So many new upgrades available these days

Fast Eddie said:
Personally, I think they should be left standard…. :oops:
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If you are tslking about road bikes, I would definitely agree with you. I built my Seeley 850 in my mind before I bought the bits. Relatively speaking, my motor is very close to standard. It does not need to be improved.

When you retire you need to do a rethink. Visit all you mates and have a long talk with each of them. I did not do that and I regret ir. The only upgrade my Seeley 850 had had since I built it in 1978 has been the TTI 6 speed close ratio gearbox, and I have never raced with it, and am not likely to.
I got out of my first marriage, just as I retired in about year 2000. At that time the Seeley 850 had not been raced because I believed it was rubbish and would never be fast enough, My mate lived about 200 kilometers away from me. He still had a race licence, so we decided to see what the Seeley could do. It was surprisingly good after a few minor modifications.
I had not raced for 25 years, and found the bike to be lovely. It really surprised me.
I was in my first marriage for 32 miserable years. Since year 2000, I have had nearly 25 years of pleasure. My step grand kids are all girls and they love getting into my shed. THey love wastching roasd race videos.
When I was working as a scientist, it was usually in engineering factories developing materials and processes. But I also developed management skills. So when I retired, I registered a business name, so I could work'on contract' whenever I cose.
I have only ever applied for jobs which I really wanted to do. I did not plan my career or do a course at a university to become something. I achieved my tertiary qualifications through part time study while working.

I still only ever pursue my own interests.
About money - when you are old other people often die and leave you some.
For the last 6 months my bike has been sitting in my shed with it's primary drive partly disassembled. I suffer from grief. But as as I wait, that grief is disappearing. When I get my thinking right again, I will put the bike back together again and think about how I can get it back onto Winton Raceway.
For me, my Seeley 850 was just another intellectual exercise. But the project will never be finished, until I have given the bike another serious squirt. I want to do an on-board video.
Many people think they need to be wealthy to enjoy their retirement. So they save and never really enjoy themselves.
I have enjoyed my life, even the bad parts.
I have 3 kids and one natural grand-kid who do not talk to me. But I have 5 step-grandkids who love me. I teach them about the good things in life.

My only objective in live has always been to do things which interest me. I always think about what I can do and where I can go next. I am not motivated by money. If I need some, I can always do something to get it.
 
In life, everything is affected by your own mindset. You can move forward or go backwards - your choice. Money is useful, but irrelevant. You can do a lot with very little.
I only ever raced what I could afford. So I can out-ride most other guys.
My Seeley 850 is a joke. 'It is so bad that it is good'. And my Triton 500 was worse.
Road racing is better than sex, but you need a sense of humour.
 
The really cool part about Nortons is everything you could possibly want is available and often the replacement is better than the original. Try this with a 20 year old Honda and you will find parts are hard to come by. It's just a different mindset and market.
 
I did not read all the posts, but I say Leave it alone. Maybe buff out the rust. lol

BS starts here: The pretty parts make a difference but not that big a difference to be worth the cost if installing those pretty parts is a strain on the budget and you are getting on in the years. It's hard to get stronger and younger, even if you live in Australia. That's just my opinion after doing it with all kinds of motorcycles for at least 50 years. I'm still doing it at 72 with my goofy old Norton, but I can, so I do. I don't add up the receipts, or I might stop the madness.

Also should mention some things sound a lot better on paper than they do in use. And it costs a lot of money to really feel a big difference from a motor and chassis that was never designed to build or deal with the kind of HP you can get out of a modern engine. It is cheaper to buy HP and performance like your Thruxton. You'll never come close with an old Norton engine. You can pretend though. Hundreds do.

Your bike is probably about as quick as a reliable street Norton can be. That 2S cam and the work you have done is the right direction to go for a little boost and you did it when it was priced right to do. You could make it spin up a little quicker with the parts available today, but the cost for a few more RPM on the street isn't going to amount to a good use of money unless money is no object.

Motorsports addiction is expensive, and a hard habit to break.
 
robs ss said:
I think you may be doing one, or both of them, wrong ;)
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Probably the best way to go racing is to learn to race by doing motocross. Then find a sponsored ride in a decent kike and really stick your neck out. I only do things which I really enjoy, or things which I am forced to do. When I race, I am never fanatical about winning. What I go for is the dog-fight. I think I learned to love an adrenalin rush when I was 4 years old during WW2. My 10 year old mate from across the road used to dink me on his bike to the GLenhuntly picture theatre. The best thing on the movies were the gun-camera footasge. WE keids use to be down behind the seats machine-gunning the Japs and Germans. We used to cheer when their planes exploded, and we love to see them bail out. When you road race, you find out what it is like to have somebody in your sights. As I said - you haver to have a sense of humour. AS for sex, you also need a sense of humour for that. 'Some things are so bad that they are good' ? - I have had the best.
These days adrenalin is my enemy. When I ride a motorcycle, I take a beta-blocker. It helps me do it so much better. - 'Sports medicine' ?
It is really funny - when you race there is always somebody who will have a go at you and you can usually suck them into having a really big battle - especially the young guys. It is better to race mid-field than lead from the front.
I won a couple of races at Mount Gambier in about 2004, but I was a bit disappointed - the other guys gave up after I got them going.
 
