My Norton's Cherry Popped

Although my Norton is not finished I just had to give it a test ride yesterday after 18 months of working on it.

Unfinished items are: installing front fender, Polishing tank to high luster, fixing a leaking gearbox, chasing an oil leak from the head,timing the ignition,and fixing the low beam/rear running light circuit......non of this stopped me from test riding this bike.

She started easily and after a short warm up I put on my gear and snicked her into 1st gear (remembering 1st gear is "up" on a Norton). The clutch was light and smooth . So off I went down my street thinking finally I'm on this bitch. I noticed that at about 1/3 throttle she was too rich and would begin to break up. So I decided to not worry about that and see how the rest of the bike was. The gearbox shifted nicely, so that was good. The brake pads needed to be seated so the brakes were marginal,but will get better for sure. The front brake felt a little "wooden".

I didn't get a chance to check out the handling as I was just riding laps around the neighborhood. She felt very solid,and the isolastics do smooth out the ride.

Now the real work begins,dialing her in , fixing the niggling issues of oil leaks,finishing the "beauty" details of the bike......Skip

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q166 ... 8c805c.jpg

Good for you ! snowed here yesterday. :cry:
Craig

It always feels good to take that first ride, even if she's not finished!

I'm envious. Not ready to start mine yet.....but gettin' close.

Thanks all. I checked the head bolts and found a few of them needed some nudging. I'm gonna give her another go today to see if that head oil leak is still there.

Its always nerve wracking to me on first ride after some rebuild or repair as I've been stranded by loose connections or fasteners like clutch or crank nut backing off. In mean time before you spend on the universal upgrade advice to sleeve down front brake master cylinder, to poke out-remove the rubber resistor 'valve' drum brake mimicker for enough brake improvement to be careful not to lock up more than just squeal below 60 mph. Pads don't need much breaking in and what matters most there is sanding to new surfaces w/o any oil contamination. Then procedure is keep braking harder and harder till hotter than you ever expect to obtain in real life but avoiding any lock up. The bad news on leaks is that too often just re-torque ain't enough after the oil leak established. Ring sealing and good enough one way vent device goes a long ways for oil control. Btw what model on you taking new riding chances with? Takes me about 1000 miles to shake out over sights and reduce size and items in tool kit and head out w/o much though of needing rescue.

The process s called "Riding the ever expanding Circles of Confidence"
At least the hope is for expansion, sometimes reality dictates very small circles for quite awhile.

Glen

worntorn said:

The process s called "Riding the ever expanding Circles of Confidence"
At least the hope is for expansion, sometimes reality dictates very small circles for quite awhile.
Glen

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This reminds me and though probably not related, it still has a hint of familiarity, the "big bag" theory has been adjusted to the "Rapid expansion" theory.

Philly, this fine tuning is filled with mini, and many, successes and builds to a point of great satisfaction. The one step forward, two steps back becomes one step back and two steps forward.
I am serious when I say that this can be the most rewarding time of Norton ownership. I am sure you have experienced this before with other bikes, but the Norton experience is on another level.
Good luck with this process and enjoy it. I know you will.

Thanks all for your insightful responses. For hobot... the bike started life as a 73 Interstate but is titled as a 72. I do have one of those one way breather valves but have not installed it on the bike yet......will do immediately and report back the results. Even after retorquing the head this morning I still had a leaking up front near the pushrod area. I used a flame ring gasket.

To Glen, I'm well familiar with the circle of confidence thing after having rebuilt many Brit bikes over the years.I have a certain route that I take for my testing which is pretty flat so I don't have to push uphill!


HOLD THE PRESSES.....hobot you were right the crankcase valve worked ! No oil anywhere. Thanks Much

HOLD THE PRESSES.....hobot you were right the crankcase valve worked ! No oil anywhere. Thanks Much

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Alrighty, leaves my grinning after spending all day clearing up space to tackle my Trixie Combat leaker now winter is waning. Note you may need to spritz some clean oil or clear coat on engine fasteners now and then or have them begin rusting. I appreciate your awareness not to capitalize hobot handle. Now go out and spread the sparkling joy rides.

Congrat's on the maiden voyage Skip. Can't wait to see her finaly complete and finished.....then again, are they ever "finished" :mrgreen:

RSR

Rick you're right,they're never finished as there is always something that needs attention. Any chance of you coming down for the Gathering Of Nortons and Lori's famous breakfast? Bring a bike or ride one of mine. It's a blast......Skip

Great news Skip. Hope you are fully road ready by the gathering of the Nortons.

Skip, didn't I offer you that reed valve about a year ago?

Good going, hope you get riding weather back soon.

"wooden brake" = unsleeved master cylinder

phillyskip said:

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You need to learn how to embed the photos!

Thanks all ....Paul you did mention the valve ,but I forgot about it. At the York Pa. Swap Meet I saw them ,remembered what you said and bought it.....just never put it on the bike until it was mentioned here. My pal Peter is making me a small bracket to mount it near my regulator.