

Hey, does anyone know where an online owner's manual is? And how about a lighting wiring diagram? Is there any way to give me some more ooomph out of the stock lighting?

thanks


this is gonna be fun!

YAHTZEE!

Old Britts has your on-line parts book, you ought to look into the "Kim the CD Man" Norton tech manual CD, it's got everything.

Sparx high wattage modern alternator is a good upgrade, as is a new AGM battery and THOROUGHLY CLEANED AND TIGHTENED electrical connections top to botom, front to back.

roqueweiler said:

Is there any way to give me some more ooomph out of the stock lighting?

thanks

this is gonna be fun!

Click to expand...

Stock? No!
Plug it in every night like it was an electric car.

Welcome to the Prince of Darkness. Gearshift is just fine for me. 1st up, through neutral and down to 2nd, etc. Got used to it with a BSA. Love the torque.

You will learn to love this bike.

Dave
69S

I used to feel the same way. A few mods and a little tinkering and it will be all good.

Just took my freinds Suzuki for a ride, Shifting with my left foot -eeeeeekk!

I always felt like it was a sacrilege shifting with my left foot. Something wrong there, spelled Honda.

Dave
69S

They put it on the right side because its the RIGHT side. I learned to ride with the shift on the wrong (left side) took about 30 sec to figure out when I got the Norton 36 years ago. I've only had mine back on the road for the last 5 days but nothing like it. Put an electronic ignition on it and sort out the carburetors. It will start 1st or 2nd kick. It isn't how hard you kick it, but how well set up the bike is.

Online workshop manual here: http://rocbo.lautre.net/technique/norto ... p/004.html

Some of you may have misunderstood:

I love her NOW!!

She is already in very good shape - the chap I purchased her from was a true gent and kept her in fine working order.
Carbs are set up beautifully.

I am the one who is unable to start her first or second kick - just not holding my mouth the right way yet. Perhaps I am too small at 225+ lbs and 6' 3" tall?

The shift issue is from switching back and forth from a modern Harley (and the shift linkage was kinda loose and got in the way of the kicker - fixed now with a small spacer shim on the rearset and a slight outward bend added to the kick)
Oh, I have surmised that "rearset" is British for footpeg, right?

Any other odd expressions I won't know?

BTW, the shifter is on the wrong side and I cannot be convinced otherwise. <grin> Tranny upside down too!

My bike was used for comuting when I first got it, in winter it was always in the dark with the speed never above 40 mph so to cure the battery needing charging up every night I fitted a 3 phase alternator which increases the peak charge and also gives this higher putput at much lower revs. I run a 55/60W halogen main bulb, 20W halogen pilot for daytime running and led tail and instrument lights. Never need to charge battery regardless of running conditions.

Each brit bike has a different routine to starting. My cold 850 needs a slightly open or fully closed thottle, full tickle and then a bit more or choke depending on temp, then find TDC and just slowly go over it, then give the big kick, mines a 2nd kick starter, 10% its a first kicker. When warm its a first kicker.

roqueweiler said:

Some of you may have misunderstood:



The shift issue is from switching back and forth from a modern Harley (and the shift linkage was kinda loose and got in the way of the kicker - fixed now with a small spacer shim on the rearset and a slight outward bend added to the kick)
Oh, I have surmised that "rearset" is British for footpeg, right?

Click to expand...

Harleys used to shift on the right, too. They also had to conform to the standard in the '70s. Right foot shifting made a lot of sense for flat-trackers, as the bike spent a lot of time leaned over on the left side - hard to shift if the shifter is on the left, and racers would have a steel strap-on shoe on the left foot, anyway.

I don't think rearset is a British term, and I think usually refers to the peg and mounting plate, which is adjustable on race bikes and some sportbikes.

I very rarely post, but I had to comment to your thread. I can totally appreciate your experience. I bought a Commando in October. It had been a very long time since I rode a right side shift. Needless to say, my ride home (in the rain) was very similar to yours. Once you learn how to hold your mouth just right while starting it, it'll be a one kick bike. It took me a couple of months to figure out the combination on mine.

Chris

On kickstarting procedure-

Pushing the kicker to get the pistons over TDC is the first thing.
Then, petcock on, and enrichers down (choke on) if stone cold.
A proper tickle of the carbs to get just a few dribbles is next (disregard for Mikuni and other non-Amal carbs).
Key on, lights off.
(there is gas in the tank, right?)

Now the trickiest part to learn, easiest once it becomes natural:

-You have to swing your body up and back down in one fluid motion to have all of your weight transfer through your right leg to the pedal
-You have to balance the bike so as not to over-stress the kickstand
-You have to clench your leg muscles just enough to keep the knee stiff, yet be prepared for an instant release in case of kickback (unless you have a PERFECTLY timed ignition)

Vroom, vroom!

I've found that pulling in the clutch and rotating the kickstarter to about the 10 o'clock position is best...

grandpaul said:

On kickstarting procedure-

-You have to balance the bike so as not to over-stress the kickstand

Click to expand...

By this he means DO NOT kickstart the bike with the standstand down supporting the bike.

BillT said:

I don't think rearset is a British term, and I think usually refers to the peg and mounting plate, which is adjustable on race bikes and some sportbikes.

Click to expand...

Rear sets mean that the footpegs have been set to the rear. :mrgreen:

Typical footpeg locations would have the rider sitting upright. By moving the footpegs back by the swingarm pivot area and usually up provides a different rider position and additional ground clearance.

roqueweiler said:

Oh, has anyone else noticed that the friggin' gears are upside down and back ass wards? Yikes!

Click to expand...

I learned the "1 up 3 down" on my BSA WM20. I thought the gearbox was screwed up when I first took it for a ride after restoring it!

I had a 600 Dommi for a while, & one sunny weekend (yes we do get them sometimes) when the Dommi was of the road a friend & I went down to the coast on his late model BSA, he drove there I drove back. now I don't recall what side the gearchange was on, but I do remember it was 1 down & 3 up, that is I remembered up until exiting the last roundabout before home, wound it up in third then promptly dropped it straight back into second! no damage, but it was sooooo embarrassing.
Terry

3 of my 4 bikes are right shift up-for-down - the racing shift pattern. It's the Bonneville that baffles me these days!

Seems proper to me

B+Bogus said:

3 of my 4 bikes are right shift up-for-down - the racing shift pattern. It's the Bonneville that baffles me these days!

Seems proper to me

Click to expand...

Most fun can be had switching from a rightside gearchange up 1 down 3 to a leftside gearchange 1 down 4 up the excitement this can generate on approaching a tight bend/roundabout in the wet and getting it wrong is not to be missed .... :lol: :lol:

Try a first-time ride on a Formula 500 Kawasaki triple blue-smoker; 5 down (left foot, GP shift pattern). One downshift (upchange) too many and your engine braking goes away (neutral at the top)!

...to keep it interesting, make that at a race track you've never been to (Grattan, MI), in the middle of a crowded practice session, after just hopping off a standard right-foot-shift Bonneville...

Thankfully, (unbelievably) it never happened