Where did you find yours...

Craig said:

In early 80’s I was in local hardware store picking up stuff for house resto I was doing in spare moments an old friend yelled meet me in parking lot when done .... this guy lived and breathed bikes so wasn’t really surprised he was revving a ‘72 Type S or so it appeared as he was not fussy sounded great ! He told me he had done Cabot Trail earlier and had raced all the Harleys up every mountain .... never saw it again .... fast forward 10 yrs or more , I was drinking beer with my son in backyard , lamenting my no bike situation .... he say why not find a Commando .... couple days later went down to my buddies work place ( bike shop) .... first thing out was he wanted to know when I got out of jail , lots of looks from customers .... he still had the Norton among 40 other bikes , we struck the deal right there , he would get it road worthy as it had been sitting for yrs , plus he would inspect and certify for the agreed on very favourable cash only price .... been the proud owner ever since , my buddy passed on a while back , he had a living funeral , band , food , booze the works , he could barely talk at this point but he did get me to promise I would treat the old bike with respect for as long as I had it ..... still do and I have ....

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Ummmmmmm....

I don't see a photo.

Okay ...

Craig said:

Okay ...View attachment 21749

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You found it in that shed?

That where it lives with the 2 Italian bikes .... stripped it down into 3 pieces in that shed and lugged it down to basement in house ..., did most of work there then had quite a time getting it back out , kinda put it mostly back together down there , haha! Put heat in shed and added a small wing couple years later to have room to breath , still very tight quarters with 4 bikes , one must be on table always ....

Craig said:

That where it lives with the 2 Italian bikes ....

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But where did you FIND it????

That's what this thread is about!

(Gotta love a Corbin seat on a Commando, they were made for each other)

Story was in my hometown ....

grandpaul said:

This next bike is familiar to many folks on here, it's the Dreer New Norton monoshock prototype bike.

It all started when I saw the first publicity shots of the test mule with dummy engine, I just HAD to have one!
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I did some research and called looking for Kenny, but was only able to speak to one of the design guys. I asked if there was any way I could buy a VR and swap out the engine for a 952 when they came out, but he assured me that the new engine would not fit a classic chassis. I tried to reach Kenny a few more times and was finally able to talk to him at some length. One thing anyone who has talked to him will agree about, is that he LOVES to talk.

So, a few calls later, we struck a deal for him to sell me one of the last sets of VR cases that he had, a set of 880 cylinders with JE dished pistons & Total Seal gapless rings, and a Baisley prepared head (ported, external oil drain, all new valvetrain); he couldn't sell me anything related to the 952 engine (although a year or so later, I saw several engines somebody else was selling, had to have come from him). Over the next few months, while he was selling off everything so he could retire, I also bought the monoshock rear end from the show bike, one of only 3 sets of carbon fiber primary cases that he had made, a set of FCR carbs, the bodywork and tight-tuck pipes from the show bike, a VR front hub (dual disc), another "big bearing transmission cradle & box-section swingarm, and another set of 880 jugs with 5 JE dished pistons. Right at the end when he sold the last stuff, I bought two more sets of bodywork (including the Green set on my other 880) and 4 VR style dualseats (Rikki Rockett {drummer from the band "Poison"} bought one for one of his Nortons).

Mocked up, and shown at the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation fundraiser in Corpus Christi, TX-
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The forks were from a ZX6 crotch rocket, rear hub assembly from a MkIII, but with a single axle made from a miscellaneous CAT diesel heavy loader bolt. The primary case had no way to actually bolt to a set of 850 cases without re-work which I was not prepared to do. I still hadn't worked out a brake pedal & master cylinder arrangement, among other issues.

I ended up finding a very nice, complete 850 MkIII e-start engine and made a deal for it, picked it up at the Sandia Classic in Albuquerque were I raced Production Heavyweight (4th in both races) and VMX 250 Sportsman where I took 2nd to Dave Aldana with his bones leathers (dude was F-A-S-T, lapped me in 2 laps).

Dropped that engine in, mounted a huge AGM battery under the seat hump, converted the transmission to right-foot-shift, figured out a mounting bracket for a rear master cylinder, and bodged together a few other items to make it nominally rideable...
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A few other nice touches - MkIII sprung head steady, Carl H stainless adjustable isolastics, Windy Eads front steady, Sparx electronics, and hand-wired electrical system with individually fused circuits.

I don't think I'll sell this bike of my own volition...

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That is gorgeous!

Very nice...... That old Atlas still has this old buzzard salivating right now. That tasty layer of rust is like salt & pepper on good home cooking. One of those slipped through my fingers years ago and I'll never forgive myself for that.

