Trying to help a recent widow sell her husband's '71 Commando.

gpzkat said:
I got the stand mounted, not a fun job, time for heat pad on my back. I have always installed them on my various bikes by first attaching the spring to frame/stand, and then levering the stand into position to get a screwdriver in, align, then put in temp bolt, etc. The Commando is more difficult than my Suzukis, of course. Not much down there to use as a fulcrum, whereas the Suzkis have a big cross-member that's perfect for leverage. So I got a good workout. The last task is to fit the rear shoes when they arrive in a couple of days. I should have ordered when I got the fronts a while back, as they were completely shot.

Well, maybe not the last task. The front wheel (MB41) is a big let-down with its rust. I have a much better one that I am willing to donate to the bike, just wondering if I want to go through the toil. I had no problems lacing up my N15CS front, which I set up with a Commando disc. It's tire changing that I really hate, ha!

Trying to help a recent widow sell her husband's '71 Commando.
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Polish that rust. Ignore the pits.
Unless your doing a 100 point show bike.

The vinegar & tin foil trick works wonders.
 
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Here's how I get the spring on. Start with the stand zip tied in the up position, spring hanging loose. Make loops from 2 large zip ties and slip around free end of spring. Laying under the bike pull the loops back to get the other end of the spring to insert it into the hole. Cut all of the zip ties loose. I've tried spring pullers, but they are hard to remove once the spring is in place.
 
Trying to help a recent widow sell her husband's '71 Commando.

I opened the spring up in a vice, swapping the vice jaws for a couple of strips of metal with holes in for the spring hooks, and placed some copper coins between the coils to lengthen the spring then pulled them out with pliers once fitted.
 
Good tips. I sorted out the side stand, not the proper update with a new design welded on, but it will do. It leans at a much better angle, and the stand retracts just right. I heated the bent mounting stub to about 425°F and used the stand to lever it back into position. If used as it should, i.e., to support the bike when sitting there, and not when kicking the &*I^Y## thing over, it should be OK.

Trying to help a recent widow sell her husband's '71 Commando.
 
I got the bike running today. I was told it 'ran when parked' (haha), so I gave it the college try. The first kicks were sputters & pops, and that didn't improve. So I dived into the ignition system. I read a loooong thread from 2021 here. With plugs out, I could see a weak spark. I swapped in a backup set of Champion N4Cs off my N15CS and whoowee, big fat blue spark. Still no joy, bigger backfires, or nothing. Dry plugs after many kicks. Having rebuilt the carbs, I wondered if the idle jet passage was clogged. But I had boiled out that thing in my caustic witches brew and ultrasound, checked all the passages, and used a new inline filter from my remote tank. Hmm. I shot some carb spray through the jet hole and it roared out of the tickler.

So I looked at the Boyer rotor - it was off by 40 degrees or so. It was as if someone aligned it to the Atlas inspection hole per the Boyer diagram. I removed/aligned it, gave the carbs a good tickle, and wham - I got a ton of kickback and backfire. What? Not being happy with the static timing method, I used an inline light from my timing light kit that clips on between the spark plug lead and spark plug, mainly to let the plug hang down by the timing inspection cap (wired into position and grounded with the bare wire), and took a slo-mo video on my iPhone capturing both as I rotated the rear wheel with the bike in top gear. It captured the plug and the timing marker beautiflky. The electrode fired right at 29 degrees BTDC. I figured that's close enough, time to ponder.

After scratching my chin a bit, I figured I may have gone overboard with tickling the carbs and kicking it over with the ignition off, then lighting it up. And maybe my kick technique wasn't the greatest. So without any ticking and better starting technique, I had it going after 3 kicks. Now it starts right up. I checked if my donated Podtronics was doing its job, and indeed it was. Now I just need to set the idle, strobe the timing, and tidy things up, then do some test rides.

Edit: I got the timing spot-on with the strobe, and it's an easy one-kick start when warm, idles at 1K. It was far too advanced. I'll dial in the idle mixture tomorrow and go for a spin.
 
