Does he ever give his bike a real squirt ? Bragging rights are bullshit. My mate bought a 170 HP Hyabusa. He could keep up in the straights, but the others left him for dead in corners. They were all idiot A grade road race riders, out on their Sunday rides.A biker friend in his early 70's who rides with our "club" in Mexico recently bought a KTM 390 to ride in preference to his Ducati Panigali V4! He finds the KTM much better for the cobblestone streets in town and the gravel/dirt roads that are part of the rides on occasion...DUH! I rode his Panigali a couple of times. When I was younger, I believed that no bike (or car) had enough power...but Holy Moly...twist the throttle on that Ducati in your instantly in a different Zip code!
FWIW, before buying the KTM he was considering buying a new Panigali because his only had 207 HP whereas the current one has 220+ (!!) But, as he said, common sense finally prevailed as far as matching the bike to the type of riding he did 90% of the time. I'm trying to convince him he needs a Commando but he's too smart to get into old bikes.![]()
Yes you do Al. You come on here with odd questions to see if you can get a thread going. You just did it again!........................I never play computer games...........
Or very expensive, but still not very fast!If your aim is for young guys to have a good bike to start racing on your can do well with a KTM 390. A friend in his early 50s who owns and races several OHC Velos uses a 390 for cheapish fun racing. With a bit of tuning they have close to the hp of most street Commandos too.
Having built and now rebuilding a 500 Dommie engine for NZCMRR pre 63 racing I can testify that it can get expensive very fast.
Well Al has nothing else to do as he no longer rides his bike as its been so long ago, that poor old Norton just wasting away in the shed and he is thinking new motors.Yes you do Al. You come on here with odd questions to see if you can get a thread going. You just did it again!![]()
I may not get to ride mine again either, and it has only covered a few heat cycles and 400 metres from its last engine build!....got a heart monitor strapped on at the moment....to collect 48 hours of data and back to review it Monday!Well Al has nothing else to do as he no longer rides his bike as its been so long ago, that poor old Norton just wasting away in the shed and he is thinking new motors.
I bet that people would likely quit having negative things to say to/about you if you would put things like this thread in the pub. You would get just as much response, but it would be taken more lightly. I spent a good bit of time formulating answers thinking that this was some serious quest for you not realizing that it was not.I was talking to a young guy a couple of days ago. He is the son of a guy who used to be the top A grade rider in Victoria when Manx Nortons were the go. He stil has his father's bikes. One of them is a works 350 Manx. He went to the recent Southern Classic historic championships at Broadford a few weeks ago. Things are not looking good for motorcycle roadracing in Australia. There needs to be a change of mindset. It seems that globally insurance costs have gone sky-high. However besides that, there are very few cheaper ways of getting into road racing other than buying a modern motorcycle spec. bike.
I was involved in writing the 'Guide to managing risk in motorsport' with Standards Australia. It might have minimally affected insurance costs in Australia, however insurance companies are global.
In Australia, the only development race classes are 'historic' - I suggest it is a nonsense to introduce rules into racing which stymie development. The only way racing can be justified is about development. There needs to be a level playing field, but Australian historic races are already full of 'cheaters'. In the olden days, we did not usually cheat on engine capacity.
I realise I am talking about two aspects, however they are inter-related.
The 360 deg crank parallel twin layout, didn't end with the commandoOver the years there have been many road racing classes, And our motorcycle clubs are now involved in politics internally and extrernally. For somebody who wanrs ro road race, there is no easy entry for beginners. I suggest a good way forward might be to have development classes for air-cooled twin and single cylinder four-stroke motorcycles, and run them in capacity classes.
My comment about the 850 Commando motor was serious. In Australia, very few people ever raced bevel Ducatis. There was a one-make class for 883 Harley Sportsters which lased about a minute. Life is about having fun.
Many times i have mentioned what happened the last time I raced, I rode my Seeley 850, under and past the three leaders who were on methanol- fuelled 1100cc CB750 Hondas. It is not the same as out-riding a good guy on a bevel Ducati.
I suggest Commando motors still have potential. A bottom end is easier to manufacture than a top end. Four valves per cylinder in an aircooled motor are not much quicker than two
or parks it in the shed, and spends 40 years talking about it and why it will never see a track againTo the question " If you had a Commando with no engine, how much would you pay for an engine" I'm sure everyone has a different figure they would be willing to put up.
The cost isn't too bad if willing to purchase used parts from ebay, then rebuild as necessary.
I built a complete 920 light roadbike that way and it wasn't crazy expensive. It was a lot of fun hunting for bargains and gathering all of the parts over a two year period. I found a perfect MK3 crank for $140! Ken gave me a great deal on an alloy cylinder, that also helped a lot.
The end result is a very nice light road bike with a lot of extra grunt in the middle. I would say that it does compare favorably with a modern Triumph for braking, handling and performance if comparing the 920 Norton to an 865 ot 900 Triumph. For starters, the Norton finished up about 200 lbs lighter than an 865 Triumph! That is quite an advantage.
I wouldnt build that type of engine for racing as it becomes a time bomb for that application.
I recall that Doug McRae's horrific crash was caused by a stock crank letting go in a hotrodded engine that was being raced.
Fortunately , as others have pointed out, there are uprated new parts available for that type of use. They are expensive but worth it for the safety factor alone, never mind that the stock cases and crank just won't last very long when racing. ( unless one races very slowly
Glen
Take a look at the rule changes proposed for next year.....they may seem better.........................But there is no future for classic racing in Australia. The British seem to be a lot better.
I've been through that. You suddenly realize that we take more care of our bikes than ourselves. Keep well.I may not get to ride mine again either, and it has only covered a few heat cycles and 400 metres from its last engine build!....got a heart monitor strapped on at the moment....to collect 48 hours of data and back to review it Monday!
Still, winter is just starting, who know what the new year may bring!
But it wasn't wasted time, I found it fascinating, thank you... I spent a good bit of time formulating answers thinking that this was some serious quest for you not realizing that it was not ...
vets have been about here prob 20-30 yrs+ lots more, often ends up with a rep & stuff unknown to noobsBut it wasn't wasted time, I found it fascinating, thank you