My Commando does Awesome Wheelies!!

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I notice the guy in the video was popping the clutch to get airborne. Never could get my Nortons to do power wheelies, always needed the clutch and that's not good for the motor or the clutch. My race bikes, 250/350 2-strokes, will power wheelie all the time on starts if I'm not careful and a wheelie means a loss of at least one place, usually more.
 
"That's right, you wouldn't ask the Queen to do skate board tricks would you?"

Well heck, if the Queen had been a former skateboard champion, she might like to show off a few of those old moves! :)

I figure that a Commando should, at least occasionally, remind the ignorant that once up a time it was the quickest and fastest production motorcycle you could buy...the first one to be called a "superbike."
 
Not that I was very old at the time, but when these bikes were new (especially the Combats) I'm sure more that one wheelie occurred.
 
montelatici said:
I notice the guy in the video was popping the clutch to get airborne. Never could get my Nortons to do power wheelies, always needed the clutch and that's not good for the motor or the clutch. My race bikes, 250/350 2-strokes, will power wheelie all the time on starts if I'm not careful and a wheelie means a loss of at least one place, usually more.
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Ummmmm...

After my first 3 races in '07 (2 at Sandia & race 1 at Barber), I was able to dump the clutch and float the tire off the line and not only jump my starting row, but several of the grid ahead of us (faster class) This is with cheap Emgo clutch friction plates in my '69 Bonneville 650. With the exception of 2 races at Daytona in '08, I was the first bike into turn one in every race (11 total), almost always carrying the front wheel a few inches off the ground for 20 or 30 feet, even leaning forward as much as I possibly could.

The guy that beat me at Daytona was this 70 year-old dude on a mighty trick juiced up Triumph 750; he was often frowned on for jumping starts, and one of the two at Daytona, he was docked a position. (He's still one of my best friends, a fellow Texan; we've known each other for 11 years, all based on Brit bikes)
 
I just personally can't handle riding my Commando like some old guy putting around on a Hardley-Ableson. I AM an old guy but see no reason to overly-fuel the stereotype though I'm the first to admit I can't (or won't - not sure which) drag the pipes in the twisties like I did on my 71 Commando in the 70's. But then again, it doesn't get embarrassed if I can help it! ;)
 
I'm with you Cookie, Stately dignity. I have WAY too much money in both my Norton's to be hurting them, I have more in the motor in my 72 than my 1200cc Buell cost. And when I have the urge to wheelie I just pull out the Buell, It will do it by just twisting the throttle. But I feel the Norton is just as cool on two tires as the Buell is on one, And it does spend a lot of time on one. I just can't help myself sometimes. LOL
 
Oh sure. I bought a Commando in '71. It could pull hard enough to have me half way off the seat and holding on to the bars when I nailed it. Fiber clutch plates slipped soon enough after doing power shifts, replace with Barnett plates. Now it doesn't slip, but while toying with the power the layshaft got driven through the transmission case! End of fun, now time to repair. Not the worst experience, upgraded to a Quaiffe 5 speed during the process. I never enjoyed the downshift from 3rd to 2nd in corners, but Norton didn't correct that until a couple of years later with a highr 2nd.
I learned a little restraint after the beating at the cash register. Flash forward 30 years, my son on his 1200 Harley can't catch me during an impromptu drag race. That's why we still ride them and tinker.

Don
 
ML said:
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
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Movie Trailer for "STONE"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lloTd45P ... re=related
 
"Flash forward 30 years, my son on his 1200 Harley can't catch me during an impromptu drag race. That's why we still ride them and tinker."

There you go!!! :) Frankly, I don't baby my Commando at all, I treat it like I did my old 71. In fact, I treat it the same way I did my 996 Ducati; the results, of course, are much less dramatic! The duck would power wheelie almost just by thinking about it. But since I belong to the school of two wheels on the ground are better than one, I was never good at wheelies. A slight lift of a wheel into each gear is fine but I was/am afraid to try those block-long versions. :)

A 70 year-old friend of mine (2 Commandos, a Trident, and 4 other more modern bikes) has been talking up the two of us going to "wheelie school" sometime this spring/summer. It would be fun to probably be the oldest guys there by a good bit. I've learned that one cool thing about being an old guy on a bike is that no one expects much out of you so you can't really "lose" in any sort of contest, impromptu or on the track.
 
Owning a Kawasaki ZRX 1200 offers me the advantage of being able to do more wheelies than I'll ever want or need to, simply with a twist of the wrist, in the bottom 3 gears, and with a little clutch and a bit more twist in the other 2.

I can actually experience the onset of blackout, fading peripheral vision / decreasing tunnel vision, if I hammer it really hard through 1st and 2nd, then I have to let up or wake up dead.

