New MK2 rear cush drive hub

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Sergio

Sergio

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This is a very interesting improvement over the original part.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Norton-...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Have you ever seen that? Any feed back? Is it a Fake News?

New MK2 rear cush drive hub
 
Yes, this is the Madass140 rear hub cush drive. Looks great. Have not heard of anyone hear installing it. Would to hear how she goes!
 
they are very popular, shipped another one today to Aussie. Advantages are you get a proper trouble free cush drive
with a one piece axle while still looking original externally.
Don
 
Nice, but how will it handle the heat of the brake?
One quick descent of an Alpine pass ( 15- 20 km) will completely wipe out std cush drive blocks.
Polyurethane ones will melt, and rubber turns to powder.
IMO, the need for a cush drive is overrated.
In My N15 with Commando hub, I now use PEEK blocks, which effectively eliminates the 'cush'.
Works just fine..
 
ludwig said:
Nice, but how will it handle the heat of the brake?
One quick descent of an Alpine pass ( 15- 20 km) will completely wipe out std cush drive blocks.
Polyurethane ones will melt, and rubber turns to powder.
IMO, the need for a cush drive is overrated.
In My N15 with Commando hub, I now use PEEK blocks, which effectively eliminates the 'cush'.
Works just fine..
Click to expand...
Ludwig, I remember you using a rear wheel assembly from a (Honda?) motocrosser on your road bike.
I don't recall which model it was though, and whether you use a cush drive on the bike or not.

I'm also looking to go down this path, but I'm a bit concerned about the cush drive issue.
 
Steve "I'm also looking to go down this path, but I'm a bit concerned about the cush drive issue."
Which issue is that? Not using a cush drive in the drive train?
 
Yes, exactly. The Norton gearbox is not exactly renowned for it's robust construction, so I'm very interested in hearing from people who may have run a bike for some time without a cush drive.
 
SteveBorland said:
Yes, exactly. The Norton gearbox is not exactly renowned for it's robust construction, so I'm very interested in hearing from people who may have run a bike for some time without a cush drive.
Click to expand...
When my 850 had a puncture in the rear tyre I borrowed the back wheel out of my atlas because I needed the bike and had no time to fix the puncture
It made the bike really horrible to ride, so it was not on there very long!!!
 
Indeed, which is why I'm interested in Ludwig's comments.
There's a theory that MX bikes do not need a cush drive because the typical dirt surface and the tall tread blocks on the knobbly tyre do the job of the cush drive, but I'm interested in hearing first hand experience.
I really want to get rid of the very heavy standard rear wheel and go for something lighter, and MX rear wheels are easy to acquire at low cost, but I don't want to destroy a gearbox in the process....
 
Onder said:
Just curious: are there not MX rears with cush?
Click to expand...
Interesting conversations...About the heat issue destroying cush pads, have you ever heard about MK3 conical hub with destroyed cush? Well I admit that MK3 have a disc brake, but I suppose the braking heat is transmitted to the hub too. May be less, but there must be some.So the design(similar to MK3)and the material used for the cush drive sold by TRITON Motorcycle Parts (450$US) should at least resist destruction I imagine. It would be interesting having some buyer's feed back here, to clarify this issue. Thank you. Sergio
 
I've just found a copy I made of some messages, and it seems that Ludwig's rear wheel actually does have a cush drive, so that's sorted then.
Now to just find a suitable doner bike...
 
SteveBorland said:
I've just found a copy I made of some messages, and it seems that Ludwig's rear wheel actually does have a cush drive, so that's sorted then.
Now to just find a suitable doner bike...
Click to expand...
Actually I thought all motocrossers had a cush drive in the back wheel
I have an aprilia pegaso rear hub in my commando
It has a very good cush drive and the spokes are straight with this type of hub
Obviously it's disc braked, but it's a very light unit
 
ludwig said:
One quick descent of an Alpine pass ( 15- 20 km) will completely wipe out std cush drive blocks.
Polyurethane ones will melt, and rubber turns to powder.
Click to expand...

Were you racing? If not why not let the engine brake the rear and the front be "insurance"? What were the works Nortons fitted with for the IOM?

I like the additional smoothness a cush drive provides as well as the "forgiveness" it grants me if I don't match RPM going up or down the box. A motorcycle without a cush drive will not forgive the operator for any lack of man/machine unity, but is a good platform to train on, if you can find a motorcycle that someone is willing to let you learn on...

Having serviced a lot of rear drum brake equipped British motorcycles I'd say that 6 in 10 owners (or their previous service providers) never centralized the rear brake. This usually means that some portion of either one or both brake shoes are in constant contact with the drum creating heat that wasn't part of the design spec. BTW if you want to see some scary brake heat do watch "Ford versus Ferrari" movie.

Best.
 
I expect that the heat issue has a lot to do with how hard the rear brake is used. Like a lot of road racers, I got in the habit of not using the rear brake much, relying on the front brake almost exclusively, and just using the rear brake lightly to reduce rear wheel hop under really hard braking (or when running off the track into the dirt:eek:). That habit carried over into my street riding, so I don't use the rear brake much. That's probably not the most efficient braking style, but it works well enough for me that I haven't put in any effort to change. I'm quite sure I don't have to worry about melting the cush rubbers, and I suspect that most Commando owners aren't going to experience problems either. But I can see how it might be an issue on a bike hammering down long steep twisty roads and using the rear brake a lot. We sometimes get a bit of that on our rides, but only relatively short sections, with time for the brakes to cool in between, nothing like the Alpine stuff Ludwig is talking about.

FWIW my experience with Commando cush drive rears on the race track is that the plastic ones in the drum brake do get beat to death pretty quick, and need to be replaced regularly. But the MK3 style, as well as others with rubber cushions, seem to hold up well. On the road, I've never had any problems with either style, although the plastic ones do eventually need to be replaced. But I don't have all that many street miles on stock Commando rear brakes for my experience to mean much.

Ken
 
I had a Suzuki hub in mine. This was absolutely smooth riding. The biggest issue was the brake- performance. Certainly, because I had to use a rather long Bowden cable to transmit the forces implied by my left foot over to the right hand side.
So, I went back to the original. Now I do have a slightly better brake- performance but the smooth riding is gone.
I want to go back to the rubber cush- drive. This time I will use 5- spoke cast- aluminium wheels from an early Kawasaki GPS 550 IN combination with a front fork from the later GPZ 500 (yes, the twin). Certainly I will keep the original parts. This way I will end up with a decent rear brake, a set of similar wheels of the original works wheels from the works momocoque- racer and a decent cush drive.
Where am I currently standing?
Well, the rear wheel had to be turned from both sides for fitting the Norton swinging arm and run in the centre of it. The front wheel allready runs in the centre of the original Kawasaki fork. It'take some time to design and manufacture the bracket for the rear caliper and also design and manufacture the bracket for the rear master cylinder.
By the way also the Kawasaki front- fork works really great as well.
Ah, something else: The biggest problems Norton had with their works bikes in the 1972 TT was their gear boxes. All 3 works bikes packed up after practice because of the night loads implied by the forces without damping.
Good night dear Nortonists.
 
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I had fitted Kawasaki z650 rear wheel on two of my Commando , it works well , but I don't use rear brake so often but my cherished Cdo run his std cush rear wheel and it works too (still not use the rear brake ).....if my memory is good Mick Hemmings was riding his cdo (1970 750 model ??) with the non cush rear wheel ........so ! My Seeley with its Triumph disc rear wheel have no cush .
 
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