From a early age I learned to get anywhere you got to put money aside even before leaving school at 15, I work with my dad and for little pay then I got my own job, I have never had high paying jobs in all my life of working but what little money I earned I always put a little aside and if I wanted something I save for it, have had a few low loans but always paid them off quickly, I only had girl friends for short times, they just got in the way of my life and motorcycles and enjoying life with my toys.
I was 30 before I decided to settle down and started to date my dad's best mate oldest daughter that I grew up with, I was working at the Technical College for about 6 years before we got together married and then kids, she knew the bikes were number one in my life and she knew I still needed my freedom and escape when needed, well going on 34 years together I still have my bikes and freedom to go away anytime without questions, she a good girl but I have looked after her as well, I sell a toy to buy a toy, she has no say at all when I decide to buy a new bike as really I earn my money from working hard and putting money aside, I don't spend money unless I done my homework, my Norton is my hotrod bike, my hobby and my life, I built it by my own hands and the upgrades I do to it was from selling other toys and money I put aside, I have never been rich or had lots of money saved, but always kept our head above water and still living in the house I came home to when born.
I built my big shed up the back bought a kit shed and a few mates helped with laying the slab, the shed I put up by myself with a old neighbour and pregnant wife holding the middle beams up while I drilled holes for the dynabolts and the rest I had no help.
At the time I was the steel cutter at work for cutting steel for the student workshop so all the steel was cut and borrowed from the college for my workbenches and mezzanine floor, after 31 years at college in maintenance I acquired a lot of stuff for my workshop and a lot of machining work was done at the college but some stuff had to be done else where but very rare on my Norton from 1982 right through to 2013 and just before the Commando/Featherbed conversion near ready the engine plates steel was cut out on a big profile oxy cutting machine that was in late 1982 and had a lot of help from talented trades teachers and the young fitter I worked with, saved a lot of money building my hotrod Norton all up with buying the Featerbed frame off a mate and the parts it cost me well under $1500 to build and 70% of my Commando parts were used.
The Featherbed frame came with the fuel tank but was full of bog, original oil tank and battery/tool box, the front end and both wheels were fu.ked so used my Commando hub laced to new Akrot alloy wheels cost $90 each and $40 to be laced up with new spokes, to this day am still using those wheels and they are still as good as the day they were put together.
The Norton stayed like this till 13 years ago with the newer upgrades, it's been such a great reliable bike to me as a everyday rider and I never pussied it was always ridden hard but it never let me down except for a fire and 2 failed electronic ignitions and 2 broken chains and of course the dreaded blown layshaft bearing but that blew in 79 while still in Commado form.
My Norton and my 1200 Thruxton will last me till the day I leave this life, I still own my 2006 Honda CRF450X dirt bike and I have the 1960 Manxman project bike build to keep me busy, it will be built on the cheap as well as a Cafe racer.
When you don't have the money for these big priced upgrades you be surprised in what you can do without spending heaps and doing the work yourself as much as you can and still have a reliable bike.
 
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I am in the process of rebuilding my Mk2a. I was hit by a red light runner and lucky to be alive. You can see what it used to look like in my avatar. I have had the frame straightened, powder coated, and just got my motor and tranny back from cNw. I am going to upgrade the shit out of it and love reading Access Norton for ideas and getting help from you guys when needed.
 
jamesp said:
I am in the process of rebuilding my Mk2a. I was hit by a red light runner and lucky to be alive. You can see what it used to look like in my avatar. I have had the frame straightened, powder coated, and just got my motor and tranny back from cNw. I am going to upgrade the shit out of it and love reading Access Norton for ideas and getting help from you guys when needed.
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"Upgrade the shit out of it" sounds like it's the one after stage 3 tuning and definitely the one to go for! 👍
 
robs ss said:
"Upgrade the shit out of it" sounds like it's the one after stage 3 tuning and definitely the one to go for! 👍
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What do you mean by “stage 3 tuning”. Maybe I should have said “lavish it with goodies“.
 
