Back to my old Amal carbs

I always have my tank securely fastened, so if I get into a tasnk-slapper I casn grab it to stay on the bike. On a road bike, air cleaners are a good idea. Which is more likely - a fire or a tank-slapper ?

acotrel said:

I always have my tank securely fastened, so if I get into a tasnk-slapper I casn grab it to stay on the bike. On a road bike, air cleaners are a good idea. Which is more likely - a fire or a tank-slapper ?

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I'd say a tank slapper is more likely
If you ride old nails

baz said:

I'd say a tank slapper is more likely
If you ride old nails

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Some things are so bad that they are good. Many people do not know how to have fun. Think about what you are actually doing when you ride your Commando when you could be riding a modern superbike. When I was young, I could easily have bought an H2R Kawasaki and I would have won a lot of races. Why do you think I persevered in developing old shit ?
- What can you do to an H2R Kawasaki to make it go faster ? When you cannot improve your motorcycle, you have lost half the fun.
My whole life as a scientist has ben about technology development. It is what I love. If I did not do that, I would be a musician like one of my brothers.

acotrel said:

Some things are so bad that they are good. Many people do not know how to have fun. Think about what you are actually doing when you ride your Commando when you could be riding a modern superbike. When I was young, I could easily have bought an H2R Kawasaki and I would have won a lot of races. Why do you think I persevered in developing old shit ?
- What can you do to an H2R Kawasaki to make it go faster ? When you cannot improve your motorcycle, you have lost half the fun.

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I would say "so bad they're good" applies to certain B-movies, but not Nortons. There's a reason so many are still riding these bikes and it's not because they're "so bad." Although I do agree improving something with a lot of merit and a few non-perfect things is satisfying.

My problem with Norton Commandos is, with a road-going one, there is not much you can do to them and still stay legal. When I was young, you could buy a 650 Triumph and hot the hell out of it. If you did 100 MPH on city streets, you would usually get away with it. The cops had to follow you for half a mile before they could book you.
I met a guy the other day who got away with doing 280 KPH on the Hume Highway. The cops were doing a drug bust and found the bike. They had estimated his speed, but they could not prove he had done it. Doing that stuff with a modern bike is insane. If you saw a kangaroo, you would hit it.
I must be a silly old fool. I know I do not think like other people, but we all need to have a sense of humour. It is the reason I miss my old mate so much - he was worse than I am. Whenever we went anywhere together, we were likely to end up in a fight - either between ourselves or with others. He never got hurt. - He was good on the race track. He made sure he was never on a race track at the same time as myself.
I have a young friend in the next town, He used to laugh at us, but he never knew the extent of our friendship. There was only one rile - no punching above the shoulder.

acotrel said:

My problem with Norton Commandos is, with a road-going one, there is not much you can do to them and still stay legal. When I was young, you could buy a 650 Triumph and hot the hell out of it. If you did 100 MPH on city streets, you would usually get away with it. The cops had to follow you for half a mile before they could book you.
I met a guy the other day who got away with doing 280 KPH on the Hume Highway. The cops were doing a drug bust and found the bike. They had estimated his speed, but they could not prove he had done it. Doing that stuff with a modern bike is insane. If you saw a kangaroo, you would hit it.
I must be ac silly old fool. I know I do not think like other people, but we all need to have a sense of humour. It is the reason I miss my old mate so much - he was worse than I am. Whenever we went anywhere together, we were likely to end up in a fight - either between ourselves or with others. He never got hurt. - He was good on the race track. He made sure he was never on a race track at the same time as myself.
I have a young friend in the next town, He used to laugh at us, but he never knew the extent of our friendship. There was only one rile - no punching above the shoulder.

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"Not much you can do to a commando" ??????
What planet are you on?
Just about everything on my commando is modified or made by me
I freely admit I've probably gone too far
If the question was "what do you need to modify on a commando" the answer is not very much really
A better front brake and get rid of the Portuguese layshaft bearing and you are good to go

Well AL my 850 Norton is very much modified but in my book in a great way from handling to performance mods to light weight without going overboard and the Featherbed sticks to the road, even at high speed it don't get no tank slapper at all, infact it pretty good at high speed and had done so a many of times in my youth and younger days, not so much these days I am more wiser and smarter in how I ride, yes I will still open it up but it's where I open it up and never on open highways or in my local area, up in the Ranges or outback some where.
But I not interested in doing super sonic speeds, these days I enjoy just cruising and sitting on the speed limits where it busy but I still get away with things out of the way of major roads where the cops and speed cameras are normally hanging around to catch the boy racers and speeding cars, I still have my fun up in the rangers or tight twisty roads where my Hotrod Norton is at its best playing with the mates or other bike riders it's such a fun bike to play with and I know it can handle speed if I need to but I am happy to do my own thing I no need to prove anything to anyone, my days of riding flat out in top gear is over been there done that, now I just enjoy what my Norton was built for, a light weight, great handling and plenty of torque when I want it, that's all I need out of my Norton.
Out on it yesterday just riding in my local area and the Mount of looks and thumb ups from people, my Norton puts out a great note and people do turn their heads and know it not a Harley or some rice burner coming or going pass them, but doing the throttle openings a few times to see how the setting were working, still a little treak here and there but it running pretty good and starting first kick after everytime stopping so just got to sort out the first kick for the day lol.