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gpzkat said:
I got the bike running today. I was told it 'ran when parked' (haha), so I gave it the college try. The first kicks were sputters & pops, and that didn't improve. So I dived into the ignition system. I read a loooong thread from 2021 here. With plugs out, I could see a weak spark. I swapped in a backup set of Champion N4Cs off my N15CS and whoowee, big fat blue spark. Still no joy, bigger backfires, or nothing. Dry plugs after many kicks. Having rebuilt the carbs, I wondered if the idle jet passage was clogged. But I had boiled out that thing in my caustic witches brew and ultrasound, checked all the passages, and used a new inline filter from my remote tank. Hmm. I shot some carb spray through the jet hole and it roared out of the tickler.

So I looked at the Boyer rotor - it was off by 40 degrees or so. It was as if someone aligned it to the Atlas inspection hole per the Boyer diagram. I removed/aligned it, gave the carbs a good tickle, and wham - I got a ton of kickback and backfire. What? Not being happy with the static timing method, I used an inline light from my timing light kit that clips on between the spark plug lead and spark plug, mainly to let the plug hang down by the timing inspection cap (wired into position and grounded with the bare wire), and took a slo-mo video on my iPhone capturing both as I rotated the rear wheel with the bike in top gear. It captured the plug and the timing marker beautiflky. The electrode fired right at 29 degrees BTDC. I figured that's close enough, time to ponder.

After scratching my chin a bit, I figured I may have gone overboard with tickling the carbs and kicking it over with the ignition off, then lighting it up. And maybe my kick technique wasn't the greatest. So without any ticking and better starting technique, I had it going after 3 kicks. Now it starts right up. I checked if my donated Podtronics was doing its job, and indeed it was. Now I just need to set the idle, strobe the timing, and tidy things up, then do some test rides.

Edit: I got the timing spot-on with the strobe, and it's an easy one-kick start when warm, idles at 1K. It was far too advanced. I'll dial in the idle mixture tomorrow and go for a spin.
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Don't know if you've ridden a commando before but the vibes should disappear around 2300 rpm
Above 5000 they are a joy if set up right
 
baz said:
Don't know if you've ridden a commando before but the vibes should disappear around 2300 rpm
Above 5000 they are a joy if set up right
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Today was my first time. It's nice, quite different from my N15CS. Very smooth once the revs climb. The chain clanked against the guard on the first ride, so I only rode about a block. I fixed that issue and had a longer low-speed ride because it's on borrowed plates and I'm riding in the gated zoo where they keep me. Mostly all good, but I think I will need to adjust the timing and primary chains as there's more of a racket than I'm comfortable with. The primary seemed OK through the inspection cap, but it's making a racket on that side of the engine. The clutch slips badly. Carburetion was fine once underway, but there are issues to sort out, as always. So as expected, more work to get it right.
 
Nice! I always like a yellow Commando Roadster. I was considering painting my black roadster yellow back in '08 but decided to "convert" it to a fastback in BRG which it's been ever since. But I still occasionally think about respraying it yellow...
 
gpzkat said:
Today was my first time. It's nice, quite different from my N15CS. Very smooth once the revs climb. The chain clanked against the guard on the first ride, so I only rode about a block. I fixed that issue and had a longer low-speed ride because it's on borrowed plates and I'm riding in the gated zoo where they keep me. Mostly all good, but I think I will need to adjust the timing and primary chains as there's more of a racket than I'm comfortable with. The primary seemed OK through the inspection cap, but it's making a racket on that side of the engine. The clutch slips badly. Carburetion was fine once underway, but there are issues to sort out, as always. So as expected, more work to get it right.
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Are you familiar with DynoDave's clutch set-up information?

Works perfect.


and:


One and done.

Thanks again @dynodave !
 
Fast Eddie said:
Seems pretty obvious to me that you should keep it !!
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Can't afford it, been looking for work for some time, oh well.

I'm PO'ed because I made a Commando clutch tool during Covid (long story, I didn't even need it), and now I can't find it. I must have lost it moving around. I know I wouldn't have thrown it away. Now I can't even find a 4" schedule 40 PVC cap and the 1/2-20 fine all-thread or bolt in stores nearby. Guess I'll have to build or buy another via mail, and then it will show up.
 
I have been doing the 'final fettling'. I drained and cleaned the primary which had oil in it. Clutch slipping badly. Made a tool with PVC cap, put back together with ATF and it's good now. The bigger problem was a terrible miss and plug fouling on the left cylinder. I was worried as it has original carbs, coils - the only thing new is the Boyer. And my first (cold) compression check was only 120, whereas the right side was way higher at 190 (!). (Edit: I don't trust my gauge, it's erratic each time different). I looked at the slides, which I should have done when I cleaned them.... and they were shot. The carb bodies looked good, not distorted, no grooves in them.

I talked with the owner about the cost of new Amals vs a lower cost gamble of replacing the needle jets and slides. The info that I read described worn needle jets as a bad miss at 1/4-1/2 throttle, and that's what it had. It was awful. But after several rides that left cylinder's compression came up to about 175 which sort of confirmed my suspicion that it had sat a long time and needed an 'Italian tune-up'. (Edit 2: after a ride, engine fully warmed up, both are around 130 so I don't know what's going on with the readings - but there's no smoke, no fouling, and it has good power through the range.

I had a marginally too high float on the left as well, which certainly didn't help. I sorted that out, and fired it up on my remote tank and it sounded good, no pops or farts. So I put the tank and seat on and went for a 20-minute ride. Wow. Fantastic. The plug looks perfect after the ride. It's a one-kick starter and settles into a nice 1K or so idle. At this point it is only balanced by feel on the slides, so there is some improvement to be had with my good old Motion Pro Carb Stix. I was really happy to convey the good news to the owner.
 
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That worked out well.

gpzkat said:
I had a marginally too high float on the left as well, which certainly didn't help. I sorted that out, and fired it up on my remote tank and it sounded good, no pops or farts. So I put the tank and seat on and went for a 20-minute ride. Wow. Fantastic. The plug looks perfect after the ride. It's a one-kick starter and settles into a nice 1K or so idle. At this point it is only balanced by feel on the slides, so there is some improvement to be had with my good old Motion Pro Carb Stix. I was really happy to convey the good news to the owner.
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Made me look. I thought I tossed it. I don't remember it being real useful on a Norton twin with Amals. Worked alright on a lot of other multi cylinder engines though.
Mine came with mercury, and it is still in there and good. Do they still have mercury in them?

Trying to help a recent widow sell her husband's '71 Commando.
 
Schwany said:
That worked out well.



Made me look. I thought I tossed it. I don't remember it being real useful on a Norton twin with Amals. Worked alright on a lot of other multi cylinder engines though.
Mine came with a Mercury. Do they still have mercury in them?

Trying to help a recent widow sell her husband's '71 Commando.
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Yes I have kept the original mercury since I got it, stored in a 35mm film case. I got it in the 80s, it's been around the world a few times. I use on my 4 cyl Suzukis, Hondas etc. I am also not sure how much I can improve the Norton, as I have never tried. I also have a dial set that was given to me. That's the same box I had but I store it now in a poster tube as the cardboard left the building haha.
 
gpzkat said:
Yes I have kept the original mercury since I got it, stored in a 35mm film case. I got it in the 80s, it's been around the world a few times. I use on my 4 cyl Suzukis, Hondas etc. I am also not sure how much I can improve the Norton, as I have never tried. I also have a dial set that was given to me. That's the same box I had but I store it now in a poster tube as the cardboard left the building haha.
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Vintage 80's

I need a skip loader and dump truck to get rid of a lot of stuff. 🤣
 
The modern ones look like mercury, but they're solid metal filaments that slide up and down the tubes. Work OK though.
 
The clutch was a bit of a chore (but nothing like my N15CS...). I think it was updated to 850 (?) spec as it had 5 friction plates. The pull was very light, like one 'pinky' finger, and it slipped badly. I cleaned the plates, sanded the discs, put in ATF and still had major slippage. I read up on some threads here, and the thing that made most sense to me, and solved it was reducing the stack - putting one of the steel plates in first against the chainwheel surface (rather than a friction plate), and removing that one friction plate from the assembly. The bike is an absolute blast to ride. I had never ridden a Commando before except 20MPH test rides, and I'm impressed.

Oh - being slow on the uptake, I failed to click with the fact that compression readings are affected by a slipping clutch. I just took a nice 30-minute ride through the canyon and re-tested. Both read 187. The Boyer is much happier with a new battery, and without clutch slip it starts very easily now, no messing around.

It was interesting to get my 20 y/o son's views on the Commado - didn't like the TLS brake - which, to be fair, is still bedding in. It has good stopping power but the feel is not so great vs the disc I run on the N15CS. Other than that he loved it.

Another ketchup and mustard pic from our ride just now.

Trying to help a recent widow sell her husband's '71 Commando.
 
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