Talk Me Down....

At a rally at apple cross west Scotland about 6 years ago there was a 750 Commando with through bolted barrels, When I said to Richard Negus, who was there, that the bike probably had an 850 engine he told me the final few 750s had the through bolted barrels. Given his position in Norton, I would have thought he would know.

I wouldn't see the handle bars and the switch gear as a big stumbling block. The original clocks and headlight bucket are there. The master cylinder has been swapped out. If you want the original master cylinder for the look of it, you should read the thousands of posts here about sleeving it to make it work. I like the original stuff, but mostly cuz I have them. I would never get to those handle bars without killing my back, so they would have to go away for me.

The primary has the inspection plugs out, so I assume it has a belt drive.

I am not current on what bikes are fetching for price. It wasn't very long ago that there were a lot of these that got put in the back of the garage 20 or 30 years ago and where just sitting there. Seems like that has pretty much gone by the way and now it is more common to have to pick and choose from somebody else's rebuild projects.

It has Hagon shocks and a Corbin seat. Not inexpensive items to buy. The finned covers on the points and exhaust valves are nice ones (deep and plentiful fins) and not cheap to buy. I can't tell if the tail light is an Old Britts, or something else but an upgrade that many would consider an improvement. Whether you want any of that stuff is up to you. Granted you might hate the Corbin seat after you used it, but somebody would buy it. Those finned covers might look like crap to your eye, but would probably fetch enough to buy ten each of the orginals. It has what appears to be a stainless steal drilled front brake disc. I don't know much about them except that they are near impossible to find. I think it was Clubman that used to offer them. I can't tell how it is set up for the offset and some better photos would be a bonus. I dont recognize the rims, somebody else might, but it would be interesting to know what they are and what size. All in all it looks to me like somebody took the project seriously and invested some time and money in it.

But it is true that changing all that back to stock would require time, effort and money. Whether they should be turned back is a huge debate.

Russ

How 'bout dis HiRise one :


Broken link removed

Owner is accepting offers.... ;-)

Excellent potential candidate for the "most improved" award.
Unless you are after a long term project, maybe not a great replacement for a 15,000 km per year 2013 T100, the Mazda 3 of motorcycles.
I mean that in a good way, those 790 and 865 Bonnies are nearly bulletproof as are the Hinckley Triumphs in general.

Of course if properly rebuilt the Norton in the photo could be a good machine again.

Lots of $ and hours required!

Glen

worntorn said:

Excellent potential candidate for the "most improved" award.
Unless you are after a long term project, maybe not a great replacement for a 15,000 km per year 2013 T100, the Mazda 3 of motorcycles.
I mean that in a good way, those 790 and 865 Bonnies are nearly bulletproof as are the Hinckley Triumphs in general.

Of course if properly rebuilt the Norton in the photo could be a good machine again.

Lots of $ and hours required!

Glen

Click to expand...

Definitely someone else's dream....apparently the negine has under 5000 original miles...what is left of it that is.

"I had this almost restored about ten years ago." Really? That must have been some hard years!

Got more detail on the 850 I'm considering. Serial on engine is 314xxx....on frame its 309xxx. Owner sent an image of the Title doc...shows the 314xxx number...isn't that supposed to be the frame number, not engine number?
Also got a worksheet of recent work done...New headers without balance pipe; new clutch kit; master cylinder rebuild kit; new rotor; new rims (Akront alloy); new RoadRiders; Isolastics adjusted; head re-torqued (was previously rebuilt/sleeved); valves adjusted (were replaced during rebuild).

Will most likely be placing an offer on this puppy....

I'd have bought that, as it looks to be in better condition than the bike I ended up with:





It took nine months to get it to this:





I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Tornado said:

Got more detail on the 850 I'm considering. Serial on engine is 314xxx....on frame its 309xxx. Owner sent an image of the Title doc...shows the 314xxx number...isn't that supposed to be the frame number, not engine number?

Click to expand...

Assuming this is the one in Austin?

309xxx would be from mid '73. The engine and frame plate numbers would normally match.

314xxx is mid '74.

L.A.B. said:

Assuming this is the one in Austin?

309xxx would be from mid '73. The engine and frame plate numbers would normally match.

314xxx is mid '74.

Click to expand...

The Austin bike is a 750 (and has a few departures from stock (seat/bars/paint scheme)).

This is an 850 in Eastern Canada listed as a '74 with 20k miles. Owner did state to me earlier the numbers were non-matching and this does not really bother me much. Just find it odd the Title certificate. is showing the engine number instead of the frame.

Tornado said:

This is an 850 in Eastern Canada listed as a '74 with 20k miles. Owner did state to me earlier the numbers were non-matching and this does not really bother me much. Just find it odd the Title certificate. is showing the engine number instead of the frame.

Click to expand...

Yes, according to previous discussions the title document should show the frame number.

bucksfizz said:

I'd have bought that, as it looks to be in better condition than the bike I ended up with:

It took nine months to get it to this:

I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Click to expand...

Nice job Bucks, very nice shade of blue too, do you know what it is?

Welp, I'm bummed...the 850 in E.Canada got a solid offer just a few hours before I made mine....it's gone. Another one in Toronto, seller very slow in responding...kept missing phone call times that he scheduled with me (3 times), then agreed to send some more detailed photos...three days ago....today he says it's sold. So, I'm off to lick my (wasted time) wounds during holidays...

Fast Eddie said:

Nice job Bucks, very nice shade of blue too, do you know what it is?

Click to expand...

Thanks. The colour is Mercedes Benz Azurite Blue metallic, all sprayed by myself with aerosols.
The paint came cheap at the Somerset VMCC Autojumble @ £15 for 6 cans - bargain.
Sorry for going off topic.

Have no fear, there are lots of good Commandos out there. Something closer to home might show up.

Glen

Well, you lot utterly failed to Talk Me Down...I'm now the proud owner of a hideous '73 HiRider with 8300 original miles on clock. Lovingly refurbed. 20 yrs ago by a HD dealer, that went to town on the chopper theme by putting 16" rear rim and low profile/super wide tire on her. Will be hunting down emergency Roadsterization parts once I take delivery mid Jan.
Happy Times!

I love it when a plan comes together.
Its all my fault for sending the ad over.
If it turns out to be ok, great. If not I may need to hideout on a new forum.

Looks to pretty decent from here. Someone will have a need for the highrider bits that come off.

Glen

At some point Hi Riders may fetch top dollar but have two desirable features besides the comfy tall bars, smallest sleekest gas tank and the sissy bar which gobs of luggage can be strapped on and then act like back rest for long huals. Seat is worst feature as too steep for pillion. Fiberglass tanks vulnerable to ethanol gasoline so check coatings attempts if not already partially dissolved or past coating not very good now.

It's not hideous, it's just a little uh, different, from the current style. Has it's own "cachet", ya might say.
Appears to have been well-tended, has very low mileage, very good-looking paintwork, lots of parts there that coulda been missing or rusty, yes?
I say well done, and congratulations!
Get that right leg in shape. If it has decent compression, yer gonna need it...

Congrats on the Christmas score!

High Rider tanks came in steel also; they sure can look good in certain configurations...

As was stated, SOMEBODY will pay good money for the High Rider parts, I got $1,000 for the seat, sissy bar, handlebars and tank back in '07. I'd say they are worth more now, but your seat is not original, it's re-upholstered...