Bernhard said:
nnnrh said:
Thank you gents, the inside of my disc does have a rust patch but this is not the part of the disc that grabs. I guess it must be slightly warped. Secondly is there a minimum thickness discs can be ground to. My wives car seems to need new discs every so often as the service people tell me they are too thin for any more grinding????
RE; "My wives car seems to need new discs every so often as the service people tell me they are too thin for any more grinding????
sounds like your pistons in the caliper on the motor are sticking on – but I could be wrong[/quote]
My ex wife drove a Landrover I bought her. Somehow she managed to melt the brakes. Drove with flat tyres when I was away with work for days. Ran it with no water, little oil and frequently ran out of petrol. She would chuck her cigarette butts out the window and they would blow back in the rear window and put burn holes in the rear seat. It was so full of trash you could not even sit in the passenger seat. There were coke bottles everywhere (which rolled out of those idiot sloping front floors) and more ciggy packets than the shop where she bought them.
The boot section was full of unimaginable dog equipment and dog fur replaced the once attractive material seats. I think there were a few dogs running around with cigarette burns too. Too many dogs to mention, who took their turn riding around slobbering all over the fur lined seats. I never actually liked the Landrover very much and mostly stuck with riding my combat when I was home. It was kept immaculately.
I think that car cost me close to $50,000 new.
A few short years later I came back with $8000 from the car auctions.
She said she wanted another one, to start all over again. I just got on the combat and took off in despair.
I just can't remember what happened next. Being the very best time of my life, joy flooded and blanked my memory.
I remember selling my combat with its Lockheed calliper that never helped much. We swapped it to MkIII side to stop the steering left issue, and it did that completely, but still didn't stop. I wanted $8500 for it to cope with the Landrover loss. Way too cheap considering all the goodies that Pete and I had fitted. I put it in the Mittagong bike shop showroom for display and sale.
One Friday night at the Berrima pub a pissy looking chap I had never seen before lurched up to me and said I want that Norton of yours, I've seen it in the shop and they tell me here you are the owner. He thrust a $5 note in my hand and said that's the deposit. I thought he was joking and thought little of it. But next day he rocked up at the shop with a cheque for $8495 and took of on my beautiful hand built combat. It made me cry but it was gone forever. He never understood what a beautiful piece of motorbike he now owned. Nearly a year later on a Friday night I watched it being thrashed to death up and down in front of the Berrima pub, with blokes taking turns to do it. I felt completely sick and had to go home.
I believe the bike now lives in QLD with an owner who loves it and would never sell it. I know because I tracked it down and wanted to buy it back not long ago. I was told, don't bother trying, he'll never part with it. At least it is now in good hands. Probably the best built Commando I have ever owned, went like stink and never leaked any oil. Pete was a brilliant Norton builder.
The front brake never grabbed, not partially or fully, we all know what non upgraded Commando disc brakes can be like. Not Pete's fault. I got what I asked for and could have upgraded it but didn't. I call my MkIII my best Commando ever, not because it's built better than Pete could do, probably not as good. But I really love the MkIII model. The more I think about my front brake, the more I think it is actually pretty good. I wish Pete was here to see the bike, I know he would have pointed out a number of short falls, but overall I think he would be impressed.
