My Commando conundrum

After waiting 30+ years to own my first Commando (a 72 Roadster) it looks like I could be the owner of two bikes, within weeks of scoring the first bike. My original bike, as some may remember from my previous thread, was a matching numbers all original bike, in need a of a good freshening up (wheels, brakes, suspension, brightwork etc.), which I got for a quite reasonable $8500. After pricing up everything I'd need to get my bike perfect, I had the idea that getting a 2nd bike could be a good move. I found a bike in Townsville (only 3hrs drive away) that was a fully sorted 72 Combat motor in a 71 frame for $12K. I had the idea that I could put the original parts into my matching numbers bike, which I could keep totally original, & I could turn the Combat bike into a Cafe Racer. However after contacting the Seller, I found he'd just taken off on an extended holiday & wouldn't be home till August! So I get back on the internet & find a really sweet matching numbers 71 Roadster that's been tastefully Cafe'd with a Dunstall tank, Ducati SS bikini fairing, twin headlights, & Yamaha mag wheels & triple disc brakes, for $12K. It comes with all the original bits, that are in very good condition. So I could have the bits I need to finish my bike & have a bike to ride around straight away. I'll keep the original as an investment/lounge ornament, only giving it a good run once a month or so, & I'll keep the Cafe as my daily ride. I think I could sell the entire lot at costs, or a slight profit, should I find I've bitten of more than I can chew, or encounter the need to sell urgently. So I can't really see a downside to this, despite the large initial investment required. I should at the very least break even. The bike's in Melb, which is a $500 plane ride away. It'll cost $820 to get it shipped to me in Nth Qld. Ive asked the seller to send me a video of the bike being ridden, & if I can glean enough info from that, I may decide to forego the trip to Melb. What do others think? I believe the bike's been for sale for a while. Has anybody here checked it out? The bike's advertised on bikesales.com.au if anyone wants to look at it.
PS I should also mention that a member here has put me onto another Commando in Brisbane, that's also been fully sorted, for $12K. It's been rebuilt with the usual modern upgrades, but otherwise looks stock, & sounds like it's excellent value too. It's closer, but I think I prefer the one that's already been Cafe'd

At the very least I would want to sit on and hear running before spending money on a " good runner" .... buying a project is different ... as long as everything is there and good to use ... a runner with parts I would have to see and feel in real life before spending my money ...
Craig

Massive risk buying a "fully sorted" bike without seeing it, buyers must be more honest than in the UK.
I have a mate that bought a fully sorted Jag mk 1X from Italy for good money.
That was 3 years ago, he knew what he was doing was datf, it's still in bits now and won't be usable for many years.
I suppose it's all about if you can afford the risk!

Others may have a different opinion but.....

A year or so I put my Commando up for sale. The engine was disassembled, (piston top separation) everything else was intact. I was constantly quizzed by potential buyers as to why I had not assembled the engine. I explained to them you could see what you were getting with the engine disassembled and you could ensure it was put together right. None of that went down too well. I did indeed sell it to someone who understood what I was talking about. I doubt I would ever purchase a "running" Commando, a CNW machine being an obvious exception, without a plan for a complete teardown.

A year or so I put my Commando up for sale. The engine was disassembled, (piston top separation) everything else was intact. I was constantly quizzed by potential buyers as to why I had not assembled the engine. I explained to them you could see what you were getting with the engine disassembled and you could ensure it was put together right. None of that went down too well. I did indeed sell it to someone who understood what I was talking about. I doubt I would ever purchase a "running" Commando, a CNW machine being an obvious exception, without a plan for a complete teardown.

It is usually cheaper to buy it nice than to make it nice. The rub is you have to know the bike
and owner pretty well.
Even a nice original runner will horrify you if you pull it down and inspect it. If you just want to
putter around locally you can get away with buying, riding a while and reselling. If you wish
to drive longer distances and wring it out, then you are better off either doing a full tear down
or simply building a project bike.

JimC said:

A year or so I put my Commando up for sale. The engine was disassembled, (piston top separation) everything else was intact. I was constantly quizzed by potential buyers as to why I had not assembled the engine. I explained to them you could see what you were getting with the engine disassembled and you could ensure it was put together right. None of that went down too well. I did indeed sell it to someone who understood what I was talking about. I doubt I would ever purchase a "running" Commando, a CNW machine being an obvious exception, without a plan for a complete teardown.

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It probably depends on who the customers are these days. If the bike is in bits, it takes a very careful person to ensure it is all there and correct. I don't think I'd ever buy a complete commando unless I knew the bike and it's owner. I think that a kid buying a commando as a first bike would be very bad.

Always several ways to decide stuff though in the end ya want the deal that leaves ya breathing the easiest. Otherwise when in doubt I whip this out...

