New Member, with questions.....

Josh,
I see you have the 71 coil bracket and coil rings. The 69/70 had a different bracket and the coil holder rings had a little bracket off to the side that held the condensers on. The 71 had a central condenser unit.


That's definitely a 69/70 frame and cradle, the prop stand is off a lug that bolts onto the frame bracket with the 2 holes in it and you have the early prop stand. Lots of people like to upgrade that mount, I didn't, but I did replace the pin with c-clips with a 7/16 bolt and nylock. I understand you are restoring it as a 70 Roadster. Would you be willing to share the serial number or part of it and date off your compliance plate with me? I have a list of 'S' models I'm collecting with the numbers and manufacture date and it looks like yours is right in that time period and very well may have been a Roadster if it was later in 70. Is that the original centre stand? I never had one so I got a replacement from RGM that looks right, but the only problem is the "locating spring, 061295" that goes on that tab off to the left side, I cannot get on. It's too tight.


Is that paint or powder coat? I see you coated the stays. How are you going to treat the mudguards? Be careful, the 69/70 stays and front mudguard are quite different than the 71 and up.


Nice work. Make sure you don't have powder coat under the engine mounting studs/nuts.

Do you have the original nuts from the rear isolastic 1/2" stud? If the left hand 1/2" nut was beaten up and flattened on one side, the bike may really have been an 'S' model in it's original configuration.

Dave
69S

Hello DogT.

Serial number: 140 892, just made up a manufacture date, Nov 1970, the original data plate did not have a date, so just a guess.

The centre stand is the orignal, was not on the bike, but will be.

Pretty sure it was not an "S".

Guards, treat the guards ?, I'm throwing them in the bin.
http://www.norvilmotorcycle.co.uk/063175SS.htm ( the old fat bikers chicks will dig these ).

Coil mount, was planning on mounting the coils on this mount, but maybe having the coils clamps on the inside of the bracket to give me more space to put on the reflectors....

The ass wipe that did the powder coating put powder on the swing arm bush mount on the cradle. Went with Satin Black.

Photos: http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n229 ... ?start=all

Great, you've got lots more detailed pics than I did. Like I said, be careful with that mudguard. If you have the 69/70 stays (25540A), they will not fit on the 71 mudguard with the longer bridge (5") which is probably the Norvil one you are looking at, but the early stays were for the S and they are different because of the exhaust pipes. The stays for the Roadster are 25540 and are about an inch longer, about 13".

140892 puts it between June 70 and Jan 71 manufacture date according to my records which may not be correct so your Nov is probably about right. All the S numbers I have are in 69 around 131-134. But your number would most likely make it a Roadster made after they finished with the 'S' models. Or a Fastback MKII, but with that oil tank it would be a Roadster since the Fastbacks had the side tank if it's all original.

I have the reflectors on mine with the coil brackets in the picture above. They mount under the front tank studs on 'L' brackets.

Make sure the mud dauber wasps have not clogged up the oil tank lines with mud.

Dave
69S

josh
the front guard stays are 71 or later as they have the "s" bend below where the guard attaches, hopefully Dave will chime in with a picture also the later ones are longer than "s" or "70" roadster.
Al

These are the items that were fitted.

Nice work Josh! Hey Dave that photo u posted of your coil bracket is that correct for 68-70 models? Cause mines obviously got the wrong one then like Joshs had, what's yours Al (possm)? Il have to try track down an original from eBay

DogT,

That bracket does not look original to me, looks like its been made by a doofus with a vice and hammer, I claim to be no expert, just looking at the bracket compared to the quality of the workmanship elsewhere on the bikes......

Guys,
First let me say that I learned a lot from Nelson, who put me onto the front mudguard/stay differences. He had put a 71 front mudguard and stays on his S type and found out real soon that under hard braking, the fender would get trapped between the exhaust pipes. I think he called it 'exciting', not being able to steer while braking. Upon inspection of the spares book here is how the front stays and fender break down.

