New member.

Hi boy's & girl's.
I own a 1973 850 Commando Hi Rider, converted to a Roadster, in original but disastrous condition. I bought the bike last year from an old school friend who insisted the bike was in good nick. I believed him! The bike had sat for 20 plus years in his garage only being ridden on the odd occasion. I paid big buck dollar assuming I'd have to rejuvenate the thing somewhat, carbs & such, but not rebuild the whole gestalt.
Everything is fooked. Motor and box. The frame is slightly bent, front down tube adjacent to the ex-port.
Silly me. I had ridden the bike once in suburbia and assumed that it was gummed up due to sitting so much.
I grew up on British bikes so know my way around them and have lots of tools for the job. I gave up on Norton's in 1975 after my 3rd Commando blew up. Owned mostly Japanese bikes, apart from my Venom, until I bought this pile of junk.
Problems I have are knowing which modern parts to put on the bike while keeping it looking original. I want modern reliability with the classic feel. I can't spend too much on it cause stuff is so expensive in New Zealand, our money isn't worth much oversea's. Shipping is extortionately high cost. Anyhow, the bully has her eye on the bank account.
The bike left the factory and went to 'Winterpeg' Canada. My ex-friend brought it down to NZ in 1976. At some point it has been pulled apart, in Canada, and reassembled by a total idiot. Helicoil's on the case cylinder bolt holes, mains sanded to clean up lateral grooves, the crank bolts were either finger tight or super tight. The list goes on.
I bought this bike to ride while restoring my 1960 Velocette Venom.
All good suggestion's will be welcome. Technically I am OK, just out of touch with the low down on inside knowledge.
Regards,
Throber.

welcome, have fun,

Its just a Machine . take it apart . clean it , & reasemble it .
Hide any parts you have left over smartly , so no one notices .


Cant be that bad ? Got a Camera . ?

Reduced to its primary elements , once theyre right , you can make the rest , if necessary .

How many miles on it ? Keeps you off the streets , anyway . :cry:

G'day Throber. You know not what you have so innocently asked on recovering a road going Commando to factory appearing state with upgraded items. Going by your Cdo's described state, and your attitude on how much it cost you - this may not be a worth while project to suffer through as at least 3x's more needed than what ya got in it now to get it ship shape with just ordinary good grade upgrade items. Go through the forum photo tech section for online base line data and scope but for a quicker summary of what you say you want check out Colorado Norton Works site and ebay for ideas and costs.

You still don't know if crank is bent or cases with hidden fractures or bad bearing bores, shot cam lifters, crumbing gear box insides and rusted to trash shafts and brake components. Commandos can really test ya to get the best there ride experience there is.

Thanx for the welcome and opinions.
I have the bike striped down to it's component bit's. All in boxes, sorted and stored on shelves.
The crank needs a re-grind, new bolts, new rods, new mains etc. New piston kit's and re-bore. New rocker's and shafts, valve's , guides, springs, push rod's and lifters. The cam is puckerooed too. Cases OK.
Gear box is rooted. Have to get a new one as case is distorted at main shaft bearing hole, all gears pitted and ripped. Shafts are worn and kick start ratchet is had it.
I think the Canadian owner thrashed the ring out of the bike. Looks like it had some heavy drag strip type of launches. Basically the poor old thing has had a hard life early on in it's life.
In fact I am thinking now of maybe selling it in bits. Or doing it up reasonably well and flipping it.
Did I mention that the clutch is shot, the rotor fell off the crank and the oil pimp is iffy.
Maybe I should buy a bike from Norvil or one of the new Norton's.
Oh, the humanity !
36,000 miles.

Throber said:

The crank needs a re-grind, new bolts, new rods, new mains etc. New piston kit's and re-bore. New rocker's and shafts, valve's , guides, springs, push rod's and lifters. The cam is puckerooed too. Cases OK.
Gear box is rooted. Have to get a new one as case is distorted at main shaft bearing hole, all gears pitted and ripped. Shafts are worn and kick start ratchet is had it.

Click to expand...

Kiaora Cuz.

Based on yr description a simple solution is:- Jack up the fuel cap, wheel another bike underneath, lower the fuel cap.

Cost of parts in Kiwi dollars to fix this one will be high. Sell the bits and buy a runner is the easy way out.

Cheers

Throber said:

Everything is fooked. Motor and box. The frame is slightly bent, front down tube adjacent to the ex-port.
Silly me. I gave up on Norton's in 1975 after my 3rd Commando blew up. Owned mostly Japanese bikes, apart from my Venom, until I bought this pile of junk.
I bought this bike to ride while restoring my 1960 Velocette Venom.
All good suggestion's will be welcome. Technically I am OK, just out of touch with the low down on inside knowledge.

Click to expand...

Throber said:

Maybe I should buy a bike from Norvil or one of the new Norton's.
Oh, the humanity !
36,000 miles.

Click to expand...

Throber,
(Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm cracking up while I write this part. )
You have made quite a long list of the things that are fooked on this bike. It would be easier, and a lot shorter, to make a list of things that aren't unusable junk. You will never come out ahead on restoring this bike. But no one ever does anyway. You probably couldn't even do a fast and dirty flip and break even. You might get your money back if you part it out. You don't say what shape your Venom is in but one restoration project at a time is plenty for most people.

Ok. That's out f the way.
"Problems I have are knowing which modern parts to put on the bike while keeping it looking original. I want modern reliability with the classic feel. I can't spend too much on it cause stuff is so expensive in New Zealand, our money isn't worth much oversea's. Shipping is extortionately high cost."

You've come to the right place if you want some help fixing the obviously shot pieces and taking care of the problem areas specific to Commandos. Almost all of the important mods are invisible so they don't detract from the classic look and in the end you can end up with a nimble, reasonably fast, and very smooth classic bike. A lot has changed as far as the resources for restoring Commandos since those three other C'dos you had. Let us help you spend your money.

Welcome to the forum!