69 "S" Phoenix rises again

Yes Commando's are old fashioned compact brutes. I'm intimidated too at first but it grows on ya and they begin to feel light and lithe and eager. Getting it all dialed in and the smoothness pleasant, still feels like a biplane on grass field then it lifts off.

Dave

Good to hear you are on the road and debugging the bike.
I remember when you had voiced a concern about being able to kick start her when she's finished.
>>It makes me feel like I'm 25 again when I'm riding, unlike when I drive my wife's Saab station wagon, that makes me feel like 80.<<
Seems your right leg is are also working like a 25 year old.
For me it feels like 40 but I'm happy with that.
You mentioned numb hands after a while because of 3000 rpm buzz.
While you work on dialing in the isolastics there is a trick I found you could use.
I have tendonitis in both my elbows and I found after riding for 15-20 minutes my hands would also go numb, although after about 2600 rpm my bike smooths out nice.
I found by hanging my left arm down while riding for several minutes relives the numbness.
I adjusted the drag screw on my twist grip so I can take my hand off it without the throttle closing so I can hang my right arm also (not both at same time though ) )
Assuming the road conditions allow it you may want to give it a try.

Bob

Another 17 miles today, today is one of those days I rebuilt it to drive with, 72, low humidity. I may go out later and get a picture with the Blue Ridge in the background. Oil leak at the filter lines fixed. Drip at the bottom most engine stud appears to be coming from the crank/primary inner gasket, only when running. That will have to wait for the belt drive unless I get motivated or I change all the oils at around 50-100 miles, I've got 57 miles on it after rebuild so far. Still have the tiny drip off the line from the head to the timing cover, not sure about that, I'm afraid it might be the nylon 11 to banjo connection.

Got it up to 60 mph for a few miles, the speedo is now steady, as well as the tach, I had the inner cables backwards, the inner cable ferrules go to the clocks, so I've probably put more miles on it than it says. Handle bar buzz seems to be calming down a bit.

Seems to be running fine so far. Still easy to start, but ordered a Pazon today. I hope MAP didn't get a bunch of bad ones like hobot's?

Dave
69S

Another 20 mile run. Here's a picture along the way.



Dave
69S

Looks good, Dave. Congratulations.

Those short runs are ideal for the early running in. Don't lug it and don't let it get too hot. Don't let it idle for long periods of time. I've been running a Pazon (also purchased from MAP) on my 850 with no issues. I'm sure yours will be fine too.

Debby

Hardly any idling, just enough to play with the pilot screws. They still need some work, and it will probably take messing with the floats. No lugging, keeping it around 3K with spurts to 4-5, haven't had it to 7K in 2nd yet. Not a long straight run enough for that. It pulls just like I remember, what a treat!! Gradually raising the speed as I get used to it. I think we are both breaking in. I66 is not far away, so if I need a 70-80 mph run it's there after a good warm up. So far it's running real clean out the exhaust, I haven't seen any smoke at all, I'm surprised, I only did a very light hone on the barrels with new standard size pistons and rings.

Dave
69S

Update to the 69S. I have 160 miles on it so far. List of problems so far:

Pawl assembly fell out of outer GB, had to tighten that back down and adjust. Replaced oil with Redline GL-4 MTL, have some other stuff on order.

Inner primary to crank leaking, dripping down on bottom of engine. Removed inner cover, replaced gasket with a rubber (neoprine?) gasket from DomiRacer and smeared silicone RTV on it, no more leaks.

Oil out of central tank breather dripping down out of ham can air cleaner on the GB and down to the lower engine cradle. Threaded 5/16-24 bolt drilled out in center into oil tank breather and attached hose that drips down in front of the centre stand on the RS to drip out there.


Today started rattling on the exhaust somewhere in the rear. Tightened up the nuts on the rear dog leg bracket and the upper one sheared. The isolation bolt was hollow in the centre. Go figure. Installed an old one I had and no more rattle.


