What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

I just cringe whenever I see a rider coming up to a stop sign dragging both of his feet!If you ask them about counter steering, they give you a blank stare.Most of them are on expensive motorcycles.There are also some good books (twist of the wrist,etc) that can be very informative.Just my 2 cents but I hate to hear of m/c accidents that in many cases could have been avoided. I think that rider training is a big plus.
Mike
 
Agreed. At age 54 I decided I wanted to own and ride a bike after abstaining for over thirty some years. We lived in Florida then, so in the interests of maximizing my chances of staying upright on the road, I took an approved motorcycle rider training course. To this day I believe it helped me enormously and shudder to think how under prepared to ride a large capacity bike under modern day traffic conditions I would have been, had I not taken the course.
 
Swapped the original banana kick starter for the RGM swivel that everyone seems to rave about on here.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

I've had this sat in a box for ages and just never got around to installing it, but last weekends ride convinced me that the original fouled my leg/foot position too much to not give this a try.

From an aesthetic perspective I think the straight kick starter suits the T160 really well, but I think the original KS shape is more pleasing on the eye on the Commando, the straight lever appearing 'out of place' to me, but it's a small price to pay for not having to compromise on foot position. Anyway, I cant see it when I'm riding, and right after I've yammed some buttered crumpets with a cuppa, I'm going out for a test ride.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Post ride verdict?

Marvelous! I can get my r/h foot on the peg properly - pretty important in my book, and I even managed to kickstart it whilst astride the bike (I usually have to stand beside the bike on its centre stand).

£100 well spent 👍
 
They are a big improvement over the stock kicker, fold right out of the way and I also think they look right as well, I can now ride with my food completely were it should be and no lever in the back of my leg, the best thing of all that extra leverage on the kick even sitting down on the seat for kicking, couldn't do that much with the stock kicker, another bonus my stock kicker always needed tightening on the spline after a day out and after a few kicks, so far after many years and a lot of miles the folding kicker hasn't come lose on the spline, but I have tighten the swivel bolt once when it loosened up slightly.
With my Joe Hunt and the longer kicker my Norton fires up most times on 1/2 a swing on the kicker it never did that with the stock kicker an extra bonus in my book.
 
The tangle of curves that is the original kick starter kina blends in with the foot rest and the engine / gearbox casings / plates etc and in contrast the straight RGM kick starter sticks out like a sore thumb ........ unfortunately ... to my eye at least anyways ...........................

I can appreciate the virtue of the RGM lever but it is a shame that there is no curve on it to make it easier on the eye, kinda looks like it has been lifted off another bike ..... if it took another 20 $ to get an aesthetically pleasing lever then the cost incrrease would be worth it ................. just my views of course .. Lol !
 
Till you had one fitted you have no idea how good they are, but of course I have had 2 stock replacements in the 46+ years of ownership and to my eyes only the RGM folding kicker is the best one ever. I don't care about aesthetically my comfort and having my foot sit in the right place as well easier kicking and folded right away from the back of my leg wins all the time. But as I say your choice to do or think what ever you like as it's your Norton and not mine. The stock kicker was always in the back of my leg and my foot hanged right on the edge of the foot peg, I could have moved the stock kicker back on the spline but would have lost a full swing on the kicker, no good to me with a high compression motor. To me the RGM folding kicker looks so right and it don't hang up on the pipe as some do with stock.
 
This is going to sound daft but I took the Norton out for a proper ride and I actually used the headlight. I'll explain. I have always had a distrust of the headlight on any British machine. I guess it stems from my very first Triumph 250 with the total loss electrical system. The OEM headlight on my old 750 Norton was shockingly dim and was only slightly better than pitch black. If I was riding at night any vehicle, with lights on behind me, would cause me to cast a shadow. My current Norton has an upgraded headlight and improved switch gear. I also have a Podotronics R/R, newish battery and a Kuryakyn charging meter. The bike ran great with the light on. The meter showed full charging at around 3200 rpm. The light actually made riding in the dark possible which was very nice.

I am still getting used to the riding position and the controls. It is so much different than what I am used to and my reaction time sucks. I have been staying on back roads with little traffic as I get used to everything.
 
Reaction, or rather anticipation, increases dramatically as you relax and look further ahead along the road!

It is an odd riding position, but surprisingly comfortable.
 
Received and worked on the DD oil seal to get it to fit. I had two sets of instructions, one DD put together (at Norvil site) and a set I did not see behind the invoice from CNW (where I purchased the item).

