Newest Member with a few questions

singring said:

I have been in contact with the owner via email and phone, the bike is located a couple of days drive away. I plan on testing the bike in person before purchasing, but want to get as much info, expert opinions, and such before I bother to make the journey. Bike has 14k miles on the speedo. After the responses from you fine fellows, the owner confirms that bike rides true, and handles fine. Bike engine was rebuilt 10 years ago, transmission rebuilt 6 years ago, has a recent new clutch, original points ignition system, but have been recently replaced. Owner says in the last ten years he averages 100 miles use per year, as he also owns two Harleys that he rides everywhere. The Commando is mostly ridden in town, not above 4000K revs, engine not de-tuned as it has a wollap for compression. Owner seems above board with all questions, but dealing over the phone....well, you know how that can go the other way. So, it would appear that the Combat engine overpowers the tranmission and clutch. It's an engine that shouldn't be wound out, even with the Superblends installed.
Many thanks for all your advice.

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I'm not sure what you expect but best case is that you can fix a few things and ride it. Worse case is tear it apart and fix/replace frame and or swingarm.

As for the owners description of the handling... he is comparing it to Harleys so... :wink:

If it's a real good price then it might be worth it. But if it's an average price, keep looking. There are a LOT of Combats out there.

Hi Singring,

"So, it would appear that the Combat engine overpowers the tranmission and clutch. It's an engine that shouldn't be wound out, even with the Superblends installed."

As a combat owner, my feeling is when properly put together this engine is reliable enough. Go ahead and wind it up for short bursts and enjoy. I've put over 25,000 miles on mine since the 1997 restoration and it hasn't had any serious failings yet. Have had comments from a friend's son riding a Yamaha R1 - didn't believe an old bike could go that fast. If you feel you need to baby a combat or prefer lower revving and a bit more torque, don't buy one - go with an 850.

illf8ed, you make a valid point. If I get it, I don't plan on babying the Combat, just won't do long extended distances WOT, which, from what I understand, is what blew them up before the Superblends upgrade. I'll mostly do in-city Cafe racing to show the young superbike punks that the older bikes have plenty of jam....just like meself, sir....and, I'll slowly introduce longer rides at appropriate engine revs.

Singring,

You've got the right state of mind for the combat. If the price is good, go buy it. Anything that needs fixing we can help you on the forum. Look at that rear end alignment more. I would try to understand why the rear wheel looks out of verticle alignment.

By the way Singring, where are you? There may be someone here who could look at it for you. I know there is a similar bike on sale here on CL.

I contacted the owner, relayed your concerns about the ear wheel alignment, asked for more pictures, with bike on centerstand. He complied with some better pix, removed the fender, and licence plate holder. This next series of photos, to my eye, show the rear wheel is in proper alignment with the frame. He also forgot to mention previously that the horn does not work, and theres a very slow leak in the front tire.

Looks good to me. He's gone to some effort to ally any concern. The rear loop can decline at the extreme end when heavy passenger loads have been bouncing around but this looks pretty even all round. Good luck.

Mick

I would be more concerned whether the front and rear wheels line up, both vertically and horizontally. The rear fender and tail light can be very easily be askew. As for the rear fender loop being level, it doesn't mean much. Is the floor level? And some centerstand mounting holes are elongated. I can't tell from the picture if the board is under both legs of the centerstand. It almost appears that the right leg is shimmed up. I'd string the wheels and and lock down the handlebar from turning. Then use the level to check if the back and front wheels are in vertical alignment. This will give you a rough idea if there are any serious misalignment issues. If you really want to get into it, read this:

http://vintagenet.us/phantom/wsc.html

In reality, there are probably quite a few twisted up old motorcycles running around. If the price is right I'd buy it. Commandos weren't exactly noted for their quality control. The bike you are looking at may quite possibly be misaligned, from the factory.

The combats didn't blow because they were abused. My bearings just went at 4700 miles and I hadn't really done anything wild with it. After the superblends it has been a totally reliable bike. I think the bad reputation is really undeserved. It is not all that much faster than a stock '71 from a seat of the pants standpoint.

