The Bike Stable -Norton Commando

[dennisgb]

I've been asked to start a thread about some of my motorcycles. They are bikes other than my GS500 so we will see how it goes. Many forums don't permit "other" bike discussions.

A little about me. I have been working on and building motorcycles and cars for almost 45 years. I worked most of my working life as a mechanical engineer and have always loved anything mechanical and especially anything with an engine.

I got out of motorcyling actively when my first child was born. I guess there was a bit of questioning my mortality that drove that decision...but also a wife who went down in a crash with me on my BSA 650 Hornet when she was 5 months pregnant...she did not want to ride and wanted me to stop after that.

We were separated in 2009 and eventually divorced. My interest in motorcycles came back during the divorce. It gave me an outlet and the value of a hobby such as building custom motorcycles became very clear to me. It's fun and rewarding. Doesn't take as much space as cars (I've restored a number of classic cars over the years), and I enjoy it.

I presently own 9 motorcylces. I had as many as 12 over the past few years, but eventually the number will probably hover at around 5...you can't ride them all and the insurance is kiling me.

In the 60's I owned a number of British bikes, BSA's Triumph's and I bought a new Norton Commando 850 in 1976 (it was a 1975 model as were all of the bikes after 1975 as Norton was in recievership and eventually closed down).

So one of the bikes I looked for was a Norton Commando.

After a couple of years I ran across a pretty decent example that didn't run. The seller said it hadn't run in 10 years. I went to look at it with my trailer and cash. I kicked it over and the engine was free...what I saw is what I got. Here's a picture of it when I brought it home.



The first thing I did was go through the basics to get it running and do an assessment before tearing it down for restoration.
If you look close in the picture the carb is laying on the engine. The carb was a dirty Mikuni VM and it really was so far gone it wasn't worth repairing so I decided to put a TM Flat Slide on it. I added electronic ignition, new wires, plugs, cleaned the tank, put fresh fuel and oil, a baterry and it started on the 3rd kick...took a little tuning to get it to the point shown in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e95rL4Ko-oc

The bike is presently about half way finished. I have brand new front forks with custom billet components that I fabricated. It also has progressive springs, adjustable dampers, turcite bushings, Brembo brakes, floating disc and special dash and gauges. I adapted the brakes from a Ducati Monster. It also has 2014 Triumph switch gear.





Once on the road it will be a classic that has the features of a 21st century bike.

They are actually pretty decent bikes. In the day they were very fast and handled well. They are classic in styling and have an awesome sound. By today's standards they are just fun and look cool. They have some not so good things about them and were never very reliable. My build includes upgrading pretty much everything related to reliability, safety, comfort and handling and cosmetics. The plan is to finish the bike as close to original in appearance with the mods I am doing something like the bikes built by Colorado Norton Works.

[The Buddha]

You strapped it to the trailer with the header ?
Cool.
Buddha.

[dennisgb]

  That was the loose end of the strap...I have had plenty of comments on that. I was only going a couple of miles and that was the easiest place to tie it so it wouldn't flap in the wind. 

[dennisgb]

This is a picture taken at Colorado Norton Works about a month ago. I am on the right. Matt Rambow the owner is on the left. Matt is world known for his beautiful Norton's. He was featured on Cafe Racer TV a couple of times.



I'm using some parts from CNW as well as other sources. Most of the parts I am fabricating myself in my shop.

There is a huge Norton community and CNW is at the front of it.

If you like classic bikes there is nothing like them. They also cost quite a bit, but the values of these bikes has gone up significantly so it's all relative.

http://coloradonortonworks.com/

[dennisgb]

[dennisgb]

I'm showing pictures of parts because the bike is in process. I have all the parts to finish the build but am recovering from fusion surgery and my new shop is in process.

Custom billet yokes designed for 1" bars (Norton had 3/4"). This allowed me to use the 2014 Triumph switch gear, adjustable levers and master cylinder. The original norton yokes were cast iron painted.



Painted and detailed side covers ready to go on the bike.

[dennisgb]

This was my temporary shop this past summer when I was building the 1987 Honda Hurricane "RR" MotoGp replica bike. The new shop is much better with 2 build tables, 2 lifts, overhead trolley hoist and full machine shop including CNC milling. The shop is partly complete but when my back went out I had to put it on the back burner. It's been difficult because I have bikes and parts in three different places. It will be ready before spring here. The Norton will be the first on the bench.

