Common Improvements

lrutt:
I like the way you think.
Mark

pete.v said:

One of the thing I am happiest with is that I gutted electrical system eliminating anything useless to me.

No capacitor or assimulator, no zener or standard regulator. Only wires from stator to pods unit then to battery. Battery to switch and to main grounding point. Feed from switch to the headlamp (where the nest really resides), then back from the switchgear to the horn turnsignals and taillight and brakeswitch.
Added a couple extra grounding point for kicks.
No coils, capacitor, ballast resistor, point or anything of the like. Clean, simply and reliable.

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Agreed

I also use a podtronics, one wire to the headlamp (halogen) with a switch for brights, tail light and brake light switch. Magneto and key (no battery). LED tail light. Thats it.

lrutt said:

o0norton0o said:

lrutt said:

Honestly, I'm completely happy with my bone stock 73 850. Stock clutch, points, Zener, stock brakes, original Amals (but with Premier slides), K70 tires, dry sumpin SOB. I think it really puts things in perspective when riding the totally stock bike and marveling at how well it works, even in this day and age.

Could it be better, sure. But that's not why I like the bike. I like it because it will go down the road at 75 as good or better than any other bike I own, which is absolutely amazing for a 42 year old motorcycle.

But to each their own.

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Your bike is not bone stock... or you would have stock slides, but you don't...

You also have a factory improved swingarm tube. The early stock cradle's swingarm tube develope a lot of play in them and that made the bike's handling "poor" at best. The keegler modification duplicates the effect that the later stock cradle design had improving the bike's handling. Without this modification, riding early bikes with swingarm tube play is like riding a snake. You wouldn't like it.

Also your bike has a improved breather system. Again, another redesigned improvement from the factory to take care of an earlier design that was marginal at best. Adding a reed breather to my bike stopped every leak without changing a single seal or gasket. Modifying my breather allowed my engine's design to remove it's greatest flaw which your bike has modified from the factory.

points vs IE, I could install a boyer on your bike and you wouldn't know it by riding it, you would just have a more maintenance free ignition. There's nothing about points that adds to the distinctive character of how your bike feels.

The whole notion of "bone stock" is an asthetic. I supose there are purists who think your bike is not bone stock because of the premier slides. The original poster wanted information about modifications, probably because he wants to see where his bike will be lacking in it's ridability if he leaves it stock. He's free to restore it bone stock and have it handle poorly and leak oil, but at least he will be informed about his model's shortcomings.

Things like the extra clutch plate, the clutch rod seal, and the nylon lined clutch cable are awesome. I have all of them too. IMO, they don't compromise my bike's authenticity...

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I don't care about being a purist. Least of my worrys but I do like the stock look. It's just that the bike works so well I see no need to change. Slides were basically a pre-emptive move so the stock bodies would not wear so bad. I converted the clutch from a fiber type back to stock as I was never able to get the fibers working right. Tried everything but said screw it, put the bronzed plates in, confirmed stack hieght, and all is right wit hthe shifting.

My understanding of a clutch upgrade is that anything is lighter than the stock bronzed plates so that helps with durability. Brake mods....compared to everything but my ducati I think the brakes aren't bad at all. maybe I just have good forearm strength. Points...this is a source of personal pride for me. All my old bikes retain their points and they all run excellent. To me it's a badge of honor to make the original systems work so well. Not to mention the fact that the 2 times a bike has left me stranded was due to electronics. Points have never ever let me down.

So I have my reasons...or reason....which would be: IF IT AINT BROKE, DON'T FIX IT. but that's just me, I'm a stubborn old fart.

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Well, you would have a different attitude if you owned a '70 commando, like I do. My friends would ride behind me and later ask, "How can you even ride that bike?? Your rear wheel is all over the place" . At the time, I had upgraded isolastics and installed new bronze swingarm bushings. I hadn't yet learned about the keegler swingarm tube modification if it even existed back then. After I did the keegler modification, the bike no longer wobbled going down the road. Perhaps you would just swap out the cradle to a late model cradle with an improved fastening system for the swingarm shaft, but you wouldn't be crowing about how awesome a '70 commando bike is "bone stock", because it isn't...

One of the greatest frustrations I had was a bike that always seeped small amounts of oil from the tachometer bushing and various other places. You get really tired of cleaning a bike that covers itself in oil every time you ride it. Adding a reed breather solved that problem. Now, it' not a smelly oily mess that never fails to leave a drip where ever you park it.. It's kind of crazy now to see that it has dry cases everywhere, and there's no oil coating on the back wheel... Credit the reed breather. After I added it, the bike stopped leaking. If you had an early model bike that always leaked regardless of how well you assembled it,... (and yes I did rebuild my bike down to the crank) you would do a breather modification or ride around on a smelly, oily bike. Being smelly and oily is "bone stock" for my model.

Ever hear the statment: There's no graceful dismount from a high horse. You're lucky that your model has factory improvements that make it a much more ridable "bone stock" bike (but with non-stock slides) Not all of us have that same luxury.

jaguar said:

o0norton0o,

That's exactly what I am talking about. I am not a purest and do not want to debate the appeal of "period lubricant" or want to be in a crowd that wants to talk about the original hose clamps used on a tube.

My goal is to have something that appears relatively stock, but has the "bugs" worked out.

Tips like the clutch mod, spindle change and iso upgrade are just the types of things I am looking for!

Thanks a bunch

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Jaguar,... First, I am transplanted New yorker. I lived in rockland county for 40 years. I went to school in cortland, and blasted through the albany area at rapid speeds going north to plattsburg (then to grand isle Vt on the ferry) many times on my old honda. I live out west now.

I really wasn't sure where your head was at, regarding your restoration. The modifications I mentioned were some critical ones (IMO) for early bikes... People who posted after me mentioned some really good ones too that can be added to a running bike without losing more than a day's riding time. The extra clutch plate and the nylon lined clutch cable are things that are easy to add later once you are riding around and want a lighter clutch pull. They both work great, as does dyno dave's clutch rod oil seal,

IMO,.. things like a boyer ignition doesn't detract from the character of a norton commando's ride quality. I was only stuck once that I couldn't ride my bike home,..... I ran it out of gas...


Still some other people mentioned some "dream modifications", like the lightened pistons and rods. That's so cool, but both expensive and a whole next level of mechanical "truth or consequences". I respect their pushing of the envelope to discover what is possible, and what goes BOOM too.

Good luck with your project. There are some really smart people here... You'll see them correct me from time to time... :lol: If you want to ask a stupid question privately, feel free to message me. I may not have the answer, but I will admit it if I don't (new yorker thing there)

Jaguar
I may have missed it but I'm not sure that anyone has mentioned fitting a cartridge oil filter if you don't already have one.
Old Britts should see you right on your side of the pond https://www.oldbritts.com/13_064283.html.
I'm travelling a similar path to you with a repatriated 1972 750 Roadster and have found this thread very helpful. Thank you.
Norton Newbie (and an Old Brit).