Explain to us again why you are haring around all over the internet thinking of buying up Commandos hither and yon ?? !!

We think you'd be much better off getting acquainted with the one you own.
It doesn't take much to learn how to do all the cosmetics, as a point to begin with.
And any local bike shop could probably assist with most of the less tricky bits,
although you definitely don't want to be paying them to learn on the job with YOUR bike. !!

Keeping it local is way better than shipping it off so its inaccessible to view,
especially if you are learning and won't understand when issues arise.
Its YOU that needs to learn the technicalities = thats part and parcel of owning a Commando.

hth.

Rohan said:

Explain to us again why you are haring around all over the internet thinking of buying up Commandos hither and yon ?? !!

We think you'd be much better off getting acquainted with the one you own.
It doesn't take much to learn how to do all the cosmetics, as a point to begin with.
And any local bike shop could probably assist with most of the less tricky bits,
although you definitely don't want to be paying them to learn on the job with YOUR bike. !!

Keeping it local is way better than shipping it off so its inaccessible to view,
especially if you are learning and won't understand when issues arise.
Its YOU that needs to learn the technicalities = thats part and parcel of owning a Commando.

hth.

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Do you have a local Commando I can peruse? The region I live in is bigger the Victoria, yet has less that 200K inhabitants, most of whom haven't heard of Norton. There is a healthy classic bike scene here, & there are Norton enthusiasts around. But good bikes are scarce, & if I want to have any choice, I need to be prepared to look afar. Fortunately flights are fairly cheap (much cheaper than driving) & I like an adventure. I do intend to become a competent maintainer of my mounts, which is why I'm going for the bike with lots of spares. I'll be hunting down a few specialist tools in times to come too. I'm here for the long haul & I intend to do things right.

Old Scratcher said:

.......... I do intend to become a competent maintainer of my mounts, which is why I'm going for the bike with lots of spares. I'll be hunting down a few specialist tools in times to come too...........

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To me, this sounds like the way to go, definately get the special tools along the way, you'll be glad you did. Cj

Old Scratcher said:

Do you have a local Commando I can peruse? The region I live in is bigger the Victoria,

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Peruse to what purpose - just to look at ?
Afraid I'm nowhere near you, and an 850 is not really quite the same - although similar in a lot of respects.

We still don't understand though - you have 72 Roadtser serial no 211412, why aren't you working on it,
if its not yet perfect ?? The best way to learn is just to do it.
You'll get lots of good advice here :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

You mentioned earlier redoing the chrome.
Unless the chrome is pitted and past it, its often possible to clean lightly rusty chrome back to a perfect finish.
A Commando I had previously responded well to this treatment, I was surprised.

This isn't quite Commando, but you get the idea...

If the chrome is pitted through to the base metal though, all bets are off.

P.S. Have we seen a pic of your bike yet ?
Tough to give the correct advice without seeing what your are dealing with....

Rohan said:

Old Scratcher said:

Do you have a local Commando I can peruse? The region I live in is bigger the Victoria,

Click to expand...

Peruse to what purpose - just to look at ?
Afraid I'm nowhere near you, and an 850 is not really quite the same - although similar in a lot of respects.

We still don't understand though - you have 72 Roadtser serial no 211412, why aren't you working on it,
if its not yet perfect ?? The best way to learn is just to do it.
You'll get lots of good advice here :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

You mentioned earlier redoing the chrome.
Unless the chrome is pitted and past it, its often possible to clean lightly rusty chrome back to a perfect finish.
A Commando I had previously responded well to this treatment, I was surprised.

This isn't quite Commando, but you get the idea...

If the chrome is pitted through to the base metal though, all bets are off.

P.S. Have we seen a pic of your bike yet ?
Tough to give the correct advice without seeing what your are dealing with....

Click to expand...

