What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Starvingphotog said:
Quick question fellas. I'm looking to install this on my exhaust to prevent the rose nuts from backing out and wonder if you guys have had luck with these widgets, or whether safety wire is more reliable. I have safety wire on there now and once it has failed me. Any pitfalls to look out for when I install them?

View attachment 123984In my opinion,don’t use them. I hate the way they rattle.Use the safety wire again as it should not fail.Did you drill a hole in the exhaust rose for the wire to go through?
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I rode off to brunch with friends. Half way there, I realized I had no turn signals. I continued onwards, got to destination and looked in tool bag for the extra flasher unit I remembered putting in there. I remembered correctly for once - there was new flasher. I popped the headlight in the parking lot, and despite a few curious onlookers, replaced the flasher unit, verified I had blinks, buttoned it all up, returned the screwdriver to the tool bag and headed to restaurant to meet friends. Riding back went smoothly until about two miles from my freeway exit. Someone must have had an accident up ahead, because traffic on the freeway ground to a stop and go crawl. I tried lanesplitting, but there were all these semi trucks and people weaving in and out of lanes and I gave up and just hoped my clutch would last until I could get off the freeway. I was finally able to get to my exit with a working clutch. Big sigh of relief.
 
Yesterday I replaced the aged battery in my '75, with a "Chrome" brand ? XTX20CH-BS. It will start now before you can your finger off the button.
Cheers
 
Fast Eddie said:
They are bad news.

They do not ‘lock’ the nuts, they simply stop them backing off.

That means they will allow a nut to loosen just enough to allow vibration and fretting to destroy the threads in your head!

Lock-wire (done properly) is by far the best as it will keep the nuts in tension, maintaining the torque.

But you don’t need that really, so long as they’re tightened properly and nipped up in the first few hundred miles (just like the head fasteners) they’ll be fine.

You need to tighten them A LOT, you can’t really over tighten them.

A great trick from Ludwig is to tighten them when hot and the engine is running, the vibration acts a bit like an impact wrench !
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That tip from Ludwig really works.You would be surprised at how much tighter they get!
Mike
 
Not done at my Commando, but for my Commando. I have CAD drawn a stiffening plate for inside the rear drum. I will now move on to the other type of CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) to verify it will fit, then send the file to the laser cutters.
The only other mod is to put the brake cam in the lathe and drill / tap the end to take as shouldered bolt to hold it in place but allow rotation.
 
Next job took about 2 hours including set up.
I machined the Don Pender cush sprocket from 530 chain to 520 chain. I had to take it very slow as there was a hard spot about 20mm x 5mm just below the teeth. more than about 60 - 100rpm and the tool just bounced off it.
I just need to debur the teeth now
 
You should have bought Don's brake. It's simple, strong, works well and it looks like a part from the seventies, instead of the thirties. No centering this while you hold that while you tighten something else and end up with a spongy brake. Graham
 
I already bought a Norvil alloy brake plate, I decided before I fit it, I will give it every chance of success.
I ordered a set of Gold MZ brake shoes from RGM this morning.
Chatting to Roger about the rear brake he reckons the biggest problem is sponginess in the outer cable conduit where it curves over the Z plate. He believes the best way is to convert to rod, but it is very difficult as not much room.

A quick look at footrest and Z plate off the bike, a lot more gentle brake cable route could be arranged by cutting out a window in the Z plate and routing the cable through it.

No sign of a RGM website return soon, No one seems to want to take on the work
 
The Workshop manual is flat out against a rod operated rear brake due to the isolastics varying the geometry.
Amusing that Ducati copied the Norton cable arrangement when a rod would have been great.
 
Andy Higham said:
A quick look at footrest and Z plate off the bike, a lot more gentle brake cable route could be arranged by cutting out a window in the Z plate and routing the cable through it.
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Just be aware that could end up having the same result as routing the cable under the Z plate, ie, applying the brake over bumps.
 
At the moment I am thinking of using a ferrule bend to bring the cable close to horizontal. If the cable follows parallel and below the swing arm, any change in length will be negligible.
It is dead easy to move the swing arm through its range, without wheel and shocks and measure what the inner cable is doing.
 
Before I switched to a disk, I used a straight piece of cable (no outer) in combination with rear sets and the lever on the brake plate upwards.
A cable is more compatible with the iso system than a rod.
 
Laced a WM4 X 18 flangeless alloy rim with stainless spokes into my Don Pender r
rear hub.
All spokes tightened to 4.0nm / 26 lb inch

Just a slight 0.5mm - 0.7mm defection at the weld

I will leave it to settle until tomorrow, then go round with the torque wrench again
 
Andy Higham said:
Laced a WM4 X 18 flangeless alloy rim with stainless spokes into my Don Pender r
rear hub.
All spokes tightened to 4.0nm / 26 lb inch

Just a slight 0.5mm - 0.7mm defection at the weld

I will leave it to settle until tomorrow, then go round with the torque wrench again
Click to expand...
What’s the cost of a Pender hub and brake drum these days if you don’t mind? I can’t find a link to a price list on his site. I’ve had mine some years.
 
Rear wheel fully tensioned and I popped it in the bike, It seems to eye up in line with the top tube. String out tomorrow.

Front wheel spoked up, set true and more or less where I want it relative to the hub. Just needs final tensioning after checking offset against fork leg.

What a complete B'stard those disc side spokes are
 
I have just been reading the Norton factory method of truing the front wheel. A bit unconventional, but makes perfect sense with the spoke pattern used.

1. With all the spokes loose, the wheel is placed disk flange on the floor then stand on the rim to force it over to the disc side
2. Put wheel in stand and tension disc side inner spokes, these are almost flat to the hub and are used to set the rim to eliminate hop and egg.
3. Tension the outer disc side spokes to eliminate run out, this will pull the rim over towards the disc side.
4. Tension the inner and outer non disc side spokes to pull the rim into the correct offset position.
 

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