No longer anal about Amals

If amals stayed working the same as the day they were fitted nobody would ever change them
They are great when they are new but that's about all
I'd imagine the premier's are a lot better?
Do the needle jets and needles last any longer with premiers?
 
If only these carbs were a bit more like electronic ignition systems - providing the most wonderful performance reliabilty and lack of maintenance coupled with the ability to hide away so nobody knows it is fitted and as such everyone ( pretty much ) loves them because of it.
 
Desmopower said:
I really love having everything stock on the Norton but with fitting the CR's and the slim ham can filter it does not look out of place on the bike, with the huge upside of reliability and improved performance.
Walk to the light ericg. 😉
Click to expand...
What are you, an evangelist?
After about 38 years and nearly 300 000 miles on my Brit bikes with Amals and all I can tell you that I'm perfectly happy with reliability and performances. I take them for what and as they are. Oh and I don't own a car or a modern bike, they are my very day rides for work, back roads thrash or touring across Europe.
 
I have just gone back to my old Amals, I went down the road of different carbs, 12 years with Jim's set up PWKs for my motor, ran great but had few issues with one sticking float so back to the old Amals, bike runs so much better with the old Amals, just had to unblock one pilot jet, new jets and needles and a quick tune, Idles great, runs from low rev to flat out without any hesitation at all.
I replace the original Amals in 79 when the slides were worn out but even with worn out slides it ran well, just didn't like to idle, new Amal sent over from England, this was the days before the internet and these replacement Amals are still good but I do replace the jets and need every 2 or 3 years, depends on the mileage I have done.
48+ years and my Norton was mostly an everyday ride in all them years and have never had sticking slides or heating problems with them, they are simple to maintain and work on, they are simple to tune if you have them set up for your bike, I run bigger main jets in mine for the work done inside my motor.
So many seem to have troubles with Amals, but normally are easy fixes, but having a understanding of them helps, but just a quick tickle and a good kick for the first kick of the day with just the right amount of throttle, mine always fires up first kick, but then having the ignition set right and a big spark also helps, they all work together.
There are some good new carbs set ups for our old bikes but to me Amals work pretty good, replacement parts are cheap and the thought of paying well over $1k + for new carbs, I stick to my old Amals when they work so well on my Norton.
By the way when I brought 2 new Amal carbs back in 79 through my local Norton club at the time they cost me $100 for both carbs and the new ones weren't pot metal as they were a different colour to the old Amals that wore out with only 35K miles on them.

Ashley
 
ericg said:
What are you, an evangelist?
After about 38 years and nearly 300 000 miles on my Brit bikes with Amals and all I can tell you that I'm perfectly happy with reliability and performances. I take them for what and as they are. Oh and I don't own a car or a modern bike, they are my very day rides for work, back roads thrash or touring across Europe.
Click to expand...
I took them for what they were on my bike - just numerous niggling little problems with the carbs that spoiled the everyday use of the bike.
And by walk to the light, I meant you don't have to be a die-hard purist by keeping things exactly original as per factory. 😉
 
Last edited:
Desmopower said:
I took them for what they were on my bike - just numerous niggling little problems with the carbs that spoiled the everyday use of the bike.
And by walk to the light, I meant you don't have to be a die-hard purist by keeping things exactly original as per factory. 😉
Click to expand...
For the past 25 years I'm doing work for Brit bike owners in my area so I've seen a number of machines through my garage, nine out of ten carb problems are due to totally worn out carbs that previous owners have tried to bodge in every possible ways. As Ashman said above, Amals are very good carbs that used to be short lived in the past. Now with the Premier series or the aluminium bodied ones they are very long lasting and throttle valves stays virtually as new after big mileage.

Try a new set of carbs and see the light of a Commando that works as it should. ;)

Generally speaking, the more the bikes is ridden the less problem they have.
And the number of theories from owners is inversely proportional to the miles ridden.

I've built myself two Tritons (one triple), a Norvin twin and a 600cc Vincent Comet engined BSA with Norton forks and wheels (all Amal equipped) so I can hardly be considered as a die-hard purist but I try to keep them period and only use parts available at the time.
If one day I decide I want or need modern performance, I'll go and buy a modern bike.
 
