Searching for the best Nort ignition

jimbo · Dec 31, 2016

Searching for the best Norton ignition , so what's the final verdict? It seems a Pazon's Altair is hard to beat.

ashman · Dec 31, 2016

Joe Hunt maggie is the best ignition I have had, no battery needed, the biggest spark ever, starts first kick every time, will never go back to anything else and I don't care what others say about them sticking out the side or not having advance system, they don't need it and will fire up on 1/2 a swing on the kicker.

Ashley

ntst8 · Dec 31, 2016

I don't think you can go far wrong with any of the name options.
Pazon Altair and TriSpark have the fancier advance curves and are supposedly more electric starter friendly, but a friend is running a Pazon surefire with an Alton starter and it starts/runs great.

acotrel · Dec 31, 2016

A lot depends on what purpose you intend to use your bike for. For racing I use a Boyer non-programmable unit. However I'd like to move to a programmable unit because I believe I could gain more performance with careful programming. The problem as I see it is that the current available units are fitted with a variety of advance curves some of which I suspect may have been developed by guess work or from something which has already worked well. My feeling is that the shape of the theoretical optimum advance curve depends on the internal geometry of the motor - rod length and stroke, because combustion is a fixed time event and the rock-over time varies with the revs. In short I need to know what I am going to programme into the unit before I buy one. And so far I have been too lazy to struggle with the mathematics.
The Dynatek unit which is used on Harleys looks good.

jimbo · Dec 31, 2016

I should have been more precise, I have a stock 850 non E start and want an easy to start , good idle,simple set up, durable,and a good street ignition.

Mr. Rick · Jan 1, 2017

The Boyer on my 850 has been very reliable, usually starts on first kick, idles fine (when warmed up). Setup is straightforward, and the remotely-mounted box is not subject to the heat and vibration under the points cover, which is a good thing.
Still, I think the advance curve during kickstarting cd be better, as found on other models. Occasionally, I find it Very Difficult to kick through. Instead of the lever going down, I go up. Disconcerting, to say the least...
If Boyer made a model with less advance at lower RPM's (kickstarting), I'd buy one in a minute.

peter12 · Jan 1, 2017

Have no problems with my Boyer at the moment, age unknown, over 5 years, thats all I know.
Idles brilliantly (single carb).
Easy starter unless sitting for long periods in the winter, then harder.
Standard roads bike.

tpeever · Jan 1, 2017

Standard analog Boyer has worked just fine for me for 10 years or so on my Commando. Have had Pazon on other bikes and they have been fine as well. I have only had one failure of an EI on a British bike and that was with the Boyer Micropower ignition box on my Dominator. Boyer replaced it no questions asked. As per someone's advice on this forum, I got rid of the twist-tie and epoxy on the pickup plate on the Commando ignition and replaced with small screws and nuts. I then attached short leads (about 6-8 inches) to the pickup plate with an inline connector on each end. This way, I can make a connection right at the frame behind the timing cover to the wires feeding the Boyer box. I try to remember to replace these leads attached to the plate every few years and hopefully avoid issues with wire fatigue at the plate. So far so good but I don't put a lot of miles on my bike either. Commando engines bounce around a lot so it makes sense to me that these wires to the pickup plate be treated as a maintenance item.

motoalchemist · Jan 1, 2017

old britts. i have it on my 71.

baz · Jan 2, 2017

Elektronik sachse is a very good system I have it on my Trident, I have Lucas Rita on my commando,used to have Boyer but it gave up after about 10 years

norton73 · Jan 5, 2017

I've been running a Boyer for almost 25 years and 75k miles. About 5 years after I installed it, I had the wires fail at the solder joint. I soldered, put a big glob of silicone seal and a piece of foam in there to reduce the effects of vibration.
All was well till last spring when it failed again. The silicone had melted.
You can read about my adventure here; http://bamarides.com/ride/index.php?topic=1002.0

I ordered a Pazon to replace it, but then discovered this kit and did it instead.http://decentcycles.com/the-decent-store

I will use the Pazon on the mk3 that is under construction

DogT · Jan 7, 2017

I could do a Joe Hunt but not for $800. The Pazon SureFire works fine for my early bike and is less than $200, 1 to 2 kicks. Better than stock and you can't tell it's on there. But if I could get someone to brass bush my cam points, I'd probably do that too. There was really nothing wrong with the points except that the cam advance wore out easily if you didn't take care of them. There was a fella that bushed the cam points in EU somewhere. I think hobot wanted to do that, but he dropped out for some reason.

ashman · Jan 7, 2017

Yes the Joe Hunt maggies are exspenive but hey if you want the best spark you got to pay the price, how much money do you spend on the rest of the bike to me its a small price to pay for something that will last a life time, be very reliable and easy to maintain, with over 6 years on my Norton now the only thing I have done is to put a few drops of oil on the point felt with over 30k on it.
It idles perfect, one kick to start usually on 1/2 a swing on the kicker and the faster it spins the bigger the spark, I have had Boyars, Lucas over the 40 years of ownership and they have failed at some stage one failed in less than a year or so, I ran a older Joe Hunt om my Triumph for over 9 years and 250,000 ks on it without any problems at all, I never replace anything in that JH not even the point and the new JHs are even better.
Only other JH owners know what they are like, I get other people's opinion about the JH all the time but they are usually people who have never had one before, I will never go back to any other ignition system, thats how much I believe in the JHs, and the best part no need for a battery to run your bike.