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jamesp said:
What do you mean by “stage 3 tuning”. Maybe I should have said “lavish it with goodies“.
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I'm not precisely sure either, but I recall that the various commercial engine rebuilders offer stage 1, 2 & 3 "tuning" which I interpret as having increasingly "hot" (read $$$) bits in them.
"Upgrade the shit out of it" just seems to be the next logical progression.
 
jamesp said:
I am in the process of rebuilding my Mk2a. I was hit by a red light runner and lucky to be alive. You can see what it used to look like in my avatar. I have had the frame straightened, powder coated, and just got my motor and tranny back from cNw. I am going to upgrade the shit out of it and love reading Access Norton for ideas and getting help from you guys when needed.
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Good for you! You definitely have a good start with what you have done so far.
Mike
 
jamesp said:
What do you mean by “stage 3 tuning”. Maybe I should have said “lavish it with goodies“.
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robs ss said:
I'm not precisely sure either, but I recall that the various commercial engine rebuilders offer stage 1, 2 & 3 "tuning" which I interpret as having increasingly "hot" (read $$$) bits in them.
"Upgrade the shit out of it" just seems to be the next logical progression.
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Matt at cNw rebuilds them to stock specs but said there may be a small horsepower gain from their precise machining and assembly. I like to fine tune carburetors and have considered adding a 2 into 1 exhaust system, but other than that I think it will have enough power for me.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Top man.

Carry on.

Don’t forget pictures / build thread…
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Here are my motor and tranny waiting to be installed. Just waiting for the new mounting hardware and clearing some room in my garage.
 

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ashman said:
I don't think I could part with that much money for a electric starter even in old age, when I brought my 74 Commando new in 76 the new Mk111s were all over the show room floor and a old stock Mk2 was sitting down the back of the show room all by itself and at $470 cheaper than the MK111 it was my choice to buy it although I was a 17 year old skinny runt at the time with chicken legs, well at 64 years old now and still have chicken legs lol, I learned the kick start knack real quick and now have a longer folding kicker a a Joe Hunt that throws out a big spark and well tuned its a one kick start every time, infact most of the time it's fired up 1/2 way through the swing.
I still have a strong right leg my left knee has coped all my leg injuries in life, so a ES be way down on my list of upgrades, but these days of retirement money is important to me as no longer working but if anyone like to sponsor me for a hotrod rebuild wink wink.
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Hopefully Ash you can carry on kicking your bike over for many years to come
But if you are ever faced with not being able start your bike from a kick I think that electric starter will move up the list
 
jamesp said:
Here are my motor and tranny waiting to be installed. Just waiting for the new mounting hardware and clearing some room in my garage.
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Bright and shiny. Sweet!!

Should be a good cruiser with a little spunk. When the old Nortons came out they were quick enough. Same is true today on the street with the population growth since the introduction of the Commando.

Comment about hotting up a motor with all kinds of performance parts: It's easy to overbuild a Norton motor with what is available today. Nuff said
 
The most valuable Norton Commando is probably the one which is closest to original. But what is most valuable thing in life ? Many people do not even really live their lives.
In Australia, kids stress over getting high scores in their Higher School Cerificate exams, so they can go ro university to get a better job, get married and buy a house and raise kids. We have radio talk-back programmes about retirement, and investing money.
I think they are all insane. If you go to university, you come out with an educational qualification and no experience. So everyone is on the same start line. If you do not go to university, you can study part-time whiile working, you will become professionally qualified and experienced, and you will always get the best (most interesting ) jobs.
Our universities and politicians have worked to intentionally remove opportunities for part time study and recognition of prior learning.
When you play with motorcycles, you are having an active childhood and adulthood by doing things with enthusiasm.
During my life I only ever applied for jobs which I really wanted to do. I was never money-motivated, but when I work, I like to be paid fairly. If I get bored, I always look for something better.
Some people believe you need goals in life. I cannot think of any goals I have ever had, except to enjoy doing what I do.
I always need something to think about, and these days my Seeley 850 keeps me alive. Even If I never race again, I will still use it to make an on-board video about itself.
During my life I have acted on a few Standards Australia committees, but nearly everything I have ever done professionally is usually traceable to my love of old motorcycles.
When you road race an old motorcycle, it is an analogy for life itself. You can come from behind and win.
Most of the kids I went to school with became medical doctors and have probably made lots of money, but I will bet they were bored shitless. Two of them went to Vietnam and both were involved in explosions. One of them was blinded, became a psychiatrist and ended up running the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. He told me that what I do is much more interesting than being a General Practitioner. He died of cancer about 30 years ago.
I am 81, alive and happy. I consider myself to be a winner.
 
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