I dropped back into this thread because I thought it was about switching back to your old Amals, not tank slappers or H2's. Me thinks I'll check back later

CJ it's like every threads things always go off track and my old friend AL just thinks about racing, I will always reply to anything that comes my way but I am still on the old Amals and dialing them in, still a few little bugs but the Norton is going great with the old Amals just the first start for the day needs a bit more mucking around, no time today to fire it up, just spending time with the wife today it's a bad memory day for us today.

NorLuck said:

you want my amals Ash?

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Why whats wrong with them, do they need my magic touch.

NorLuck said:

you want my amals Ash?

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Can I have your K2F?

Slick

I suggest the main reason modern motorcycles are usually faster then old ones of similar capacity, are their engine management systems. It is very difficult to get best performance using a carbutetor and and a fixed ignition system. When you use methanol for racing, the results are usually better because methano hides-up the tuning errors. With petrol as fuel, it always needs to be tuned spot-on.
With my own bike, the reason it is fast enough to be competitive is - because the jets flow twice as much, the tuning errors are halved. And the weather has less effect. The difference when you get the tuning right is very significant.

You obviously cannot use methanol in a road bike, so you need something better than a carburetor when you use petrol, if you want better performance. Most of the technology of the 1960s came from the 1930s. when the Germans were using fuel injection. Their planes had it during WW2, when the British were still using carburetors.

NorLuck said:

you want my amals Ash?

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I be happy to take your Amals off you if you are willing to send them over to me anything for free is a bonus so send them over.

Al I am talking about Amals Consentric carbs here using petrol for a road riding Norton and nothing to do with mentanol at all we all know about your riding on the race track and your dislike (scared) of riding on the road (racing is safer in your own words) but how long has it been since you have ridden a motorcycle, to be honest with you WE HAVE HEARD IT BEFORE, come on it's like a broken record with you, you keep telling us over and over again and again, WE HAVE GOT IT ALREADY, sorry Al but really give it a rest as we know what you keep telling us.
Maybe your not that good if you can't tune Amals with petrol, I am no tuning expert but I am doing my best and so far it's getting near right on as riding the Norton it's running pretty good just got to get the first start for the day sorted when it's stone cold.

THe only reason I mention methanol is because the effect it has when you lean it off properly. When you use petrol, you cannot achieve that with rigidly mounted Amal cards. Isolastic suspension of the engine and gearboxx does not isolate the carbs from the cylinder head. The most vibration on any motorcycle occurs in the lower gears when the revs are higher, and Commandos use a low balance factor crank. When you shake the carburetot, the fuel level usually rises and the mixture become richer. So your motor is slower when you want to go faster.
It does not matter whether you are on a race track or a public road - the effect is the same.
My crank balance factor is 72% , my carbs are rubber mounted and at 7000 RPM, there is almost no vibration. Even using mwethanol where richness is tolerable, the effect of a rich mixture is significan. With petrol, it is particularly bad. THat is the reason I never race with petrol. With methano, some of the boost comes from latent heat of vaporisation, but most of the boost comes from getting the mixture right. It hides up the tuning arrors., because the jets arectweice as big. With petrol, that does not happen.
When I was youg, my Triumphs always ran OK. I used to firv race cams to make them go fasster, but I never bothered to aproach the jetting in a critical manner. I think I was fooling myself. When you get the jetting right with petrol, you motor's performance probably becomes more weather dependent. The engine management systems on modern bikes probasly cope better with that.

If I had a road-going Commando, I would not try to make the motor faster, but I might change the internal gearbox ratios. A standard Commando first gear with the three Manx highr gears might be good. I am an idiot, I did not think about that before I bought the 6 speed box.

acotrel said:

THe only reason I mention methanol is because the effect it has when you lean it off properly.

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Al, you've been warned multiple times to STAY ON TOPIC. Any further mention of methanol and you will be banned (again, but for longer next time).

Lineslinger said:

If they ain't broke don't fix them.
Mine were leaking air and rattled like a marble in a can.
After having them sleeved and a complete overhaul it was like having a brand new set of carbs.
I just wanted to stay with the originals and an overhaul gave me a reason to hang in the shop and drink beer and listen to baseball on the radio instead of listening to you know who.

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Pardon my ignorance, what do you call that contraption linking/syncing your Amals?

It is manufactured by Donald Pender from the Philippines. A member of this forum. Madass140