DD recommends removing thickness from the oil seal before moving to the clutch fixing nut where the CNW instructions do not even mention removing thickness from the oil seal. I read the CNW instructions after the fact so hoping that reducing the oil seal thickness will not be a problem. Since I am using a pair of .048 shims backside of the my clutch basket it was a bit of work getting the space I needed. Ideally I think you would want to test the spacing between the clutch nut and oil seal "cap nut" with the clutch nut torqued to ~ 25ft/lbs just to resemble final fitting.

On an earlier topic I have found years racing bicycles, especially mountain bikes, sets you up very nicely for motorcycling. Scan, analyze, act - on a bicycle it truly is a life-saving habit! Every spring I head over to a school bus parking lot I know of and practice turning, panic braking, and similar. Stay healthy out there!
 
Bonzo said:
Swapped the original banana kick starter for the RGM swivel that everyone seems to rave about on here.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

I've had this sat in a box for ages and just never got around to installing it, but last weekends ride convinced me that the original fouled my leg/foot position too much to not give this a try.

From an aesthetic perspective I think the straight kick starter suits the T160 really well, but I think the original KS shape is more pleasing on the eye on the Commando, the straight lever appearing 'out of place' to me, but it's a small price to pay for not having to compromise on foot position. Anyway, I cant see it when I'm riding, and right after I've yammed some buttered crumpets with a cuppa, I'm going out for a test ride.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
Click to expand...
This looks good. I think that I would like to give this a try on my bike. I'm a small fella and not much leverage for kicking the bike over. Anybody know if this kicker can be obtained from a seller here in the USA?
 
Hey, thanks Bonzo!
Yikes expensive! Probably the same with the US$ conversion from £155, and at least I will receive it in the next week or so.

I bit the bullet and ordered one.
 
Yeah, I thought the price was a bit salty too, but it's only money right?

I think you'll love the KS 👍

Edit* ...and also, RGM are showing out of stock.
 
Last edited:
Ah yes, it's only $...

Glad I was able to order one here in the USA.

I'm looking forward to installing it and using to kick the bike over sometime when the weather warms up again here in Michigan.
 
Bonzo said:
Swapped the original banana kick starter for the RGM swivel that everyone seems to rave about on here.
Click to expand...
This kick start looks a lot like the version for the Triumph T160 three cylinder. I am wondering if it too has a tendency to fold under at the end of the stroke? The way it is mounted makes me think not but I have no experience with this application and I am curious.
 
It is the T160 version but with a added extension for the Norton spline I have been using mine for over 12 years now and have never had any problems with it folding at the end of stroke but not really understand what you say, it works fine on my Norton.
As someone said before you don't need burt force to kick in how you kick, you don't need to be a big person or have huge legs for kicking, in 46+ years of owning my Norton I have always had chicken legs (very skinny legs) but it did take a month when I first brought my Norton at 17 years old and a light weight to boot to learn the knack of kicking it to life as a skinny person, tecneak over burt force and with a longer KS help with that tecneak and if tuned right should always be a one kick to start everytime.
 
Hey Ashley,
Just adding onto your thread, I wonder if you guys experience difficulty starting the bike after sitting for the winter, and perhaps with most of the oil in the sump. I gave it quite a few tries a few days back when we had nice weather here in Michigan and it just would not catch. I checked and here's spark at the plugs, air, and fuel is also getting to the pistons because the plugs got fouled up pretty good when I pulled them to check for spark. I cleaned them up and put the bike back together. Plus the bike ran fine before the winter hibernation. So, I'm just thinking that the ice-cold fuel, weak kicking effort (bad kicking technique perhaps), and oil in the sump causing a lot of friction may be at fault for it not roaring to life. When this new kicker comes in I'll give it another try, and likely drain the sump as well, to see if it roars to life after a few kicks. I'm expecting it will.

Anyway, just a thought as I sit here bored at work....
 
Big_Jim59 said:
This kick start looks a lot like the version for the Triumph T160 three cylinder. I am wondering if it too has a tendency to fold under at the end of the stroke? The way it is mounted makes me think not but I have no experience with this application and I am curious.
Click to expand...
Yes it's a t160 kickstart with a Norton spline
I've never known mine to fold at the end of stroke
I fitted one when my knee started to go and it was a great help
 
It was a very exciting day today, took my 750 Commando for its first visit to a petrol station in 31 years, then did a 20 miles run into the country.

Now looking at a short list of things to fix/adjust. The front TLS brake sticks 'on' and needs the lever pushing to turn it off, and the clutch is adjusted exactly as specified in the official Norton manual, but doesn't fully disengage the drive, so gearchanges are rough and its impossible to find neutral whilst stationary. I wonder if these two problems are caused by the new levers I fitted, anyone else experienced these problems?

Also, the speedometer isn't working, but the odometer is ok, so it has to be a problem in the speedo head, Will have to google options for that ...
 
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