My impressions of the 1973 Commando

Thanks to you guys the Commando is running very well. I have put 35 miles on it in four short rides around town. After growing up with the Kawasaki(there's that word again :wink: )triples and running the poor Commandos ragged around here I never had the chance(and then I wouldn't have if I would have had the chance)to ride one. Now some 42 years later I am still a Kawasaki guy but I appreciate all the classic bikes. The power the Norton has is nice and strong with of course a nice wide power band. I think the vibration at RPM's below 2000 is a little much, feels like things will shake loose. The throttle response is quicker than I thought it would be, it is very willing to rev. I took a little bit to get used to the brake and shifter but after a short while it was second nature, although I did mash it into a higher gear and roll through the first stop sign I came to . The clutch has a nice feel and the gears selection is solid. The front brake works real well and the back is, well, a back drum brake. The handling was excellent and to me it felt like a big bicycle, very easy to ride, not a big motorcycle. I never was able to see much out of the mirrors. Over all I like it a lot and it's a very fun bike to ride. It was only 48 degrees today and the wind was blowing about 35 so it wasn't the most fun day to ride or I would have put a few more miles on.

The mirrors should be completely quiet above 3,000 rpm. My Commando mirrors at 70 MPH are perfectly still and clear, the same as the interior mirror in a new car or truck.
If you are accustomed to a Kawi, then the Norton handling is gonna feel pretty good alright.
Glen

Glad you got it going... :mrgreen:

How far behind the big Kwacker were they, back in the day? In a real world of stoplight Grand Prix?

If you are getting a lot of low down vibration,
might be time to have a look at the rubber isos some time soon. ?

Rubber doughnuts don't last forever,
and if they have sagged or gone soft or hard, they won't work as good as when it was new...

Also check that your carbs are prefectly synched.
If one cylinder is leading the other, it can never be be as smooth as it could be.

Its pretty easy to bevel your next front set of cushions but even w/o that any vibe that do get through below 2000 should only feel like pleasant pitter pats not any slapping sharpness through parts into you. Too soft aired or too old tires also plays back as unpleasant vibes. To really appreciate the full ease of Commando potential - you have to earn it, repeatedly I hear tell.

A friend of mine was always a very good racer and at age 73 has ridden a lot of very good bikes during his lifetime. When he was much younger, he used to do the pre-delivery on new bikes for a Melbourne dealer. He and his offsider would take the bikes down to the Richmond Boulevard which winds alongside the Yarra River for several miles. They would give the bikes heaps. In those days the two fast bikes were the H2 Kawasaki and the 850 Commando. He said there is very little between them. This surprises me because back then we thought the only reason a young guy would buy a commando was because their fathers had told them Nortons are good bikes. In my own case the Seeley sat un-raced for many years mainly because I simply did not believe in it. When I did use it in anger a few times, I was surprised just how good it is. I think that on a tight circuit if I met myself riding it and I was on my old methanol fuelled T250 Suzuki I would give it a very hard time. However that is comparing apples with oranges. The 250 Suzuki on methanol was as fast as a good TZ350G on petrol, however it was a pain in the backside. The Norton is a much better ride, and bike racing is about having fun.

In about 2003, I decided to give the Seeley a go in our historic racing. Period 4 was then dominated by over-bored methanol-fuelled 1000cc CB750 Hondas. One of my childhood friends (now dead) still had a licence, so I gave him the bike to ride at Winton. As with all unraced bikes, all the little things went wrong. It pulled the valve out of the rear tyre, and as he came off a very fast bend and braked, it stood up and turned the wrong way and nearly decked him. My wife commented the other day that she had never seen anyone more wound up and happy as when he rode into the pits after racing that bike. When I first raced it myself, I had exactly the same handling problem, and I only got one decent start and on turn two I found myself up alongside the leaders who were right out on the ripple strip. With the good handling, I rode it right up under them. In 2003 they were about as fast as the guys were on Z900 Kawasakis in open road racing in 1973.

And the Norton was only running on Two Cylinders . :shock:



July 73 is pobly more ' appropriate ' .



Can tweekem faster by far , with a little headwork - carbs etc . But you end up elsewhere - and outside a 50.000 miles BTO .
good filtration maintanace & restraint can get 100.000 . So blowing off Hondas isn't all there is to the world . :x .

Ignition is safest first subject for Ph.D. on Commandos . If that's right itll stay together , all else being right . The redlines NOT 8.000 .

If the Isolastics are properly "tweaked" there should be no vibration AT ALLfelt by the rider above 800 rpm. If you're feeling it at 2000 rpm, something is way out of adjustment. I had about 35,000 miles riding the prototypes, and we did have some issues with the ISOs. They were fixed early on and the ride was always silky smooth.

My commuter bike was a rather tired company 650SS (the odometer showed over 130,000 miles) and I enjoyed the traditional Featherbed ride for the 45-mile commute each way to work. The Commando beat it hands down for comfort, though, and I always tried to get one of the prototypes to ride home.

My 73 Commando is my only vintage brit bike that I can use the mirrors!....I love mine!

If the Isolastics are properly "tweaked" there should be no vibration AT ALLfelt by the rider above 800 rpm. If you're feeling it at 2000 rpm, something is way out of adjustment.

wow Frank, I am stunned to read that, I have owned five Commandos bought brand new and have ridden countless other Commandos of all years, and every single one of them vibrated the same right up to around 2000 minimum to some as high as 2700rpm before the vibration would largely disappear.

Yet you, who should know the truth, claim NO vibration at IDLE or right above idle or anything over 800rpm.

tell me Frank, why is it that only the Commandos you personally rode had no vibration above idle, yet every single person on every forum and that I have met and talked with for 45 years would say you are just wrong?

800 rpm is below what most road going Cdo are set to idle at d/t charging drop and lack of right now throttle response so Frank's test isolastics would never let engine vibe through. Worst one I rode felt pile driver to over 3300 which was too fast for Mt. Hwy traffic so had to endure it and be tempted to keep rpm up too high for the blind sharpness safety. Trixie w/o links with beveled front cushion gets nice about 2000 but even below that the spikes are so blunted its more pleasant than nose or body tingles. Peel's with links and beveled cushioned would lift off about 1800 which which was also her green light charging rpm in 2nd with hi beam puttering down my drive slow enough to dodge, brake or scare stupid deer. I've experimented with adj iso gaps on the road to find tighter like police and race used to do, distinctly helps suppress hinging but buzzes on every side loading from pilot or wind or slopes and lumps so would have to pay me like police or have something to win like racer to ride best handling iso gaps. I suspect 1st Norton issue cushions were a bit thinner width. Norton reduced by half initial cross section 3 times before they knew they had a winner that would isolate at acceptable low rpm that frame and pilot could stand and still decent road holding. Even though about everything else out there can wipe my factory Combat's butt I still enjoy it best.