Lumpy's Featherbed Commando

Matt Spencer · Feb 13, 2012

Will dig out the picture , which is a copy of a little motorcycle mechanics one , of the same machine .
Plenty of 4.25 18 ' K 81 's about , and even 5.00 16 ones .
ISO's , Fraid So . . .all but the 75 bike had some variation of them , real smooth .

This one Didnt , but there appears to have been a materials shortage . :lol: :wink:

lcrken · Feb 14, 2012

SteveA said:
[
No Isolastics on the works monocoque Matt....

Not so, Steve. I took this picture of one of the factory monocoques some years ago, and it clearly shows the isos.

Ken

Holmeslice · Feb 14, 2012

lcrken said:
Not so, Steve. I took this picture of one of the factory monocoques some years ago, and it clearly shows the isos.

Ken

Hey Ken,

Will you get in that there Monocoque and pull the cylinder head for me?

Give me a call when you've got it out. :shock:

Thx.

Webby03 · Feb 14, 2012

lynxnsu said:
well , as the bike was not ready for the IOM (september ) i lost a bit of interest in it ,
also the clutch is giving me problems in that the laydown box has got a worm - mechanism to push the clutch open , but only has 1,5mm lift
i modified (shortened ) the arm inside the inner cocer to give more movement but still not enough
i am nw making a lever-multiplier (self invented word so no-one understands so no difficult questions)

the rest is very near finished (wiring , head-steady , oil cirquit , rec-counter )
alas my pc has crashed (only 12 years old )so i now use my daughters laptop but can not put pics on , hope to get a NOS pc soon........

I look forward to seeing it finished, you've done a great job so far

Do you have any good contacts for parts, services etc. in Belgium?

Thanks

Webby

lcgtr · Jul 20, 2015

Did you get any further on this mate. I just brought a wideline off Murry last week and was researching about doing thiswith the commando driveline I have

74ok · Jul 20, 2015

LanceH said:
Is the featherbed as good as they say it is? I accept that it’s a legend, but my reading is that it was light years ahead in the early years, but Triumph, etc caught up in the latter years, resulting in the Commando we know and love.

Is a decently sorted Commando better than a featherbed? My understanding is that they are, but I’ve only ridden Commandos, so can’t say. What are the views from people that have ridden both?

featherbed-frame-design-went-against-all-engineering-princip-t20512.html

ashman · Jul 21, 2015

Well I brought my brand new 850 Commando in 76 and converted it to the Featherbed frame in 1980 and it was one of the best things I ever done and to this day I am still riding my 850 Featherbed, so I have experance with both, I still ride a few Commandos as I have done a few rebuilds for friends, in my opinion putting isolastics on a Featherbed frame will just upset the way the Featherbeds will handle it changes the whole bike (they came out with solid mounts), if you set up a Featherbed properly with a Commando engine and balance the crank right it will run very smoothly and remember I did this in the 80s, these days there are a lot more improvements with rods, pistons etc to make them even smoother, what I did with mine all them years ago has worked very well for me, I have no problems with vibrations at all, I had problem with isolastics, with my Featherbed I have only lost one muffler bolt and my top gearbox bolt lost the nut but that was my fault from not tighting it up, so thats not bad for being in the Featherbed for over 35 years now and every one say they vibrate to much, only poeple who have never done what I did would say that or have never rode a Featherbed/Commando that has been set up right.

Years ago there was a mob doing Isolistic Featherbeds in the US and I followed it for some time, but you don't hear to much about them these day, over priced, over engneered, did it upset the handling of the Featherbed or what :?: Of course they said they handled great but they would say that when they are trying to sell their bikes, when I built my Featherbed/Commando all them years ago I did it on a tight budget, without the inner net and I was young, the Featherbed/Commando is much the same as when I first built it but with a lot more improvement over the years, its been very releiable and was my every day ride for over 32 years and has served me well and i still get a frill every time I ride it and I am glad I did the converstion all them years ago.

laurentdom · Jul 21, 2015

Just a few words about my own experience (about 5000 miles) with a 750 Commando engine rigidly mounted in a Featherbed frame re: the vibrations:

Almost none under 4000 rpm, really moderate ones from 4000 to 6000 rpm (rear mirror image is quite clear / several hundred miles per day is not a problem), no experience above 6000 rpm.

