My Commando does Awesome Wheelies!!

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pkeithkelly

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My Mark III runs beautifully - everything seems to be in perfect tune these days.

So here I was - cruising along on a mountain road on a perfect sunny Southern California afternoon (we have a lot of those here) - and I was pushing the revs, dropping down into the turns - everything humming perfectly!!

A Zen-like riding day.

Decided to blip the throttle and work the clutch to pull the front wheel off the ground - and it worked - effortlessly!!!

Wow! Did a few more - all scoring a perfect 10 on the "Wheelie" scale.

And then, ...............


I woke up.

Yup, I guess that's my equivalent of a wet dream these days. Pulling wheelies on a 35 year old motorcycle.

I looked over at my wife and thought about waking her up to tell her about my exciting dream, but thought you guys would appreciate it more.

Dream on.....
 
My understanding is that there is a very fine line between a Norton Commando that will do good wheelies and NOT blow up, and one that will do good wheelies WITHOUT blowing up.

There is no real reason to do a wheelie, so I stick to NOT blowing them up.
 
pkeithkelly said:
My Mark III runs beautifully - everything seems to be in perfect tune these days.

So here I was - cruising along on a mountain road on a perfect sunny Southern California afternoon (we have a lot of those here) - and I was pushing the revs, dropping down into the turns - everything humming perfectly!!

A Zen-like riding day.

Decided to blip the throttle and work the clutch to pull the front wheel off the ground - and it worked - effortlessly!!!

Wow! Did a few more - all scoring a perfect 10 on the "Wheelie" scale.

And then, ...............


I woke up.

Yup, I guess that's my equivalent of a wet dream these days. Pulling wheelies on a 35 year old motorcycle.

I looked over at my wife and thought about waking her up to tell her about my exciting dream, but thought you guys would appreciate it more.

Dream on.....
Click to expand...

I've regularly make the decision NOT to brief my wife on my most recent dream.
Its worked for nearly 30 yrs.
And yes, we most likely were a more appreciative audience!
 
In 68 my mate bought the first fastback in the county, a green beauty. Yes they can wheelie, he flipped it right over two up coming out of tight climbing left hander while a little tight after few pints of Jennings Bitter.
Cash
 
You want to see a Commando doing awesome wheelies ? The Aussie biker movie Stone has all of that whilst racing a Z900 around the streets of Sydney. Its a classic '70s movie full of dopers, hippie chicks and tough 1%'ers. Hilarious now but it was the coolest thing at the time. Might be worth doing a Google or You Tube search for it.

Mick
 
grandpaul said:
My understanding is that there is a very fine line between a Norton Commando that will do good wheelies and NOT blow up, and one that will do good wheelies WITHOUT blowing up.

There is no real reason to do a wheelie, so I stick to NOT blowing them up.
Click to expand...


Yup....
 
I do wheelies all th time on my Motard. Seems to happen on my RC51. Not so much on my Norton.
 
Both my 750's will wheelie easily.......mind you, both are tuned and weigh under 300lbs!!!
 
Go to Jim Schmidt's site and watch his video for his lightweight pistons and related parts. Nice wheelie (plus 104 miles in third gear....)
 
I prefer the Blade as well......

My Commando does Awesome Wheelies!!
 
grandpaul said:
There is no real reason to do a wheelie, so I stick to NOT blowing them up.
Click to expand...

But in our dreams they don't blow up! :wink:

Debby
 
debby said:
But in our dreams they don't blow up!
Click to expand...

Well, okay, if you are going to go with the obvious.

In my dreams, they GAVE me all the bikes in my garage, too!
 
About two years ago, I was at a red light headed down a coastal road. A lowered honda sedan, with tinted glass, noisy exhaust, and ghetto noise blaring pulls up along my left side. Of course four younger local guys are looking over, talking excitedly among themselves. Just as the light is about to change, the genius in the front passenger seat calls out to me "hey grandpa, you forgot your (surf)board" . I looked over and smiled, twisted the throttle to about 2200, and popped the clutch.
Nice little wheelie for maybe 20 feet, followed by a little burned rubber after dropping it into 2nd. They eventually passed me 500 feet or so down the road, all shakas (a hawaii hand gesture that means "cool")
 
I know I recall breaking a primary chain, had quite a bit of clutch trouble, and seem to recall breaking a mainshaft in the tranny. That was mostly dragging folks when I was a kid.
I'm not sure a Norton should enter Japanese two stroke territory, but instead should proceed with stately dignity.
 
Cookie said:
but instead should proceed with stately dignity.
Click to expand...

See...that's pretty much how I ride mine. I got other things for being a hooligan. But the Norton is just cool
 
My 850 did wheelies without any problem when we lived on Long Island at sea level. Here, at 7400 feet, with power reduced by around 20%, it is somewhat reluctant to do so! :(

Re the Honda ... Did you LET him pass you 500 feet down the road or did he actually have the power to do so?

Jim's pistons/rods were on my "things to buy" list last year around this time but I ended up having to pay 7k for taxes that I had not planned on so that was the end of that. We'll see what happens this year but since I just finished putting in new rings/valves I don't think I want to go back into the motor this soon.
 
Mike, once I hit 3rd, in a 35 mph zone, it was time to back off. Those honda sedan guys were doin' 60 the last I saw of them.
 
I always had enough trouble draining the blood out of my brain in 2nd gear to not worry about wheelies.

Dave
69S
 
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