Long and short roadholders?

Since I´m tryin´ to put a fork together from nothing, I´m searchin´ the net for parts. And I´ve realized that I´m not up to date with the terminology here :? . What is the long/short roadholder about? Was any of them on a Commando? I mean that fork was called roadholder.
Tommy

fiatfan said:

Since I´m tryin´ to put a fork together from nothing,

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For a disc or drum brake/wheel?

fiatfan said:

What is the long/short roadholder about? Was any of them on a Commando?

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"Long" = pre-Featherbed frame models.
"Short" = Featherbed frame models.
Commando = similar to short, but with various detail changes so many part numbers are different and not all parts are interchangeable with short Roadholder parts (due to different threads, dimensions, etc.) also disc and drum brake Commando Roadholder sliders.

http://www.clubmanracing.com/suspensionforksnorton.php
http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/Norton% ... rks_ks.pdf
http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/FORKS%2 ... ges_ks.pdf

Forget Long Roadholders. They were used on non-Featherbed singles and Dominators and had an earlier type of damping.

Edit: as Labbyboy says, but why not post anyway!

Actually, Commando roadholders and long roadholders are about the same length (but totally different),
and featherbed short roadholders are, well, shorter and different.

And manx roadholders are even shorter, and scrambler roadholders even longer.
So thats 5 different versions of them.
And more or less interchangeable, to some extent.
Take care !

Ok, thanks guys, I think.... Not sure I´m that much wiser, wouldn´t it have been much easier if they weren´t all called Roadholder? I´m not at all interested in the actual length as my plan is to build a "copy" of the bike I had back in the 70:s and that was originally a 1970 Roadster. Just want it to fit a Commando headstock. So I´m going for a long fork, 8" over stock, and I´d like to get hold of a more or less complete drumbrake Commando fork, and wheel as well. Which apparently is easier said than done, and if you find one, or parts from one, they are IMHO often ridiculously expensive. And on top of that I probably have to send for it or the parts, since there´s not a lot of these lying around here in Sweden. But who said it should be easy . I´ll keep digging! At least now I know what the ads are all about, thanks for that.
Tommy

You are right about the Commando TLS drum brake being ridiculously expensive. It has gotten popular in the last decade probably due to a more ancient look. In the early 80s around here you couldn't give a front drum away as all were converting to Lockheed disc.

I fitted my ES2 with a front twin leader in the 60s.....fitted to a ROUND drum and with Ferodo AM4 linings fitted and skimmed to suit the drum it worked VERY well (especially first time on a cold wet damp morning when its application was damn nigh lethal!!!) but when hot it was merely decorative. In an article in Motor Cycle Sport magazine (January 1977 page 27) whilst the article is telling the tale of the Commando main bearing failure problem and NUMEROUS cures required...)oops i have only done 4,000 miles and the bloody things are rumbling)... part of it states ...

NOBODY THOUGHT THE OLD DRUM BRAKE WAS ANY GOOD.
Nobody really thought the old drum brake was any good and unfortunately the disc brake was not made available with the stardard specification. That was mistake number 1. From then on most orders were for the disc brake model because its no good going fast if you cannot stop equally quickly. The production manager soon cottoned on to this and said " Right if thats what most of them want thats what they all must have". So they stopped making the old model altogether. Mistake number 2. That is number 2 if you dont count the original tweaking of a tired motor with a 10:1 compression ratio and a racing camshaft...................................

I bet very few of todays Norton Commando owners have ever read such articles .......

J. M. Leadbeater said:

NOBODY THOUGHT THE OLD DRUM BRAKE WAS ANY GOOD.
Nobody really thought the old drum brake was any good and unfortunately the disc brake was not made available with the stardard specification. That was mistake number 1. From then on most orders were for the disc brake model because its no good going fast if you cannot stop equally quickly. The production manager soon cottoned on to this and said " Right if thats what most of them want thats what they all must have". So they stopped making the old model altogether. Mistake number 2. That is number 2 if you dont count the original tweaking of a tired motor with a 10:1 compression ratio and a racing camshaft...................................

I bet very few of todays Norton Commando owners have ever read such articles .......

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I bet many have. That article has been posted here in its entirety several times.