It lives!

debby said:

Glad to hear you got it sorted, Stu. I rode a JPN a couple of years ago at the Mancos rally. It's a fairly aggressive position, very stretched out and pretty low clipon position. My Duc 998 (now sold) actually seemed less aggressive but my body couldn't handle that very well either.
Debby

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I can understand why Leno modified his shift lever "for more comfort". Finding it with your toe while stretching your foot around the kick lever is a real treat, especially as the kick lever gouges your right shin. Oh - and don't forget to put the right foot peg down before riding off. That made me feel pretty stupid - fumbling around at 10 mph, trying to find the peg which was folded up against the Z bar. :lol: You're right about the clip-ons. Leverage? Forget it. Steering around tight corners at low speeds is mostly done with body english. But I will say the chassis has a very stable feel to it. And the sound of that engine...priceless.

Stu

The nicest way to load and haul is an enclosed trailer with a drop gate. The gates are plenty long to load a Norton without worrying about scraping the side or center stand and are low enough to load by yourself. Plus, they can become storage units when you aren't hauling!

On the other hand, you can't use it for hauling landscape supplies! Debby's trailer is definitely more versatile.

I have a pair of 8 foot ramps that I use with my 4X4 F150 that work well if you have an extra body or two to help load. One to put the bike on and one to walk up along side. Whatever you do, resist any temptation to ride the bike up. I have some hilarious stories of watching guys try to load their Harleys during Daytona Bike Week!

Sorry for the hijack Stu. But we are still waiting for pictures of your JPN!

Ron L said:

Sorry for the hijack Stu. But we are still waiting for pictures of your JPN!

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This is the best I can do for now. I'm riding it around like this locally just to get a few miles on it. Once the body is back on, I'll have something better to show you - and something legal to show the cops. :twisted:

Stu

I spent today fabricating 6 threaded brackets and installing the headlamp buckets and lenses. All of that stuff was missing. Phil at Fair Spares had the parts. He bought 'em from Norvil who bought 'em from Sprint Mfg. back in the '80s. They're Cibie 45/45 watt H4 bulbs with pilot lamps in the bottom. I think it turned out pretty well. Now I need to call Gustafson for a wind screen.

Stu

Finished except for the windshield. I'm gonna ride it as is to break it in. Gustafsson should have the shield here within a week. The bike rides and handles nicely. It's a pain to shift because of the shifter location in front of the kick lever. But it's smooooth above 2500 rpm -almost too smooth to be a British bike. Nice exhaust note, too. A bit muted, but with a really nice tone. There's an 81 year old guy here who's been doing bike seats for 40 years. He has a good rep, so I took a chance on him. The result is extremely nice.

Stu

Wow, that is one nice JPN. VERY nice.

grandpaul said:

Wow, that is one nice JPN. VERY nice.

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Sure is love it.!!

Here it is all finished. Still need to stop a small oil seep, once I find exactly where it's coming from. But it looks great and runs as good as it looks. Thanks for letting me share the experience. Oh - and Happy Thanksgiving!

Stu

Wow what a beauty! Brings back a lot of memories of seeing one in Bill Getties shop in Whittier. I would ride out of my way & try to think of some part I needed just to go by & look at it. Also a photojournalist Paul Garson had one and lived around the corner from me so I stared at his a lot too. Just a thought but that seeping oil could be coming from your primary at the felt seal if it sat long enough to wet sump and blow by a bit into the chaincase. I learned that from here thanks to our learned members after my bike sat for a while. It dripped from back there & I thought I was going to need to tear into it until I was told to just check that my primary hadn't gotten overfilled. Drained the extra oil and leak was gone. Also, it's a pain but you can move the kick start lever one notch at a time & find a spot that won't hit your shin to much. I tried a Norvil reversed gear lever but never found a place that let me shift well so I went back to rearsets. Nice bike.

Delicious display of tri color plastic covered bug eye'd Commando. Narrow tires make it look ice skater fast and secure to me.

Another thing to relieve the kick lever poking is to grind down its stops so pegs swings in enough to miss muscle mass. I even do that on my otherwise factory Cdo.

gtsun said:

Just a thought but that seeping oil could be coming from your primary at the felt seal if it sat long enough to wet sump and blow by a bit into the chaincase.

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Thanks for the idea. I found it. It's seeping from one of the swingarm pivot seals. I filled the swingarm as I was attaching it to the cradle with it laying on its side, and I definitely stuffed in as much gear oil as it would take. Then soaked the felt and crammed it in. Guess I over did it. Anyhow, it won't seep for long... 8)

Stu