What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Starvingphotog said:
"Tried" to enjoy yourself? I think I know what you mean. I'm relatively new to the Commando as well and some days out it feels a little like too much bike. Other days, it feels like I'm part of the bike and just humming along my favourite back roads here in Michigan. I've learned over the couple years riding it that the road conditions and my state of mind have a much more profound effect on my riding experience. Before I was blaming the bike thinking that something might be loose or such, but in the end it was me, and the roads I'm riding on. Well, that's not entirely true. I had to re-install the correct height rear shocks to bring the bike level. That made a huge difference in handling. I also put in 20wt in the forks instead of the 10wt I had in there before. That switchup made a marginal difference, but still positive.
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It's not so much being new to Commandos although that can do it too. Make Twain once said “No, the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat." This is in response to learning the secrets of the Mississippi as a river boat pilot and losing the romance in the process. This current Norton will be my forth one. In the case of my 750, which was my main ride for many years, I have ridden them many thousands of miles. I am no expert by any means but somewhere along the way I have lost the romance of the journey. When I ride, I have to force myself to relax, see the bike with new eyes and just ride. As for this Norton we are in a "getting acquainted with one another" stage. We are stretching our legs a little bit to see how we get on.
 
Big_Jim59 said:
It's not so much being new to Commandos although that can do it too. Make Twain once said “No, the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat." This is in response to learning the secrets of the Mississippi as a river boat pilot and losing the romance in the process. This current Norton will be my forth one. In the case of my 750, which was my main ride for many years, I have ridden them many thousands of miles. I am no expert by any means but somewhere along the way I have lost the romance of the journey. When I ride, I have to force myself to relax, see the bike with new eyes and just ride. As for this Norton we are in a "getting acquainted with one another" stage. We are stretching our legs a little bit to see how we get on.
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Yes I'm on my 4 th too , and always re-thinking things.
 
It's what I did before today - I have a Mk 3 front hub that I will need to use on a Mk 2 build. The wheel is already built and now paired with a drum rear with Jones rim.

Can I do this? Will there be an alignment and/or directional loosening effect from this? Thanks in advance for your answers I was unable to find a thread on this via Search.
 
Jdub said:
Can I do this? Will there be an alignment and/or directional loosening effect from this?
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As long as the Mk3 non-disc-side hub spacer is used then there should not be an alignment problem assuming the wheel has been built with the correct offset.
https://andover-norton.co.uk/en/shop-details/16689/spacer-assembly-r-h-chrome-plated
(Will be L/H with a reversed Mk3 wheel)


The spoke pattern is different between pre-Mk3 and Mk3 disc wheels so reversing a Mk3 wheel reverses the spoke pattern but no doubt you are already aware of that.
 
Big_Jim59 said:
It's not so much being new to Commandos although that can do it too. Make Twain once said “No, the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat." This is in response to learning the secrets of the Mississippi as a river boat pilot and losing the romance in the process. This current Norton will be my forth one. In the case of my 750, which was my main ride for many years, I have ridden them many thousands of miles. I am no expert by any means but somewhere along the way I have lost the romance of the journey. When I ride, I have to force myself to relax, see the bike with new eyes and just ride. As for this Norton we are in a "getting acquainted with one another" stage. We are stretching our legs a little bit to see how we get on.
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Jim, sounds like you're getting all philosophical on us here man:)
When I got my Commando and rode it around the neighborhood I ran into a neighbour of mine and we got to chatting. He told me that at one point he lost his nerve, and after that he sold the bike and never thought about it again. I told him at the time that I hope I have many more years before that happens to me. Being a new rider to the Commando, 850, I'm enjoying the tinkering and the riding. The Combat is still in the office being worked on, but hoping to get her on the road next season. I found it interesting that you wrote that you have to force yourself to relax on the bike. I wonder if I do that, or if I'm just nervous with the Commando at speed and taking tight corners. I imagine it's a lot of that, and a boatload of inexperience at play.
 
Speaking of tinkering. Take a look at this contraption that I assembled as a potential install to see how the 850 runs. Just playing around with the remaining Amal carb I have left after destroying the other one when I was trying to true up the barrel by squeezing it with a wrench. The remaining Amal I cleaned up well, and polished. I found this conversion manifold and got flexible fuel lines for the primary and reserve attaching to a single banjo on the carb. I also got a single throttle cable to attach to the twist grip so that the kit is ready to pop on when I feel like playing around again, a bit, with the carbs.
 

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I have the same shape filter on my single Amal 34. It replaced a much larger K&N, which I felt was too tight under the frame. I didn't expect it to be a straight swap, thought it would affect the carb's breathing. But, it runs exactly the same, which is really well in my mind. But, I don't have any other Commando riding experience to draw on. It idles fine, takes off on the throttle, without any hiccups and pulls to 6000 (self imposed max limit) very happily.
 
Don't suppose you got any cleaning instructions with yours? I'm assuming I puff some compressed air through it, inside to out?
 
No cleaning instructions. I bought 6 of them, so I figure I would soak the dirty one in soapy water for a day, and rinse it out, and let it dry for a year, then put it on the bike for the new riding season. One set for each bike that has double Amals, and one set for the single Amal kit when I get around to mounting it on the 850.
 
Les, the replacement isn't K&N, looks like it, but an RGM special, not oiled.

Edit: just checked the link, which also covers dry filters. Got it, brilliant, thanks.
 
Mart UK said:
Les, the replacement isn't K&N, looks like it, but an RGM special, not oiled.

Edit: just checked the link, which also covers dry filters. Got it, brilliant, thanks.
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Probably the same as the K&N Dryflow type then. (Posted before I noticed your edit).
 
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Well, I went today to have another ride while the weather was still quite nice here in Michigan, and turned the ignition key to the on position and no ignition light. As I kicked, the light flickered on with each kick. No start. I took it as a sign that I shouldn't ride today. Not sure what happened from yesterday to today. It started yesterday, but only after the 5th kick. Other than that, it ran very well during my ride yesterday. The headlight doesn't even have power with the ignition key turned to the on position. Same for the horn. It's like the battery is dead but the usb charger I have attached shows it as 12.8V. I plan to diagnose it later this week to see if I can figure it out. I plan to check the battery and fuse first. Then if those are good, I will check for correct grounding. I'm assuming the alternator is working ok, for now anyway. I'm also assuming the regulator is working ok as well. I did see that the earth connector red wire down by the Zener is not attached to the frame. I temporarily clamped it to the frame to see if that was the problem, and it wasn't. The red wire loop connector is covered in oil and dirt leading me to think that it was disconnected for some time. I do plan to bolt it to the frame later when I take a peak around the bike.
 
Starvingphotog said:
The headlight doesn't even have power with the ignition key turned to the on position. Same for the horn. It's like the battery is dead but the usb charger I have attached shows it as 12.8V.
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Could be the ignition switch.
Try connecting the ignition switch brown/blue (T1) and white (T2) wires together and see if that cures the ignition/horn etc. problem. Connecting all four ignition switch wires together by adding the brown/green (T3) and blue/yellow (T4) should then restore ignition and lights if the ignition switch is perhaps faulty.

The Zener earth/ground ring terminal normally fits under a nut inside the Z-plate on the rear footrest attachment bolt.
 
I'll check that out as well Les. Thanks!

That's interesting. So when I turn the key all the way over when I usually start the bike that is essentially connecting all four wires together?
 
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