Is there NO God.. butchered Commandos

Dave

Agreed.. as they say . in every buckey of bolts there at least one great treasure.. well sounds good to me !!

If he was to accept a good offer such as you suggest ~ the donkey would be worth saving.. and I bet there would be a Virago owner that would glad of the cradle..


If it passes in again ~ might be worth it to give him "a call!" 8 ) 8)

custom norton

hi guys great site,lots of info great tips.im currently rebuilding a 74 850 norton commando,going to do her stock,my current norton is a custom that i built last winter ran it all summer,had a great time with it.the 850 is a matching numbers bike.engine transmission and frame.the prevous norton was not complete,and had no matching numbers,this is the reason i did what i did,no regretes.i love her.even the norton guys around here love her.she is on thebritcycle web site in anyone wants a look.under customer bikes custom norton 06 04 06,take a look tell my your thoughts,good or bad.

Do ya mind posting a link?

This is in reply to 600zx after a perusal of his bike on the britcycles website. Did you simply bolt the engine into the frame without isolastics? As far as I can see even if you used the isolastics as engine and gearbox mounts you would lose the benefits by virtue of your rear end set-up and the lack of a cylinder-head mounting. I am interested in putting a spare Commando engine in a Rickman Mettise frame but my research has indicated that the commando engine has a different balance factor than any other Norton engines in earlier frames.
So, does it vibrate like a cement mixer on steroids? and do you think it handles better than the featherbed models?

hello,yes i used the stock isolastics,it dos not viberate much more that it did in the stock frame,it handles very well for a bike with a 10 inch over springer front end,and a savoir frame,with no shocks lol.i tried to use as much of the norton components as i could,as you now the commando is avery nice bike.thanks for you thoughts.the site adress is www.britcycle.com its under customer bikes,custom norton 06 04 06

Hi Folks-
Seems like the chopper thing runs in cycles every 15-20 years then dies. Remember the 70's? It amazes me that it's gone on so long this round. Must be the media saturation. What irks me is that it's expanded past Harleys and now Brit bikes are being cut up again. If the tv boys want to build high-buck rolling willie extensions with new frames and aftermarket Harley engines, more power to them. There's plenty of people with more money/credit availability than sense to feed this craze, but when they start butchering matching number classics it gets frightening! Combine that with the vultures who are parting matching number Nortons and Triumphs, etc down to the bare cases because it'll bring more money and it's a sad state of affairs, indeed. 10-15 years ago I was buying "chopperized" Nortons and Truimphs that were out of fashion and rusting in barns and back yards for a song. Be patient, fashion is fickle, things will turn. Just smile as you think what that really expensive ass jewelery will be worth when the worm turns again.

Mike
Kansas, America
Lots of stock classic stuff

I originally wanted a V-twin custom. Not an ape hanger clad eye sore, with flames, spikey billet parts, wheels that look like they were made for Satan's motorbike ect.

I wanted a bare bones, nice bike, made for me untill I saw a picture of a Norton Commando, with low rise bars and one of those Corbin sport seats. I was over the V-twin rather quickly.

Mind you, I wouldn't say no to nice, low key twin, but at $30,000? Forget it.

I have always like the look of British bikes and now I want to own one, and put my personal touch on it. Not butcher it like the one in that evilbay auction, but put an alloy tank on it, lower it a tad, engine upgrades ect. I can honestly say I won't be blending in with all those guys putting billet parts on Sportsters.

hello guys,if any of you looked at the pics of my bike you can clearly see that this is not a buchard norton,this bike came to me as a basket case twisted frame,bend front end,and no matching numbers,the norton ppower train has been install into am amen sovior frame,i used as much of the norton parts as i could because as i said the norton is a beautiful bike,and the sound even better going down the road,rather than collecting dust and rust sitting in some parts bin/basket somewhere,right now im working on getting a 74 850 matchingnumbers commando back from the same state all in boxes gathering rust and dust,next summer she will be creating her own dust flyng down the road,long live the norton commando

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-Nor ... dZViewItem

Norton street Fighter? This guy should be struck down with a Vmax.

A "Street Fighter" eh ? Does that mean that if you left it parked on the street, the scrap dealers would fight over who got to take it away :?

Pass the cutting torch

I'm going to stick my neck out on this and say that it appeals to me. After all...the adjustments have already been done or?....
I wouldn't think of taking a matching number bike, or even a good non matching bike and doing this to it......but the deed has already been done, and done far enough that it would be rough to get it back to specs. So.....have at it...can't give it back it's virginity, so we may as well enjoy it and do just what we want to do with it.
Same principal goes for me with antique cars...wouldn't ever chop and rod an old 32 Ford that still was original.....but if it already had been rodded....and had been done well, and it found me staring at it from the back of a barn where it had sat since 1965 when some kid got sent to Nam and never got to finish it....I wouldn't waste too much time bitching about how someone had "ruined" it. It had it's changes done a long time ago, when no one really gave a value to keeping it original...so it's changes are a part of it's history now.

Restore it, yes...but as a hotrod, or a chopper, or a street fighter... if that's what it happens to be, who cares.

Lighten up.

All these things have their place in motor vehicle history... :wink:

Go for it Hewho ! Mercury engined specials are few and far between (At least I assume that's what a 1970 650 would have to be based on).

It's biggest problem in my opinion is that the mods are so out of period. All late '80s stuff I think.

Unbelievable that people were still painting Red Baron crosses on at that time. Silly Fokkers

Ok ~ Hewhois~
I hear where your coming from..

I am currently into a restoration of a T150V JJ ` ~ and the ironic part is I KNOW where the frame is.. in my shed and the matching engine ~

It is in France !!