It's still starting fine, but idle is a bit iffy, the carby's are probably just about worn out.
On my first run today about 4 miles out the LS spark plug wire came out of the coil. Limped home and fixed that, then went on a 20 mile run, and got the rattle in the exhaust so came home and fixed that. I was planning a longer trip, but wanted to fix the rattle.

Now it seems to be oil leak free, and I can just put a pan under the drain from the oil tank breather. Doesn't matter out on the road, not much comes out.

If nothing much else happens I'll start making trips to Middleburg (25 miles), Warrenton (20 miles) and Marshall (12 miles) to see if there are any girls to impress there, as if I could impress any girls at 67.
Dave
69S

as if I could impress any girls at 67.

Click to expand...

Sound like you've got the 70 year old itch, early.

DogT said:

Another 20 mile run. Here's a picture along the way.

Dave
69S

Click to expand...

Such pretty countryside, lush & green, it just makes me want to ride off and never stop.

Vintage Paul

hudson29 said:

Such pretty countryside, lush & green, it just makes me want to ride off and never stop.

Vintage Paul

Click to expand...

And full of deer ticks and killer humidity. Everything has it's price.

Dave
69S

DogT said:

And full of deer ticks and killer humidity. Everything has it's price.

Click to expand...

Yes, I don't envy you those summers. We have some very hot weather here in SoCal that keeps me locked down under air conditioning when I would rather be out & about, but it is a dry heat and the bugs are not so bad. Of course we do have swarms of 3500 lb Toyotas infesting our roads that are driven with the same brain dead determination to bumble along restricting traffic at every point, and making turns unpredictably, probably even worse than Hobot deer encounters.

Vintage Paul, trying to dodge Toyota swarming season . . .

Just an update. So far I feel so lucky, two more 15-20 mile rides and so far and absolutely no oil on the bottom of the engine or GB. I'm thinking I'll put a catch bottle on the oil tank breather between the engine and GB because the GB breather does put out a bit of oil and the wind catches it and puts it on the RS frame. It will fit in between the GB and engine just fine and then I won't even have oil dripping off the right side where I have that breather hose is coming out now.

I stopped at my neighbors today since he had a triumph and an antique HD out in his drive. He apparently has about 7 bikes in various states of repair, one a 71 Norton basket case. I may press him to get it going. He also has a ramped trailer with a front bike tire assembly on it which he said I could use at any time. Cool, that takes a big worry off me. I think it's about time I need to make some 30-40 mile trips now. The lower back and shoulders are still feeling the effects, but it's not a big issue and actually I think it's improving my stamina.

I did put some syn oil (Redline) in the GB, but that seems to make it hard to find N. I'm thinking since I've heard the syn oil migrates into the primary fast, I may real quick go back to the 80W90 GL-4 dino.

I'm one happy camper, things seem to be working fine, but so far only just over 200 miles, not like Swoosh who goes on 250 mile trips. I really don't think I could handle that, but you never know.

Dave
69S

Hello Dog T

I’m very interested in your forum topic. I’m also restoring a ’69 Commando ‘S’, which has had an interesting past. On 4th July ’69 it was shipped to Berliner Motorcycle Corp in New York. Then around ’91 it was shipped back to England in a sorry state (old photos indicate it may have been raced). It was purchased by a Mr Burton from Brighton, who restored it and ‘dressed’ it as a roadster. He rode it for about 500 miles then left it in his garage for 10 years.

So I’ve taken it upon myself to take it back to its original ‘s’ status. I’ve taken the bike to bits then reassembled and got everything up and running. I restored the old carbs which are on the bike now, its running, but needs some tinkering. I've held on to the fibrglass tank, but its badly damaged by the ethenol in the modern fuels. So, I bought a steel tank, and the bike will run with that.

Its time for me to get some parts painted…….. I really like the blue you chose. Could you advise me where you got it from and its code?