Ashley

pete.v · Jan 7, 2017

I had had so many different units. Pasan surefire, old boyer, a few power archs, for the past few years a very awesome Joe Hunt unit. I found it difficult to get the right tuning for the JS1 cam I have. The mag had been the most reliable and best performance up until this summer.

Since the Mag has not advance curve, I felt I was suffering in the upper ranges. But I also felt love the awesome spark the mag delivered.

After doing some shopping, I came across the Pazan Smartfire. Not the Surefire but the Smartfire This is a much different animal and is basically a Altair on steroids.

This unit gives me as close as possible to the mag level of spark, yet the Pazan SmartFire has a very nice advance curve which is programmable.

I am not saying that the Mag flattened out in the upper limits, but in comparison, it sure seems that way now.

The Smartfire, (not the surefire, which is also a very nice entry level unit the I also recommend) is a little pricy, but the performance is undeniable.

The Mag is on the shelf and isn't going anywhere.

DogT · Jan 7, 2017

I don't doubt that the JH maggie is great, but at 10% of the bikes overhaul cost is a bit much to me when I'm perfectly satisfied with the SureFire. If you feel like it, go for it. Believe me, I'm not disparaging it. I think at this point I'd rather replace all the cables with Venhill.

850cmndo · Jan 7, 2017

If you're lucky enough to find one...go Rita.

worntorn · Jan 7, 2017

pete.v said:
After doing some shopping, I came across the Pazan Smartfire. Not the Surefire but the Smartfire This is a much different animal and is basically a Altair on steroids.

This unit gives me as close as possible to the mag level of spark, yet the Pazan SmartFire has a very nice advance curve which is programmable.

.

Unless Smartfire has changed in the last couple of years, it is not programmable, at least not in the way Programmable ignitions are reshaped . Programmable ignition curves can be adjusted insitu.
Smartfire is a mapped ignition with at least 3 maps to choose from for parallel twins (that's what is shown on their website) You pick the map that you think will work best and the ignition comes with that map in it. If you decide to change to one of their other available mapped curves, send the ignition back to Andy and he will change it over for a fee.

At least that was the way it worked when I purchased my Smartfire ignition. He custom built mine with two drivers, twice the spark energy of standard Smartfire, also twice the current draw. As such mine is not a low draw ignition, although standard Smartfire could be considered low draw.
Very hot spark, great starting. It happens to be a two plug ignition (Vincent)
As luck would have it, with much consultation the initial map turned out to be a good one, no change needed.

There is a programmable rev limiter in the ignition and that can be programmed insitu.

Glen

ashman · Jan 7, 2017

850cmndo said:
If you're lucky enough to find one...go Rita.

The Rita was the first EI to let me down, it was also the first one I fitter back in the late 70s, it lasted just over 12 months, it just died, I replaced it with a Boyar but it failed but it wasn't the Boyar fault the major fire I had kill that, the second Boyar was on my bike for 30 years and is still going on my mate's Norton, there are a lot better EIs on the market now but you do still hear stories about failures with EI or batteries going flat, I don't have that problem, the JH maggies can be rebuilt, parts are cheap if anything does go wrong with them, they will out last the bike.

Pete.v I have a hot motor and I haven't had any problems with the JH keeping up with full RPMs, I have never put a timing light on it but its tuned right for my set up, but the fun police are taking the fun out of high speed riding these days and I like to keep my bikes.

Ashley

N0rt0nelectr@ · Jan 8, 2017

jimbo said:
I should have been more precise, I have a stock 850 non E start and want an easy to start , good idle,simple set up, durable,and a good street ignition.

The a Pazon is what I would use. Over the years I have used Boyer, Tri-Spark and Pazon. Of the three I like the Pazon best.
John in Texas

pete.v · Jan 8, 2017

A little hair splitting again there, Glen. And yes, it has changed since a couple years ago. They update the rotor and added features that the Altair offered. Also, I think the older ones didn't have idle stabilization where now it does.

worntorn said:
pete.v said:

After doing some shopping, I came across the Pazan Smartfire. Not the Surefire but the Smartfire This is a much different animal and is basically a Altair on steroids.

This unit gives me as close as possible to the mag level of spark, yet the Pazan SmartFire has a very nice advance curve which is programmable.

.

Click to expand...

Unless Smartfire has changed in the last couple of years, it is not programmable, at least not in the way Programmable ignitions are reshaped . Programmable ignition curves can be adjusted insitu.
Smartfire is a mapped ignition with at least 3 maps to choose from for parallel twins (that's what is shown on their website) You pick the map that you think will work best and the ignition comes with that map in it. If you decide to change to one of their other available mapped curves, send the ignition back to Andy and he will change it over for a fee.

At least that was the way it worked when I purchased my Smartfire ignition. He custom built mine with two drivers, twice the spark energy of standard Smartfire, also twice the current draw. As such mine is not a low draw ignition, although standard Smartfire could be considered low draw.
Very hot spark, great starting. It happens to be a two plug ignition (Vincent)
As luck would have it, with much consultation the initial map turned out to be a good one, no change needed.

There is a programmable rev limiter in the ignition and that can be programmed insitu.

Glen

Searching for the best Nort ignition

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