What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Ah don't worry Mart. I'm sure the 20wt will work out nicely. I actually put 10wt Redline fork oil in just a week ago in both bikes. I wanted to try a lighter oil in hopes it will be more forgiving for wee bumps and not be so stiff. I'll test that weight out in the spring when I get back out. I've learned that 20wt and progressive springs is likely what I'm looking for and will likely be what I end up with when I rebuild the Combat forks, and maybe realize with the 850 in the spring that the 10wt is too light. We'll see. But I would like to get a bottle of this stuff in case it's a better product than Redline fork oil. I would have to mix a bottle of 10wt and 30wt to get 20wt if I went the Redline route.
 
Took off the front mudguard to clean up the bolts and brackets. Had a Dremel for Xmas. Found it pretty useless, but the wire brush finally got through. Will need a lick of Hammerite.

The 'guards underside has some brown rust on it. If I wire brush it, it cleans up nice. Is it stainless steel? If it is, I'll just ACF it. If not, I'll give it a coat of paint too.
 
Took off the front mudguard to clean up the bolts and brackets. Had a Dremel for Xmas. Found it pretty useless, but the wire brush finally got through. Will need a lick of Hammerite.

The 'guards underside has some brown rust on it. If I wire brush it, it cleans up nice. Is it stainless steel? If it is, I'll just ACF it. If not, I'll give it a coat of paint too.

Edit: strange, I only hit "post" once. Maybe it's telling me to do the rear one too :)
 
Man! This forum is so responsive it's mind-boggling! I wish I could find a BMW forum that was this responsive for my wrenching working going on with my 740i!
 
I installed my timing side header and silencer. Then I installed a new center stand spring. After that I drained all the fuel from the tank and carb float bowl. I think I'm all ready for spring riding.
 

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I replaced my clutch cable and adjuster with replacements from AN. The new cable was about 2" shorter and the adjuster about 1/8" shorter than my old ones. Managed to get a decent curve and line into the gearbox case. But, only just. An extra inch would have been nice.
 
Mart UK said:
......At the moment, only some minor things to investigate, suggestions / experiences welcome:
- my forks can some times stick down when the bike's on the sidestand, bars turned to the left. Loosening the axle clamp bolts and pumping the bars a few times, hasn't remedied it. Forks move smoothly otherwise.
- I have a crack on my left hand controls housing (on the handlebars). These seem to be unobtainium for a Mk3.
- a 2 second delay before the indicators start flashing.
Click to expand...
So, a very friendly moderator (mention no names) has dug out a spare unobtainium bottom LH control housing, I am very, very grateful. In the process, I killed two faults with one stone. Cleaning up the innards has also massively reduced the delay from switch to first blink of my indicators. Result!

My final gripe was the forks sticking on the sidestand. Fresh oil seems to have sorted that, too. I didn't change it to fix that problem, just was overdue. Result #2.

So, I seem to have fixed all 3 remaining problems (so far, anyway), whilst only attempting to fix one of them. Quit while I'm ahead!:D

Edit: ps. In the process, I also found the horn switch is designed to flash the headlights, when pushed upwards. So I found a feature I didn't know i had. Glass not half full, it overfloweth!
 
I adjusted my primary chain on the Combat. It was way to tight when it was delivered to me a year ago. I then adjusted the main chain and squared up the rear wheel. Half inch play on the top and bottom of the primary chain. Half inch play on the main drive chain. Gotta remember to fill the primary back with 200cc of Castrol GTX 20w50.

Next is to replace the breather with the cNw Combat breather.
 
I opened the door to see the 850 on a haphazard angle suspended off the engine crane.

Back up on the 600 mm high table and crane length ways to it with a soft sling around the top frame tube.
I had been using it (the crane) to lift the bike to have the main stand up or down to load and unload the front isolastic and must have got sidetracked late in the evening and left it on the crane, wheels on the table but main stand up and it slowly leaked down through the night.
Lucky there was not a bump / crash in the night.
 

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