What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Replaced the bearings in the rear hub, thanks to Swooshdaves 2010 picture story.
Interesting what goes unnoticed, the felt seal and dished cover were missing from the cush drive side of the hub and that (original unsealed) bearing was well worn.
 
Went for a ride with a buddy to a favorite spot for lunch . On the way back we must have been next to one of my daughter’s girlfriends at a traffic light . When I got home this picture had already made the rounds via group text ( ladies circle ).
I like to think she would have taken the picture even if she didn’t know who it was … LOL
View attachment 110952
Richard,
How did you fabricate the rear of the seat?
Thanks,Mike
 
I borrowed a spark plug out of it for the wood splitter. That saved me 20$ worth of gas for a special trip. And the Commando gets 60 miles per Canadian gallon. A useful machine ; along with the pleasure that goes with it, gives me no regrets buying it. Unfortunately riding season is over here so unless I haul it down to Texas or somewhere it will happily live in my heated shop for the winter
 
I borrowed a spark plug out of it for the wood splitter. That saved me 20$ worth of gas for a special trip. And the Commando gets 60 miles per Canadian gallon. A useful machine ; along with the pleasure that goes with it, gives me no regrets buying it. Unfortunately riding season is over here so unless I haul it down to Texas or somewhere it will happily live in my heated shop for the winter
Here's a way to keep 'er going on ice planet hoth:

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Attached to the h bar clamp and plumbed in the HNW oil pressure gauge that arrived the other day. No issues other than drilling the supplied bracket, a tough grade type of st steel that escapes my memory. Happy with the looks and pressure went to 55psi quickly when fired up with a stone cold engine, dropped back some after a minute or two of throttle blipping. Need to get out and warm motor up but too bleeding cold here for that right now. Feeling good at the moment.
 
Attached to the h bar clamp and plumbed in the HNW oil pressure gauge that arrived the other day. No issues other than drilling the supplied bracket, a tough grade type of st steel that escapes my memory. Happy with the looks and pressure went to 55psi quickly when fired up with a stone cold engine, dropped back some after a minute or two of throttle blipping. Need to get out and warm motor up but too bleeding cold here for that right now. Feeling good at the moment.
Yeah , from my feeble knowledge of these gauges they start off higher cold readings then slowly drop off to lower once hot .
Got my machine running great just in time for winter . Life .
 
Attached to the h bar clamp and plumbed in the HNW oil pressure gauge that arrived the other day. No issues other than drilling the supplied bracket, a tough grade type of st steel that escapes my memory. Happy with the looks and pressure went to 55psi quickly when fired up with a stone cold engine, dropped back some after a minute or two of throttle blipping. Need to get out and warm motor up but too bleeding cold here for that right now. Feeling good at the moment.
How about a picture?
Thanks,Mike
 
A cool (4 deg ) 45 miles in great sunshine….gotta take advantage of dry roads …Then a good cleanup to lose the salt 😖.
 
Got NOS big end bolts at Kempton, cheaper and better than current ones too! Dave Coates also said that some of the new kickstart pawls are incorrectly made, meaning that the shoulders don’t contact properly, so pin gets overloaded and eventually breaks.
 
A cool (4 deg ) 45 miles in great sunshine….gotta take advantage of dry roads …Then a good cleanup to lose the salt 😖.
Late fall/ winter riding is very similar here in the Vancouver area. When the cool sunny weather hits the salt goes down but then the warm rains come and wash it all away.
We are going up to 12c today with lots of rain. The weather folks refer to these events as " The Pineapple Express"
More often than not it ends with a couple of sunny and relatively warm days, 10-12c. That's the time to get out there for winter riding on salt free roads.

Glen
 
Attached to the h bar clamp and plumbed in the HNW oil pressure gauge that arrived the other day. No issues other than drilling the supplied bracket, a tough grade type of st steel that escapes my memory. Happy with the looks and pressure went to 55psi quickly when fired up with a stone cold engine, dropped back some after a minute or two of throttle blipping. Need to get out and warm motor up but too bleeding cold here for that right now. Feeling good at the moment.


After repositioning the gauge to sit centrally behind headlight, finally got out yesterday on the Commando for a trial ride with the oil gauge fitted. Pressure is around 50-55psi on cold starting. After around eighteen miles running at 3 - 4k rpm, pressure settled to 33-35psi at that speed. Got home and pressure was around 15psi at idle of 1100rpm.
I’m happy with those results at the moment judging by comments of others and the 10psi per 1k rpm rule of thumb.
Whaddya think guys?IMG_1788.jpegWhat Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Last edited:
Late fall/ winter riding is very similar here in the Vancouver area. When the cool sunny weather hits the salt goes down but then the warm rains come and wash it all away.
We are going up to 12c today with lots of rain. The weather folks refer to these events as " The Pineapple Express"
More often than not it ends with a couple of sunny and relatively warm days, 10-12c. That's the time to get out there for winter riding on salt free roads.

Glen
Vancouver can be year round riding . Wet and grey winters . We will visit again next season . Surrey , Sooke , Bowen Island , Granville , Skeena R. We will have a car . Tonight I am assembling the head onto engine no. 2 , Enjoy .
 
Back
Top