Expected Engine Wear

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I have been running increasing quantities of Lucas Oil Stabilizer in my engine oil over the last 18 months. I have noticed an improvement in oil pressure consistency at operating temperatures, reduced valve train noise, reduced oil consumption, and a complete absence of metallics on my magnetic drain plug. I am currently running 1 quart of Lucas in my oil, with the remainder being Castrol GTX 20w50. I am quite happy with the results.

I have also been running 100cc of Lucas in the transmission, along with 320cc's of Amsoil 75w90 synthetic gear oil. Shifts like butter.

FWIW
 
With quality parts and clean oil you can easily exceed 50,000 miles and still have a tight motor. But eventually the ring lands will pound out, loosen up and it will smoke. So its important to use better pistons with tighter ring lands than stock.
 
Interesting. I was thinking that after about 10,000 miles guides and some valve work was going to be needed.
What would make you think this!?
52 000 miles on my '68, long distance touring only, original air filter, oil changed at about 2000 miles intervals.
Oil consumption nil, oil pressure 55 lbs from about 2000 rpm.
 
Hi all,
I guess the most consistent point being made by this thread is the inconsistency of people’s experiences regarding the reliability and longevity of our bikes.
Although a little before my time, by the early Seventies British bikes had a woeful reputation for reliability. They had become the butte of jokes amongst owners of squeaky clean Japanese opposition whose products were effectively plug and play’. I put this down to the combined factors of older design that required a higher degree of owner maintenance, attempting to squeeze more performance than that design was originally intended to produce, appalling quality control and a very poor marketing that failed to match the slick Japanese output.
Nevertheless, unless we are talking catastrophic big end failures most of the wear we experience are reasonably easily dealt with. Rejuvenation is generally inexpensive and well within the capability of the enthusiast owner. Therefore, in sympathetic hands our bikes are very long lived as is obvious from the number of surviving bikes.
It is interesting to see the sky rocketing prices that bikes such as Kawasaki H2s are commanding simply because the vast majority didn’t survive and reduced their internals to swarf decades ago (Not to mention those which were reduced to unsurvivable dimensions after the pubs closed on a Friday night).
So the discussion on expected engine wear must viewed in terms of how much of a problem the engine wear creates for the owner. A new set of rings and a valve job to a Honda CBX 1000 owner is a much more daunting problem than it is to a Commando owner.
As for the long term reliability of our bikes, I suspect it’s a bit like what Zhou Enlai said about the impact of the French Revolution, ‘it’s too early to tell’ ;)
It would be interesting to compare across forums what wear issues other makes are encountering. I suspect the owner who bought a BMW 75/5 in preference to a Combat Commando would have had a dream run over the last half century whilst a Suzuki Rotary would have been lucky to have outlasted Abba.
Nortons Commandos were always playing catch up but with good maintenance and a degree of sympathetic ownership they can still give excellent performance and should last indefinitely.
just a few thoughts.
regards
al
 
Bikes and Owner's are very different!! Friend has a 75 mk III which is stock and 60,000 top end rebuild only!! But the Atlas below has only 13,000 miles and stored since 73. Purchased it two years ago. Easily got it running but tour it down only because of oil leaks and this is what I found in the sludge trap!!! Expected Engine Wear
 
Bikes and Owner's are very different!! Friend has a 75 mk III which is stock and 60,000 top end rebuild only!! But the Atlas below has only 13,000 miles and stored since 73. Purchased it two years ago. Easily got it running but tour it down only because of oil leaks and this is what I found in the sludge trap!!! View attachment 81882
Sludgy.
 
As a yoot I was a grunt for a BSA guy. Bikes were for running hard and fast with a few adults who drove them like an adult.
1ok it was rings bearings and guides. Often it was pistons as well. As JS said the lands would get beat out. Keep in mind that USA bikes were geared down for quarter mile numbers which were EVERYTHING at the time. Very rarely saw a BSA Tri or Norton on offer with more than 20k on them. If you did they were clapped.
No aircleaners is a prescription for frequent overhauls.
As for temperatures, hot wx isn't a british bikes friend. And speaking of wx, it is much less dusty in blighty than in most of the states. Enfield Interceptors came with bellmouths right from the factory. I can only imagine those poor beasts in California: heat and dust.
 
Translation Please YOOT? CLAPPED? hot WX? For gods sake speak English LOL
 
yoot aka younguns aka youth

mx short for weather - aviation lingo

clapped aka done aka worn out
 
All things being equal (maintenance, attention to detail, yada, yada) , consider where the Commando was designed, built and tested...

If you have to go riding when the ambient temperature is over 100 (F) which is not uncommon in the US desert states (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, others) your Commando won't last long, get stuck in traffic, half that, start sporting, half that...

The Commando is at its' best on a twisty road when the ambient temperature is between mid 60s (F) and mid 70s (F). I'd bet that the Commando is happiest in the real English countryside; you Brits are some real lucky guys!

Best.
That struck a chord. I bought mine new in the UK, ran like a dream. When I shipped it home, I always felt it preformed best in the fall as temperatures dipped in southern Ontario. I was 19 at the time, knew nothing about bikes, except I loved to ride, and fall was the time. Makes total sense.
 
I must admit I have always been surprised that oil coolers were not a factory fitment for warmer climates. However I would suggest that most Nortons suffer from notbeing warmed up properly . It takes around 10 to 15miles in London traffic to bring a Commando upto its normal operating temp.
 
Are there some ball park mileage numbers that we can generally agree on???
I think it would only be a general / loose / wild guess mileage per replacement item, based on the particular bike's service (or lack of) history, riding use/abuse, and time spent sitting.
 
Not really 16,000+ since the last engine strip, zero oil consumption, very little on drain plug, no smoking. Put together well then large distances between refurbishment are easily achieved.
 
77 mK3 from new. 28,000m valves and guides replaced PBronze, these are still running. 64,000 cam lobe (LH inlet) wore out. Big end shells showing trace of copper so renewed. 1 st rebore. Sludge trap empty. Always run on straight 40 CD SF mostly diesel grade. 74,000 inlet valve seal split so new cam checked no trace of wear. Original swinging arm bushes wore out as dry at about 30,00. Home made oil feed and replacement bushes still fine.
In my view the Norton is capable of high mileage, but routine maintainance is nearly constant if in continual use. Rick
 
Just throwing this out there for what it is worth:

I believe that the OP was looking for some sort pattern to emerge out of this post, indicating some sort of yardstick that would measure what model would need a certain service by a certain date/mileage.

We have seen that the waters are muddied by less than stellar maintenance by original owners (the same types that today go buy the fastest thing on the showroom floor, then ride the ever loving tar out of it, with no respect for break-in periods or routine maintenance), as well as bikes that have been pressed back into service after years / decades of questionable storage.

There is also an assumption that these machines were built with a similar rigor with regards to quality and tolerances that we are used to today - and that was simply not the case at all. This throws a huge wrench in the works.

I think that maybe a better question maybe: Once your bike was sorted by a reputable technician (maybe yourself), what sort of milages were able to get out of your bike and what went wrong eventually?
 
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