My new Commando race bike

Hi all, I am Bernd from Stuttgart in Germany.
This is my first post on this great site, after quite a while of lurking.
The last one and a half year I built a Commando race bike and now, after the first races, I would like to share my experiences with you because I'm really grateful for all the great and helpfull information I got from here.


The Commando is built within a regulation for a German race series, where some more modern parts are allowed.
Chassis layout is a bit more modern.
I use pistons (78,5 mm) and conrods from Jim Schmidt.
Also the complete valve train from Jim, with JS2 camshaft together with serial size valves.
I've done only a little port work and didn't open the ports too much.
I have still serial cases, reinforced with a shrunk aluminum plate on the drive side.
The crank is from Steve Maney, balanced to 65%. Weight is 10kg.
I still use the isolastics, but with cross links for the lateral forces to the farme.
Motor, gearbox and swingarm are with offset to the left to clear the 130 mm rear tire.
The Motor runs great with quite no vibration. Very good!
I have 33 mm CR's mounted with 70 mm velocity stacks on it.
Exhaust system is two into one with 42 mm pipes.
The motor revs like hell. There is a strong pull between 6500 and more than 8.000 1/min!!! Amazing!
But I normally change gear at 7500.
On the roller dyno the bike has 70 HP at the rear wheel at 7500 1/min.
The ignition is a crank based CDI.

There is still a lot to do on the bike and the settings of carbs, ignition and also from the chassis are not optimal yet,
but I'm very happy that the first runouts went so well.

Bernd

Gosh Bernd with all your wonderful mods it still looks like antique clunker to me which helps to rub in the surprise against newer cycles. About most controversial subject on Commando is how to tame their isolastic handling so would appreciated views or description of placements. The 2nd most controversial issue is the breathing systems and yours looks like just a big hose to oil tank. Do you use a check valve, PCV, reed valve inline too? Best wishes putting your name and Norton out in front.

Awesome! What a nice ride! Yes, please add more detailed pics. How did you do and did you take any videos of the races?

Great looking build berndS!

Hi Bernd,

Very nice bike.
What wheel sizes are you using, & what are the figures for rake & trail?

Martyn.

Hi Bernd,

your Norton race bike looks fantastic, far from being an "antique clunker"

congratulations and I am sure all of us here on Access Norton appreciate your effort

Hi Bernd,
Your bike looks fabulous !
I also have a host of JS components in my own 850. And I am a fairly frequent visitor to Stuttgart! It would be great to meet up to compare notes and have a beer sometime! I usually reside in the Graff Zeppelin when I am in town.

Nice, very nice!

Hi Bernd

Very nicely done and it looks great with some good goodies on it and the more you race it the better it will get I am sure, good luck with the racing.

Ashley

Bernd.....more info on your ignition would be good for me...thanks

Thanks for posting this thread BerndS, Here's wishing you much success at the races!!

Aw they all look too old fashioned to do what they do to me though the listed modern components make 8grand useable power band. Yeah Man. I am a fan of dialed in 2-1 exhaust and non black frames too. Hope it wears lots of tires out and the following pilots nerves too.

Real eye candy.
LOVE IT
jug

Great looking bike Bernt.
Are you coming to the Bikers Classic at Spa this weekend? I'm hoping to have my Notrun there, but still chasing various problems & leaks on it.

Cheers,
Steve in Denmark.

Many thanks for the compliments.

Yes, the big hose is the crankcase ventilation to the oil tank. There is no PCV fitted, but it is on my todo list.

And Sorry, I have no videos so far....

Rake is 65° and trail is 100 mm.
I'm quite happy with the handling.
Steering is quick and the bike is stable around corners.
I'm curious how it handles on real fast tracks and corners like Spa.

The rims are 18 ", 2,5" front and 3,5 " rear.
Tyres are Conti Classic Racing 110/80-18 and 130/80-18.

The CDI ingnition system has been designed and produced by a friend of mine.
It is crank based with two Neodym magnets on the pulley and a hall sensor on the crank case.
The ignition curve can be programmed via laptop and the base points for rpm and timing can be modified.
The coil is a double coil from PVL.

Bernd

SteveBorland said:

Great looking bike Bernt.
Are you coming to the Bikers Classic at Spa this weekend? I'm hoping to have my Notrun there, but still chasing various problems & leaks on it.

Cheers,
Steve in Denmark.

Click to expand...

Hi Steve,

Sadly, no! I'm not going to Spa this year. I will be racing in Schleiz in Eastern Germany next weekend.
Primarily we intended to participate at the 4h race in Spa with the Commando. (I raced there the last 4 years on a Rob North Triumph and a Harris Honda) But my Commando is not race ready for a 4h race.
Fairing and lights are still missing and the setup is not perfect yet. Also I need lighter springs for the shocks and so on...and the second rider is sick! So, we will try to race in Aragon then in the ECS in October.

Bernd

berndS said:

Hi all, I am Bernd from Stuttgart in Germany.
This is my first post on this great site, after quite a while of lurking.
The last one and a half year I built a Commando race bike and now, after the first races, I would like to share my experiences with you because I'm really grateful for all the great and helpfull information I got from here.

The Commando is built within a regulation for a German race series, where some more modern parts are allowed.
Chassis layout is a bit more modern.
I use pistons (78,5 mm) and conrods from Jim Schmidt.
Also the complete valve train from Jim, with JS2 camshaft together with serial size valves.
I've done only a little port work and didn't open the ports too much.
I have still serial cases, reinforced with a shrunk aluminum plate on the drive side.
The crank is from Steve Maney, balanced to 65%. Weight is 10kg.
I still use the isolastics, but with cross links for the lateral forces to the farme.
Motor, gearbox and swingarm are with offset to the left to clear the 130 mm rear tire.
The Motor runs great with quite no vibration. Very good!
I have 33 mm CR's mounted with 70 mm velocity stacks on it.
Exhaust system is two into one with 42 mm pipes.
The motor revs like hell. There is a strong pull between 6500 and more than 8.000 1/min!!! Amazing!
But I normally change gear at 7500.
On the roller dyno the bike has 70 HP at the rear wheel at 7500 1/min.
The ignition is a crank based CDI.

There is still a lot to do on the bike and the settings of carbs, ignition and also from the chassis are not optimal yet,
but I'm very happy that the first runouts went so well.

Bernd

Click to expand...

You guys have seen my bike previously, I just thought you might like to do a side by side comparison :

The differences are in the steering geometry - mine has 63 degrees rake and about 92 mm of trail and I use 75% balance factor.

Hi Great Looking Norton very purposeful.
(I raced there the last 4 years on a Rob North Triumph and a Harris Honda) But my Commando is not race ready for a 4h race.
How does it compare to your previous rides so far?

Regards
Burgs

Burgs said:

Hi Great Looking Norton very purposeful.
(I raced there the last 4 years on a Rob North Triumph and a Harris Honda) But my Commando is not race ready for a 4h race.
How does it compare to your previous rides so far?

Regards
Burgs

Click to expand...

Hi Burgs,
The Rob North was a real classic bike from 1976 and was very quick with 90 HP at the rear wheel. The handling of this particular bike was a bit too stiff for my feeling.
But, I suppose it would be hard to get the same lap times with my Commando....
The Harris Honda had a new built frame from 2013 and a surprisingly light handling, despite the 200 kg of weight. The engine was mild tuned with ca. 125 HP
and was easy to ride with lots of torque out of 1200 ccm.
There is still a long way to go with my Commando......but it is great fun, and I like her the most.
Bernd