My solution: Jim Schmidt's conrods and pistons (standard CR), no change on crankshaft balance factor.

Hope it helps,

Laurent

ashman · Jul 21, 2015

laurentdom said:
Just a few words about my own experience (about 5000 miles) with a 750 Commando engine rigidly mounted in a Featherbed frame re: the vibrations:

Almost none under 4000 rpm, really moderate ones from 4000 to 6000 rpm (rear mirror image is quite clear / several hundred miles per day is not a problem), no experience above 6000 rpm.

My solution: Jim Schmidt's conrods and pistons (standard CR), no change on crankshaft balance factor.

Hope it helps,

Laurent

Good to hear another good Featherbed/Commando combination, when I built mine 35 years ago there were no light weight pistons or rods around, I was young and had very limited money, but found the right person to do the crank balance (72%) that knew what he was doing, at the time it cost me $42, I remember when I took the crank, pistons, rods, pushrods, bearings to him in a back pack on my small dirt bike on the otherside of town and a few days later picking them up again on the dirt bike.
I can ride my Featherbed all day without any problems and cruise on highways between 65 to 90 for as long as I want and all smooth and I run stock gearing, the rest of my motor isn't stock and has a lot of work and will rev hard well over 6,500, it revs very freely and I haven't blown nothing yet in the 35 years, but now I am older and more muture I don't do the speeds I use to but I do take it over the ton regularly, I love to have the money to do all those goodies Jim sells but beyond my price range, but mine is good enough as it is for now and I have well over 130,000 miles on it in the 35 years of being in the Featherbed.

Ashley

laurentdom · Jul 23, 2015

Good to read your feedback too Ashley. You gave me a lot of good advice when I was swapping my 600cc engine for the 750 Commando and when I installed a Commando rear wheel in my slimline Featherbed.

Thanks again!
L.

ashman · Jul 23, 2015

laurentdom said:
Good to read your feedback too Ashley. You gave me a lot of good advice when I was swapping my 600cc engine for the 750 Commando and when I installed a Commando rear wheel in my slimline Featherbed.

Thanks again!
L.

Thanks as its good to hear a bit of feed back from some of the things I have done to my bike, some may not and judge me as what ever, but I know it has worked well for me in the 35 years since building my Featherbed/Commando, but the last 6 years seen most of the good improvements done, better brakes, the Joe Hunt, round oil tank, Lansdown fork internals and a few other things.
As using the Commando wheels I had to as when I got the Featherbed it had no wheels at all and the front end was beyond repair, but using the 19" wheels didn't change the way it handled and gave it that little bit more ground clearance, everything that was put together on or made for the Featherbed was made so nothing could scrape when pushing it through the corners, the exhaust were tucked right in, the foot pegs sit high, rode it for over 32 years without any stands because I could always scrape the Commando stands quite easy but now have bolt on side stand and so far haven't scraped it.
At the moment I have taken the oil tank off as the alloy tray that it's mounted off under the seat has split along the sides where it was folded after 5 years use and going back to a steel tray, I have a steel tray but it has 2 big round holes in the underside of the tray where the coils use to be mounted, I might still use it as no one looks under the tray.

Ashley

LanceH · Jul 24, 2015

Hello Mate,

I've put this one on the back burner, while I finish off my GT40 replica. That's nearly there so, hopefully, I should be back into the featherbed this summer.

I have been considering how to set up the mono-link suspension, in order not to upset the isolastics and how to stiffen the frame, if required, to get the best handling (not that I'll ever push it). I'm quite a fan of the work done by Andreas Georgeades.

I haven't dropped in to see Murray for a while. I'll give him some contact details and we can have a chat.

Cheers,

Lance

Lumpy's Featherbed Commando

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