What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Took the bike for it's first 20 miles in over 27 years. Purchased this 72 Combat 750 exactly 2 years ago to the day from a Craigslist ad. It was a birthday present to myself. I took a gamble as it was far from running and road worthy. All I knew was that it had compression and the valves went up and down. Thanks to this forum and the help and knowledge of many here, I was able to bring her back to life. I turned 63 today and had a grin from ear to ear as I was tooling down the road for the first time on 2 wheels since my 68 Bonneville in 1995.
Pics day one and today.

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
Cuppy said:
Took the bike for it's first 20 miles in over 27 years. Purchased this 72 Combat 750 exactly 2 years ago to the day from a Craigslist ad. It was a birthday present to myself. I took a gamble as it was far from running and road worthy. All I knew was that it had compression and the valves went up and down. Thanks to this forum and the help and knowledge of many here, I was able to bring her back to life. I turned 63 today and had a grin from ear to ear as I was tooling down the road for the first time on 2 wheels since my 68 Bonneville in 1995.
Pics day one and today.

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Great looking bike Cuppy, (especially the tank ;))🤣
Well done!!
 
Cuppy said:
Took the bike for it's first 20 miles in over 27 years. Purchased this 72 Combat 750 exactly 2 years ago to the day from a Craigslist ad. It was a birthday present to myself. I took a gamble as it was far from running and road worthy. All I knew was that it had compression and the valves went up and down. Thanks to this forum and the help and knowledge of many here, I was able to bring her back to life. I turned 63 today and had a grin from ear to ear as I was tooling down the road for the first time on 2 wheels since my 68 Bonneville in 1995.
Pics day one and today.

View attachment 114542View attachment 114543
Click to expand...
Nice looking motorcycle!
 
Cuppy said:
Took the bike for it's first 20 miles in over 27 years. Purchased this 72 Combat 750 exactly 2 years ago to the day from a Craigslist ad. It was a birthday present to myself. I took a gamble as it was far from running and road worthy. All I knew was that it had compression and the valves went up and down. Thanks to this forum and the help and knowledge of many here, I was able to bring her back to life. I turned 63 today and had a grin from ear to ear as I was tooling down the road for the first time on 2 wheels since my 68 Bonneville in 1995.
Pics day one and today.

View attachment 114542View attachment 114543
Click to expand...
I hope you have as much satisfaction riding as you did building. Congratulations! The bike looks awesome.
 
Last edited:
Cuppy said:
Took the bike for it's first 20 miles in over 27 years. Purchased this 72 Combat 750 exactly 2 years ago to the day from a Craigslist ad. It was a birthday present to myself. I took a gamble as it was far from running and road worthy. All I knew was that it had compression and the valves went up and down. Thanks to this forum and the help and knowledge of many here, I was able to bring her back to life. I turned 63 today and had a grin from ear to ear as I was tooling down the road for the first time on 2 wheels since my 68 Bonneville in 1995.
Pics day one and today.

View attachment 114542View attachment 114543
Click to expand...
Nice job Cuppy ! Enjoy it in your beautiful state . My wife and I honeymooned in Bar Harbor . Love Acadia Park . Rented in Owl’s Head and have close friends who built a house on Great Diamond .
Had a memorable time grouse hunting at Grant’s Camp in Oquosick ( spelling??)
Cheers- Richard
 
Richard Tool said:
Nice job Cuppy ! Enjoy it in your beautiful state . My wife and I honeymooned in Bar Harbor . Love Acadia Park . Rented in Owl’s Head and have close friends who built a house on Great Diamond .
Had a memorable time grouse hunting at Grant’s Camp in Oquosick ( spelling??)
Cheers- Richard
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Cheers
 
Took out the richness screws on both carbs ( new Wasells ) . Spray can ( Penetrant ) nozzle tube deep into pilot orifice to blast out tiny metal bits , schwarfage , same machining nonsense as new , with the needle jets metal bits , a while back . Runs much better now .
 
got it started yesterday at about the 15th attempt. Had to flush the RH downpipe and silencer with garden hose ( rust and water after sitting in garage for 11 years??). Adjusted primary tension, new rear chain, cleaning and polishing, fixed sidestand missing spring ( fell off in Northern Norway in 2002…cabled-tied ever since). Bled double disc front brakes, topped up gearbox oil, replaced flasher unit ( two defective ones, third one worked, supplied by local car parts shop. Defective ones only worked on RHS!) Sidelight bulb changed, and LED rear light fitted ( Andover Norton), nice and bright.

