1971 Commando: 1977 Repair bill

What makes no sense to me is 1,800 miles in almost 6 years?? This bike may have had a new speedo.

Hortons Norton said:

What makes no sense to me is 1,800 miles in almost 6 years?? This bike may have had a new speedo.

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The derogatory nickname, “Notrun”, may very well applied in this case.

Perhaps it is a fellow who did not live very far from the local waterhole....

Onder said:

Perhaps it is a fellow who did not live very far from the local waterhole....

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Preferable but not likely.

The $361.73, 1977 dollars is now (close) to $1,532.22. Even at the higher figure the work is a bargain, if done correctly, of course.

Tigernut said:

$30 for a combat head? $17.90 for a gasket set? Seems out of all proportion - a combat head for less than the price of two gasket sets!

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During the 70's, 80's, I remember Norton Commando ads in the local newspaper, many of these declaring in the ad the bike was "Not Combat", this being a reliability concern with the Combat engine?? (others more knowledgeable, please comment) If that was indeed the case, it would make business sense of a $30.00 exchange of a Combat head for what would be a more desirable standard Commando head.

In a weak moment in the 1990's, I sold this bike back to my friend and fellow club member. He still has it, and this is a recent photo. ~998cc

Hortons Norton said:

What makes no sense to me is 1,800 miles in almost 6 years?? This bike may have had a new speedo.

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The bike came to me with old replaced parts. One replaced part was an oil pump. That may explain the lower end (rod bearing) failure and the added oil pressure gauge in the above photo. Since the oil pump is not on the bill, I can only assume it was installed by someone else at a prior time
~998cc

Hard to say what the deal is, But having the crank checked has me thinking there must have some sort of damage to it??

I don't think this thread went the way the OP thought.......

998cc said:

During the 70's, 80's, I remember Norton Commando ads in the local newspaper, many of these declaring in the ad the bike was "Not Combat", this being a reliability concern with the Combat engine?? (others more knowledgeable, please comment) If that was indeed the case, it would make business sense of a $30.00 exchange of a Combat head for what would be a more desirable standard Commando head.

In a weak moment in the 1990's, I sold this bike back to my friend and fellow club member. He still has it, and this is a recent photo. ~998cc
View attachment 8204

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Yes some of the machines did have issues, from what I have read they could rev higher than was safe for the valve train and bottom end could endure. There was warranty work being done at dealerships for main bearings. If my memory is correct they stopped milling the heads and changed the mains before the 72 year ended??

MichaelB said:

I don't think this thread went the way the OP thought.......

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Being the original poster, the intent was nothing more than to share with the group an interesting document from 41 years ago and to do a comparison/contrast between it and and today's market. It was intended to be fun, and the direction it went was up to the group. The responses have been quite insightful.

Cheers to all!
~998cc

998cc said:

Being the original poster, the intent was nothing more than to share with the group an interesting document from 41 years ago and to do a comparison/contrast between it and and today's market. It was intended to be fun, and the direction it went was up to the group. The responses have been quite insightful.

Cheers to all!
~998cc

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Its all good, its good to see the differents from 40 odd years ago to our times now in how much we paid, but in them days we didn't have as much goodies or bits and peices that we can get today, I remember just before my warranty ran out on my Norton its was 12 months warranty but only 6 months on labour so after 6 month if you had to get any warranty you had to pay for labour, my Norton got a bad oil leak from a crack in he oil tank mount and I told them where it was coming from, so you think a quick fix, when I picked up he bike they charged me for 5 hrs labour $105 at the time, they said they had to find where the leak was coming from and when I disputed it because I told them where the oil leak was in the first place, they then said if you don't pay you don't get your bike back till you do, I was so pissed off and paid in protest but I had the last laugh as when I paid up they said see you for your next service and I said to them this will be the last time you see my Norton and they didn't, I learned to do all my own work on it after that, my Norton hasn't seen a shop workshop in 43 years now. 5 hours labour now would be close to $600 or more these days.
$105 don't seem much these days but was neally 2 weeks wages for me at the time I was only 18 years old at the time.

Ashley

998cc said:

All. I recently found this old shop bill for work that was done to my old '71 Commando prior to my ownership of the bike and thought others may find it interesting. This work was done in 1977 by a local shop. Note the mileage of only 1850.8!

Hard to believe this much engine work could be done for this price, even 42 years ago. The shop closed about 25+- years ago. The bike had about 13K on it when I bought it.

~998cc

View attachment 8173


Here is my interpretation of the written text:

(1) 06-3608 Overhaul gasket set $17.90

(1) Norris cam exch $69.95

(1) 06-3609 Grommet $1.88

(2) 06-2461 Oil ring $8.06

(2) 06-4118 Main Bearing $67.04

Total Parts $164.83

(2) 06-4??? Rod inserts $14.30

Total Parts $179.13

Combat Cyl Head Exch $30.00

(edit: Total Parts) $209.13

06-2726 Guide Seals $1.60

Est. Parts $210.73



Labor:

Bottom end overhaul. Check crank for cracks $120.00

Furnish and install Norris cam. Check main bearings. If needed, replace with 06-4118 $6.00

Est Labor: $126.00

Grind Valves $25.00

Est Labor $151.00

Total for all parts and labor: $361.73

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I bought a Parilla motorcycle from Hall Burdette. And the MKIII that I still have. They were always reasonable with prices.

Jackson5 said:

I bought a Parilla motorcycle from Hall Burdette. And the MKIII that I still have. They were always reasonable with prices.

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Don't hear much about Parilla's. As a teen, I found a non-running Parilla 250 for $25.00. The tappets were very loose; a couple of hours massaging the bike, and it ran like a top! Rode it for about a year and swapped it for a guitar.....another of the "wish I had it now" bikes.

The last time I was at Hall Burdette, I ordered a clutch cable for my old '71 Commando. The business had been sold to another party. Paid cash up front for the cable and never got the phone call. When I stopped by to check status, the business was closed for good!!

~998cc

998cc said:

Don't hear much about Parilla's. As a teen, I found a non-running Parilla 250 for $25.00. The tappets were very loose; a couple of hours massaging the bike, and it ran like a top! Rode it for about a year and swapped it for a guitar.....another of the "wish I had it now" bikes.

The last time I was at Hall Burdette, I ordered a clutch cable for my old '71 Commando. The business had been sold to another party. Paid cash up front for the cable and never got the phone call. When I stopped by to check status, the business was closed for good!!

~998cc

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I don't remember the guy's name who bought the shop from John Burdette, but he had a Italian auto repair shop in Sacto and wanted the Ducati franchise. He was not interested in the Norton business at all. Norton parts and repair paid the rent on the shop. Ducati's were not big sellers at the time. He sold off all of the Norton parts and tools and that was pretty much the end. He took all of the Ducati stuff to his auto repair shop and Ducati cancelled the franchise. It was called the Barber shop. I have no idea if its still around.