Curious rear frame brackets

swooshdave · Mar 6, 2013

DogT said:
swooshdave said:

The logical assumption is that it may have had some sort of USAF permit on the bike when he was cleaning it up, not that it had a Property of USAF on it. :mrgreen:

Click to expand...

I guess I'm just curious if the AF actually used the Norton for some reason. Unlikely. I'm not going to beat a dead horse to death. I read things too literally. It was in interesting thought though.

Dave

The horse is dead, Jim.

johntickle · Mar 7, 2013

I once had a frame from a bike that had belonged to a helicopter pilot who was in Nigeria at the time. It was like the MK3 frames but the rest of the bike was MK2A.

Mike T · Mar 7, 2013

My first Commando had such a sticker as I was stationed at March AFB in '73-"74 when I owned it. Would have been two stickers, Air Force and a colored sticker with base name. Yellow for non-com, blue for officer.

Thanks David, that could be it! There is still a sticker on the left-hand front fork and there were two small colored stickers on the rear frame section. I removed them when I first got the bike, but have a pic below from when I was looking to buy it.

Mike T · Mar 7, 2013

by L.A.B. » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:19 am
Three of the four cupped seat retaining washers (NME6472) seem to be missing?

Thank you L.A.B. for this information. Will order replacements from OldBritts as soon as I save up again from my last order.

The title finally came through from the Oregon DMW (phew), so I sent a sizeable order to OldBritts last night.. I had been waiting to see if the title would happen before committing too much to the bike... and now it's mine, all mine haha

L.A.B. · Mar 8, 2013

Mike T said:
by L.A.B. » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:19 am
Three of the four cupped seat retaining washers (NME6472) seem to be missing?

Click to expand...

Thank you L.A.B. for this information. Will order replacements from OldBritts as soon as I save up again from my last order.

How was/is the seat fixed on the left hand side? I suggest you also check the L/H seat retaining knob is the 'unscrewable' type and not the fixed Mk3 type?

Does the seat have the usual two retaining brackets? If not, and the L/H seat knob is fixed, then perhaps it also had (or has) the hinged 'Mk3' seat?

79x100 · Mar 8, 2013

calbigbird said:
Okay, riddle me this one Batman. I have a 1975, MK III. The frame plate, engine and trans numbers all match and do not appear to have been tampered with. I bought the bike off fleebay with no information on the bike's history. Based on what I got, it had parts from older models such as headlight, guages etc. The seat is from an older model with no hinges and I have always wondered how the hinge mounted. My frame does not have the brackets described in this thread.

The number stamped in the frame neck is "850 F131966." Can anyone tell by this number if I have an older frame with the number plate from the original 75 moved to this frame? It doesn't really matter, but I am curious.

Your frame is certainly an oddity. The lack of a seat hinge wouldn't have been a problem for all versions as the Hi-Rider seat was never hinged. However, if they had used up an earlier frame then there was probably the problem of the Mk3 steering lock abutment which mean that they then had to use Mk2 fork yokes and thus lost the instrument panel facility.

The Mk3 would also have needed two drillings in the frame gusset for the starter solonoid.

My 4/75 Mk3 frame is stamed F1308**

I suspect that oddities like this can sometimes be traced to warranty repairs or early accident damage.

Curious rear frame brackets

swooshdave

johntickle

Mike T

Mike T

L.A.B.

Moderator

79x100

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