Where did you find yours...

OK wont show no mo

Now don't go all selfish with it because I really like your bike a lot. One of the cleanest bring backs about with a paint job to die for.

alan hodge said:

found this on ebay in tennessee for $200 built my bike from it boy was i innocent! but have learned a LOT on this forum and spent a lot o dough too! about $6,500

upload online photos

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Looks like it was worth it.

Ken

lcrken said:

My first Norton was a "Yellow Submarine" factory 750 Production Racer. ... I get to visit it every year, when he has an open house for the local Norton club.

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Cool story. I'm PM'ing you...

My Norton story is a bit bizarre! I used to read everything & follow up all the small ads. I used to have a big scrapbook of cuttings & intresting bits, names ,dealers etc all the people I had dealt with. I found an add that read " has anyone else experienced the sensation of riding pillion on a Norton with open pipes, thrashing through the night. Exhaust flaming, camping gear on a sidecar platform. I was 12 years old & my uncle took me on holiday to Devon. The thrill has never left me. Couldn't figure out if he had anything to sell anyway I eventually followed up just to ask. The add had run a couple of months before & he was dissapointed as he hadn't had a response. Wouldn't talk just wanted me to come & see him. Turned out he had brought a pile of bits with the idea of going classic racing. Only at that time they didnt allow the 850 under eligibility rules, so the pile sat. He was delighted that I had shown an interest & come to see him. A deal was struck & the seats removed from my Little Nissan & I did a couple of 200 mile round trips to get the stuff home.
I had the benefit of the knowledge that the CRMC had now allowed 850s in! What I didnt know was that I had such a mix of parts! Electric start crank, mk2a cases, boxes of gears odd shells including AMC non Commando. Bits of Dommie, piles of tat. So of we went! One frame, most of an 850 engine, yokes forks & rusty wheels. The race to get on the grid with a Norton began. The 750 engine bits became the basis of my original road Commando, along with the frame & wheels etc. Although it did spend sometime as a featherbed Commando. The 850 engine, Seeley 920 confessed to building it, when I believed dear old Nigel Hall Smith RIP had spent 2 years doing so. The 850 eventually ended up in the Rickman frame, that I lent out to Graham Buller to race. Subsequently I lent this engine to my mate Ashphal Al who regularly beat me with it. I became sec of the Sussex branch of the Noc to find out how to build a Commando engine. And as they say things snowballed. Sammy Trident ended up with the interstate tank. I sold the king & queen seat it looked lovely on the racer but I had eligibility problems with it lol. I gave all the Dommie bits to my mate John. I sold a lot of bits & eventually left the rest at the festival of a thousand bikes at Brands Hatch under the care of my sons & nephews all under the age of 11. I told them they could keep any money they made. Nothing was priced up I told them to ask for offers, then ask someone else at the other end of the stall if that was a fare offer. They had a ball & I cleared out. Its fair to say this one encounter caused my love affair for anything Commando. Working through them all the bits, learning what I had, each bit evolving into another project. Home stretch now getting them all up together. Still lending them out. Truly happy days.
Chris

Chris said:

My Norton story is a bit bizarre! I used to read everything & follow up all the small ads. I used to have a big scrapbook of cuttings & intresting bits, names ,dealers etc all the people I had dealt with. I found an add that read " has anyone else experienced the sensation of riding pillion on a Norton with open pipes, thrashing through the night. Exhaust flaming, camping gear on a sidecar platform. I was 12 years old & my uncle took me on holiday to Devon. The thrill has never left me. Couldn't figure out if he had anything to sell anyway I eventually followed up just to ask. The add had run a couple of months before & he was dissapointed as he hadn't had a response. Wouldn't talk just wanted me to come & see him. Turned out he had brought a pile of bits with the idea of going classic racing. Only at that time they didnt allow the 850 under eligibility rules, so the pile sat. He was delighted that I had shown an interest & come to see him. A deal was struck & the seats removed from my Little Nissan & I did a couple of 200 mile round trips to get the stuff home.
I had the benefit of the knowledge that the CRMC had now allowed 850s in! What I didnt know was that I had such a mix of parts! Electric start crank, mk2a cases, boxes of gears odd shells including AMC non Commando. Bits of Dommie, piles of tat. So of we went! One frame, most of an 850 engine, yokes forks & rusty wheels. The race to get on the grid with a Norton began. The 750 engine bits became the basis of my original road Commando, along with the frame & wheels etc. Although it did spend sometime as a featherbed Commando. The 850 engine, Seeley 920 confessed to building it, when I believed dear old Nigel Hall Smith RIP had spent 2 years doing so. The 850 eventually ended up in the Rickman frame, that I lent out to Graham Buller to race. Subsequently I lent this engine to my mate Ashphal Al who regularly beat me with it. I became sec of the Sussex branch of the Noc to find out how to build a Commando engine. And as they say things snowballed. Sammy Trident ended up with the interstate tank. I sold the king & queen seat it looked lovely on the racer but I had eligibility problems with it lol. I gave all the Dommie bits to my mate John. I sold a lot of bits & eventually left the rest at the festival of a thousand bikes at Brands Hatch under the care of my sons & nephews all under the age of 11. I told them they could keep any money they made. Nothing was priced up I told them to ask for offers, then ask someone else at the other end of the stall if that was a fare offer. They had a ball & I cleared out. Its fair to say this one encounter caused my love affair for anything Commando. Working through them all the bits, learning what I had, each bit evolving into another project. Home stretch now getting them all up together. Still lending them out. Truly happy days.
Chris

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The tank is still on the bike Chris !.


sam

Oddly it has the tank cap in the wrong way round! You did say you really needed another big tank! That was a long time ago Sam. Used to rock up at Beezumphs then! Never done one on the Commando.

Chris said:

Oddly it has the tank cap in the wrong way round! You did say you really needed another big tank! That was a long time ago Sam. Used to rock up at Beezumphs then! Never done one on the Commando.

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I've been many time on a Commando, try and make the next one Chris.

I was living in Ft. Lauderdale, having sold my H1 500 and moved south to work in the dead of winter. I saved up about 50% of the price of the then brand-spankin-new Kawasaki Z1. Couldn't get financing for the rest and one day cruising down A1A I saw a sign "Competition Cycles" on a small building with a few bikes parked out front. Long story short, I used the Z1 down payment to buy a yellow '71 Roadster. I had seen my first Commando some years before, in the service department of St. Louis Honda, all gleaming chrome, polished alloy and metalflake purple tank and sidecovers. I wanted a bike really bad because S. Florida has year-round riding weather, so I bought it. Rode it up here and back to Fla., making it as far as Lake City, where I was stopped with a burnt valve. I called a friend in Orlando who came and picked me and the bike up. I took a bus home and returned 2 weeks later and replaced the top end as a whole in the parking lot, after which I continued riding south. When I moved back north the Roadster came along in the back of my van. After making it into a Fastback for a couple of years, I converted it back to a Roadster and finally to an SS in it's last resurrection. Got the 850 running gear from a bike that had been dropped off the back of a moving trailer, bouncing down the road and ruining everything but the engine/trans, frame and wheel hubs. I laced thos3 hubs to some alloy rims and transplanted the 850 power unit into the '71 chassis. Sold all the leftovers to a collector. Still have the Norton

Looks like a keeper most assuredly.

The next Nortons I bought (2006) came in a "three-fer" with a BSA A50, all three choppers!

These bikes came from Oklahoma, and were leakers, so about 20# of red "clay" on each.



Everyone has seen the infamous "bitsa" bike with it's HUNDREDS of bodges. It is world-famous, and has started many online arguments centered on customizing Commandos and bikes in general.

The dude I got them from was too old to ride but had some cool stories of "back in the day". He was a legit die-hard rider, and the bikes had "BANDIDOS SUPPORT" stickers on them, you don't just stick those on your bike for show, or you could be "showing" your missing teeth, or worse. He was OK with me restoring them (well, the one standard frame Commando and the uncut A50). He said the big chopper was running when he parked it over 10 years earlier.

I forget how I found the deal, may have been a lead somebody gave me. I hitched up my little trailer and ran up I35 to Oklahoma City as fast as I could. Spent the night in Austin on the way back. I miss those days of dealing and wheeling...

This was the big chopper after I got done with it. Basically just the frame, engine, rear hub, and Z-plates from the chopper were salvageable. I was able to get the powdercoating done in exchange for the springer forks...

I got this '71 Commando and a '69 Bonneville together in 2007, my "Big Year" when I bought a total of 24 bikes (plus several truck & trailer loads of parts). Had to travel to Macon, GA to pick them up, along with random spare parts.

Single Mikuni carb, Corbin seat and 'glass front fender in off-beat Yellow paint. Ran REALLY well, one-kick-start, etc. I flipped it, and the Bonnie, to finance my vintage roadracing venture.

Ended up making one more trip over to Ed's in Macon in 2008, to pick up a my Combat rolling project, another Commando in parts, two BSAs in parts, and a bunch more random parts, the last of his stuff. He was headed downhill with emphysema and still smoking (that usually doesn't end well); no way he was kick-starting any more bikes.

The Combat, as I picked it up, with Leo Goff built engine and Norvil 13" fully floating front brake. In boxes were several sets of bodywork, an ARD mini magneto, and a ton of other goodies. I did have to mount both wheels in Ed's driveway, to roll it onto the trailer and tie it down...


It had several personalities, the first was the Red mockup with Corbin seat...


Next was the running stage with a High Rider tank & Clubman SS fairing...


I finally settled on the Dunstall stuff...


It stayed looking like that till I sold it a couple of years ago, with the buyer's commission to have Evan Wilcox build a complete set of alloy bodywork (worth more than the base bike)...


Note the Triumph tank-top parcel grid, and piped grey seat top, per the buyer's request. Very specific dude...

The owner of my local upholstery shop in Laredo put that seat cover and pad together in under 3 days.

This was the other/last Commando that I got from Ed, as far as it got when I sold it on e-bay as a rolling project...

The engine was solid, just missing some trim bits, no head steady, old tires, but a real nice basis for a project. The glass tank & paint were nice, Ed guaranteed the liner job (he had done several very successfully)

Well I new this cat for forty years, he ALWAYS rode Harleys. So I heard he had a British bike in his shed, I didn't believe it. So looked him up and asked him. Yep it was his wife's bike and it was Norton Commando! Was it for sale and yes it was. Well it had set since 1973. And it was an Norton Atlas 750 made in 1968. He said every year he'd squirt oil in the spark plus holes and kick it over. A deal was struck, cheap because of rust and mouse shit. After I pressured all the mouse shit from it, things didn't look to bad, wiring was complete. Tear of carbs and soak them for a couple days, get a battery and file the corroded points. Changed oil, turned on key and lights worked. Grabbed a plug wire and dam it had spark!!! I can't be this easy. Put gas in her and POP started right off! It is so ugly dirty, rusty I love it. I will never restore this bike. