should i switch to Mikuni Carb ?

Yes that is the only real poblems with the Amals is you do have to replace the needle jets as they do wear oval from vibrations, but that all to do with maintenance and they are cheap, I put new jets, needles and O rings every 2 or 3 years of service, only about $50 and the Amals will keep going strong, you will know when they need replacing, thats when they start to run out of tune.

Ashley

I will not put anything japanese on my Norton,

Click to expand...

A bit of irony here, but If the original Norton had been a Japanese manufacture they probably would not of went out of business. BTW, I do not own any Japanese bikes.

AMAL, AMAL, AMAL

A commando was designed as a sports bike...if you don't want a sports bike, go but a Triumph Tiger 750 or similar with a single carb, don't emasculate your commando.
As for performance, standing 1/8 mile, 7.4 secs terminal speed 101mph on a says it all for me...ok, it's a bit tuned, but a Commando is a SPORTS BIKE!!!!!...even the interstates had the same motor!

"I will not put anything japanese on my Norton"

ME NEITHER! I stick with good old reliable Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani stuff!

ebsbury said:

Amal chrome brass slides:

http://www.amalcarb.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?id=37428

Amal Forged Alloy Hard Anodised Slides:

http://www.amalcarb.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?id=37410

Click to expand...

I have been thinking about buying the chromed slides as a Christmas gift for myself. Has anybody tried either of the above slides? Thoughts on advantages of one over the other?

PS-I notice the Mikuni fan club is pretty quiet in this thread. Either they are less passionate about the debate or they spend less time thinking about carburation in general. I have great respect for Keihin carbs, after all they have been in use on Hondas for at least 40 years! I would consider them if I was looking for better performance...no joking, but I have trouble using the bike as hard as it wants to ride anyway. I get a certain ammount joy from tickling my carbs while some lookie-loo says "hey you're leakin' gas!" The new flatsides got high praise in another recent thread here from someone who switched out ther Amals.

Russ

What a real carb. looks like

how will I know when my anals are going

how will I know when my anals are going? whats the first signs??

Re: how will I know when my anals are going

sammy2chins said:

how will I know when my anals are going? whats the first signs??

Click to expand...

Leakage and a loose sort of feeling at the rear :shock:

Well, in the case of anals, it would be the expelation of air.

Good find Eb. I'd go with the hard anodized Aluminum as there's have been problems in past with chrome plate flaking off pot metal to both be inhaled and open air path again. British Spares in NZ where I bought a pair of new Amals, talked me out of spending on the chrome slides still showing in their online catalog. Maybe new batches have issues solved but I'm not going to be the one to test that thankyou.
My first 1st Combat-pre-Peel had inhaled thumbnail piece of unplated pot metal slide. It still ran great but found valve lips chipped and whole chamber surfaces all peckers up like attack by ice pick. Your call.

Dissimilar metal sliding contact or soft metal on hard sapphire coated Al should stabilize Amals tune holding a long time.

LOL AMALS

I recently installed a set of Keihin PWKs from here - http://users.gotsky.com/jimschmidt/jsmo ... oducts.asp
I am very happy with them and with the seller.

Amal NEVER should have put a zinc slide in a zinc body. The circuits in the Concentric are well designed. New, they meter well and make good power. Almost all issues with them begin with wear at the slide/body junction; once that junction gets loose, the needle starts chafing on the needle jet. Yes, both the slide bore and the manifold junction get warped - from overtightening.

IMO, putting a single carb, even an Amal, on a Commando is just wrong, a sin.

Yeah, but if big enough single, the climax makes the sin worth forgiving.
Does look like only half a male, though its only looks not function.
It kinda stupid to ride at levels where you can tell the differences in real life, but if your motor and mood can tolerate the extra flow rpm - may be in for a surprise power band of 32 mm vs bigger.

Commando75 said:

Before I chucked my original Amals a wise man (Phil Radford at Fairspares) suggested trying a set of newly manufactured Amals. I am so glad I did and I would not even consider running anything but Amal carbs on my bike. They are easy to set up (yep..I said that) and are a big part of the bikes personality. I just completed a 1500 mile trip and the bike, including the dual Amals, performed almost perfectly. There is this odd attitude among many US bikers that all British bikes leak oil, wont start, and will leave you stranded. This is why most modern motorcyclists have a single tool in their kit...a cel phone. They want nothing to do with how their bikes run but are quick to buy chrome horns and leather chaps. Thats cool but not my cup of trea. I ride a Norton Commando because it is unusual and interesting both to ride and maintain. In this era of Japanese and Harley push button motorcycles, I savor the sensation of kicking over my Commando (99 times out of a hundred only once) and having it burst into life.

