Seller says this 750 was restored and not a Combat

Ron L said:
The 'D' paint scheme was used on all black 750 Roadsters from 1971 to the '73 850 models. The tank decal on this one is the early style black edged gold non-die cut verstion. The best way to tell a Combat is with the 'C' stamp on the head and 32 mm intake ports (standard was 28.5 mm). I whole-heartedly agree with you about 'restored' bikes. Restoration takes much more time (and money!) to find original parts (or at least quality reproductions when originals are simply not available). While I have restored a few, I would rather build a bike that looks like it could be factory, but is much improved.
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Weird how things get mixed up in my head! I've had two people privately ask me why I said that about the "D" on black tanks being Combat when my web site clearly says otherwise!

AFAIK, only the Combat had black cylinders in 1972. I've found nothing authoritative to tell me if the "high performance 750s" (RH6 heads) of 73 had silver or black cylinders.
 
concours said:
All true.

Sadly, people younger than 30, have no idea what hand signals even are, nor would they care.
While left turn is obvious, right turn or stop is merely amusing to them.

Enjoy the nostalgia (we all do here) and stay safe.
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Bob, I'm going to have to call you on that one. Around here raise the age to 40 and not ride a Hayabusa. The people in cars don't even know what a turn signal is. I always rode my bikes like everyone was out to kill me. Now a days it's the same when driving your car. Unforkenbelievalbe.
 
Superficial viewing For a Combat,
The Tell-Tail things that should show up on a 1972 Combat are:
#1: Disk Brake front. Introduced on the Combat Model.
#2: Black Barrels.
#3: Smaller Space between the barrel and the head compared to the spacing of the fins on the barrel and Fins on the head.
0.040" thou got peeled off the head for Higher Compression 10/1 C/Ratio on the Combat.
#4: 32 mm Ports at the Intake on the head. Not necessarily a good thing IMHO but that's the way they did it in that era of time.
#5: 932/19 R and 932/20 L Amal Mk1s were fitted. The lower compression stock 750's would had had 930 Amal's in 1972.
#6: If you take the head-steady off, you would see a "C" stamped underneath near the centre location, hidden under the H/S.
#7: No large Oil sump filter but only a small drain-plug forward near the lowest part of the crank when the bike was sitting on the centre-stand.
#8: Most US and Canadian shipped bikes came with a 19 tooth final on the gearbox chain sprocket.

OK , Now when the Head is off:

If you were lucky the push-rods in 72 Combat, would have been shortened to Combat spec. To compensate the 0.040" thou milled off the head,
BUT...Not All were.:oops:
Barrel Off cases split:
The Cam would have been UN-scrolled at the bearing location with two thin Thrust Washers added, One on the Inside of the Crankcase at the Cam shaft hardened thrust washer and one on the outside of the timing chest side, inside the camshaft sprocket. Profile on the cam and tappet height setting different than stock cam. 0.008" intake and 0.010" Exhaust Tappet clearance. 2S stamping. I have a SS cam New old stock with the scroll grooves on the cam. So go figure?
But a lot can happen in 50 + years if you don't know the history of the bike. Lots of parts were cobbled together by P/O based on availability on parts suppliers.

That is my humble opinion as I own 2 Combats, but one of them has 30mm ports on the intake.
And with that.....your mileage may vary.
 
L.A.B. said:
That only identifies it as being a 200000-on 750.
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Thanks Les,
Yes I agree, but the "Pre-Combat", earlier 750's all had the Large sump plug which protected the pump from ingesting large foreign material such as the tabs on those thrust washers on the cam when these break off or a chunk of a lifter pad getting sucked up in the unfiltered oil pump pickup and lock up the oil pump which would grenade the engine in very short order. The oil pickup was moved forward of where the large sump plug use to live. The engineering thought, was to get the pickup point to the lowest point of the Commando engine sump location because of the tilt of the engine compared to the Atlas 750 which sits vertical. This also proved to be a catastrophic blunder by the bean counters at Norton when the Combat was held at W.O.T. for Long duration. Like on the Autobahn for instance. (Hey it was a Combat don't cha know. Ride it like you stole it). ;) They " The Bean Counters" wanted to cheap out by eliminating that large filter sump plug. When Norton got the Combat black eye💩 from a lot of failures, they quickly re-installed the large sump filter plug on the introduction of the 850 and painted the barrels silver again to signify it was not the Combat engine. I forgot to mention, beefed up webbing around the Main Bearings. The rear breather housing was introduced at the lower rear of the engine and in between the Gearbox with a large breather hose going to the top of the oil tank. I believe the lower compression 750's in the 200000 series had this also. Did I forget anything else??? Let me know.
Warts and all if you sort out the Combat with some mods to fix the oil starvation and put Super-blends for mains they are an extremely fun bike to ride and much more reliable.
 
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My Norton has no turn singles and I gave up using hand singles a long time ago, I confuse everyone as I stick my leg out the side when I want to turn, got pulled over by the cops one day and asked why I didn't use hand single and why the leg, I then told the cop I was booked once for taking my hand off the handle bars and why I now stick my leg out when turning, the copper was dumb founded but knew I was right about taking my hand off the handle bars, we had a bit of laugh about it and he was a good cop and said on your way, it's a good feeling getting pulled over and not getting a ticket and to have a good answer to their questions, but bikes under 78 don't need indicators or need to run with headlight on in my state of Queensland as well the rest of Aus.
 
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When I got booked for taking my hand off the handle bars was when I was young and the copper just wanted to give me a ticket for something, being young I was a bit of a smart arse when dealing with the cops, these days I just shut my mouth when dealing with them and don't give them a reason to give me more tickets as only get pulled up these days if I did do something wrong.
 
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ashman said:
My Norton has no turn singles and I gave up using hand singles a long time ago, I confuse everyone as I stick my leg out the side when I want to turn, got pulled over by the cops one day and asked why I didn't use hand single and why the leg, I then told the cop I was booked once for taking my hands off the handle bars and why I now stick my leg out when turning, the copper was dumb founded but knew I was right about taking my hands off the handle bars, we had a bit of laugh about it and he was a good cop and said on your way, it's a good feeling getting pulled over and not getting a ticket and to have a good answer to their questions, but bikes under 78 don't need indicators or need to run with headlight on in my state of Queensland as well the rest of Aus.
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I've never heard of getting nicked for taking a hand off the bars!
I assume the the same applies to car drivers?
Must be hard driving a car keeping both hands on the wheel all the time
 
ashman said:
When I got booked for taking my hands off the handle bars was when I was young and the copper just wanted to give me a ticket for something, being young I was a bit of a smart arse when dealing with the cops, these days I just shut my mouth when dealing with them and don't give them a reason to give me more tickets as only get pulled up these days if I did do something wrong.
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Hands?
Or
Hand?

It makes quite a big difference to the story…
 
Back in the 70s our state of Queensland was run by Premier Joh and the police force was his army of enforcers, corruption everywhere in the Government and Police force, money exchanged in brown paper bags, not all cops were bad only the ones up top and my local police were right up there and gave us young bikers a lot of shit, but mine you we gave it back as well, there was no running by the book in them days, if they wanted to punish you they find away.
 
marshg246 said:
99% sure that's not true. I would really like to know your proof as it contradicts much of what I say on my web site and what's in manuals. Also, I'm never heard of an 850 with the "D".
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My parts manuals show black/gold lining on all 750 Roadster tanks. Black was not an option until 1971 and when 850 was introduced all tanks had double stripes.
 
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