starting a commando for the first time

I wish you luck. Starting an old English bike is an art.
Tickle too much, you flood it.
Too much throttle while kicking, you flood it.
If it doesn't start within 5 kicks, it's probably flooded.

Since this is your first attempt, I highly recommend the stability of the center stand.
After you master it and the balance, you can learn the 2 wheel method.
Ignition on.
Check for battery charge.
Fuel tap on
Tickle the carbs till fuel barely comes out. Usually a 3 count.
In SoCal, I dont' use a choke. People differ on this.
Balance on both footpegs, ratchet the pistons to top.
Bring kicker up to top, holding the throttle closed, while transferring your weight to the right, kick down.
The art is timing the throttle opening. Blip the throttle when you hear or feel it pop.
Keep blipping till you can hold it open a little for a fast idle.

If you think you have flooded it.
Remove the plugs, confirm they are wet.
Blow them dry.
With the ignition off and plugs out, kick it a few times with throttle closed to clear the cylinders.
Reinstall plugs and repeat.
This time, no tickle.

Tickle is used when motor is cold at first start up.

Good Luck!!
We are all waiting a report on this. 8)

Robert_Norton said:

And can someone let me know what's the trick to getting quoting to work on this board?

Click to expand...

No real trick. Click the Quote button. Add your reply after the /quote tag. :mrgreen:

Robert_Norton said:

I see yourself and another suggesting starting on the wheels and not the center stand. I've always started mine on the center stand, so I'm wondering why you and the others are recommending not doing this.

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Because kick starting a bike on the centre or also the side stand will easily bend the stand and/or the frame. The weak stand on the first Commandos is a perfect example. The suspension obviously isn't impressed by the kicking. One of the first lesson I've learned years before I bought my first bike is that a real motorcyclist would never kickstart a bike other than on its wheels and only people without self respect and respect for the mechanical integrity of their bike would do it....;-)

Okay, appearently there are exceptions to the rule but unless the CR is really too high a Norton should be easily kicked into life on its wheels. My bike needs two kicks without ignition to get it a bit wet and then it starts on the first "real" kick.

And can someone let me know what's the trick to getting quoting to work on this board?

Click to expand...

Just make sure that the word "quote" is in rectangular brackets at the beginning of the text you want to quote and in rect bracket with a backslash in front when you want the quote to end. Take a look at the "code" when you simply hit the quote button.



Tim

Robert_Norton said:

And can someone let me know what's the trick to getting quoting to work on this board?

Click to expand...

I think possibly your "BBCode" setting is not enabled (by default)


To check...

Log in,

Click "User Control Panel" (top left),

Select the "Board Preferences" tab,

Then select "Edit posting defaults" and I suspect you need to change the "Enable BBCode by default" setting from NO to YES ? (all the default settings would normally be set to Yes)

Then click 'Submit', then return to the forum and check if your quotes now show as they should?

got the tank back and filled it half full. no leaks but i noticed a drop of fuel under each petcock after letting the tank sit a half hour. these are mismatched ancient petcocks. i guess a drop weeping thru in a half hour is no big deal. tommorrow evening 6 p.m.. this is great fun.

I agree with MichaelB.
Use the Centrestand, practice the on 2 wheels method later....I may start to practice myself.
Don't take any notice of that 'real man' stuff....If you got a family and a Norton you will do for me.
I can start The Triton on its wheels...so I am at least half man... :?
Stu.

got home from the gym a couple hours ago and almost postponed the startup as it is 93 degrees here w/ dew point in the 70's. garage was an inferno and i was whipped from my workout. but postponements never get one anywhere so i mounted the tank and side panels, gassed him up, tickled him, turned on the ignition and kicked him just like i saw lee marvin do in the wild bunch. nada, nothing, nil. try again. on the 10th attempt i got a cough. i'm sweating bullets now but that cough was encouraging. 15 more tries and zilch. pulled plugs and they weren't wet. thought about swapping the coil wires as i was a little confused there during the rewire. i almost decided to opt for a cold homebrew and mull my options. i'm now completely drenched in sweat. but life has taught me that the greatest treasure lies under the last rock overturned, one more salvo of kicks was agreed upon by my right leg and me. about the 3rd kick it just roared to life. scared the shit out of me. quick goose the throttle. seemed to like 1500 but not a 1000 rpm. of course i revved it to 5000 to see if it too would boogie accross the garage. it wanted to but saddled w/ my fat ass it settled for dancing in place. checked the oil reservoir to see if oil was flowing back and the level seemed high but circulating ok. after about 5 minutes of toying w/ the throttle i smelled a little oil burning, nothing overwhelming but a good reason to shut him down. now to see if the kill switch works. tried everything on the right side but only the horn worked on the top pushbutton. moved over to the left and it killed when i pushed the top pushbutton. manual says it's not unusual for switch functions to be moved around as is evidenced w/ this guy. turned off the petcocks and discovered both were weeping fuel thru the selector lever and the valve body. normally i'd get mad but still under the euphoria of having him finally start i was just a little miffed. can the seal on these petcocks be replaced or am i in for another unforeseen expenditure? what about small ball valves? anybody run w/ these? anyhow seeing as he was leaking fuel and i don't have insurance or tags yet i settled for the startup today and tommorrow i'll scare up some new petcocks, refire, and limit myself to a spin thru the subdivision. anyhow here's a couple pictures of him

hmmmm! haven't mastered pasting images yet.

