My new Un-Dunstall

Since calling anything a "Dunstall" is always an argument waiting to happen, I'll just tell you about my new arrival. I have known about this bike for many, many years. It belonged to a friend in Central Nebraska, who has built many Nortons, does very good work, and has owned many other Euro-bikes through the years. He bought this in 1983 from Baxter Cycle as a "1972 Dunstall Norton Commando". It was an unfinished very long term project of his. He painted the frame, assembled the wheels, engine and gearbox later, but progress stalled when he got into other bikes and projects. I'm not very good at stuff like this, but one day this spring, I just called him out of the blue, and asked if he was ready to sell. After a few cups of coffee, and looking over his other Nortons and BMWs, and some great pictures of his Laverda SFC, we finally shook on it. I hauled it home in April. What was going to be a winter project for me, turned into a mad dash to get it ready for a local antique bike gathering that happens the second week of August. I simply couldn't wait to ride it! The Dunstall parts: 810 cylinder, dual disc set up with Borrani rims, exhaust with centerstand , headlamp ears and rear-sets. He gave me the choice of this tank or a fiberglass Dunstall unit, and I took this one. It was minus a seat, (he didn't like the Dunstall seat and got rid of it after it cracked) headlight, wiring harness, master cylinder and lots of little stuff. My son ('72 Combat owner) is a very talented machinist, really took charge of the disc brake situation. The calipers were stuck, and we didn't want to mess up the bores, so we decided to tap and pull the old pistons and make new ones. He also made a nifty tool to unscrew the caliper caps, and helped source the correct EPDM o-rings. Added one of those Shindy - Nissin 14mm master cylinders. After hearing how bad these systems are from some of the naysayers, I'm impressed with it. Stops harder than any stock Commando single disc I've ridden. Of course, not too many of us run the stock MC on those anyway. I made the fiberglass seat base by making a mold from another seat I had, and had a local upholstery buddy do it up for me. Carbs are new - or were many years ago! I made a simple wiring harness for it, adding a Podtronics I had. Also threw on a pretty decent Boyer MKIII I had on the shelf. Bought the replica Dunstall mufflers, since it had none, and I didn't want to pay big $$$ for beat up originals. Fired it up for the first time in many, many years, and after the usual fiddling around, it's a joy to ride. Not as peaky as I thought it might be, but super strong in lower rpms. I'm not sure the previous owner even remembers what cam he put in it, but it's got a Combat head, and the serial number would be in the Combat range. Knowing this guy, I'm sure he made all kinds of little improvements on it. What I have spotted in box-section head steady, 850 swing arm, set screws on the swingarm spindle mount, etc. Even though it's been assembled many years ago, I have 100& faith in this guys work. I had to remove the Tomaselli clip-ons he had on it, and added these Tarozzis. Much better! Turned out to be the right time and the right deal for both of us.

Get a front mud guard, skeletonize the "Z" plates (just a thought), and ride, ride, ride! Beautiful bike!

Nathan

Looks like a Dunstall to me. Got the twin front disc brakes, got the pipes, got the 810 kit, got the rearsets. If some purist insists Paul Dunstall had to have personally shaken Holy Thames water over it to be authentic, that's their problem.

A front fender is in the works.

Looks great to me and could be a show winner, put a short Dunstall front gaurd on it and it be even better looking, the Z plates look a bit out but could improve them to look better, but other than that you have a very sweet looking bike, now have some fun on it, good luck with it.

Ashley

That is a lot of offset on the fork yokes - are they standard ? I 'd really like to know the steering geometry spec. of the standard commando - rake and trail and wheelbase .

The bike is lovely, however I agree about the Z plates - there is too much of them,

acotrel said:

however I agree about the Z plates - there is too much of them,

Click to expand...

They are only thin material - go messing about with them, and they may end up too weak.
The ones that have been swiss cheesed with holes look like a dogs breakfast.
Better to leave them as as, and let the eye be drawn to the pretty bits further forward.
And those twin front disks must have been a talking point back in their day...

Rohan said:

acotrel said:

however I agree about the Z plates - there is too much of them,

Click to expand...

They are only thin material - go messing about with them, and they may end up too weak.
The ones that have been swiss cheesed with holes look like a dogs breakfast.
Better to leave them as as, and let the eye be drawn to the pretty bits further forward.
And those twin front disks must have been a talking point back in their day...

Click to expand...

+1. Nice wheels!

I believe the yokes are standard , and just the handlebar clamps have been ground off. As far as the Z plates, we are going to water jet a new set to the same dimensions, but no extra holes. Either these or the ones on the production racer are an acquired taste, but they've grown on me. I've seen a whole spread in a 1972 motorcycle magazine that showed these on all of the Dunstall bikes. The reason for the re-do is because these are a little gouged up, have a hole for the zener and two holes for passenger footrests. A couple of the mounting holes for the footpegs are kinda hogged out as well. I'll just place them on the shelf with all of the other stuff I'm saving off of various bikes. That I'll never use, but the guilt of tossing it would be overwhelming!

You have one assurance: You will NEVER have another bike like it parked next to you.

Wow, got the Dunstall 2/1/2 official center stand too!
OK, it's a Dunstall for sure.
How about painting the center stand same color as the frame?

If you look closely at the centerstand, you'll see a couple of thick metal pads bolted to bottom of it. As it was first installed, it was positively scary. Neither tire was off the ground. If you looked at it cross eyed, it would probably fall over. Over the winter, we hope to either fine tune that stand, or just make another. I think the weak point of the Dunstall stand is the flat strap that ties the two legs together and wraps around the pipe. We thought we might try tubing to stiffen it up a bit. I saw a very well-done Dunstall replica stand on eBay a few months ago made of round tubing. Might go that route as well. Looked sharp! (fetched over $400 - not bad for a replica!) Never thought about red, but why not?

I ran this setup for years and never thought of the "wishbone" as I call it a weak point. I always thought it to be too narrow and too far forward. Hence the issue with the rear wheel never leaving the ground. Pipes are cool and sound great with period mufflers or reps. Just boxed everything up and went back to stock for awhile. Nice stuff you have there.