[J_Walker]

at first I saw the first picture of that nice clean garage. and went "no way this guy works on his own bikes....." scrolled on down.... "ohhhh THAT'S his garage. WORKS ON HIS BIKES FOR SURE!" if a garage is clean, there isn't any work being done in it...  No matter how "organized" you claim to be.. a messy garage is a working garage!

sure have a lot bigger space to work in then I do...!

[ShowBizWolf]

Awesome thread, thank you for sharing!  That Norton really is sharp looking... I must have stared at that pic of the gauges for over a minute    I am jealous of that garage space... it is a goal to build out on mine someday

[dennisgb]

Thank you so much for the positive comments.

A little about the gauge cluster.

There are two camps within the Norton community. The purists believe that you should only do a restoration 100 points concourse or as built original.

The problem is the bikes were not that great compared to today's bikes. If you build to show, you likely will trailer it to shows.

I want to ride mine. So the approach is tasteful improvements. Keep the original look and feel, but fix all the old issues.

I fabricated the dash to incorporate a volt meter, because Brit bikes are notorious for poor charging and electrical problems. Being abe to see what is going on is important. All of these can be fixed by installing a 3 phase alternator and improving the wiring. The MKIII in 1975 was the first electric start Brit bike and the starter didn't work very well. It would sometimes turn the engine over. If you used the headlight forget it. You kicked it over. The better alternator, wiring and battery improves this, but also converting the starter to 4 pole (using the guts from a Harley starter).

The billet yokes are custom as well...but they look nicer than the originals without changing the look. Everything polished makes it look very nice...but still very classic. There's is a fine line to put it together in the right way.

There are ways to make these bikes into nice rideable classics. Electronic ignition (they were points), better wiring, new carb(s), breather's to reduce crankcase pressure (get's rid of oil leaking), new brakes, suspension, tires, etc. Tires today are so much better than they were in the 70's. These bikes handled very well in the day...Norton's were applauded for their handling. With today's tires and improved suspension they can handle with most any bike in the twisties. Very surprising actually.

Work space is very important to me at this point because I am retired and this is a big part of my life...keeps me going so to speak.

The space you see in the pictures is my pole barn. It is not heated, so can only be used in summer. The new space will be heated and air conditioned so I can work year round 

[NYNJ8]

Hey Dennis,

Beautiful Job with the Norton.  It is a stunner for sure.  Can you give me some info on the bar end mirrors?  Was looking for something similar but ended up with the cheap China version and I'm not happy with them.  Keep up the good work.

[dennisgb]

Hey Dennis,

Beautiful Job with the Norton.  It is a stunner for sure.  Can you give me some info on the bar end mirrors?  Was looking for something similar but ended up with the cheap China version and I'm not happy with them.  Keep up the good work.

That picture is one of Matt's bikes and what I am trying to emulate in my build. I wanted to show what the bike will look like...right now it is about 1/2 finished. Matt only shows round mirror's on his website. He is not cheap price wise ($100), and you can find good quality mirrors if you look for a lot less. I can contact him and ask him about those mirrors if you want me too.

[dennisgb]

Norton Commando Performance

The British parallel twins have a feel and a sound all their own. The Norton Commando 750 and 850 engines are long strokes, so they develop a ton of torque. You can stand them up on the rear wheel very easily. They are very quick from a standing start to about 80 MPH and can still give a lot of bikes a run for the money. On top of that they handled well so they could run the twisties in a day when most Japanese bikes couldn't. The power and feel is still very exciting.

The Commando was the first "Superbike" which was a title given to the biggest and fastest bikes in the early days of competition to build the fastest bike. The Commando was first shown in the fall of 1967 as a 1968 model. It won "Motorcycle of the Year" honors for 5 consecutive years.

In the March 1970 issue of Cycle magazine, tests were made on all then-current superbikes. Of the seven bikes tested, a Norton Commando SS ran the quarter-mile fastest, at 12.69 seconds. The Honda CB750 stopped more quickly, but the Norton was still faster.

Today these numbers might not seem fast, but in 1970, that was faster than most Super Stock drag race cars. The test bike was in stock form.

The Norton Commando is one of the most prized bikes in today's classic motorcycle market, giving excellent performance and very good parts availability. Over the years it has remained one of the most desirable classic British bikes, and many will argue it was the best.

[Zithromax]

I remembered my dad had an orange Norton in the 70's, so we talked about it today. His came with a kick only, but his buddy's Norton came with electric start... Then dad just had to get electric start put on his bike "to keep up with the Hendersons" so to speak.