After considering the complexity of KD's rising-rate monoshock linkage, I decided to design my own setup, and started gathering leftover parts from all my previous Commando builds and lot purchases. The biggest thing I was missing was a frame, forks, and a front wheel. Found a frame pretty quickly and decided I'd go with another set of inverted forks. The cases I had were 1974/850. One trip to my local salvage buddy's shop in Laredo and I had a real nice set of forks from a ZX9. Still had the last of KD's VR880 front hubs, and I scrounged up a MkIII rear hub with disc, so it came down to sending the hubs off to Buchanan's to have 'em laced up to a pair of Excels. I somehow came across the shop that had been doing all the brakes for Confederate Cycle, and bought a nice pair of full floating discs from them ($$$$)



I got "economy of scale" and volume discounts on EVERYTHING - polishing, wheel lacing, chrome plating, CAD plating, machine work, upholstery, AN parts orders, shipping (of course) etc, because I was building a SECOND monoshock Commando for a client, and also had an N15 restoration going. The timing was perfect to rally all my available resources to build a nice spec bike and get some decent money for it.

Anyway, the swingarm was easily fabricated from TWO standard swingarms, by removing the axle plates from the "top" S/A, welding additional extender plates to the "bottom" swingarm, slipping the bare ends of the top arm over the plates on the bottom arm, then welding in two uprights inboard of the spindle mounts. I used the upper spindle mounts as the mounting points for the rising rate linkage plates, with an "anchor" link between the bottoms of the plates and rooted at the transmission cradle, and the shock mounted between the tops of the plates. Two small plates with one hole each, welded underneath the main frame tube just aft of the web plate, and it was ready.


(I ended up having to cut the left side upper leg and weld it up, to provide a clear chain path)

The engine ended up taking KD's last 880 kit with JE dished pistons & Total Seal gapless rings, a new Megacycle 560-00 cam, Superblends, Windy Eads "preferred" oil weir fix, one of my reed valves, a set of Sureflex clutch plates, with a steel plate properly shimmed to optimum stack height, Sparx electronics, and a new set of Amals. Mockup before seat was upholstered, and before I decided on all new exhaust...

As a pure coincidence, a very nice Lyta alloy Sprint tank popped up on e-bay while I was looking around, so I snapped it up! I had bought the last of KDs VR Sprint Special seats by then, but not the gas tanks. The only decent pipes I had laying around at that time was the chrome bean cans off my MkIII, and a set of moderately used upswept headers.



It was crunch time to make it to Barber's for the auction, so I slapped on the only fender I had, which was meant for a larger diameter wheel. It didn't sell at the auction, but in the parking lot that evening. HOWEVER, somebody got wind of it, and they demanded their commission before releasing the keys & title.

"Made in England, Born Again in Texas"

How I found this one, was another "in pieces" story. I don't remember where, but I came across a frame dirt cheap. I already had a bunch of other spare parts but no engine. That came later...


All I had was a head (from that big lot purchase with 6 Norton heads)


Found a cool set of PR replica bodywork on e-bay, voila!

Most all of mine came from advertisements.

I found my first one about 27 years ago in the Recycler, a print publication back then.
It was a mismatched '70 Interstate Royal Blue Metalic which the owner delivered to me in Santa Barbara, in the back of his pickup for $1500, needed restoration but ran. I regretably sold it that year to a guy from Germany named Hans who lived in the area.

Bought my second one soon thereafter, a '71 Roadster, from a small vintage bike dealer in Ojai. I don't remember the name of the shop but the owner spoke with a British accent. Still have that one.

In more recent years, a couple project bikes found their way to me thanks to Jimbo's postings/forwardings of online advertisements. Thanks Jim!

Last year, I had a guy follow me to a stop once. Said he had an Atlas he'd like to get running and possibly sell. We exchanged numbers but he never called, and I lost his number out my riding jacket.

Barn finds are still out there!!

This '72 Combat came to me by way of a cool trade. I had purchased a lot deal by long distance quite a few years earlier (2007) which included a rolling trike project with a '72 Bonneville engine, another '72 Bonnie rolling frame with engine, and a bunch of useless parts. Had to contact a fellow Brit Iron Rebel via our Delphi forum and get him to arrange having it crated and collected. Over the years, I messed with the trike and finally had it respectable with a pair of alloy "snowflake" wheels from an LTD, and the engine almost ready to run, but still with junk forks, a gaudy king & queen seat, and a beer barrel that fit perfectly underneath the "queen" section. I was thinking of having the seat tilt forward, then split the barrel into a BBQ grille.


ANYWAY, I traded the trike even swap for this rusty, crusty Combat... "A Touch of the Grape"


Took me a few weeks to sort it out, turned out VERY decent, and made a few bucks on the sale (always a "plus")...

grandpaul said:

I messed with the trike and finally had it respectable

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That’s an oxymoron ...

The one I had kept going off the road because it just wouldn't turn no matter how much I leaned.

Fast Eddie said:

That’s an oxymoron ...

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"You shoulda seen it BEFORE!!!"

