Roadster vs Interstate

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Like others, used to have a mk1 73 interstate 850 and thought they were a bit ugly, now have a roadster but would love an Inter again, looks so British
 
My opinion only, no offenses to those concerned but to me the worse looking Commando is a Roadster with a Corbin seat and a Mikuni carb. The best looking IMO is the early Fastback with the optional Seeley 5 gallons alloy tank.
 
ericg said:
My opinion only, no offenses to those concerned but to me the worse looking Commando is a Roadster with a Corbin seat and a Mikuni carb. The best looking IMO is the early Fastback with the optional Seeley 5 gallons alloy tank.
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That’s why Norton made several models. In my opinion the roadster is the best looking, Corbin or stock seat. Going past at 100kph you can’t really see the carb. I’m a fan of US style street trackers. The roadster is closest to this style.
 
For years, for me, Commando = Roadster. I just couldn’t understand why anyone would spoil that natural style with such a big fugly tank!

But the interstate tank has grown on me a lot, so much so that I now have one in process. Still can’t quite bring myself to like the interstate side panels though, so am planning on keeping roadster ones.

Well, that’s assuming my painter man eventually gets his finger out !
 
Fast Eddie said:
For years, for me, Commando = Roadster. I just couldn’t understand why anyone would spoil that natural style with such a big fugly tank!

But the interstate tank has grown on me a lot, so much so that I now have one in process. Still can’t quite bring myself to like the interstate side panels though, so am planning on keeping roadster ones.

Well, that’s assuming my painter man eventually gets his finger out !
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I like that look too. I ran it for years with a homemade solo hump that I got with the bike. Just be careful as I had the side cover bang on the bottom of the Interstate tank when taking the L panel on/off.

(And my natty ex from Hamps threw out all the photos...)
 
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Years ago I had a beautiful fire flake blue fastback and I bought my current Interstate with the intention of converting it to a Fastback.
But the Interstate has grown on me and I’m not going to change it.
The trouble is they all look so good......
The only solution - have one of each! :D
 
Fast Eddie said:
Still can’t quite bring myself to like the interstate side panels though, so am planning on keeping roadster ones.
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A man of impeccable taste it seems , now what sort of side covers does my i'state have again... :)
 
Fast Eddie said:
There you go, I didn’t know that.

Next question is, how hot do Norton exhaust threads get ?
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Aluminum Alloy Melting point463 – 671C865 – 1240F

So if you thought the higher melting point of Nickel justified Nickel grease over Copper you will be looking at a pool of molten head before the copper grease gives up ;)
 
ntst8 said:
A man of impeccable taste it seems , now what sort of side covers does my i'state have again... :)
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Picture sharing time please !

My tank is with my painter man to be prepared and I’ll be taking the side panels as soon as I’ve done fettling them.

Going for Mercedes ‘Cavansite Blue’ a very dark slightly metallic blue, almost looks black from some angles. Silver pinstripes and font.

Hope it turns out as good as it looks in my minds eye!
 
cliffa said:
That's interesting Eddie, I didn't know Corbin make a seat for the bouser.
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They don’t. I had Matt at CNW cut down a new base and then send it back to Corbin.Fits great and is very comfortable.That let me keep my standard Corbin Roadster seat intact.
 
Mr Andover Norton said he preferred the Roadster tank to the Inter for better weight and balance. Have to agree. Running the Inter tank now and when full it is a bit, er, full. Putting the bike up on the centre stand with a full load is dicey for us lightweights.
Looks? Inter looks fine.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Picture sharing time please !
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Looking a bit grubby, just back from a weekend trip. And looking unbalanced as one mirror fell off - fatigued through the threads.
 

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This was mine mocked up some time ago. I just recently dusted off the idea and aim to get interstated as soon as my painter man gets a round tuit...

Roadster vs Interstate
Roadster vs Interstate
Roadster vs Interstate
 
The Roadster tank looks nice but the capacity just isn't enough for touring use here in Western North America.
I did one fairly short 400 mile round trip with a Couple who run a 74 Commando Roadster. They are both large people, he's 6'5 and she is 6'1.
Fortunately for the poor old Commando, they are quite lean!
They carry luggage and two folding lawn chairs.
Loaded thusly , the bike should do roughly 115 miles to empty (2.5 imp x 45 mpg), however they have run it dry at 90 miles range when going against a headwind.
So he needed to find fuel every 75 miles max, to leave a bit to spare. There aren't always fuelling stations e at exactly 75 mile intervals, so sometimes they would stop for fuel at 50 miles.
We were on the Vincent, which also has a smallish tank at 3.75 Imperial and an easy 125 mile range running 2 up. The 50 mile stops were a bit much, but I could see why they were needed.
That's why the Interstate tank was built!



Glen
 
As shocking as it is, many of the service station employees do not even know what a Vincent is. They make us ride to the pumps and pump our own gas, just like the commoners do
 
Sometimes I think I put the Interstate tank on because the stock clocks have no trip odometer.
 
When did the Commando get a trip odometer?
MK3 has it, my 650SS does not. A 10 BSA and Vincents have the trip odometer on Chronometrics.
It's a small but very important item, especially if the bike is to be used for long distance travel.
 
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