What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Starvingphotog said:
Great! Now you guys got me all paranoid....I have no idea what bearing is in my gearboxes....
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Your 750 is unlikely to have the Portuguese bearing, however, any standard metal cage 6203 ball bearing can and probably will fail eventually and it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to change the bearing if it hasn't been done already as it seems many have not.
 
Filled mine with oil today, charged the battery , pumped up the tyres. Ready to frighten some old ladies tomorrow.
 
L.A.B. said:
Your 750 is unlikely to have the Portuguese bearing, however, any standard metal cage 6203 ball bearing can and probably will fail eventually and it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to change the bearing if it hasn't been done already as it seems many have not.
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Indeed , all Norton owners should know the status of their layshaft bearing. I fit a roller one instead of the ball type. A lot of forces go through this area in the gearbox.
 
No clue as to what's hiding in mine.... I've gotten to the point where if something is not actually failing it doesn't get torn into..... Incidentally I thumbed my nose at doom and despair and went for another ride on her today.... Wife is going to be 65 in August so I'm much more concerned with approaching failure there.

Besides being a bit crude and cantankerous my old bike is wonderful to ride.
 
Finally got a good day weather wise for riding and I took advantage of it. Rode for a total of 120 miles or so. The bike ran well with zero issues. Starting to feel more confident about the bike mechanically. Longer ride coming soon. Love this bike!
 
Well, yesterday, not today... Put an RGM replacement silencer on the left side. Had to take 20mm off the end of the exhaust pipe, for the silencer to fit without hitting the baffle. Strange. The right hand one fitted without modification.
 
Not a surprise.... Worn out machinery = hand-fitting aplenty when these were made.... The little things which makes Commando's so endearing because of their 'off the shelf, but not really' construction and design. They even smell good with the fuel and oil perfume they wear.The Commando owner's motto should be 'Ya gotta wanna' to quote an old friend now deceased, so carry on living the dream.
 
2022 Ride #3!! Totally unexpected as the morning was a total monsoon here - but by mid afternoon, it was a tropical paradise!! Short ride- maybe 10 miles, but it was through my favourite local set of curves, so all good!! Two days in a row, today is looking like it could be 3 days in a row :cool:
 
my pal calvin and i rode about 50 miles early this morning it was a beautiful day here in NC rode by a strawberry farm they are ready to pick rode on a new route that took us by horse farms lots of green rolling fields stopped at body shop that painted my bike they were painting a 67 vette and a 70-ish Jag Etype $10k for paint job!! my rear view mirror came a bit loose and i bummed some tape from the shop and 'fixed' it til we got home both bikes ran flawlessly lots of bikes out and about spring has sprung
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Rode out to the Gathering of the Nortons held at Washington’s Crossing PA. Almost two hours if you include the obligatory stops brought on by taut suspension and aging prostate ,
Great event put on by the Delaware Valley Norton Riders .
Met up with a couple of regulars from this forum .
Left to right - batrider , yours truly , meangene.
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Richard Tool said:
Rode out to the Gathering of the Nortons held at Washington’s Crossing PA. Almost two hours if you include the obligatory stops brought on by taut suspension and aging prostate ,
Great event put on by the Delaware Valley Norton Riders .
Met up with a couple of regulars from this forum .
Left to right - batrider , yours truly , meangene.
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Good shot! And it's fun to put a face to a name. I bet the babes are all over you guys
 
Rode 182 miles. Checking fuel mileage and such. 49 MPG.

Rode up out or the St Lawrence Valley to Tupper Lake in the Adirondack then over to Saranac Lake and then back down through St Regis Falls.
 
Gorgeous bikes Alan! I used to live in Davidson NC a few years back, before moving here to Michigan. AT the time I was doing triathlons and did a lot of road biking on those back roads. I wish I had my Nortons then. Some really gorgeous roads out there, and with the mountains and ocean relatively close, some great rides to be had.

Enjoy it man! Be safe out there.
 
My old stock mirror was nearly impossible to use due to vibration and ready to fall apart. Since the new Madass140 brake master cylinder has a provision for a mirror, I replaced the old mirror and installed one in the new master cylinder. Granted, they are probably Chinese, but now the rider can actually see what is coming up behind whereas before, it was a serious matter of deciphering if that blur was another vehicle or what. They don't look too bad either. Just took a ride. It's 83 degrees F and sunny!

Mounting the 10mm mirror in the Norton UNF thread was simply a matter of chasing the metric thread with a 3/8"x 24 tpi die. The locknut portion was left at 10mm for obvious reasons.

Norton Mirror 1.jpg
Norton Mirror 2.jpg
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Regards,
Russ 998cc
 
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