What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Mark Savage · Thursday at 11:57 PM

The

gortnipper said:
Bugger. Maybe I should pull it and wash it out and repack it before i put the whole thing back together?

The other bearing was a Pender supplied generic one, and there was as much grease around the bearing as in it.

I thought the Zen would at least be a step up from that or an other generic.

The Pender supplied one completely collapsed in just under 13,000 miles. I went with Zen as there’s not too many named 4203 2RS out there. Still Chinese made but a German company I think. I’d have preferred the stock set up and regrease every time the wheel came out.

gortnipper · Friday at 12:08 AM

Yeah, i know.

Well, i have a tube of good grease. I'm just going to wash it out tomorrow and repack it.

Mark Savage · Friday at 1:52 AM

gortnipper said:
Yeah, i know.

Well, i have a tube of good grease. I'm just going to wash it out tomorrow and repack it.

I’ve bought a Pender hub as a spare and I might get it machined to fit a standard set up as there’s no room at the moment. The first one I bought is still fine after 28,000 miles but if Don packs up or throws a seven where the hell could I get one?

gortnipper said:
Yeah, i know.

Well, i have a tube of good grease. I'm just going to wash it out tomorrow and repack it.

robs ss · Friday at 3:16 AM

Is the advantage of the Pender hubs the improved cush?
Anything else?
You've collectively cast doubts over his bearing choice.
Cheers

robs ss · Friday at 3:18 AM

Mark Savage said:
I’ve bought a Pender hub as a spare and I might get it machined to fit a standard set up as there’s no room at the moment. The first one I bought is still fine after 28,000 miles but if Don packs up or throws a seven where the hell could I get one?

I haven't heard of a hub "wearing out". Is there a reason to expect it might?

Mark Savage · Friday at 4:50 AM

robs ss said:
I haven't heard of a hub "wearing out". Is there a reason to expect it might?

Because it’s also the rear sprocket.

Dellis · Saturday at 9:09 AM

So today did some post trip maintenance after our recent week away in France and Germany, I trailered the bike there but rode around 1000 miles in the week. Maintenance included changing one of the plain clutch plates for a thicker one, oiling the clutch cable , replaced the speedo drive which packed in while we we were away, adjusted the chan and lubed the throttle cables.

Time for a beer now.

Dave

Torontonian · 2026-07-12T19:36:22-0600

Drove to Penetanguishene and back . Caught a big smallmouth to serve our cottage hosts . Bike ran perfect .

robs ss · 2026-07-12T21:35:28-0600

Mark Savage said:
Because it’s also the rear sprocket.

Ohh - I thought you meant the actual aluminium hub, not the drum/sprocket.

Mark Savage · 2026-07-12T23:16:52-0600

robs ss said:
Ohh - I thought you meant the actual aluminium hub, not the drum/sprocket.

Yes, my mistake. I should have said brake drum.

gortnipper · 2026-07-12T23:24:09-0600

Put these in the freezer...

Starvingphotog · 2026-07-13T07:26:02-0600

Ah well, I had me a wee adventure over the weekend. Went to a local Norton club event in Dexter MI, about 100 miles from my house, on Sunday and bike behaved well all the way there. Coming back home. The electric start made a weird sound when I hit the button and decided to leave it alone. Kicked it over easy enough, and sounded good. Popped it in gear and headed home. About 20 or so miles later, shifter seemed sticky. Clutch lever felt stiff. Stopping at the traffic lights I noticed that the gear did not disengage when I pulled in the clutch and the bike stalled. I pushed it onto the sidewalk and started looking around for ideas. Checked the belt drive and it was still the right looseness in the primary. Clutch adjustment in the primary was tight and where it always has been. Clutch adjustment on the bars same story. Checked for the clutch plates sticking and they were freely moving. Put it in first and pulled in the clutch and pushed the bike and it was still in gear and turning the engine. Same thing, but this time kicking the starter lever and the engine would turn over. Packed it in and called Hagerty for a tow home - 75 miles away. This week I plan to look at the clutch basket and see what's up in there. I had wondered if it might have been a complication with the cNw starter since this is the only major thing I've done on the bike lately, and before then, the bike ride perfectly and showed no signs of transmission clutch issues. Still using the original cable clutch mechanism and have a fairly new Venhill cable on there. Mystery for sure, to me anyway...