Tool kit sorted for French trip starting today. Clip-ons , JP replica fairing and tall tank bag will be relatively comfortable for cruising!
 
jan nelder said:
got it started yesterday at about the 15th attempt. Had to flush the RH downpipe and silencer with garden hose ( rust and water after sitting in garage for 11 years??). Adjusted primary tension, new rear chain, cleaning and polishing, fixed sidestand missing spring ( fell off in Northern Norway in 2002…cabled-tied ever since). Bled double disc front brakes, topped up gearbox oil, replaced flasher unit ( two defective ones, third one worked, supplied by local car parts shop. Defective ones only worked on RHS!) Sidelight bulb changed, and LED rear light fitted ( Andover Norton), nice and bright.

Tool kit sorted for French trip starting today. Clip-ons , JP replica fairing and tall tank bag will be relatively comfortable for cruising!
Click to expand...
Where are you going in Frogland ?
 
I am quite pleased to report that the Kenny Dreer "Norton America" original monoshock prototype bike (in my avatar) is now legally titled in Texas. That's quite a gap from 2009 when I first had it reasonably complete and running. It was a MAJOR pain (literally) to get that job done to the satisfaction of the Texas DMV that required not only an appraisal by a licensed motorcycle dealership (that had hardly a clue what a Norton Commando was in the first place), to physically weighing the bike on a certified scale, apart from the usual jumping-thru-various-hoops to complete an "Assembled Vehicle" title. It is now, legally, a "2009 Norton Commando Replica" according to the title.

I aim to detail it (it has been sitting / non-running since 2018), license it for road use, and RIDE it to nearby bike shows as much as possible till I am no longer able to ride it.

The good thing is, there are MANY (at least a half-dozen) nice bike shows within a 2-hour ride from here (on WONDERFUL twisty roads), unlike when I was living in Laredo and the nearest show was a 3-hour ride, maybe 2 shows per year (and very near ZERO twisty roads in between)
 
That's a long time to be fu cked around Paul, glad we don't have those problems here, well not in my state anyway, so about time you get it on the road and enjoy it.

Ashley
 
ashman said:
That's a long time to be f***** around Paul, glad we don't have those problems here, well not in my state anyway, so about time you get it on the road and enjoy it.
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I may have worded the post in a misleading manner, sorry.

I only started work on titling 9 of my un-titled bikes about a month ago.

It took over 40 hours, over 1,200 miles of driving, no fewer than 25 State forms, loading & unloading a net total of 18 bikes, no less than 7 visits to the local County Tax office, 6 visits to the nearest Tx DMV, 3 visits to certified scales, 2 visits to the "Wednesday only, between 1 and 2 PM" local Sheriff's depot where VINs are formally inspected, I visit to a nearby dealership for a certified appraisal, 1 visit to a State Vehicle Inspection station, 5 online Title Bond applications, and nearly $2,700 in total fees & taxes.

DEFINITELY, this bike took the MOST work of all the collection, being an "Assembled Vehicle". 3 more forms than typical (all of them 2-page), all of the weighing, an additional inspection by an ASE Certified Master Tech, and the appraisal (plus VIN inspection 2 standard forms, and a bond as several of the others).

Now all but 2 of my bikes have titles, and those 2 will only take 1 trip to the nearby tax office and about $300 max. No more loading and unloading, bonds, inspections, or weighing. WHEW!
 
Finally got a 2nd shake down run after some deeper than normal winter maintenance this year. All good and a very enjoyable evening on the road. I acquired the '74 850 in late 2018 and have been doing a running restoration ever since. I want to take my first trip on it later this year.
 
Loaded it up and headed north at the start of a week away. Stopped in Bellingham for the night and just having a pint after a couple of hundred very enjoyable miles. Sandra and I are en route to Scotland staying a few days in Crieff.

Dave
 
Got to the Normandy destination yesterday evening, with quite a bit of popping and banging at times. Today’s ride to the British Normandy memorial was eventful: it went on to one cylinder 6 miles beforehand. Lots of fuel coming from LH carb: bowl drain plug had gone. Luckily two others in the group ha d tools and cable ties. The solution , eventually, after an hour was to fashion a plug from a foam kneeling pad, pressed upwards and held in place with a short section of the friend’s trouser belt cable tied around the carb in 3 directions. That stopped the leak, but still not firing, so back to base ( 35 miles) on one cylinder. Could still get 45mph cruising. It’s only day 3 of 11. However, I did bring a spare carb plug…..
 
So today we continued North into Scotland when the throttle started sticking, turned out to the the slide sticking in the card body which will need to more permanent repair work, got going and about an hour later the throttle cabl snapped. So got going by taking the choke slides and and using the first section of the choke cable to get up and running. However it’s too short and not in great nick so I’ll be on RGM tomorrow to get one to where we’re staying in Creitf. Really can’t risk going too far with the choke cable. I’m at a bit of a loss when it comes to the right hand carb, it’s a Premier with about 2000 miles on it. I suspect something has got in between the slide and body and created a bit of a burr. Anyway I’ll sort that tomorrow while I’m waiting for my cable. Bit of a bugger but all part of the fun.

Dave

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 

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