I also have to stay with the Amals because I bought the shirt

Click to expand...

So how do you feel about Lucas?

When I first started building my basket case, it had come with two sorry lookin' amal 32s. Once on the road, even after rebuilding, they were problematic for me, wouldn't respond well to tuning, I just couldn't find that sweet spot.

Since they were old and worn, I could've put a lot more time and money into them, but since the whole thing is anything but an "as it was in '72" kinda bike, I decided to try the mikuni. (I sold the amals for $250, about the cost of the conversion)

I'd like to say that for me, its more about time and money than anything else, and now the machine runs better than ever, and starts on the first kick.

Cheers,
Don

oh and btw if it makes me a bit more of a sinner, I'll work it out :mrgreen:

Just for the record three years ago I had my 93o amals resleeved by edmonton motosports with brass inserts, the owner said he did his 28,000 miles still no problems.

In three years and well over 10,000 miles, I have never touched them except to tickle them to start.

cheers

You will tend to get a purist point of view on this site. "Oh, and you better have US bars in the US." Give me a break!
Seriously, the Mikuni single carb conversion is proven and sound. I had 30mm Amal and went to a single 36mm VM. I have sinse taken a risk and tried a 34mm TM Flatside and have never looked back. There is no performance differance from the twin Amals. Blows the doors off the 36mm VM. I have never ever had such a responsive system and such a smooth idling machine. Whether a cool day or super hot, the idle never changes.
If you are so inclined, do it. If you don't love it, or feel too guilty, change it back after you get your originals resleeved. The system you buy will easily move on Ebay.
My furture inclination will be twin Flatsides, which are available and extremely tempting.

Fiddle and fart all you want to on YOUR machine. For me it's 50% of the joy of owning this amazing machine.

Flo said:

I will not put anything japanese on my Norton, I personally find it a sacrilage (think I spelt that right). I also get dismayed with seeing a single carb. on a twin carb. bike. Only my opinion (& probably a few others) of coarse.

Click to expand...

I am amazed every time I hear some kind of Japanese "put down" concerning motorcycles!1! Is it lack of information or simply denial ?

I have a 73 850 Commando, a 79 T140E and a 2001 VFR Honda Interceptor V4 with gear driven cams. They all have great personalities and are quite different on numerous accounts. It's a different feeling riding each one of them and if you appreciate motorcycles with character, you feel good on each one. But then if we are talking quality engineering, R&D, quality control, reliability etc, the facts look quite clear to me! We really should'nt deny improvements to our Commandos as long as it does'nt alter their personnalities.

On the Commando, I changed the original Amals for new ones that I kept one season, and then I replaced them witn a single Mikuni. Over all, the engine runs smoother and the build quality of the Mikuni is A LOT BETTER than my Amals and my Commando still looks very good.

I put a single 36 mm Mikuni on my Commando 4 years ago and have never looked back!! The fact is they are miles better carbs than Amals regardless of whether folks think they "look right". I understand the purist point of view and have sleeved Amal Monoblocs on several of my older British twins for authenticity and they work great. Monoblocs are much better carbs that Concentrics and look even better on British bikes IMO. Anybody tried putting twin Monoblocs on a Commando instead of Concentrics? I also switched out the Amals on my Commando for the Mikuni before I knew about the necessity of sleeving Amals. One of the Amals on the Commando had a pretty worn slide and I couldn't get the bike to idle worth a damn. Before I put ANY Amal carbureter on any bike I will have it sleeved from here on out. It costs me 120 bucks per carb which is getting close to the price of a new Mikuni though. Some day, I will bite the bullet, sleeve the Amals and put them back on the Commando just for fun. My guess is I will not notice any difference in performance but I am willing to try. In the meantime, I have a sweet running Commando with a single carb that's very reliable and easy to adjust and looks the business to me!!

"I am amazed every time I hear some kind of Japanese "put down" concerning motorcycles!1! Is it lack of information or simply denial ?"

In my case, it is denial. I have owned/rebuilt many british biked since 1970. I really enjoy it. I think that, to me, finding a foreign body where it shouldn't be is a bit like a fly in the ointment. It just doesn't compute. Even if I see a later carb. on an earlier bike.
Having said that, it is not up to me to tell you what you should do with your bike, it is yours. I just like the Commando as it is. Do not take this seriously, if we didn't have opinions, this forum would be pretty dull.
As for Mikunis, I own 4 of them on my Yamaha. I cannot tell the difference if one is better than the other, they both go well, except the Commando is a lot nicer to ride.