Very gooooood!!!!
Just having a Norton that runs is satisfaction.
I would replace the fuel taps with British made BAPs (Triumph). Forget the Taiwanese ones.

Again, congrats

rgrigutis said:

hmmmm! haven't mastered pasting images yet.

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Assuming you have put the photos in a Photobucket or like account, paste the URL from Photobucket and we can try to help. Or re-read the photo instruction on this site.

Speaking of stands, we have a Centre Street, that goes through the center of town. Anglicisms abound in New England.

rgrigutis said:

didn't mean to confuse anybody but this isn't a new motor that needs break in. it's my 1st norton, actually my 1st motorcycle. it came to me last winter and needed rewiring, complete front brake overhaul, new battery, new pipes, new tires, tank sealing and painting, plus about 50 hours of bead blasting, and 20 hours of kerosine and steel wool work. so far i've done it all myself and learned a good deal about the norton. i get the tank back tommorrow and assuming no leaks i'll be good to go friday. wifey refuses to watch as she thinke a 63 year old man should not take up motorcycling. have imbecile neighbors on both sides who probably hope i break my leg or worse on the maiden voyage. my son and daughter are the only supporters i have at the moment. they merely think of me as zany. i'll do a full report friday assuming i'm not in the hospital. old guys rule!!!!

Click to expand...

Wow you have my support 1st bike and a Commando

rgrigutis said:

got the tank back and filled it half full. no leaks but i noticed a drop of fuel under each petcock after letting the tank sit a half hour. these are mismatched ancient petcocks. i guess a drop weeping thru in a half hour is no big deal. tommorrow evening 6 p.m.. this is great fun.

Click to expand...

I would replace them with the type that were used on the last Triumphs from Meriden Andover Norton has them so I guess a most Norton spares stockists will have them too. Part# 60-7266 (Standart) and# 60-7267 (Reserve)

The first bike being a Commando is sort of good and a bit tough. Harder to get them running right and a bit powerful to handle.
On the good side Commandos are kind of small in size and don't have much in the way of odd quirks, the brakes are reasonable (not great), and the bike is predictable in a corner.
After somebody has taken the time to rebuild it he or she knows the systems and an adult is not as likely to push limits without having the skill yet.
This isn't like handing some body a Hyabussa with bad brakes.

Nice one.
Glad the beast fired into life, its a great feeling.
Just read each person's version of how they start their bike up and modify your tecnique untill you find one that works for your bike. Mine is a good starter from cold....first kick....not quite as good when warm or even worse, when semi-warm.
If your only problem is fuel taps you'r in pretty good shape!
I have a pair I got from RGM that are OK, One has a reserve and they have some sort of 'o' ring in there...you can feel it. Chrome bodies...they wern't dear.
Dont buy any of those cheap brass things that fit on a taper....they are usless.
Oh the bike looks great. That is not a colour I have seen on a Commando before.
Get it idling about 900rpm and take it easy on that first run!
Stuart.

well the paint is faux cadmium plating . eastwood sells the kit and w/ the epoxy primer and clear coat i did it for 70 bucks. i just rebelled at the idea of plunking down 500 u.s. for a generic pro paint job. there's some orange peel on it but i could care less. i think i might be 1st to employ the scheme. when i asked the eastwood guy what he thought it would look like on a motorcycle he was nonplussed for a moment and then said "that would be pretty kewl". i'm waiting for my son to come over and we'll restart her again. ordered some bap petcocks this a.m. and hopefully they'll be here early next week. meanwhile i'll visit the insurance agent and bmv. i live in a great place to ride. southern indiana is hilly, twisty, up and down, and lightly trafficced. i've a tame beginners route plotted out and i'll ride at 10 a.m.. prolly won't see another vehicle. i know my limits and hopefully those limits will expand w/ mileage. i'll do it but putting on that full face helmet in this weather is just medieval. thanks for all your input and encouragement on this. it's made a difference. rick

p.s. if one got an alloy tank and worked out the blems, would real cad plating be "kewl"? might do it on the '74 this winter.

Bigstu, Tell me about the brass petcocks. Is it that they don't flow enough? I am working on a flat spot on my bike and that is what I am using. Seems to stumble at about 3,000 rpm?

My big problem with the brass taps is that they sealed on a brass taper only. I found that if I built them up not to leak they seemed to seize because the taper was too tight. If I adjusted them to be free then they leaked. The ones I have now are a chrome body type and you can feel there is a rubber seal in operation. They seem to be leakproof.
I don't know about flow, although they provided adequate flow on my 650 Triumph, which drinks like a fish.
If you have a flatspot at about 3000 rpm I suspect you need carburretor adjustment. What carbs are you using? My first adjustment if you are 'stumbling' (that means to me when you twist the throttle is pauses, maybe coughs and then picks up) would be to drop the tapered needle down a knotch, therefore making it leaner. But I could be misinterpretting your description.
Stuart.

i've also had leaking problems, or even siezing problems with brass taps.

I cleaned up and re-used the taps that came with my bike. They were a chromed brass body and some sort of white plastic taper. The circlip kept popping out of the groove on the 'reserve' tap, so I replaced them with the new style, with the rubber sleeve between the valve and body.

The new ones didn't flow worth a darn, then the alcohol in the gas swelled the rubber, dropping the flow to almost nothing, even with both taps open.

I installed new circlips on the old taps and put them back on - no problems since