Just bought my first Commando

G'day everyone from sunny Nth Qld Australia. I might be new to Commandos, but I've been riding for 40+ years, & have had just about every other brand in that time, mainly Triumphs (Meriden & Hinckley), Ducatis (Bevel & Belt), BMWs & every make of UJM. I'm currently unable to ride, as my right shoulder's got limited mobility from botched operations I had on the Humerus I shattered when I decked my Ducati 1198R on a local mountain range road in June 2013. I'm scheduled for a shoulder replacement later this year, which should let me back on a bike once the recovery's done. I could ride now, but it wouldn't be pain free, & I can't risk doing more damage. I put my Honda RVF 400 track bike in my Lounge, so I had something to remind me of why I was enduring all this pain, so I can ride again (N.B. I could have had my arm fused to my shoulder 6 months ago, which would've ended my pain, but I wouldn't be able to ride again). The Honda's a nice little bike, but I never intended to keep it, so when I saw this black Commando Roadster, in rough but running condition, for around half what they fetch out this way. I jumped on it. The bike was in Yeppoon central Qld, which is around 500 miles south of where I live. So I placed my deposit & arranged to pick the bike up that weekend. The moment I did that I heard on the news that a category 5 cyclone was headed for Yeppoon! Good one Murphy! Fortunately the cyclone was down to a cat 3 by the time it got to Yeppoon, & my bike was in a house that still had a roof. So as soon as I heard the roads were open I hopped in my ute & drove into the disaster zone to retrieve my prize. I even beat the army, who were pouring south from their base in Townsville as I was heading back north. As you can see from the pics the bike's not the shiniest, but it's all there. The motor was rebuilt in 2011, & it's tight & leak free. I didn't have a chance to start it when I picked it up, so I was very glad that it fired up with very little prodding once I got it into my Lounge. Here's a youtube clip of me firing it up for the first time. http://youtu.be/oOmFu8Wv2AU As you can hear, it sounds a little rough, & obviously needs a tune up. But there was no clouds of smoke or terminal noise, & no drips of oil on my Lino. So all in all I'm very pleased with my purchase. I've got 12 months to turn it into my ride, so I'm going to take my time thinking about things & taking advice. This IS my first Norton, & I'd like the experience to be as pleasant as possible. So I'll be tapping into the deep & knowledgable resources available here, & I'm open to suggestions. My plan so far, is to put the modern upgrades into it that make it reliable in the 21stC, brakes, suspension, electrics etc. I'd even like to cafe it in the style of a Manx Norton. But I won't be junking the original bits. I'll get them restored to as new too. So I can return it to stock with a day on the spanners. Then I'll have the best of both worlds. Does anybody know of a good conversion to USD forks, & what's the widest rim I can fit inside the swing arm? Also reliable suppliers of all things Norton would be appreciated too. I'd prefer them to be in OZ, as our dollar's on life support right now. But if I have to pony up in USD I will. So US sites will be good too.
Here's the pics

Mine!


Heading home


My man cave's gone from this


To this


& I couldn't be happier!

That's a funny story with a happy ending. Or I guess I should say and happy beginning. It looks nice to me, welcome to Nortonhood. I'm sure the guys in your homeland will connect you with the local Norton folk and suppliers, you can check out our RGM & Andover Norton in the U.K. Oldbritts.com in the U.S. is who a lot of us use and of course Colorado Norton Works is great for a lot of top notch mods. Good luck.

Old Scratcher said:

so when I saw this black Commando Roadster, in rough but running condition, for around half what they fetch out this way. I jumped on it.

Click to expand...

Welcome Cane Toad,

Rough and running condition ?. Looks in the prime of its life with a little patina. Get it going properly (electronic ignition and carbs properly set) and ride it if everything works. Brakes and fluids etc. You will get plenty of engine oil advice but Mobil 1 V Twin is readily available here and Commando's like it.

Suppliers of parts will be determined by what parts you need. Plenty of good engineers in Qld. You will not be short of support.

I ride modern Litre bikes but get a lot of joy on the Nortons.

Welcome.
Watch out for rabbits!

Hi There
Well what a buy, Cafe Racer not sure such a good idea, this is from a chap who has turned a dirt track Aerial Red Hunter, a low mileage 1958 99 Dominator, 1955 Manx Norton, Tritons, plus other bits and pieces into into Cafe Racers back in the late 60s and early/mid 70s.