& I still don't see what's wrong with owning two bikes. I've usually got at least two, & I've had up to 6!. I was only down to my sole RVF 400 Honda, as I haven't been riding for a couple of years due to shoulder damage I did when I decked my Ducati 1198. But I get new shoulder in a couple of months, & I'm keen to have a project to keep me occupied until I get my op, & hopefully something decent to ride by the time I'm fit to ride. I think restoring my first bike could take a little longer than that, & it'll be good to have the Cafe bike to ride whenever I'm capable. I like the idea of having a bone stock original bike, & a fully modded one to compare it against. They're so different I'm sure I'll find completely different uses for them. e.g., the stocker would be a great tourer/town bike, while the Cafe will spend most of it's time on the numerous mountain range roads around here. Apart from my local roads, they'll probably never travel the same roads. & I'll be restoring as many parts as I can save. Everything that comes off my first bike will be refurbished, if possible, so I could return both bikes back to stock, should I want to. Here's the link to the Cafe bike's internet ad, if you want to check it out http://www.bikesales.com.au/private/SSE ... 20stock%5D)%7CSiloType%3D%5BDealer%20used%20bikes%5D)%7CSiloType%3D%5BDemo%20%26%20near%20new%20bikes%5D)%7CSiloType%3D%5BPrivate%20used%20bikes%5D)%26Service%3D%5BBikesales%5D)%26Make%3D%5BNorton%5D)&pso=0&pss=Premium.
There's a couple of things I'll eventually change on this bike too. I'm not a big fan of the wheels, though I could live with them until I found something better. Whatever I did, it'd have to keep the triple disc set up, which I love. I feel the same way about the seat & rear end. It'd look better with a solo seat & a tail tidy. But it's not a huge priority, & I'll only do it if it's exactly what I want, at a good price. But that's the great thing about a custom bike. If it's not all to your liking, you can just keep customising until it does. you can't do that to a stocker, which is why I'd like two bikes, if that's not being too greedy. :mrgreen:
PS That's good work on the muffler. Good to know they can be brought back from such a bad state. I'd say that both my mufflers are saveable, looking at that pic. But a lot of the chrome has chipped off entirely on things like the headlight shell, the fork top nuts, & the foot pegs & levers. There's also rust in the tank, which I can replace with the original tank off the Cafe bike, which is also a black Roadster. It's little things like that, that add up to quite a saving on restoration costs of my first bike. & they basically come for free with the Cafe bike. I think it's a good deal.

There is nothing wrong at all with owning 2 bikes.
In fact we'd positively encourage it.
I don't know how folks could possibly only have only one bike.
Perhaps I didn't read your description of yours closely enough, it now sounds a long way off pristine.

Your link doesn't work, been truncated in the middle.
Perhaps its best if you don't show it, if you haven't bought it yet, lest someone else snaffles it.

Unless you have deep pockets I would stick with one Norton for now. Fix it up,get it running and enjoy it.

phillyskip said:

Unless you have deep pockets I would stick with one Norton for now. Fix it up,get it running and enjoy it.

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That was my advice a couple of posts ago.
But he rejected it, in favour of more bikes.... !

Can't help thinking that one good bike is better than a few roughies though.
Starting with something that runs is easy to keep running, compared to something that may only ever be a dream.
??

Has anyone noticed there's not much common-sense among addicted motorcyclers except loving to window shop and get another fix? I say get at least 2, one to test your wits and please everyone plus vendors by keeping factory faith and another to go hog wild on pleasing the specialty suppliers and your self.

Who said the Cafe bike's a roughie? It's had heaps spent on it, & it looks gorgeous! If it goes as good as it looks, & there's every indication it will, it's about as far from a roughie as a bike can get. My first bike's rough, but I bought it as such, & paid a fair price for it. I still think that getting most of the parts I'll need to restore it for virtually nothing is a good deal. By my reckoning saving me at least $3-4K on my resto costs, & meaning I should be able to sell either bike for more than I paid for it. I may even make a small profit, though that's not too important to me. I just don't want to over capitalise & spend money I'll never recoup. & I think this is a good way to kick start my resto, while containing costs, & I get a bike I can ride immediately (shoulder willing). I can afford the outlay. I'm looking forward to both the rebuild & the riding. & to be able to do both simultaneously would be great. I really can't see a downside to this, provided the Cafe bike's as good as it's claimed. I hope to have a video of it running by the end of the weekend, which may tell me what I want to know. But I think a quick trip to Melbourne after Easter would be the safest option. He's agreed to save it for me until then

Hi, I'm a noob here, so just going thru and reading things, randomly over the past couple weeks.
To M Old Scratcher: best of luck with your efforts and endeavors!

One thing that jumps out from reading this thread, tho, above all else, is the prices of bikes you've mentioned thus far: 8500.00, 12K, & 12K !! :shock:

Of course there's the diff between AUD>USD....
According to my currency conversion app, at today's exchange rate,
8500 AUD = "only" 6,658.37 USD;
12,000 AUD = 9,397.22 USD
so perhaps not so shocking after all...
but obviously guys are getting top dollar for even crusty old bikes down undah.

You be surprised in what some are asking for Nortons down under, have seen a few 850s asking 16K and more, seen one 850 asking 22k, althought I love my Nortons I would never pay that much for one, I was offered a 73 850 for $6,500 last year that was a US import, looked all orginal but the inside of the motor was unknown, I should have jumped at it, at the time I had the money but didn't have the room in my shed, anyway I have 2 Nortons to play with and a 2 year old Thruxton.

Ashley