What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Well, it was actually more than a week ago, but I brought the two Dreer / Dreer replica Nortons out from the cold, dark storage container into the warm, light shop where eventually I will "un-store" them properly and commence riding them in the "rotation"...

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Quite a warm day here in Michigan. I replaced my leaking primary rubber gasket and replaced with fresh oil. Also, fixed my gas tank cover that was leaking because the rubber seal was misaligned. Later this week, since we're supposed to be getting some very nice warm weather, I plan to replace the original regulator/zener diode electrics with a Podtronics unit that was sent to me by a very generous member. I also will replace the air filter setup as well with two separate cone filters to see how they look and function. With the warm weather hitting us here on Thursday, I plan to give it a kick and start it up from a long winters nap. Excited about that!
 
Hey fellas, got myself one of those Harbor Freight lifts this week and got it all assembled and mounted the bike. You can see in the photos that I bolted my Bexley sport chock to the lift and it matches in colour! I'm really looking forward to working on the bike with this, and have a few things to do now that the weather is warming up some in Michigan. Outside when I was setting it up in the garage I saw one motorcyclist riding around with the spring type weather we had yesterday. First bike I saw this year!

My garage floor really sucks and is pitted bad. I have to fill in those holes and even it out so that I can roll the lift around easier.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Oh, one more thing I wanted to reach out this community for. I need a new chain badly, for my 850, and I reached out to Jason at the Chain Man in the UK and he told me that he has the chains in stock but won't be sending out to USA because of cyber attacks happening with Royal Mail and the current costs are too high. Not good. I wonder if you guys know of an alternative that I could look into for a similar quality chain that I can get shipped to me here in Michigan. I recall that LAB suggested an AN chain a while back. I have the 21tooth front sprocket, and standard drum sprocket at the back.
Any suggestions would be helpful :)
 
I reached out to Jason at the Chain Man in the UK and he told me that he has the chains in stock but won't be sending out to USA because of cyber attacks happening with Royal Mail and the current costs are too high.

I recall that LAB suggested an AN chain a while back.
I don't think that would have been me because AN doesn't sell the IWIS/JWIS M106SL 10B-1 chain, only IWIS Elite that Andy the original 'Chain Man' didn't recommend (because he considered it to be overpriced), however, the Elite sold by Wassel although made to ISO 10190 (Motorcycle standard) according to Greg (marshg246) doesn't fit a Commando due to the increased width.

 
Hmm. Ok. Thanks Les. So, looks like this IWIS Elite might be the next choice. Know where I can look into this further and order up a couple chains that will hopefully fit my stock setup?
 
Hmm. Ok. Thanks Les. So, looks like this IWIS Elite might be the next choice. Know where I can look into this further and order up a couple chains that will hopefully fit my stock setup?

If you want the Elite chain that fits then I guess it would be AN or any other supplier that does not sell the Wassell ISO 10190 Elite although other chains were recommended in that thread (and others) and members on your side of the pond are likely to give you better information on what's available and fits than I can.
 
Sounds good Les. I think I'll go back to that thread to read it more closely. I didn't realize that Elite and Wassell ISO 10190 Elite are two different chains. Hopefully I can get a better idea of what chain to get once I go through that thread. Thanks again for your thoughts on this. Have a great weekend!
 
Hey fellas, got myself one of those Harbor Freight lifts this week and got it all assembled and mounted the bike. You can see in the photos that I bolted my Bexley sport chock to the lift and it matches in colour! I'm really looking forward to working on the bike with this, and have a few things to do now that the weather is warming up some in Michigan. Outside when I was setting it up in the garage I saw one motorcyclist riding around with the spring type weather we had yesterday. First bike I saw this year!

My garage floor really sucks and is pitted bad. I have to fill in those holes and even it out so that I can roll the lift around easier.

View attachment 103699View attachment 103700View attachment 103701
Congrats, looks good, as does the bike. Almost got me one of those from HF, then my wife found a pre owned pneumatic job on FB marketplace. Like you, I love it, so does my old back! The BM looks clean, what model?
 
Hey fellas, got myself one of those Harbor Freight lifts this week and got it all assembled and mounted the bike. You can see in the photos that I bolted my Bexley sport chock to the lift and it matches in colour! I'm really looking forward to working on the bike with this, and have a few things to do now that the weather is warming up some in Michigan. Outside when I was setting it up in the garage I saw one motorcyclist riding around with the spring type weather we had yesterday. First bike I saw this year!

My garage floor really sucks and is pitted bad. I have to fill in those holes and even it out so that I can roll the lift around easier.

View attachment 103700

Please use some straps as well as the front wheel chock. That middle photo is making me very nervous 👍
 
Quite a warm day here in Michigan. I replaced my leaking primary rubber gasket and replaced with fresh oil. Also, fixed my gas tank cover that was leaking because the rubber seal was misaligned. Later this week, since we're supposed to be getting some very nice warm weather, I plan to replace the original regulator/zener diode electrics with a Podtronics unit that was sent to me by a very generous member. I also will replace the air filter setup as well with two separate cone filters to see how they look and function. With the warm weather hitting us here on Thursday, I plan to give it a kick and start it up from a long winters nap. Excited about that!
When he says warming up,he means the low forties!😎😎
 
I put a Corbin Smuggler seat on for a test run tomorrow. About 60 miles away to meet up with the club for lunch. Nice, but small glove box on the rear of this….tool kit, hat and sunglasses. It’s supposed to get to 68F tomorrow before dropping back to winter for the rest of the week.
 
I have the circular Halcyons. They are good, but I have to have them 1/2" or so out of the bars on the clutch side, or they interfere with the lever pull.
 
I have the circular Halcyons. They are good, but I have to have them 1/2" or so out of the bars on the clutch side, or they interfere with the lever pull.
Mine aren't that close, but its easy enough to slide the L/H assembly across a tad 👍
 
Unfortunately, the switchgear is already right at the start of the curve on the bars. I guess bars differ. Not a fault with the Halcyons. I only mention to forewarn anyone who might have no room for adjustment.
 
Please use some straps as well as the front wheel chock. That middle photo is making me very nervous 👍
Good call. SAfety first. I did put straps on the bike afterward to add some stability. You can also see the two tubes of sand that I placed over the lower part of the lift to give it some stability and lower the centre of gravity some. Pretty busy already with just one day of working on the bike. You'd be surprised how sturdy those Bexley chocks are. I'm pretty much finished my cleaning and maintenance - just need to put some fresh trans fluid in. I ordered a couple chains from AN (06.4025) and when those arrive I'll install one of them, and keep the other as a spare. Then I should be ready for the season. I also replaced the Zener/Rectifier setup with a Podtronics over the weekend. I saw about 5 bikes roll by my house over this weekend. It got up to 10Celsius with plenty of sunshine. I kinda wished I was out riding instead of servicing the bike. Still, lots of fun working on the bike.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Back
Top