That bike you're working on is a real BOSS. When you ride to any shows or bike rallys it's gonna turn heads! 

[Joolstacho]

Congrats Dennis, -lucky boy!
I had x2 850 Commandos, a Mk2A (Best build/quality of all the Commandos) and a later electric start Mk3 (which was nowhere near as well built, -factory was on it's last legs by then and quality suffered - eg rear wheel spindle snapped like a carrot, chopped out the layshaft bearing gearbox housing etc etc, but I must say I did like the vernier Isolastics adjustment.
The 750 SS was really a bit of a timebomb. Quick, but with a tendency to self-destruct! Developing the 850 allowed them to drop the compression ratio a bit, back off the tuning a bit, ending up with the same power but with a much less stressed engine.

Beautiful fruity, fluid, torquey power. And what a beautiful rich, snarling sound. Handling was way ahead of the contemporary Jap machines. Cooo I can feel it like yesterday, sent mad during the night by the midges where we were camped on the shores of a loch on the west coast of Scotland... A freezing cold morning, starting around dawn, squirting the Norton, wringing it's neck across the width of Scotland, west to east, dodging those long-haired long-horned cows, getting to the east coast in time for for a steaming great big breakfast. Ahh!
(And I was ready for a pint by 10.30!)

In a way I sometimes think of my GS500 as a similar package. Look at it... Similar weight, (Norton a bit heavier), similar power overall, (Norton better low-end), Handling I'd have to give to the Commando, though I think Progressives on the front end of the GS would bring them closer. Nice SIMPLE aircooled twin, so well engineered. Suzi reliability and dependability is brilliant, way ahead of the Norton, but of course you just don't get that incredible 'character' with the GS. (Don't get Me wrong, I just love my GS, it cost me a tiny fraction of what a Commando would have, and it's so trouble-free).

Man I was SPEWING about 6 months ago. I missed out on a Commando that sold for only 4 gees... (currently around here they go for 12-14 and upwards). Worst of all it was a mate who sold it... I would have got a discount too !!!
Aaaaarrrggghhhh! 

[J_Walker]

Congrats Dennis, -lucky boy!
I had x2 850 Commandos, a Mk2A (Best build/quality of all the Commandos) and a later electric start Mk3 (which was nowhere near as well built, -factory was on it's last legs by then and quality suffered - eg rear wheel spindle snapped like a carrot, chopped out the layshaft bearing gearbox housing etc etc, but I must say I did like the vernier Isolastics adjustment.
The 750 SS was really a bit of a timebomb. Quick, but with a tendency to self-destruct! Developing the 850 allowed them to drop the compression ratio a bit, back off the tuning a bit, ending up with the same power but with a much less stressed engine.

Beautiful fruity, fluid, torquey power. And what a beautiful rich, snarling sound. Handling was way ahead of the contemporary Jap machines. Cooo I can feel it like yesterday, sent mad during the night by the midges where we were camped on the shores of a loch on the west coast of Scotland... A freezing cold morning, starting around dawn, squirting the Norton, wringing it's neck across the width of Scotland, west to east, dodging those long-haired long-horned cows, getting to the east coast in time for for a steaming great big breakfast. Ahh!
(And I was ready for a pint by 10.30!)

In a way I sometimes think of my GS500 as a similar package. Look at it... Similar weight, (Norton a bit heavier), similar power overall, (Norton better low-end), Handling I'd have to give to the Commando, though I think Progressives on the front end of the GS would bring them closer. Nice SIMPLE aircooled twin, so well engineered. Suzi reliability and dependability is brilliant, way ahead of the Norton, but of course you just don't get that incredible 'character' with the GS. (Don't get Me wrong, I just love my GS, it cost me a tiny fraction of what a Commando would have, and it's so trouble-free).

Man I was SPEWING about 6 months ago. I missed out on a Commando that sold for only 4 gees... (currently around here they go for 12-14 and upwards). Worst of all it was a mate who sold it... I would have got a discount too !!!
Aaaaarrrggghhhh! 

The GS500 would be such a better bike/engine. if it was a long stroke... and maybe 800CC     think of the possibilitys...

[Twisted]

dennisgb. Have you seen this video?

[Joolstacho]

Bought a tear to my jaded old eye! Brilliant!

[yamahonkawazuki]

Had always enjoyed seeing this