Opinions Sought: Commando 850 in Featherbed

Norsa: Fantastic workmanship, and I concur with the folks who don't see anything wrong with those two!

That's really interesting. perhaps the frame works like the old G15s did to damp vibration. Nice bikes.

Hi all,
I put a replacement commando 750 engine in my Atlas Featherbed frame in 1972.
I had the crank balanced & it did run a whisker smoother than the old 750 Atlas engine which was maybe not balanced quite as well originally.
I had the engine upright in the frame.
I had to have the engine & Gearbox closer together so I could put the commando Alloy chaincase & triplex chain on.
It was a tight fit with the oil connection on the back of the engine.
I also had to redrill the 3 holes that hold the inner primary chaincase in place in a differnt position.
I had the engine plates made in normal thickness steel by a machine shop from some thin alloy templates I had made up to get positions correct.
Overall it was a success & the commando primary chaincase looked & lot nicer & did not leak.
I may have a pic of it taken in my bedroom before I fitted it in the frame which I will try to find & scan a copy to put here.
It was not a hard job as I am no engineer.
Best of luck with the project if you go ahead.
I have to say the Atlas handled a lot better than my commando ever has but the commando is smoother to ride with the isolastics.
Cheers Don

Gday Don, what an interesting match, love them 2 bikes mate they are a credit to you! Whats next, shoe horn an electric leg(starter) in there somewhere? Rgds Foxy

I have an 850 MkII in a 1960 Slimline frame, the engine is tilted as in a Commando frame, with a belt primary drive. The crankshaft has been lightened and balanced by a previous owner, so I don't know the balance factor. The bike runs very smoothly. It has a PW3 camshaft, black diamond valves, lightened rockers, Pazon ignition and Dunstall exhausts (very noisy....) and a lenghtened, square section swingarm.



I have a full Dunstall fairing, just coming out of the paint shop today...I'll post another picture in a few days as soon as it will be installed on the bike!

That is a great looking bike!

I don't know how I missed this subject, but anyway I first built my 850 Norton into a Wideline Featherbed frame just on 34 years now and I am still riding it to this day with well over 130,000 miles on it, I built mine on a shoe string budget, I was only just over 20 years old at the time with no major bike building experance at all and there was no internet to help in them days, I used as much of the Commando parts that I could (front end, rear wheel, gauges etc etc).

The motor was completely rebuilt, crank balanced at 72%, rebore, standard cam built up as a S2 cam, major head work, new Akront alloy wheels, Koni rear shocks and full rebuild of frontend, with the orginal Wideline fuel tank and used a Innerstate seat (just had to reposition the seat mounting brakets) and the stock Commando gaurds with the orginal Featherbed oil tank and battery box, all this set up worked very well and of course the motor was made to lean forward as they should, they look faster that way, I made all my own engine mounts and anything else that was needed.

On the road as a 21 year old this bike ran really well, very fast, handled so good it felt like I was riding on rails and the speeds I could ride that bike through corners were outstanding, I have never had any problems with vibrations and over all this time I have only lose one nut off the top gearbox mount and one bolt off the muffler bracket, all my engine mount bolts I used British fine treads with spring washers and I am still using the same bolts today as well I run a Lochart oil cooler all year round.



This is what it looks like today but have Norton logos on the tank now, it had a complete rebuild just over 4 years ago but the motor is still the same with the same balanced factor, new PWK carbies, the Joe Hunt maggie, Lansdown front end internals and round oil tank as well a innerstate solo seat, and new Grimca full front brake kit, I still love riding this bike, this is my hot rod and will keep riding it till the day I die.

Ashley