New Commando owner

pelican · May 11, 2009

Hi, I'm 31 years old, and 3 weeks ago I bought my first Commando- a 75 850 mk3. I've been reading over the forum nonstop probably a few hours a day since I bought it. As far as I can tell the bike is in pretty good shape. The only changes the previous owner made were removing the original exhaust and turn signals (which he included), and adding a boyer and mikuni. The mikuni only runs with the choke fully open so I'll probably have to look at that. Here are some before pics as I plan on changing some things.

So far I've replaced the rear light with an led light, front with halogen, and a new horn. Still getting around to wiring in my new turn signals, and I've ordered cnw brembo's front and back and a corbin smuggler seat. I'm sure as problems come up I'll find this forum very helpful

.

nomadwarmachine · May 11, 2009

Welcome aboard! Lovely machine you have there. As you already know, this forum can answer any question you may have. I know it has been a huge help to me in the course of bringing my MKII up to snuff.

Nice choice of aftermarket goodies. May I ask where you got the LED taillight and if you had any difficulty with the installation?

pelican · May 11, 2009

Thanks, I bought the led here http://www.britishcyclesupply.com/Products/led/LED.htm The cost is around $100, and it's a really easy plug in conversion with easy intructions. It works well, and has the white led section facing down for your license plate.

grandpaul · May 12, 2009

Nice clean Mark III there, pelican!

I like that the front forks were flipped left-to-right, I much prefer the logic in transferring the braking forces into the fork leg instead of trying to pull off the mounting ears.

Captain B · May 12, 2009

Nice ride man!

grandpaul said:
I like that the front forks were flipped left-to-right, I much prefer the logic in transferring the braking forces into the fork leg instead of trying to pull off the mounting ears.

Cool! Do you just flip the lowers to the other side for that?

swooshdave · May 12, 2009

Captain B said:
Nice ride man!

grandpaul said:

I like that the front forks were flipped left-to-right, I much prefer the logic in transferring the braking forces into the fork leg instead of trying to pull off the mounting ears.

Click to expand...

Cool! Do you just flip the lowers to the other side for that?

Wasn't there something about the nut on the axle needing to be secured?

Hortons Norton · May 12, 2009

The bearing had a circlip on the 75 the early models had a locking ring, If you moved the early ones over to the MKIII side you may have a problem. Correct me if I am wrong?

pkeithkelly · May 12, 2009

Nice bike.

I also have a black Mark 3, with Boyer, single 34 M Mikuni, Corbin seat, peashooter mufflers, upgraded brakes, rear sets and a few other goodies here and there.

You mentioned that your Mikuni only works with the choke fully open. Are you sure which position is "open" vs "closed".

My single Mikuni works perfectly. The choke lever is on the left side of the carb, and is kind of counter-intuitive, in that the choke is engaged by pushing the lever down - to a horizontal position.

Its normal position is with the lever up. That closes the choke.

Maybe yours runs correctly with the lever up?..... and you are thinking that is the wrong position? That it should be down for normal riding?

If it is working as I describe above - you are fine. Just ride!

Good luck.

Keith Kelly

pelican · May 12, 2009

When I got it he said to push the lever about halfway down to start, and then showed me. Since then though the few times I've started it up the lever has to be fully down to start. I let it run a while to idle, and if I raise the lever up at all even to mid position it stalls the motor.

pelican · May 12, 2009

mine has two positions horizontal and down

ML · May 13, 2009

Hi Pelican,

Nice bike, hope it gives you fun times for years to come. With the Mikuni choke issue, the most likely cause is the Pilot jet is undersize. I went through this as did several mates of mine all upgrading to a Mikuni VM34 or VM36. Seems the vendors always put too small a Pilot jet which requires the choke to be on way too long and if turned off soon causes stalling or rough running for several miles.

The correct fit is 30 or 35 Pilot Jet, in a colder climate you can go up to a 40. They are around US$ last time i checked.

If you do a Google search for Mikuni VM tuning manual you may find a number of useful publications.

Mick

pelican · Jun 5, 2009

Thanks for the info... I started wanting to do one or two things, and now I have most of the bike apart lol...so I'll check into it.

Was bored so thought I'd add some more pics

repainted this from red to black purely for aesthetic reasons...there are 2 many colors on the bike, black, red, yellow, gold, orange... also bought some black plug leads to get rid of the yellow ones...

Moved the horn here to the bracket holding the warning assimilator because the wires reached, and I didn't have to rewire

grandpaul · Jun 5, 2009

Why was the E-start eliminated?

pelican · Jun 5, 2009

not sure...it was off already when I bought it. There is an on/off switch for the ignition also on the bracket where I moved the horn

Coco · Jun 5, 2009

Wish my MKIII was that nice when I bought it. Instead of a diamond in the rough, mine was like a turd wrapped in a dirty diaper.

pelican · Jun 5, 2009

How important are the hoses on the mikuni? I've seen a lot of people without them?

dezwartj · Jun 5, 2009

welcome aboard! goodlooking Snorter you got there. If you ever get the urge (I did) to get an electric start, I purchased one from Norton works in Colorado. Great reliable and good looking unit. Together with a heavy duty dry cell Battery from Odessey, it starts like there is no tomorrow.

JimC · Jun 5, 2009

Wish my MKIII was that nice when I bought it. Instead of a diamond in the rough, mine was like a turd wrapped in a dirty diaper.

Coco, you do have a way with words.

swooshdave · Jun 5, 2009

pelican said:
How important are the hoses on the mikuni? I've seen a lot of people without them?

You mean the ones that feed the gas from the tank. Pretty important I think. :mrgreen:

The other ones are breather/vent/overflow tubes. Unlike the electric starter on the Norton, they were probably put there for a good reason. :wink:

CanukNortonNut · Jun 5, 2009

Nice Bike Pelican.
Change that fuel line if it’s hard as a rock. That color is an indicator. If its soft and pliable then no worry’s.
CNN 8)

New Commando owner

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