Many thanks

Ben

30 yrs ago ! :shock: , chrome rings were the latest trick . Theyed use a bit of oil , 7 give a little blowby , for the first
2.000 miles , till fully seated .perfectly normal , they all do that . :shock: Best to keep below 3/4 throttle fo at least the first 1.000 , Full throttle & r.p.m.s not till 2.000 .o.k. to let the throttle right up for a moment though . :wink:

Paint is Dupli-Color Metal Specks (MS400 Metal Specks Ocean Blue) in a spray can. Comes in Red and Silver too. I used the silver for the tail lamp fairing. Covered it all with Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Coating (HWP103) Clear. Seems to be a bit resistant to fuels, but certainly not carb cleaner, also don't pour fuel on it, but it will tolerate a drop of so when filling. I'm still using avgas so no problems with the ethanol.

Good luck with the restoration. Let me know if you are missing parts and I can help maybe.

Dave
69S

For some reason I thought I'd update this thread.

Over the winter I upgraded a few things and finally got it out today for a good run.

Brakes, new rear ones, and front RGM high friction from Commando Specialties (both sets), arced the front brakes again. Report to follow, it's only been on the road maybe 20 miles, but it's not any worse than the originals with arced brakes and they're not worn in yet, but perfectly acceptable for a road bike, much better than original, but some of that may be to better adjustment of the TLS.

Hemmings iso adjusters. Wasn't too bad to put on since I already had the 'S' exhaust off, put the bike on the centre stand and used a floor jack to push the motor up and was no problem pulling the bolt out the front iso and the long stud out the rear iso mounts, pulling the old shims and collars out, replacing with the adjusters and adjusting to 0.01", one at a time of course. Seems like the vibration is a bit better on the real low end, but not at 3K and above, can't tell, not enough miles yet. I still need to put new boots, which I have, on. I still want to put a DIY Keith headsteady on the bike with the MKIII spring. I have all the spring parts except for the part that attaches to the MKIII headsteady. I did release the tension on the '69 headsteady, jacked up the engine until the front isos were centered in the iso mounts and tightened the headsteady nuts, but I may go back to letting it sag, it seemed today it had more vibes that way.

New clutch bearing. Seemed to give me much less clutch wobble with installing the clutch pack, but not convinced that it's a real issue since when the clutch is engaged, the bearing doesn't really do anything except keep the clutch pack together. Seems to me kind of like a throw out bearing. If it's not squealing, it's good.

Adjusted primary chain, and I think it's a bit too tight since it's noisy going into 1st, but it shifts fine when on the road and no problem finding N.

New anodized Amal #3 slides and new jets and needles. Now it seems to idle much better, comes off throttle to idle and no dip like before, and no rpm dip coming off idle. I can only say the carb/throttle is about 95% better than before, but not a whole lot of time on it yet. It still seems to want to die sometimes. Very easy to start now. A first kicker.

Had an Emgo 6V coil fail on me first thing this spring, the wires in the primary circuit (inside) fell off the terminals. Have a new one now and repaired the failed one, so have a spare. Pazon seems to be working just fine.

Working on either painting the logos on the panels and tank, or replacing with vinyl decals/transfers. Haven't decided yet, still working on the paint/stencils issues. I messed up one of the panels last summer with gas, so the panels are now newly painted, but no logos on them yet.

I've still got an oil drip off the banjo that comes off the timing cover to the head, so I need to re-seat the nylon line and try sealing the banjo, not sure what's leaking there, but it's just a small drip/irritant.

There's never an end to working on these Nortons, but you've got to love it, and they look so good in the garage.



Dave
69S

Wow ... this is a very kewl thread, with great info Dave !!! Thanks for posting updates, cheers.

Dave,
Glad to see that your back up and running.Appreciate all the updates.
Mike

I'm interested in how your front brake has been performing with the RGM linings. Do they fade much, is the stiffening kit fitted and if so did it make a difference?

Graeme

I haven't had but maybe 1 ride with the RGM shoes, so far it appears just as good as the original brakes after I arced them. No stiffening plate on it. But I find the arced brakes quite acceptable, they actually work and will haul you down from speed, but they do fade after a few hits. I may be getting out today. It's been a very busy spring and the grass is about 3' tall now.

After the next good run, I want to change the oil, filter and install the ball valve in the oil feed with a cut off switch to the ignition.

Dave
69S