What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Today I'm out riding after long hours fitting two new TT100's and Counteract bead balancer tubes.




I decided to do tire lettering white paint from a Canadian Tire tire marker. Took a bit of patience and practice but my skills improved. Quite happy with the result and look.

PS, just looked up from typing this to see another Commando cruising past, thought someone had nicked my bike ;-0

New tires feel much cleaner in the corners, no more twitching, esp on pavement cracks. Only issue is the TT100's do tend to twitch a lot in rain-grooved pavement when new (same issue on last set until 5-600 miles or so). Feels the back end wants to takeove steering duties from the front. Luckily, there are only a few short bits of road (over passes) with such grooving around here. Unlike Los Angeles which had miles and miles of the stuff. Had the same effect on a modern Mini the day I bought off the dealer lot. Ten minutes into drive home, was ready to turn around and take it back to complain the wheels felt that they were falling off!

Got acquainted with the new TMS harness(es)...



..and the removed the old (partially melted) main harness...



..and then called it a day with a glass of Wolverhampton's finest...



Cheers!

Tornado said:

New tires feel much cleaner in the corners, no more twitching, esp on pavement cracks. Only issue is the TT100's do tend to twitch a lot in rain-grooved pavement when new (same issue on last set until 5-600 miles or so). Feels the back end wants to takeove steering duties from the front. Luckily, there are only a few short bits of road (over passes) with such grooving around here. Unlike Los Angeles which had miles and miles of the stuff. Had the same effect on a modern Mini the day I bought off the dealer lot. Ten minutes into drive home, was ready to turn around and take it back to complain the wheels felt that they were falling off!

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Beautiful bike

Don't know if if you can get hold of it in Canada, but in the UK there's a product called Tyre Black that will cover over that white lettering on the tyres

I had some wide Bridgestone tyres on my car in the eighties they had white lettering , we'd cruise up and down the main street looking at our reflection in the shop window , we were so cool , ........actually we were looking for that hard to find p..sy

Bonzo said:

Beautiful bike

Don't know if if you can get hold of it in Canada, but in the UK there's a product called Tyre Black that will cover over that white lettering on the tyres

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Tough crowd 'round here, EH?

167 mile round trip to the pub for lunch in Merrickville Ontario . 4 Nortons and a Guzzi

Ron Hulton said:

167 mile round trip to the pub for lunch in Merrickville Ontario . 4 Nortons and a Guzzi

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So your buddy from Toms River didn’t join in ?
After too much hot and rainy weather I made it to Lucille’s this morning…

Wife is out of town so I did a nice ride to church followed by breakfast at the tavern with the british open on tv. Lovely.

Short story is that a 13mm 12-point socket can be hammered over the head a stubborn rubber mounting bobbin's carriage bolt and will grip hard enough so you can remove the bolt. This is useful where you cannot get the thing off and of course twisting it gets you nowhere with the rubber spool.

Long story: Was able to remove a pair of stuck rubber mounting spools from threaded inserts in the rear of my gas tank (no, bad PO, they do not go there!). To do so with a freshly painted tank and without heat I pulled the rubber off so I was left with only the round plate and carriage-style bolt that holds the plate and screws into the threads. In the first picture below, the two items on the right of the pad were drilled first to punch it around (did not work). Next, a Dremel cut to create parallel flats that an adjustable wrench could turn (that worked!).

To get the other out, I twisted off the rubber bobbin, then used a 9/16" socket to drive the washer off the bolt's square bolt section (they are not welded together). Then, I hammered a 13mm 12-point socket over the head of the now-exposed and accessible bolt and it worked very well - apply ratchet to the socket and with a hard pull got it out. Hope this is useful for those trying to get a rubber bobbin out of their frame or otherwise when they rust in place.

Richard Tool said:

So your buddy from Toms River didn’t join in ?
After too much hot and rainy weather I made it to Lucille’s this morning…

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You are joking ... It's 700 km ...... a 2 day car drive for him .

Ron Hulton said:

You are joking ... It's 700 km ...... a 2 day car drive for him .

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If he was a true friend …. LOL

Jdub said:

Long story: Was able to remove a pair of stuck rubber mounting spools from threaded inserts in the rear of my gas tank (no, bad PO, they do not go there!).