I can abuse the bike at 140MPH+ all day long, do it the next day and the next, and it'll start at the touch of a button and never leak a drop of oil (unless it spits it's chain and cracks the crankcase; don't ask).

So, with that bike (and others) available to abuse with no consequence, why beat up on a hard-to-replace classic Norton?
 
Not quite sunny California....But the staffordshire Moorlands....Just left Leek for a quick blast up to Buxton......As you lads have a Bear in the Air...so do we! The Cat and Fiddle road is on of the best in blighty...So i went balls out!! My motor spinning like a watch...5-6-7-8 grand..and a tad more...Thinking "Boy is she sweet this morning" No vibes,,,and i mean NO vibes...Carefull !!! thats one Mother of a bend coming up!!! But no sweat...Lean the baby in and squeeze the brake's....45 degrees....brakes hard on....shes really digging in...stand grinding......just a murmer from the ABS.....The fuel injection waiting to reload the shaft drive,,,and the brembos...gagging for it! 120mph....feels like 60...Being tucked behind a wind tunnel design...what else! ...? No push rods , no oil leaks...50 mpg. 200.000 miles between rebuilds....all this for £800.....what was i riding?? answers on a post card please. J Lansdowne Eng
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.....
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Obviously it's a matter of what one prefers. I don't think of the Commando as a "stately cruiser" - that's a Gold WIng! I like the fact that it's a classy bike that is still capable of pretty decent performance. But I have been riding sportbikes all my life and I just don't care for cruising. I tried it once in the mid 90's; we bought an HD lowrider for my wife and a Wide Glide for me so we could cruise together. Couldn't deal with it after a year of trying so I sold mine and went back to riding the sportbike (Ducati 900SS at the time). That was strange - my wife on her lowrider, me on the Duck. Our "cruising" became her riding at 65 or whatever, me being along-side than doing WOT up to 120 or whatever the road/traffic would bear, then slowing down and waiting for her to catch up, then repeating it, etc. We both got tired of that and she sold her Harley soon after. I then went to a 916 and later the 996 that I sold in '06. Speaking of Ducks, the 1198 looks really neat... ;)

I plan for my Commando to participate in the La Carrera Panamerica this year. They opened it up to bikes last year for the first time. They got 15 as I recall but none were "classic" bikes and they hope to get some this time. Frankly, I look at it the same way I would look at an old muscle car - drive it like you stole it; fix it if it breaks. It's not like there is any shortage of parts for the Commando. Heck, it's easier to get Commando parts now than it was in the 70's when Norton was actually in business!
 
Who said stately cruiser? I think he said ride with stately dignity. These bikes are what they are and not a modern sport bike, They can break without much effort if you continue to dump the clutch. I have heard a lot of stories. Not gonna happen to my bike.
 
well, I do agree with not beating the old thang, but....
It WAS built (and most of ours rebuilt) to live a bit of a sportin' life, no?
enjoying its finer qualities can be a bit different than abuse, and the only thing I abuse is my liver.
 
I'd say you can ride one in a sporting manner without abusing it very much. I remember giving about ten kids a ride one after the other at a party slam though the gears, dumping the clutch, up to 110 indicated for maybe five miles, turn around and do it again. When we were kids we did that frequently, not to mention dragging the bike. Sure I broke things.
Now I take it out and run one up though the gears without really dumping the clutch, the engine gets shifted just a hair before the red line. You can run it throught the mountains here at a pretty good clip on the corners without hurting anything unless you drop it. Just a little more dignity, that's all.
 
Now, I never said you can't ride hard, But dumpin the clutch is what you would have to do on most Commando's I know of to get the thing to stand up on one tire. I love the way my bikes handle, In fact I feel it handles pretty close to my S1. But flogging it is what I was talking about, I love the way the Norton motor produces loads of torque and coming out of corners is one of my favorite parts of how they move. If you like to wheelie, Have at it. I love to watch guys thrash on their machines. But I believe you use the right tool for the job and the Commando is in my opinion not the right tool to be doing wheel stands. Sorry if this hurts your feelings, Send in some clips of your wheel stands guys. Maybe we could have a contest to see who is best, LOL LOL. Have a great day guys, Chuck. :roll: :mrgreen:
 
+1 on the liver thing Don, Kinda made me thirsty. I'm stopping on the way home for a cold one.
 
Right on, Cookie. Until my recent fuel tank failure, once in a blue moon, I'd give into the temptation and go for the ton on a flat stretch of hwy 11 between shop and home. But for the most part, only moderate thrills are all I want. I have limited skills, and a few important people who depend on me to remain in one piece... the way some guys ride makes me say to myself "was I that bad once?"
 
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