Today's installment of "Where Did You Find Yours" is this '70 Roadster 750 that I was involved with years ago when my friend Mark decided to build a "Beach Bum" bobber. Mark had me overhaul the engine & transmission, bob the seat, and do all my typical client subcontracting of powdercoat, paint, polishing, and chrome; he did all the assembly. I brought him the engine completed engine and we installed it, then I helped him with the wiring and left him to it. This was what he came up with... (hey, don't blame ME, I just built the engine)

"Long Shot" straight pipes, gangster whitewall, longhorn handlebars, bobbed seat, rear fender mounted to swingarm, front fork brace, matching red velocity stacks... It was a sight to behold, but ran exactly as a nicely refreshed 750 ought to run (Superblends and full overhaul)

Anyway, he tired of it after a while (I don't think it ever actually got to the beach), so he re-configured it slightly... (drag bars, peashooters on standard headers, K&N air filter and a front fender)


Then, Mark decided to sell off all his bike collection, with me being his agent and making whatever deals I needed to do, to get to his bottom line which we agreed upon. He also transferred his entire collection of spare parts and miscellaneous stuff. I sold off the other bikes first (Triton and two Honda cubs), kept his much nicer '70 Bonneville and sold my somewhat scruffier one, and had enough play money at the time that I simply paid him off and kept this bike to do a bit more to it and get a better return.

THIS is what it eventually became in order to fetch near the typical price that similar Commandos were fetching in 2017... I added a bum-stop seat, clubman handlebars, rearsets, better fenders & lights, a pair of sidecovers, decent paint job, and matching alloy wheel up front. Altogether not bad at all...


NOT TO WORRY! I ended up removing the anti-drain-back valve.

Bought my 1974 Roadster in 2013 for $3500. The owner bought new in 1975 and rode it for 3 years before it scared him one day. He rode it to a friend's Buick dealership and parked it in the back corner of garage. I heard about it early 2013 being for sale for $1500. Instantly got hold of owner and offered to buy. By this time a few friends got in his ear and price soared to $6000. We couldn't agree on a price and I decided to keep looking. He had a teenager try to get the bike running and he melted the wiring. About 4 months later the guy called me and said he was open to an offer. Offered $3500 and took bike home. Gave it a good cleaning and a few upgrades and now is one of my daily riders(newest bike).

You guys are making me jealous!

Slick

This is it, the LAST of the Norton Commandos I acquired. It all started from a few remaining Kenny Dreer VR880 bits I still had on hand - tank & cover, seat, set of JE dished pistons & total seal rings with a matching set of 880 barrels, and a box-section swingarm. I bought a frame & "ventilated" bottom end with Bill of Sale and started from there...



I had a Yamaha XS650 disc brake front end that I took off a client's Triumph Bonneville (I sold him an nice original Triumph front end), and I had a Honda CB750 rear wheel with drum brake that came in a multi-bike-and-parts trade for Freddy Fender's AMF HD Sportster. (I was the 3rd owner). My son had yanked a perfectly good headlight off his Ducati Monster to install modern tiny LED stuff, so I had that, also I had some rearsets and other goodies on the shelves.

Didn't take long to get it looking like a bike...


I built the "big bearing" transmission cradle to Kenny's specs, to accept the box section swingarm, and e-starter.



The cases got repaired by a local Laredo welder that had been doing all my alloy welding repair. I installed a clapped-out cam and bolted the cases together before welding; the cam stayed spinning nicely the entire time. Engine assembly was very straight-forward. Had to have the gas tank cover & sidecovers paint-matched by my long-time painter in Laredo, (we share the last name, by pure coincidence). The last item happened because when I sold the VR engine bits as a lot, I kept the Spyke starter "for just such an occasion". I contacted Tom Reid who did the VR880 e-start conversions for Kenny, and he agreed to do one for me. I had to buy the RGM belt drive kit, remove the transmission cradle, primary cases, and transmission, and send it all to him with the belt drive kit, Old Britts belt tensioner, and the starter.



Once it was all done, it looked rather fetching!



I've sold the bike just recently, but still have to sort out a strange noise that is NOT rockers, pushrods, alternator, clutch tensioner or starter. Now that the snow and ice are melting I'll get back in the shop and pull the timing cover to see what I can see. The buyer is fully aware of what's up and is a very patient fellow. He's wanted a VR880 and has never found anything under $30K, so he's motivated.

Had friend that lived about 100 miles away that always told me he had a Norton he was working on. I always told him if he wanted rid of it to let me know. Never saw the bike or knew what it was. About 8 years later got a call from him offering the bike with title for sale for $1200. Said he had restored it and bike smoked when running. Hooked up trailer and headed out to pick up this bike. Sounded like a good deal. Got there and he opened garage door to reveal 2 Atlas, a 66 and 67, both with titles. Restored one looked dull but found out he had sprayed with cosmolene before giving up on it. Got home and cleaned bike with kerosene. Nice shiny chrome there. One I am riding and the other is in process. Didnt even know that morning I'd be picking up 2 bikes with titles.