Last edited:
ashman said:
I have just gone back to my old Amals, I went down the road of different carbs, 12 years with Jim's set up PWKs for my motor, ran great but had few issues with one sticking float so back to the old Amals, bike runs so much better with the old Amals, just had to unblock one pilot jet, new jets and needles and a quick tune, Idles great, runs from low rev to flat out without any hesitation at all.
I replace the original Amals in 79 when the slides were worn out but even with worn out slides it ran well, just didn't like to idle, new Amal sent over from England, this was the days before the internet and these replacement Amals are still good but I do replace the jets and need every 2 or 3 years, depends on the mileage I have done.
48+ years and my Norton was mostly an everyday ride in all them years and have never had sticking slides or heating problems with them, they are simple to maintain and work on, they are simple to tune if you have them set up for your bike, I run bigger main jets in mine for the work done inside my motor.
So many seem to have troubles with Amals, but normally are easy fixes, but having a understanding of them helps, but just a quick tickle and a good kick for the first kick of the day with just the right amount of throttle, mine always fires up first kick, but then having the ignition set right and a big spark also helps, they all work together.
There are some good new carbs set ups for our old bikes but to me Amals work pretty good, replacement parts are cheap and the thought of paying well over $1k + for new carbs, I stick to my old Amals when they work so well on my Norton.
By the way when I brought 2 new Amal carbs back in 79 through my local Norton club at the time they cost me $100 for both carbs and the new ones weren't pot metal as they were a different colour to the old Amals that wore out with only 35K miles on them.

Ashley
Click to expand...
What metal are your amals made from if not pot metal?
Premiers made of aluminium didn't come out until 2012
 
I like my 34mm Mk2 Amals, however I do not use Amal needle jets or needles. The needles which are intended for use with two-stroke motors need to be a lot better than was used in the 1960s on British bikes. 1960's two-strokes are often as fast as Brit bikes of twice their capacity , and it is not due to them having twice the number of power strokes. It is not easy getting the carb jetting right on a Commando when using methanol. - With petrol, it must be twice as difficult. The problem with a Commando engine, is they give the impression that they cannot go any faster, until they actually go faster.
 
ericg said:
For the past 25 years I'm doing work for Brit bike owners in my area so I've seen a number of machines through my garage, nine out of ten carb problems are due to totally worn out carbs that previous owners have tried to bodge in every possible ways. As Ashman said above, Amals are very good carbs that used to be short lived in the past. Now with the Premier series or the aluminium bodied ones they are very long lasting and throttle valves stays virtually as new after big mileage.

Try a new set of carbs and see the light of a Commando that works as it should. ;)

Generally speaking, the more the bikes is ridden the less problem they have.
And the number of theories from owners is inversely proportional to the miles ridden.

I've built myself two Tritons (one triple), a Norvin twin and a 600cc Vincent Comet engined BSA with Norton forks and wheels (all Amal equipped) so I can hardly be considered as a die-hard purist but I try to keep them period and only use parts available at the time.
If one day I decide I want or need modern performance, I'll go and buy a modern bike.
Click to expand...
I run a pair of Premiers on my ‘68 T120 and they’re excellent (well, once the undersized pilot was swapped).

On my T140 I run MK2s. I had some fun ‘correcting’ them from EPA spec, but once done they too run fine.

I actually agree with you Eric that Amal’s get an unfair rap at times. As I’ve said before, they are FAR more tolerant of things like minor jetting errors, particles in the fuel, altitude changes, etc than more modern Japanese carbs.

But I have never got Amal’s A/F on the Dyno as good as I get with FCRs.

The big BUT for me though is that Amal / Burlens don’t do Smoothbores and / or bigger sizes anymore.

I do get where your coming from with the Mickey Rouke thing tho !!
 
I fitted a pair of 33mm CRs to my 920 several years before Jim started to sell them. I like them a lot, but don't think they work much better, if any, than the MK1 Concentrics they replaced. The things I do like about them are they don't require tickling, they stay in balance due to them being mechanically linked, & the engine starts with one kick & no throttle when warm.
When people compare new Japanese carbs to a pairs of worn out Amals, it's no surprise the Jap carbs are better. Rather like the vinyl vs CD comparisons from years ago, when people were playing worn out scratched records on a fifty quid turntable, then saying how much better CDs sounded.
It would be interesting to compare the Keihins with a pair of Premiers fitted to a Madass gantry.
 
Triton Thrasher said:
ex​

Or even more annoying: you replace needle jets and needles with new and it is suddenly too rich at small throttle openings.
Click to expand...
Unless you are getting bad new parts, the mixture gets richer as these items wear, and returns to previous settings when replaced.
 
Tuning wise there is no comparison between Amal and the CRS or FCR Keihin carburetors. That said I think Norton did get the Amal jetting right for a stock Norton engine and exhaust. No guess work or testing. I don't remember having pilot jet issues with the 930's, but the bike did need to be warmed up. It was 50 frigging years ago and it was a magneto setup with a battery eliminator box. If not warmed up it would usually stall at the first stop. Fortunately, the engine was stock then and had 7:1 compression. Easy to start. The one Commando I had had a single monoblock on it. It worked, but wept a little out of the round side cover for the bowl. I didn't keep the Commando long enough to do anything but clean it and sell it for $800US.

I wouldn't put Amals back on my current engine. Totally meaningless what anyone would or wouldn't do. You do you and I'll do me. We can all get along sort of. :)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top