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They did go there by the time of the 850 Mk3 so perhaps some (later?) Mk2s also had them.
850 Mk3:

"To do so with a freshly painted tank and without heat I pulled the rubber off so I was left with only the round plate and carriage-style bolt that holds the plate and screws into the threads."

Just curious, why you wouldn't have done all the prep work (including a leak test) before paint.

Exactly right Concurs. I had two tanks at my painter and the third was barely back from test and tanking to get my three tank discount. Took a chance for sure. I got lucky.

Rewired my Commando - and it works!

As per a previous post, by installing a bigger & better battery, I managed to short the nearby Venhill feather light clutch cable, turning it into a heating element, which in turn melted parts of the loom in the vicinity.





I bought a new loom from TMS Nottingham, which is maybe cheating, but I didn't feel confident enough to make my own. I took plenty of photos to help me, referred to various wiring diagrams, and with two weeks off work, just really took my time, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I also got rid of the original battery holding straps & bar & used a 5x70cm Velcro Alfatex strap, as recommended by someone on here, and it holds the battery in a treat




I also recce'd the placement of the Alton starter solenoid for when the time comes. Mounting it on the supplied bracket, can interfere with the side panel, so I positioned it toward the rear of the battery where it clears both the side panel and the frame.



A wonderfully productive couple of days

Cheers!

Headed off with wife to a pool party in Etobicoke , in heat . Got to 1 Km. from home where ign. power died at Dupont and Ossington. C.A.A. to the rescue with timely oriental driver , super efficient and polite , lots of thank yous all around . Got it to spark again after wire wigglings in points cover , by then he had showed up . We were back home in an hour from leaving it ! His motorbike lift was amazing to watch . 80 degree angle up for the bike at one point in the lift and as well the lowering . He really knew his stuff . Needless to say the points cover is off for explorations .

Torontonian said:

Headed off with wife to a pool party in Etobicoke , in heat . Got to 1 Km. from home where ign. power died at Dupont and Ossington. C.A.A. to the rescue with timely oriental driver , super efficient and polite , lots of thank yous all around . Got it to spark again after wire wigglings in points cover , by then he had showed up . We were back home in an hour from leaving it ! His motorbike lift was amazing to watch . 80 degree angle up for the bike at one point in the lift and as well the lowering . He really knew his stuff . Needless to say the points cover is off for explorations .

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Could have been worse, on the way fishing...

BERT said:

Could have been worse, on the way fishing...

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Indeed. We rode back in the A.C. C.A.A. truck , I unscrewed the points cover to find a loose crimp on the black/white wire . Easy fix . This is a high vibration area . Pool owner said no worries , come by tomorrow aft . 32 C.

Bonzo said:

Rewired my Commando - and it works!

As per a previous post, by installing a bigger & better battery, I managed to short the nearby Venhill feather light clutch cable, turning it into a heating element, which in turn melted parts of the loom in the vicinity.





I bought a new loom from TMS Nottingham, which is maybe cheating, but I didn't feel confident enough to make my own. I took plenty of photos to help me, referred to various wiring diagrams, and with two weeks off work, just really took my time, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I also got rid of the original battery holding straps & bar & used a 5x70cm Velcro Alfatex strap, as recommended by someone on here, and it holds the battery in a treat

Heavy Duty Adjustable Velcro Strap with Metal Buckle – Reusable Hook and Loop | eBay UK

Hook and Loop strap strapping with buckle Band luggage Strap. They can be useful in many types of settings, from arts and crafts, camping, cable ties, photography. 3 cm (W) x 40cm (L) - 33cm Loop + 7cm Hook Tip.

www.ebay.co.uk

I also recce'd the placement of the Alton starter solenoid for when the time comes. Mounting it on the supplied bracket, can interfere with the side panel, so I positioned it toward the rear of the battery where it clears both the side panel and the frame.



A wonderfully productive couple of days

Cheers!

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Bonzo! That is a great recap of your time well-spent with your Commando! Love the photos and captions. I think that you and I both celebrate our victories the same way - with a nice cold brew!
The new wiring looks nice and clean.