Thanks everyone!

Thanks to all the help I've had on this forum I've finally got the bike running well after many hassles with valve guides, rocker alignment, carbs and numerous other issues.
The knowledge here is amazing and I really appreciate the input so many members have made.

I took it out to take a few snaps today.





GPS speedo may or may not be legal, I'm not sure



The primary chain guard is made of a saucepan and a cake tin. Honestly !

Hi John

Good to see you finaly got it sorted.

Ashley

I like the high pipes. In the pictures the fuel hose looks very close to the exhaust pipe. This is making me nervous. Maybe it is just the angle of the photo.

Russ

Very nice.

You'll never see another one like it, for sure.

Real nice build. Looks great.
Pete

Very cool. I really like that seat cowl. Where is that from?

ashman said:

Hi John

Good to see you finaly got it sorted.

Ashley

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I'll have to take a ride out your way as soon as school holidays are over and I have some time to myself

batrider said:

I like the high pipes. In the pictures the fuel hose looks very close to the exhaust pipe. This is making me nervous. Maybe it is just the angle of the photo.

Russ

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It's just the photo. The fuel pipe's well clear of the exhaust .

ProblemChild said:

Very cool. I really like that seat cowl. Where is that from?

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The seat is known as a Gus Kuhn high back. It's a higher version of the Norton Production Racer seat. I can't remember where I bought it.


Edit: here's one

http://classic-motorcycle-fiberglass.co ... e_tank.htm

Bad to the Bone hybrid.

pommie john said:

ashman said:

Hi John

Good to see you finaly got it sorted.

Ashley

Click to expand...

I'll have to take a ride out your way as soon as school holidays are over and I have some time to myself

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Anytime John, looking forward to seeing another Featherbed Norton.

Ashley

Man that looks like a fun bike to ride!! I love the color & also like the seat & what you've done with it. Enjoy!!!

Gorgeous bike John.
What does it weigh and how are the vibes? Were changes made to the crank balance factor?

Gle

Sweet . . .

It is a Norton with some great looking personal touches. a really great looking bike, very unique.

Dennis

worntorn said:

Gorgeous bike John.
What does it weigh and how are the vibes? Were changes made to the crank balance factor?

Gle

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I haven't weighed it since I put all the lights and stuff on it. When it was a race bike it was 330lbs ready to race.

Half of the engine is Atlas including the crank so it was designed for the featherbed. The vibes are OK up to about 3500, then there's a period where it shakes , not badly but noticeably, then it smooths out again.
The speed limits here mean it doesn't often get over 3500.

I will confess that after one of my test rides, my watch stopped working

John,
Being a former race bike begs the question of what, if any, detuning have you done? Seems race bikes don't generally idle too well and may be a little fussy around the town if you know what I mean. I know I would have an urge to want to hang it all out where ever possible. Or maybe this is more the riders inclination rather than the inherent nature of the machine? Both?

Anyhow it seems that you would have to do something to make it more streetable. Or maybe not.

I also ask because my bike is sort of a street racer in sheep's clothing. Although my idle is somewhat cammy, it is very steady and it is attractive to me and to other who recognize it. Along with getting a very wide power band from a stump pulling lows to 3rd gear tonnage, I feel like I have it all. I would hope this is what you have in your beautiful bike, John.

Beautiful bike. I particularly like the guages, fork legs sticking up, and the chaincase cover. Everything looks hand fabricated which is nice to see in this day of catalog order stuff.

pete.v said:

John,
Being a former race bike begs the question of what, if any, detuning have you done? Seems race bikes don't generally idle too well and may be a little fussy around the town if you know what I mean. I know I would have an urge to want to hang it all out where ever possible. Or maybe this is more the riders inclination rather than the inherent nature of the machine? Both?

Anyhow it seems that you would have to do something to make it more streetable. Or maybe not.

I also ask because my bike is sort of a street racer in sheep's clothing. Although my idle is somewhat cammy, it is very steady and it is attractive to me and to other who recognize it. Along with getting a very wide power band from a stump pulling lows to 3rd gear tonnage, I feel like I have it all. I would hope this is what you have in your beautiful bike, John.

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OK, it's got a PW3 cam standard valves , ported head, hepolite 10.5 pistons and on the dyno it made 58 horsepower.

What I've done to make it more streetable is reduce the compression with Jim Schmidt's 60 thou copper head gasket. That means it should be around 9.5:1. The main reason I did this was to make it easier to kick start. Because of the footrest position and the exhaust routing I am limited as to which kickstart lever I can use. It's from a Dommi which is shorter than a Commando lever and with the 10.5 comp I could stand on it and jump but the motor wouldn't move! I had to make it easy to start and the lower compression helped that.

The other thing I have is a single DellOrto 34mm carb. The honest reason that's there is because I had it lying around. It's one of a pair I bought for the bike years ago and I never managed to get them set up well. I then took one and put it on my Honda race bike and the other ended up on the Norton.

I used to race it with a pair of 36mm Amals. They were fine when fully open on the race track but were difficult to get running low down. 36mm is a bit big for anything other than a race bike, and they were 40 years old.

Anyway, with the lower compression and a single 34mm carb, it is very tractable and now starts second kick from cold, and first kick hot.

aceaceca said:

Beautiful bike. I particularly like the guages, fork legs sticking up, and the chaincase cover. Everything looks hand fabricated which is nice to see in this day of catalog order stuff.

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Thanks for your comments.

The honest reason why the fork legs stick up is because when I put it together I couldn't get any short roadholder stanchions and had to use the longer Commando ones. The yokes ( triple trees) are one-off hand made that were on the rolling chassis when I bought it from a racer.

I used the GPS speedo partly because I had no speedo drive on it. The GPS is great, it has a two wire connection, dead simple and cost £125. The only thing is the law here says you must have "an effective speedometer" which is fine so long as I keep out of tunnels