I Am Thinking of Taking a Risk.

Big_Jim59 said:

Back in my bike shop days a customer stopped in for a rear tire on his Ducati GT750. I asked if I could ride it. (I rode customer's bikes all the time.) My coworkers were floored that I would even ask but the guy laughed and said "OK." To this day I have no regrets. I still remember the feel and the sound of that bike even though I was being VERY careful.

There are bikes I wish all riders could experience. Like floating down the road at speed on a BMW /2 with earls forks. The sound and power delivery of a Triumph triple. The crisp handling of a Moto Morini 3 1/2. It would be cool to have a track day and offer rides to younger riders but alas, all these bikes are just memories.

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I'd let anyone ride my Norton if they handed me $14K US in cash and signed a liability waver. No problem whatsoever.

I quit doing the bike swap thing with friends many years ago.

Big_Jim59 said:

Last week I met a few younger riders. They had made a post on the local FB group asking for area bikers to ride by a girls house on her birthday. It was what she wanted for her birthday. It was a nice day so I took my Honda ST1300 and joined the ride. It was fun. These were nice 20 something riders both men and women and most were mounted on sport bikes. I learned that most were trying their hand at some form of social media content. It got me thinking that when the weather warms up, I might offer them a ride on my Norton for their content.

I know it's a risk but I also know that we need younger riders to experience what we already know. I am quite sure that they have never ridden a Norton or maybe even kick started a bike in their lives.

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I know when I got my first Norton, I found the right hand gear change easy and after a while, I rode my GL1000 and I got confused where the gears were , not enough practice, any way left and right side of brain is better connected now. .

Shelby-Right said:

I know when I got my first Norton, I found the right hand gear change easy and after a while, I rode my GL1000 and I got confused where the gears were , not enough practice, any way left and right side of brain is better connected now. .

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It’s funny how soon one’s brain is used to having such different controls. I’ve been out all day on my W800 and when I got home I immediately jumped on the Norton for another quick spin and not once got a gear change or rear braking messed up. I did actually wonder part way if the radically different character reminds the brain what to do and if I’d had 2 identical bikes but with different controls would confuse the hell out of me; I guess that’s the issue for those of you with mk3s AND an older Commando.

I never have a problem with the right side / left side thing but the shift pattern trips me up once in a while .

The only time I got messed up with the gear change on my 74 850 was the day I picked it up from the dealer when I brought it new, been used to riding Honda dirt bikes and when I got around the corner from the dealership a bus stopped in front of me and had to hit the brakes, you guessed it hit the gear lever instead, lucky no cars in the left land and I missed the bus by - that much,, nearly got me, it took about a week to train the brain proper, so a new young rider without ever riding a right foot change could get it wrong in an emergency, I have no problems jumping on both my bikes without any problems with the different gear/foot change, I prefer the right change over the left change any day.

Right hand or left hand gear change never worries me. If I ride my bike itis always on a race track. It usually takes 5 laps to get up to 90% of race speed. After those 5 laps, I never forget which way the gear change works. If I am worried that I might get it wrong, I just do not use the rear brake, unless it is really necessary. The direction of change always needs to be one up and the rest down, otherwise the gearchanges are too slow. With all of this stuff, you always have plenty of time - speed is an illusion. When you have a moment, your brain speeds-up. Racing with a beta-blocker for a heart condition is superb. If you are afraid, everything becomes ten times worse. Over-reaction is bad.

I have bikes with left shift, right shift, reverse pattern shift, hand shift and need to go through the motions once in my driveway and in my head before I take any on the road. If I ever get in trouble I simply remember to pull both levers on the handlebars slowly and ease off the throttle. Works for most except the '48 Chief, that's a foot clutch.

If any of you guys are ever in Benalla, Australia and would like to ride my Seeley 850 on Winton, I will arrange it - if you pick-up the tab at the raceway for insurances and fees. I do not care who rides my bike as long as they have the basic skills. I am quite capable of chucking it down the road myself and fixing it afterwards, so if that happens it is a natural occurrence. And most motorcyclists are not stupid enough to try and make themselves look good on somebody else's bike. I let my brother and another guy try to ride my Triton 500 on Calder Raceway many years ago. They both ran-off at the end of the main straight because of the way it handled. When you were halfway around a corner, you had to accelerate to get around, and NOT back-off. My brother is a speedway sidecar champion who thinks he can ride a motorcycle. I did not know the other guy had also run-off and scared himself until I was talking to my brother recently. The other guy was also into sidecars but had also ridden solos. It is all quite harmless fun. If you come to see me, I will make sure you know how to ride my bike and stay alive. It is quite simple.

I think the best way to do this is if someone expresses interest in Nortons, help them to find a cosmetically challenged machine and coach them through maintenance and that right foot shift. I don't think anything is gained by allowing a minimally curious person to potentially damage themselves and your bike by letting them ride it. Would rather they have some "skin in the game" as it were.

I had my wife’s family from Austria for the last 3 weeks visiting for my son’s wedding. Two of the younger adults asked if they could take the Commando for a spin. I fired the old girl up for them and started going through the right hand patten with them they quickly decided to give the ride a miss. They all had international licence for bikes but they were shocked by the right hand shift and pattern. They soon asked if all commando’s were the same so told them the last 850 had left hand foot shift. I explained that some European bikes back in the day had right hand shift with left hand kicker which left the a bit gob smacked.

It's amassing they are licensed to ride and probably play video games. Good for you, I wouldn't let them near my bike!

One of my friends from my racing days is still alive and in a nursing home. His son recently rode at Daytona and his grandson has won about 3 superbike races. The two offspring have always competed on left-hand gear change bikes. A while back the older one asked about having a ride on my Seeley 850. And I agreed to it, but he freaked-out about the right hand gear-change. I suggest much older riders do not race with the same sense of urgency. For me, if I race again, I would still be quick but slower and more systematic. My methanol-fuelled T250 Suzuki was quicker than any Commando based bike, but changing from one to the other was never a problem. I never use the rear brake, unless I am in real trouble and want to put the bike on the ground.
If you sit back and think about riding a motorcycle at speed, you can scare yourself shitless. I have a major psychological problem - when I start the motor in any motorcycle, I always have an uncontrollable urge to immediately ride it. All sense of fear immediately disappears. If I started a TZ750, I would have to give it a squirt regardless of which side the gearchange is on. But if the gear change was one down and five up, I would not ride it. If you change up when you should change down you might die. Imagine reaching the end of a straight in 5th gear on a TZ750 and changing into top for a corner while braking.

nortonmargie said:

I think the best way to do this is if someone expresses interest in Nortons, help them to find a cosmetically challenged machine and coach them through maintenance and that right foot shift. I don't think anything is gained by allowing a minimally curious person to potentially damage themselves and your bike by letting them ride it. Would rather they have some "skin in the game" as it were.

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Nortonmargie, My Norton is in rather splendid condition, but alas these days I find myself cosmetically challenged! I never had any difficulty swapping from right to left shift or vice versa, but I fix classic cars for a living and some pre-war Bentleys and Alfa Romeos have a centre throttle pedal and that always takes extra care and attention.

One of my friends is a motor mechanic. Somebody bought a Ferrari Super America at auction and gave it to him to work on. My wife and I were visiting him and we decided to start the car. My wife was in the driving seat pressing the starter button, but the motor would not fire up. It was kicking now and then. We realised the accelerator pedal was between the brake and the clutch pedals. She had been using the brake as the accelerator. We told her where it where it was and the motor immediately roared into life. All women are a bit feminist. My mate and I did not let her see us snickering.

I do not usually start my Seeley 850 at home. But I have 3 little girls who live with me - two every second week and one full time. I have never started the bike for them to see and hear what it is like. I have a guy next door to me who has been on the way out for a long time. When he is gone, I will start the bike for them and let them each give it a rev. I might even ride it up the street, so they can get the idea. It is the loudest bike I have ever owned. The girls were very impressed by one of my lady friends - she is the only woman to ever beat our top riders in a production race. She is now back in Melbourne in a nursing home - surgeons have removed two of her vertebrae. My wife gets a bit upset when I say that lady is special because she did what most women cannot do. Am I being sexist ? A few months ago I met a woman at a dinner, who was actually a professionally qualified industrial chemist. She made excuses for having no kids. I probably notice some things which other people don't. We are all programmed to believe certain things