o0norton0o · 2026-07-13T07:55:47-0600

Starvingphotog said:
Ah well, I had me a wee adventure over the weekend. Went to a local Norton club event in Dexter MI, about 100 miles from my house, on Sunday and bike behaved well all the way there. Coming back home. The electric start made a weird sound when I hit the button and decided to leave it alone. Kicked it over easy enough, and sounded good. Popped it in gear and headed home. About 20 or so miles later, shifter seemed sticky. Clutch lever felt stiff. Stopping at the traffic lights I noticed that the gear did not disengage when I pulled in the clutch and the bike stalled. I pushed it onto the sidewalk and started looking around for ideas. Checked the belt drive and it was still the right looseness in the primary. Clutch adjustment in the primary was tight and where it always has been. Clutch adjustment on the bars same story. Checked for the clutch plates sticking and they were freely moving. Put it in first and pulled in the clutch and pushed the bike and it was still in gear and turning the engine. Same thing, but this time kicking the starter lever and the engine would turn over. Packed it in and called Hagerty for a tow home - 75 miles away. This week I plan to look at the clutch basket and see what's up in there. I had wondered if it might have been a complication with the cNw starter since this is the only major thing I've done on the bike lately, and before then, the bike ride perfectly and showed no signs of transmission clutch issues. Still using the original cable clutch mechanism and have a fairly new Venhill cable on there. Mystery for sure, to me anyway...

Maybe your circlip let go behind your clutch basket, and now when you squeeze the clutch lever it can't depress the spring properly... at least that would explain the drag and not being able to get it out of gear...

Starvingphotog · 2026-07-13T09:21:24-0600

A good thought. I did mess with that when I installed the cnw starter in the spring. Put a new circlip in there from the kit.
A good amount of metal shavings in the basket. Looks like aluminum.
The clutch pack looks ok and no signs of wear on the friction discs or the metal discs.
There is a slight burning smell I noticed when I put my nose in the basket...
Now that I look at this picture it looks like those metal shavings could have come from the centre sprocket....

I'll have to remove the basket and take a look behind to confirm the circlip is ok.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

o0norton0o · 2026-07-13T13:20:04-0600

With the circlip gone the clutch basket gets gets driven back and grinds against inner primary case half, which explains the aluminum that you see. You will see witness marks from the clutch basket on the inner case and sometimes it drives the whole case back against the end of the swingarm tube leaving a circular mark on the back of the case.. the same thing happened to my bike a long time ago.

Starvingphotog · 2026-07-13T13:27:30-0600

Well, I checked the circlip and it's just as it was when I installed it in the spring. Intact and in great shape. What I did find is that the inner sprocket that came with the clutch basket as a kit is responsible for all that metal shavings. it makes a scraping sound as it spins and I can see the witness marks all around it as it spins on the basket. You can see it in the photo. So, not sure what's going on there but it's uniform all round the sprocket. I sent a note to Matt about this and also some photos. I removed the clutch basket from the bike and have it on my desk here and as I spin it in there vertical position, as it were sitting in the bike, it makes a rubbing grinding sound as I hold the inner sprocket and spin the basket. I don't think this is normal. I just don't know how it go this way, and if it was like this all the time when I installed the electric start kit with the belt drive, which it's part of ...
There are no witness marks on the back of the clutch basket or on the inner primary, so all the shavings are coming from inside the basket and from where the centre sprocket is spinning with its bearing agains the basket....

bill · 2026-07-13T14:51:56-0600

Bad clutch hub bearing.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

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