Remanufactured Mk2A 850 Commando

£20k, give or take.

I just spent just over $2000 in parts from Andover Norton to get the bits and pieces I need to rebuild my "complete" not running 1972 750 Commando decent condition barn find. Their prices are great and most parts are excellent. Most likely, when done, the bike will sell for about what I've spent if I consider my time as free.

Although it's likely possible to build a new one from parts, it would have to be a hobby that you did for the fun of it! On the other hand, if you have a frame, and engine cases with title (absolute requirement in Virginia) it might be possible to do it using mostly new parts and only be a few thousand in the hole .

I am in fact looking for a set of 750 engine cases (72 or later) with title since I have a frame including engine/gearbox cradle and swingarm, front end, head, tank, seat, and lots of small parts.

grandpaul said:

Andover sells most, if not all parts.

Building one this way would be ASTRONOMICALLY expensive.

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I would beg to differ. I don't think Norton parts are all that expensive compared to, well, every other bike on the road! Building a bike this way would give you the best of everything with no leftover parts, and, if you built it with all the best bits, the bike would be absolutely AWESOME! Not in the way that word is used today, but in the true sense of the word.

When I was in Daytona last Thanksgiving, there was a huge car show at The Speedway. There were customs, antiques and hotrods all over town. A flatbed tow truck pulled up in our hotel parking lot with a very nice '57 Chevy on the bed. I went over to look and was amazed when I peered up to look at the underside. It was a brand new car. Not a resto or repop. Brand new. Apparently, if you have an original firewall with a valid VIN, you can buy any other part for a '57 Chevy new off-the-shelf and build your own brand new car. So why not a Commando? Is there any part you can't buy new?

The service department at Max BMW built an R90S from new parts (). IIRC their parts bill was almost $70K, there were 7 parts that could not be sourced new and it took well over a year to get it done; a very interesting video.

Danno said:

When I was in Daytona last Thanksgiving, there was a huge car show at The Speedway. There were customs, antiques and hotrods all over town. A flatbed tow truck pulled up in our hotel parking lot with a very nice '57 Chevy on the bed. I went over to look and was amazed when I peered up to look at the underside. It was a brand new car. Not a resto or repop. Brand new. Apparently, if you have an original firewall with a valid VIN, you can buy any other part for a '57 Chevy new off-the-shelf and build your own brand new car. So why not a Commando? Is there any part you can't buy new?

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There are a few parts that are not available.

Fullauto said:

I would beg to differ. I don't think Norton parts are all that expensive compared to, well, every other bike on the road! Building a bike this way would give you the best of everything with no leftover parts, and, if you built it with all the best bits, the bike would be absolutely AWESOME! Not in the way that word is used today, but in the true sense of the word.

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I agree, however I quickly added up the major components of a 1974 850 engine and it is about 7000 pounds. By the time you add the other bits and pieces, the engine is around 8000 pounds and you don't have a title (real important in the US and if the state allowed a title for a homemade vehicle, it wouldn't be a Norton!) A complete gearbox is very reasonable at 1690 pounds. You can get a complete frame for around 2000 pounds, complete front end for 895 pounds, and the then rest of the cycle parts for another 1500, but the frame and front end are out of stock, wheels have to be built, still need electrics, seat, carbs, and so on. So, somewhere between 15000-20000 pounds should do it!

It would be a fun project. If I had the time, and the money to waste, I would love to write AN and say send me the parts to build one - can you imagine what they would think?

We are very lucky to have such an availability of spares for a bike that stopped being made 40 odd years ago,try this with some bikes that are just a few years old

baz said:

We are very lucky to have such an availability of spares for a bike that stopped being made 40 odd years ago,try this with some bikes that are just a few years old

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Exactly! US$70,000 for the BMW? I know which bike I'd rather own and ride.

You can buy a fully RE-MANUFACTURED Commando, any year you want (practically) from CNW for well under 70k. And it would run and perform better than stock.

You just have to wait a year or so....

grandpaul said:

Andover sells most, if not all parts.

Building one this way would be ASTRONOMICALLY expensive.

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Building a Type 35 Bugatti in Brazil would not be cheap. It depends on how much you want one. If a Commando is worth the trouble of perpetuating , that might justify the cost. If you were setting up a business to make them, once you had established all of your suppliers, the costs might reduce due to quantities. The trouble would be that original Commandos are still available at not huge cost. But a remanufactured one might be a lot better. You would probably need to justify the expense of making the frame and tanks by making cradle conversions to accept other British engines. My feeling is that the 961 Commando is a big step away from the classic concept. The early Commando was actually 'fit for purpose' however 'attention to detail' was not so good.

