When is a Modification an Improvement?

xbacksideslider said:

highdesert said:

Regarding Norton fitting the rubber line to handle the hydraulic fluid for the disc brake:

Did Norton have a choice on this?

Were braided steel lines available in the early 70s that they could have fitted?

I seem to remember the bikes from all the manufacturers fitting rubber hoses for their disc set ups.

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Your suspicions are correct. Our great protectors - the government, the DOT specifically - had not yet approved braided stainless steel lines for highway use. Therefore it was illegal to use it on a motorcycle. All those guys in the late '70's and '80s who bought braided stainless and improved the function and reliability and safety of their bikes by installing it were, and still are, subject to criminal enforcement. Same as if you remove a smog device.

Same BS with all the new bikes' fugly fender/taillight extensions and the illegality of mini LED turn signals. The location and size of the rear tail light/signals is dictated by DOT.

DOT regs assume incandescent bulbs and dictate the area of tail light lenses and the area of turn signal lenses therefrom. The regs fail to allow for the possibility of increased brightness. A tiny blinker can be more visible than a big one, if its an LED as opposed to an incandescent bulb. The burden is on the OEMs to get it changed . . . . at great cost.

Innovation is squashed by safety crats.

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But, like all laws, enforcement is arbitrary. Never heard of anyone getting a ticket for any of the above examples. The safetycrats get their little rocks off and the citizenry are more or less left alone to carry on as if nothing happened.

David thanks for the heads up on new rubber hoses being up to the task. I'd only felt 35+ year old ones before trying the SS fork sawing hard to route/hold stuff.

When you fracture off a banjo in the side of your head, I had to revert to Al washers instead of softest annealed copper, but next time will cheat a bit with a smear of Hylomar. Seems a lot of BI vendors carry Al washers for this.

?Modification or Improvement?, truth or dare opinion call - I just found my new head light shell has smaller threaded holes than factory so factory hardware is a no go. My down dirty thought is to get thinner bolts and put rubber washers between things to nip up stable. Only Trixie's mechanic will know, and those hear that tell so have to hunt down to quite. : )

Personally I find for ordinary sane mostly legal joy rides and commutes about nothing is finer than bone stock Combat, not even a worry with the flat rollers if not lugged or over rev'd. There are a few changes I like, block off chain oiler, oil groove the fork and gear box and swing arm bushes, put grease zerks in swing arm so no long set ups or long use w/o oil can damage the spindle on next use.
Put in better head lamp bulb and PCV valve breather tube and mud flaps at both ends, add RH mirror, luggage rack, windshield and hard bag mounts.
What have I done?

Hehe, what about just ignoring the manual's instructions on fluid levels or even dip stick itself : )

Its been said Norton offered kits for sale, so its up to owners to finish em right.