Thanks Eddie really appreciate the insightful information
I’m gonna dig some of my books out later an have more of a read up on the mk3’s it could be the perfect fit for my daily usage.
For those with the 850s is there anything inherent to watch out for on them?
Although I’d prefer a rh shift which got me thinking about the mkiia, the lh one could be an opportunity for dad to have a go on a Norton while he’s still able to ride motorbikes which is something that’s been running through my mind as well. An he can’t kickstart as well so the es would be a big thing.
That’s a good point on a 650ss that could be very very interesting I find mine quite smooth cruising but think I’ve just rode it that much I’ve got used to it, always the opportunity to improve though once I’ve got more time after the move I wanna pull the head an give her a decoke an also get the rear mudguard chromed I got from the owners club. It could be a really good place to spend some money on it though anything that increases longevity I’m a huge fan off.
The big teller will be riding the 68 Commando over the next few months if it flares up my nerve injury kickstarting I’ll look at fitting an es to the 68’ as well, all pipe dreams till after the move funds wise as things are tight at the mo as I’m supporting all of us me an my parents until the house is sold while dad has his cancer treatment
Speaking of which we had some good news the other day it’s stage IIIB/4 prostate cancer an he had a psa of 15.8 on his first psa test since starting the hrt treatments that’s come right down to 1.5! Which is brilliant he’s got an op this week then radiotherapy in 8 weeks so hopefully that can get it a bit more under control.
That’s life though no point in having savings if you don’t use them when the times require it an anything to take the stress off dad. Hence letting the 1150 an other things go recently. The Nortons are safe though as I think by October at the latest we will be living in Devon if everything goes to plan
hard but exciting times.
So the 850 plan is something for next year hopefully we have enough workshop space on the next house.
Once my 1150gsa sells though the Nortons are back to being my main bikes again
an transport so the 850 could be a good fit.
I’ve not ridden the 850 v the 750 though
So last night I was a bit bored an started reading up on a few things, so I found myself in the workshop one thing lead to another an I’d re stripped the top end on the Commando engine lol.
It had been a few years since I put the engine together an I wanted to double check everything before the first start next weekend as it’s cost me so much to do, so for the price of the gaskets I decided to take the top end apart.
Removed the head last night all ok n the bores look great still, gonna pull the cylinder later on as I wanna measure the piston to bore clearance as somethings nagging me as I’d seen the other day that Norton went down to 0.0037” up to 0.0047”
An the AN pistons require 0.0040” to 0.045” I know on my notes I’d checked everything else but I can’t find reference to that so decided I’ll just check it out this weekend for what it takes.
I know when Pete Honed it for me about 5 years ago he said to just use standard piston sizes as there was pretty much 0 bore wear, I actually found reference to my bike back in the 2000s on one of the other bike forums when someone had found the 68 Commando an it had 19k on the clocks which I thought was interesting when googling the frame number.
Having to do everything with one set of hands as dad can’t lift anything at the moment so decided to check it all out in the bike, it really hammers home how quick an easy it is I got all the carbs n stuff removed an the head off quicker than it’d take me to get to the spark plugs on the Tenere lol.
Used the valve trick to pop the head off its gasket one thing that did surprise me was very slight surface rust on the gasket face around where the fibre gasket part of the gasket sits I’ll get a picture of that before I clean it up.
Found this old picture from the day I’d bought her learnt a lot since then thanks to everyone’s help
An that cable sets off my ocd haha!