A Commando owning friend of mine bought a 68 restored 650 Bonneville. When I asked him what it was like to ride, he replied "just as crap as they were new"

Fullauto said:

Exactly! US$70,000 for the BMW? I know which bike I'd rather own and ride.

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My point was that, with 7 exceptions, it is possible to make an R90S from new available parts, not withstanding what brand one would care to own/ride. About 50 miles away from me is a noted Vincent parts supplier that, probably, has enough parts to assemble a ride able Black Shadow; when I was at the facility the owner told me that you could put the parts in a van for about $40K, he when further and told me that once assembled you'd be lucky to get $40K out of it, as it would have no provenance.

Building a Norton from parts would be an expensive proposition, less than an R90S certainly, probably not far from a Vincent, and provenance wouldn't be much of an issue, but probably not a business venture, due to the generally good availability of restorable/re-manufactureable period examples.

We are lucky to have such great resources available to the Norton community.

Just saying...

It would be wise to buy those Vincent parts if they are on offer at 40 k for a complete bike. More than likely the supplier added up the total for a complete bike many years ago and hasn't quite kept a handle on the cost increases.
A complete Rapide or Shadow done from parts would both cost the same amount as they are essentially the same bike, other than black engine paint for the Shadow.
I'm not sure of that number, but for the engine alone I can vouch that parts cost is about $40 k us, having gone thru the exercise not too long ago.

Glen

The Vincent Owners Club spares company did build a new bike from spares some years ago. Not sure what it cost, or what happened to it though.

gripper said:

A Commando owning friend of mine bought a 68 restored 650 Bonneville. When I asked him what it was like to ride, he replied "just as crap as they were new"

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This is the reason I prefer rebuilt /modified/ upgraded bikes as apposed to restored bikes ,why build all the old faults back into a machine??

I get great amusement when someone comes up to me and says something like:

“nice bike mate, looks as food as new”

I put on an expression of hurt and reply:

“I sincerely hope it is a damned sight better than THAT!!”

Makes me chuckle to myself as I ride off every time ...!

Fast Eddie said:

The Vincent Owners Club spares company did build a new bike from spares some years ago. Not sure what it cost, or what happened to it though.

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Somewhere around AU$100,000 at the time. And that was a fair while ago.

A Bargain.

I’ll take two...

acotrel said:

I have a simple question. Does any company supply a completely remanufactured Mk2A 850 Commando which does not use secondhand or old stock parts ? It would probably be prohibitively expensive, but with al the spares currently being made for old Commandos, it would probably be possible. Ken's Fullauto cylinder heads are probably the most difficult parts to make. A near-original remanufactured 850 with a TTI gearbox, might not be all bad ?

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Okay, I think we're needing a bit of clarification.

Define "Remanufactured Commando".

IF it means all new parts to original late specification (or better, where history has proven any significant inadequacy, but still OEM pattern), most parts manufactured on new tooling with modern materials, in quantities at least somewhere near those that Norton is now building, then anyone who believes the cost would be under $20K, is mistaken.

If it means a new Commando-like bike, built from all new parts, some non-original-spec, some significantly different (modern forks, shocks, electronic ignition, modern lighting, modern universal electrical switchgear, etc), then you MIGHT get the cost closer to $15K, but I don't believe you could get near $10K until a few years of amortized volume sales to recoup initial investment of tooling, etc. NOT TO MENTION the fact that they wouldn't be compliant with today's regulations...

Either way, you'd either lose your fortune invested in the start-up because sales failed to support the plan, or you wouldn't be selling anywhere near the numbers Norton is now selling, and of necessity, they'd be more expensive than new Nortons. Of course that also assumes you wouldn't have been hauled into court for violating Norton's trademarks...

I (and several others) would be VERY keen to know the bottom-line cost of a newly built Commando from mostly OEM spec parts, with reasonable replacements only as knowledgeable people have argued credibly for (FullAuto head, instead of rubbish old factory seconds, etc). It would also be interesting to know the total man-hours required to do so...

The problem with Alans thread.
There isnt the market.
No one is going to put the money up to update,upgrade parts & build a bike for "how many sales"
Peter Williams Monococ £63 thousand, numbers sold? Four?
Fairspares new bike (cough) whatever model you want. Less than 14 bikes per year? according to CBG?
Andover will build you a bike so will CNW . All fantastic news & everyone making spares & filling gaps in the market place. Lots of items being re manufactured & updated but only when they can justify the outlay. Part of a business plan & great news for us. But a new build? Nope.

My thoughts
Chris