So therefore the intriguing scenario is that "Eric's" story is featured in a Brit bike mag as a Special with a Norton frame!

And mine ~ ?
I have no plans of a concourse original ` ~ but with a mismatched frame and a Yamaha XS 750 front end ~ I am planning a very tidy ~ but non original special ~ (Incidentally the mag in UK is enthralled with idea of doing a follow up feature on the Tri-Norton.. )

But in short, if "you " are a biking enthusiast .. a tasteful special is worthy of any appreciative rider..

As my partner says.. "If you have a cup of tea and spill the tea ~ on the table ~ or the floor.. it is still TEA ~ "

(But then on the flip side ~it may still be tea.. but I am not about to appreciate it on the floor ~ LOL )

Slightly different topic...

Just a quick look see here...too much going on to really answer all this...

We did a gig Saturday night...interesting. Went well till about the next to last tune....then the ignorant children who think Adolf was cool started their thing. Chanting nicities as to what they would like us to do with their oh so manly and long, private parts...and giving the well known friendly Nazi form of greeting, as seen in all the old war films. Great stuff. Got so bad we decided it just wasn't fun anymore and stopped. Had 6 of them on the stage in the middle of a song and what with them falling all over equipment, knocking stuff over, and just plain falling down on the stage it was a hassel getting them down off it again, alone...the others were too busy rockin to help me, I quess.......but anyway...the children were so drunk that it actually went very well. I might be small...but I get the point across when I want to. One of them was so impressed by my friendliness that he decided to leave me his favorite switchblade as a souvenir. Or should I say....I figured I had a better use for it than he did, and it ended up in my pocket. Nice time had by one and all, to say the least.

Now I have a nice, much-too-long-to-carry-around, switchblade which I have to shorten so I don't get a record just by owning it. Will make it nice and short...make the grip shorter and fit it into my tool kit on the bike. I don't carry a knife anymore, the reasons for which will be explained the next time I get back to my Blog....

Hope none of you now get affended by my modifications....after all....by the time I finish, it will no longer have the original frame, the appearance will have been changed, and the original paint will have been removed. Sort of like a chopper version of the standard everyday factory original switchblade.....

Amazing how the old saying "Speak of the Devil" is correct.

There we were...discussing the pros and cons of "Specials".... :wink:

Hi Folks-
I don't know.. Fit a nice ss700 headlamp, flat bars, some shocks and a gunfighter seat, lost the Maltese cross with a black paintjob and add a stayless front fender...............

Vroom

Mike
Kansas, America
Stock is best but everybody's different

Mike

Yes.. I feel we are all creatures of (personal) fashion..

My Commando now has a set of dust shrouds over the rear shockers.. which suited it when I built the bike,..but I now feel they are far too dated..

Polished instrument pods as opposed the Matt black powder coat and a non original red paint job ~ (All else exteranlly at least standard ~ )
Alll class~ and vorrrmm LOL

Like our flares .. paisley ~ and chunky boots ~ times they ~ change ~

To bring the debate back to a level of originality ~ it is about butchering a concept by taking a class donkey .. placing it in a -perhaps- class frame and then adding just a horde of Gordy ` bolts.. lacking any degree of sanity ~ ??

Re: Slightly different topic...

hewhoistoolazytologin said:

We did a gig Saturday night...interesting. Went well till about the next to last tune....then the ignorant children who think Adolf was cool started their thing. Chanting nicities as to what they would like us to do with their oh so manly and long, private parts...and giving the well known friendly Nazi form of greeting, as seen in all the old war films. Great stuff. Got so bad we decided it just wasn't fun anymore and stopped. Had 6 of them on the stage in the middle of a song and what with them falling all over equipment, knocking stuff over, and just plain falling down on the stage it was a hassel getting them down off it again, alone...the others were too busy rockin to help me, I quess.......but anyway:

Click to expand...

I play in a band too, and if any jackasses like that started messing with our gear on stage, I don't know what would have happened. I think I'd be over my kit in 2 seconds feeding those bozos an albow to the back of the head. But you did mention a switchblade right? :shock:

Yea....I started chopping it last evening. The wife was watching some crap on TV and I was bored, so I went into the garage and started on the pigsticker.
Almost a bit painful as I really do have a little demon in there that tells me I should never ruin a stock collectable item...but in this case...it's either modify, or throw it in the dustbin. I can't turn it into the cops...I could be charged with possesion of an illegal weapon...so I have to throw or change it. Stubborness says not to just throw...I earned the little toy...so it gets modified enough to keep me out of trouble and gets kept as a souvenir. It goes into my tools where I can use it to fix wiring, like I needed one for a couple of weeks ago (and had to ask some fellow with a Morgan to loan me his) and that way it is a bit hidden from the nice folks that seem to have an urge to stop and search just because they have a badge. Club colors are like a magnet for them anyway. The nice little thing will be legal, and not carried on my person...so it will not give any big reason for taking me in. My wife would kill me if that happened....
They check the bike over so well...lights, tires...exhaust...all after-market stuff has to be in the paperwork...fussy stuff. Feels much better when they decide to bother you, and you have had only a Cola and the bike is all legal....that way they have no beef they can use to delay me from wishing them a good evening.... :wink:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1958-58- ... dZViewItem

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f238/ ... phchop.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f238/ ... sachop.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f238/ ... _12_sb.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f238/ ... /2e_12.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f238/ ... orton1.jpg

The top one is another butcher job!!
I am not against to a nice lookin chopper as long as they are done with skill. Certain bikes should not be touched.
Ive added some link to some brit bikes I thought were done very cleanly and a pic of my commando at the bottom.
Let me know what you think 8)

Nice looking machine! (Your Norton, that is!)

Mike
Kansas, America
Nortons, a BSA and a freshly-painted T140E