Russ

Thanks you, everyone, for your valued advice. I will most probably make the journey to check out this bike in person. There is another Norton, a 1971 Roadster, with 35K on the odometer, that I will also check out in the same general area. This is a terrific forum, with excellent people contributing.
I will post up when I purchase within the next month.
Cheers, chaps

kommando said:

Wonder if the clamp is an attempt to fix the kickstart hitting the pipe problem, its fitted at the point I hold the pipe and press it towards the frame when I am tightening up the exhaust ring to make sure the kickstart clears the pipe.

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Could be looking at it you can see marks on the pipe where the kickstart has been scraping the pipe..so that could be it no big deal to check if the thread is stripped check if the pipe is loose then ask the guy to tighten it up please...as far as alignment there is something amiss but would need to be their to check it myself...a shot taken from the rear can only hint at possible problems.

plj850...thanks for the exhaust pipe idea, I was wondering if that was the reason for the clamp myself. Owner has the Norton exhaust clamp tool, so this is something that I will check out when I see the bike. As far as your comment regarding that there is something not right with the picture of the rear wheel, did you not see the pictures I posted on this thread, after I asked owner to take shots with bike on centerstand, on level surface? He even removed the fender and licence plate holder, and from what I see in those pictures, the rear wheel looks fine on the vertical. Have another look on page two of this thread and you eill see the other photos.

Oh, and while we are at it, just going by the serial number, which is 209---, and the manufature date of Aug 1972, would this bike have an Italian made frame?
And, what can be the faults of an Italian-made frame?
Thanks

I agree with Jim.
Before you purchase, align the front and back wheels up to each other by adjusting the back wheel. Can it be brought into line? Does it still look odd to the rear loop.
Also throw your level over the swing arm and compare to the level of the top spar as shown in picture.
Don't kid youself, something is wrong there....you need to find out what before you buy. The problem with us lot is many of us would thing nothing of stripping the bike and staigtening the frame up....but this task is not for everybody....do you want to have to do this? If the answer is no then make sure it is not required before you buy.
Stu.

singring said:

Oh, and while we are at it, just going by the serial number, which is 209---, and the manufature date of Aug 1972, would this bike have an Italian made frame?

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I think it's fairly safe to say it shouldn't have an Italian frame. You could check the diameter of the tubing? As the Italian frames were made from metric size tube, so the main spine tube of an Italian frame would be 60mm O/D and not 2-1/4" (approx. 57mm) as the British made frames are.

singring said:

And, what can be the faults of an Italian-made frame?

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Theoretically, when they left the Norton factory, they should have been as good as the British-built Reynolds Tube Co. frames, as any apparent frame defects were supposed to have been rectified by Reynolds?

I purchased a combat commado in July 2004. It had 8050 orig. miles. Everything worked and I paid $4,200 USC. My point is they are still out there in garages and under tarps in sheds all along the east and west coasts. I would not get into a frame problem if it is your first commando. I cleaned and detailed mine over the last 4 years and finally rode it May 2008. I placed her in 3 local bike shows. She took 1 1st place and 2 2nd place finishes. When I purchased mine you could grab the rear wheel and move it horizontally quite a bit. The swing arm bushings were shot. Last owner had greased them instead of using 140 wt oil as designed. It didn't show up on the initial test ride but once I drove her home and inspected her closer. It will be easy to miss small wear and tear with these bikes if your not familar with their quirks at inspection time. Take yor time and find the right machine. No reason to jump at the combat, others are coming.
Post a wanted add on the INOA list and get one reasonably priced that most of the work has been done by someone in the know.
I love riding mine kids ask hey what is it? They have never seen a Norton. I get the response the $20,000 chopper builders are after w/o spending the big bucks.
Since the 70's are back my canry yellow cmbat is right in style with the times.
Combats didn't just blow up, the riders in Europe rode them so hard at high RPMS that they blew enough oil out the poorly designed breathing system that they seized from lack of lube. We don't have any autobahns in Penna so I ride around 70 mph at 4100 rpms and no problems. And yes my bottom end is still stock to my knowledge. Do I worry nope fix it when it needs fixin. My born on dating is June 1972, 209199.
MarshalNorton :roll: