MCN still love the Commando

Café au Lait said:

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Did I hear him say the Commando frame is more rigid than the Featherbed? I find that hard to believe.

hhh said:

Did I hear him say the Commando frame is more rigid than the Featherbed?

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I believe it is as long as you ignore the isolastics. The large diameter top tube makes the Commando frame stiff, but it will only translate to tighter handling over the featherbed if the engine/swingarm is also rigidly mounted. As the engine/swingarm is not rigidly mounted on the Commando the tight handling goes back the way and the rigidly mounted featherbed overtakes the Commando.

The fault is the mention of the stiffer frame is not qualified by the isolastics being included.

kommando said:

I believe it is as long as you ignore the isolastics. The large diameter top tube makes the Commando frame stiff, but it will only translate to tighter handling over the featherbed if the engine/swingarm is also rigidly mounted. As the engine/swingarm is not rigidly mounted on the Commando the tight handling goes back the way and the rigidly mounted featherbed overtakes the Commando.

The fault is the mention of the stiffer frame is not qualified by the isolastics being included.

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Well owning my Commando from new and converting it the Featherbed frame in 1980 I can tell you the Featherbed frame is more rigid than the Commando frame, the FB frame is so much heavier than the Commando frame and handles so much better than the Commando frame and has double rails at the top of frame, one rail on each side, the FB frame is also a lot shorter than the Commando frame so the wheels are closer together than on the Commando.

That 'Motorcycle of the year' award from MCN didn't mean much.
Mostly votes from British teens who would never own or ride a Commando in their entire life.

ludwig said:

That 'Motorcycle of the year' award from MCN didn't mean much.
Mostly votes from British teens who would never own or ride a Commando in their entire life.

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Very true

ashman said:

Well owning my Commando from new and converting it the Featherbed frame in 1980 I can tell you the Featherbed frame is more rigid than the Commando frame, the FB frame is so much heavier than the Commando frame and handles so much better than the Commando frame and has double rails at the top of frame, one rail on each side, the FB frame is also a lot shorter than the Commando frame so the wheels are closer together than on the Commando.

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Taking the isolastics out of the equation I'd say the commando frame is probably stiffer than a featherbed frame
The Peter williams monocoque frame race bikes still used isolastics I believe ?
And a featherbed framed commando compared to the handling of a commando is not any better according to race results as far as I know
A badly set up commando chassis is pretty bad but set up well it's pretty good

ludwig said:

That 'Motorcycle of the year' award from MCN didn't mean much.
Mostly votes from British teens who would never own or ride a Commando in their entire life.

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The likes of me, a 16yr old 'window licker' bitd .... although I did get a Commando at the suitably mature age of 26. And still have it, up and running and on the road.

There was a black Commando parked at a building site opposite home, where they were building a school. It was there all summer. I was 7y.o. I can most remember the smell of it. I now know it's the scent of primary oil burning on the exhaust. Took me almost 50 years to find out. Funny what never leaves you.

Mart UK said:

There was a black Commando parked at a building site opposite home, where they were building a school. It was there all summer. I was 7y.o. I can most remember the smell of it. I now know it's the scent of primary oil burning on the exhaust. Took me almost 50 years to find out. Funny what never leaves you.

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Our postman used a red fastback as his delivery bike , I was suitably impressed.

concours said:

American Honda had the ad campaign in place before the CB750 came.
It was well promoted.
It is my opinion they outspent the rest of the bike world on advertising.
And yes, they were reliable.

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Oddly in my racing days in New Hampshire and the USCRA racing club, I never saw a CB 750 racing. I did see some CB750s in Daytona eventually that were museum pieces and fully modified to get them fast and to finish races, But, they didn't always finish, but they were fast and very expensive being Dick Mann replicas. Finally one showed at NHIS, up a fully kitted Rickman CB750. Jerry Wood beat him in the F 750 AHRMA class race on my Commando.

I did see lots of more modern 1985 and newer Hondas and other brands in the modern novice class practices I went out in, I used to pass them all , it was fun! It takes a very special bike to get up to racing speeds, I wasn't that great a rider, but the speed of my Commando made up for my shortcomings and it was a very easy bike to go fast on. A real Racebike! The novice class racers thought I was a heck of a racer, No, I had a hell of a bike.

The Commando had the Norton Girls in their ads. The ads were hard to beat too.

I did get and sponsor Todd Henning #454 on his first CB450 race bike and that started the Honda CB twin revolution and changed the face of American Vintage racing, But that is a whole other story. Lots of vintage racers up their game with his race proven parts. His son Ari Henning is still racing his bikes 35 years later. Yes, Hondas are reliable and real fast.

ashman said:

Well owning my Commando from new and converting it the Featherbed frame in 1980 I can tell you the Featherbed frame is more rigid than the Commando frame, the FB frame is so much heavier than the Commando frame and handles so much better than the Commando frame and has double rails at the top of frame, one rail on each side, the FB frame is also a lot shorter than the Commando frame so the wheels are closer together than on the Commando.

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You are just biased Ashley. I once saw a bike like yours at an historic race meeting. It had the 850 motor in the Manx frame, and was racing in the pre-1963 class. If you could not win with that, you would be going pretty bad. I saw it from across the pits and laughed. A lot of people cannot see the potential in those sorts of bikes. If it had a disc on the front, it could win in the pre-1983 class. If I had a Commando with the isolastics, I would love it, but I would not attempt to race it. With the Commando engine in the featherbed frame - the forward lean on the motor would help it to handle. Where the centre of gravity is located is critical. If the front is light, the bike cannot be ridden fast.

Al I might be biased but owning a new Commando and converting it to the Featherbed frame back in 1980/82 I think I know more than others and mine has been set up right from the beginning and upgraded over the last 44+ years in the FB frame, I have also worked on and rode many Commandos over the same time frame, and to be honest I like my set up better than a Commando set up, my bike is a lot lighter, don't have problems with hard mounted or chewed out exhaust rose threads and it handle so much better, would I do it all over again, I sure would, I have a Slimline frame ready to go but the 650 motor will have to do.
A lot on here might disagree with me but how many have ridden a well set up Commando/Featherbed, but I still love Commando's and the people who ride them, I also have a love of Triumphs from the 70/80s and of course the Triumph Thruxton's.
Sorry I ever sold my 81 650 Triumph Thunderbird (oil in frame) was a great reliable bike same size bores as the 750 Bonnie but shorter stroke, it was so much smoother than the 79 750 bonnie I had for 1 year.

Matchless said:

The first 750 Honda to have a HyVo chain was the twin cam K.

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Actually the cb750 automatic used the hyvo primary chain in 1976 two years before introduction of the twin cam.