My advice would be to restore it as they are great rides, find a bike that is beyond retoration and Cafe it.

Either way, good luck with the surgery and whatever you do with the bike, hope all goes well, oh by the way do you have a wife/partner of any description that allows you to have the bikes inside, as I have been trying for years but she who must be obeyed will not let it happen ????

Best regards from down South not that far NSW
Burgs

Welcome Old Scratcher,
Road and Race Bendigo, Trojan in Sydney, Classic Allparts Sydney and British Spares NZ., all have websites.
Heaps of parts on eBay in the US and UK, Norton bits in the UK have great stuff, Steadfast in the US have great stuff and bsanut in the US (Eurotrash Jumbalaya) has the nicest stainless bits available. As you've noted, the $AUD is a problem and shipping can be a big cost too. I just put in a big order to RGM in the UK, if you do it in one hit it offsets the shipping. At least you got a Commando, you can even get a new build from Norvil, that gives you some idea what's available around the world.
Jeff
(Innisfail Lad)

That bike looks pretty good.

On the list of places to go I would add Andover Norton and Mick Hemmings. Mike Hemmings doesnt do computers but if you ring you will get his wife who knows rather a lot about Nortons. I have found ordering out of the UK to NZ very easy. Mick Hemmings is about the straightest guy who has actually done it you can find. I would give Les Emery Fairspairs Norvil a miss.

http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/Distributors.htm

http://www.mickhemmings.com/

Like the other guys I was cafe racer 20 years ago but more original now. The only thing you may need in Oz is a decent sized gas tank because those Roadster tanks are pretty small.

Id stay close to original after that .

Good upgrades

Andover have a master cylinder upgrade that will improve the front disc. You can go the full way and get a Colorado Norton works disc set up if you want - lots of $
New Premier carbs
An inline oil filter if it doesnt have one
electronic ignition - Pazon is close to Oz (NZ) otherwise you will find lots of discussion on options here.
I would go through the whole wiring system with a multimeter. You will have bad connections - thats a fact!
I wouldnt go changing around rim sizes if I were you. The quick flickabity of a Commando doesnt need big tyres. If Peter Williams can put it around the TT at 100 mph why would you need more.
Same with forks. There are upgrades discussed on here. http://lansdowne-engineering.co.uk/three_3.html

Thats enough for a start. Soemone will suggest clutch upgrades belt drives but I havent done this so cant really recomend anything
John

That was a real score. As stated, tune her up and ride when the shoulder allows. That is one nice bike as she sits. What a great story of going to get her. It makes the find all the more exciting, esp. as she looks to be in good nick already. You will love it once under way.

Boy that's a nice intack Combat which only needs a few minor improvements to be as reliable and mordern traffic capable as newer cycles. With your screwed up shoulder and hidden spinal track component you'll learn about hard way on your own later, I vote leave it as Norton as ya can or clean and tune it up and sell it for what its really worth and buy all the Non Norton parts for your imagined dream machine. Btw ya might be very pleasantly surprised placing flexable rubbery weak mutli-polartity refregerator magnets over the shoulder injury & surgical spots. Baylor College of Medicine Houston Texas found out magnets allow the capillilary beds to breath w/o just swelling up or drying up so tissue inflammation dramatically reduced and tissue repair dramatically increased. Ideally you need Two Commando's one you can screw with and another to keep the faith pure. At least store the removed parts well for the next decade or two when special componet supplier may not be around. There is a hidden danger in the isolastics handling weave/wobble onset that ridig moderns don't get until rather harsher turn loads so be alert and try some low tire aire ride to get sense of it at easy to recover rates and is same mild sense of a slow leak barely sensed as wind gusts > till slowing and all hell breaks loose.

Main issue with Commandos is oil leaks so a better breathing system/valve worth while. Main oil issue with Combat is sump pick up at front so can pile oil up on hi rpm intervals a Combat with 2S cam is eager to do but require spliting cases to get too and runs fine regardless of some oil mess playing racer riding. Check brake fluid regualarly for a few gas tanks to make sure fluid ain't leaking/blow away for a bad surprise one good pull down next instant nothing. Also be aware the primary chain must be set pretty floppy cold or can heat tighten dramatically and mess with shifting or bend trans shaft. The mechanical advance unit of point igniton wears to point will not settle back to idle so acceptable to put electro brain ignition in as no AAU's being made and tedious to restore them.

Nice score! Congrats! Idles better than mine. Looks complete. Have fun.

I'm also diggin that Strat hangin on yer wall! Genuine?

Don't Café Racer it Old Scratcher, it looks in far too good a condition to do that to it!
Just restore it, doesn't look like it would need too much.

Its a freaking Combat for gosh sakes which means bone stock can break under 13 sec 1/4" if hanging on each shift till front floats in mid redline and topping out nearly 120 mph or more upping the drive sprocket which don't seem to bother acceleration but tends to improve real life use of it d/t staying in lower gears longer. A Combat can pull as much or more g's than the moderns below 100 mph because the moderns tend to wheelie so only throttle to similar pulls below 100. Pissed a lot of the elite expensive sports bikers off as they just can use salt lake or dayton race power in public conditions and fatso tires step out as comfy lean angles our skinny tires are made for. I like the stock brake with a hole in its restrictor valve for my fun with sane sports bikers not racing mine you but having fast illegal sane joy rides or can resleeve for stock brake to worry way more about tire grip than brake power. Only downside is don't try to follow a hot handy shot sport pilot at the rate they can hang turns if really in racer competive mood as 'untamed' Cdo may enter fine but soon as any let off of slack in frame/iso loads hinge can onset. If staying on hi acclerating power can keep hinge tammed down to go harsher but then any lumps in path or wind gusts can allow some slack reasonance build up for fish flop off the deck into the drink. Many will claim theirs are set up to stick like rails and I believe em totally but I also know they ain't taking full advantage of their improved handling to have the hinge onset again but rather higheer frequency and amplitude beyond human capcity of speed and power to counter-recover. I'm mostly thought of as a flaming bragart and don't care one iota as my triple linked Peel makes those hot shot handy sports bikes seem like corner cripples on slow moving parking lot cones to zig zag around inside outside all the same to Ms Peel with any line perfect, especially decreaser radii deligths on plain ole Combat bomb engine. My big let down was getting caught up with by those willing to top 135 to do it in 1/2 mile or so opens so main reason I'm leaving Norton behind on next Peel is for higher top end too and lots of off road silly scary stuff. Get two if a schizophenic split scrambled brain nature.

Black and gold.
Classic Commando Formal Wear.

Cheers.

Thanks for the input everyone. Some really useful info there. I am leaning towards leaving kit as stock as possible, as she's such a survivor. I really can't wait to ride it!
The Strat's a Fender. The pickups are American, but the body's a Mex. Plays fantastic!

Good buy, myself I would just leave it alone, get it running good and ride it, it might surprise you, get use to riding it and if anything needs fixing or replaced then get the parts as you go, it looks great the way it is.
Good luck with your OP and hope you recover quickly so you can get your leg over the bike and enjoy the trills of riding a great Norton some great riding roads up your way, you don't need wider wheels for it to handle good, just up grade the surspenstion front and back and maybe a nice set of alloy rims, its one of the best upgrades you can do to it.
There are a lot of member here in QLD and Australia, BJs in Brisbane is good for parts and always have what you need in stock, RGM are also very good to deal with and is still cheaper to buy parts than from here, remember when the Aussie $$$ drops the parts prices here seem to go up as well.

Ashley

Welcome to the asylum!

And what kind of truck/car/vehicle is that pulling the trailer? Pretty cool looking!

It's a 2005 VZ Holden 1 Tonne AWD Ute. I believe the US got the sedan & coupe versions of this car badged as Pontiacs. Mine's a V6, but they also came out with a V8.

Hi Old Scrather

Welcome to the forum AKA Asylum
The commando looks like its in great shape. Cant wait to hear how it goes with it. I would keep it original with sensible mods for sure. Good luck with your shoulder mate.

Cheers- Jerry

It went first prod this morning, though it's still running rough. I think it's the L/H cylinder that's the problem, as it's the one that's backfiring. I'm thinking it might be running rich. I've never worked on these kind of carbs before, so I'm loath to go fiddling with the mixture screw without taking some advice. Putting a carby kit into both, & balancing them, would cure all ills. But it could be overkill, & I'd rather spend my limited money supply for this project on things that need to be done. What do others think?

Read and learn - the carbs are easy to rebuild, though harder to get off the bike! (you need a shortened allen wrench to do it)

https://www.oldbritts.com/amal_tun.html

http://www.jba.bc.ca/Bushmans%20Carb%20Tuning.html

http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/mc-ho ... rhaul.aspx

Note that I am saving my pennies for a new set of Premiers, since my slides are getting worn.