68 Commando(Fastback) 060619/060584(home),060583(export)
69 R type 060619A/not listed so assume same as 68 Commando
69 S type 25540A/25542A
69 Fastback 060619A/not listed so assume same as 68 Commando
70 Roadster 25540 (chrome)/25542

I do know that things changed in 71, and the stays are longer than the S type and the fenders a different curve I guess to fit the larger tyres. I am not really sure of the differences in the stays and fenders for the 69/70 models, but I think some of the Fastback fenders/stays may have been painted, not chrome. There may have been subtle changes in dimensions too. Here's a picture of my front stay, very sure off my original 69 S type.



It will have to be used in conjunction with the correct fender or things will have to be bent and will not fit.

I installed a 3.00 19 Avon Speedmaster MKII on the front and there is less than 1" of clearance between the tyre and the inside of the fender at the front, so it is real tight. I am not sure what Nelson did, maybe he had his original equipment chromed and replaced the 71 fender, and I think he put a larger tyre on the front.

Josh, your front fender bridge looks to be something between the S type and the 71 type, maybe home made? Mine had a zinc or cad plating on it, I removed that and had it powder coated 'chrome' and I think it looks great with the chromed fender. You can see that mine is exactly 4" where yours is about 4 1/2" I think the 71 is about 5". It looks to me that the Roadster front fender and stays are probably just about the same as the S type.



Unfortunately I have rarely seen the S type fenders and stays for sale, your only option is to find one on fleabay which may take a while, but I have seen a couple.

Dave
69S

Dave: that earlier picture u posted of the coil bracket is that how they are on the 68/70, as I've never seen one like that????

Oz, yes, that is the 68-70 coil bracket. It changed in 71 when they went to the central capacitor mount, I think the ballast came out then too. Mine has 2-12V coils and only fires on compression and no ballast resistor.

Dave
69S

Mmmmmmmm I gotta find me one of those, thanks Dave

My Wheels are presently being respoked/rimmed, stainless rims and spokes.

Have Dunlop K70's on the BSA, am puting K81's on this bike.

He had put a 71 front mudguard and stays on his S type and found out real soon that under hard braking, the fender would get trapped between the exhaust pipes. I think he called it 'exciting', not being able to steer while braking

Click to expand...

Not convinced that it is an issue for my bike:

Hey Josh are u putting a halo around your headlight, I noticed u havnt got one on yet?

Right, if you don't have the S type it doesn't matter.

Dave
69S

Josh, I seem to notice that you are editing your posts, rather than re-posting. It makes it hard to keep things straight, I never know if you have re-posted or what, edits don't show up as new posts. If you don't mind could you just make new posts so I can tell if you have responded? Unless I am missing something here?

Thanks,
Dave

Regarding S-Type front fender and stays, the stays themselves are a bit shorter than the later models and the mudguard itself is slimmer and has a slightly smaller radius, you cannot fit a 4.10 X 19 tyre to this earlier arrangement, whereas the later more readily available version is able to accommodate larger and smaller front tyres. I believe some of the last Featherbed models and the earlier Commandos had the same size front mudguard and stays, although not all of these were chromed. You may find something suitable if you widen your search to include earlier models.

DogT

He had put a 71 front mudguard and stays on his S type and found out real soon that under hard braking, the fender would get trapped between the exhaust pipes. I think he called it 'exciting', not being able to steer while braking.

Click to expand...

Whoa! what a new combo of factors to watch out for. I've had '72 fender get a fist sized ding on bottoming forks into a pipe I made, but never considered the upseting potential. Hm.

My modern SV front fender only clears tire ~1/4" and race tire so sticky dead cold it grabs pebble to grind through loudly. Took me a while to realize nothing busting up. So an inch is like 4x's over kill wind gap, unless planing to run in thick sticky mud.

Interstate,

I have a halo on order.

No problems Dave.

Dave M,
It looks like from your pictures you didn't get the original front fender and stays with your bike, did you manage to get one from fleabay or did you find one at a vendor? Just curious.

Dave
69S

This is very interesting, we have members from the east cost US, HK, and AU all on at the same time. Isn't the internet great?

Dave