texasSlick said:
A roster of Forum members who agree to be listed, with access only to those on the list.
This way we can look each other up when in their locale.
Slick
+1 for Slick's idea.
However, I think this does exist in a manner - those that have listed/entered their bike in the Database can be sorted by State/Province, although there is no place for us to enter our city/town. If that were available and sortable (merely being alphabetized within the State/Province sort would likely suffice) than it might easily achieve the desired effect. Those that do not wish their location to be shown could simply not enter it.
It would also be of potential benefit in reaching out to someone to possibly provide feedback on or look at a bike for sale, etc., in their area.
Another suggestion:
A sub-category within the Norton Commando Forum for new Norton owners mostly, but also for everyone else, with individual threads listing the known weak points of the Commando (layshaft bearing, crankcase ventilation, Amal Mk1 bores, OE coils, etc.) and the acknowledged fixes - moderated/edited by a few of the forum's most technically astute members where they sort the fixes in order of most helpful/useful to least. This would have the moderator maintain the initial (top) post in a clean and clear manner adding to that post's list or adjusting it as deemed necessary with all other posts falling in line below.
This would provide quick and easy access to pertinent details with the member having the ability to browse the "supporting" posts as they chose to, but being able to get to the meat immediately at the beginning/top.
As an example, the OE coils are known to be marginal at best. Shortly after I bought my first 850 Commando in 1973, I read an article by Cook Neilson where he discussed this and provided a solution - use two coils from the 1960's-1970's Ford 300ci I-6 motors. Certainly seemed to work for my 850. Today, there are numerous alternatives available, and while I've seen a bit of discussion and posts (not done a search, just ran across material), I've not noticed any readily available material to help me research what the best choices are today. If things were categorized in perhaps 3 categories (lowest cost that does the job properly/best bang for the buck/best performance) I'd think it would certainly be a valuable asset to many.
I've just bought a 73 (38 years after I sold my last one) and am trying to re-learn and gather as much info as possible, especially seeing as the bike has sat under a tarp in an unheated garage for the past 14 years.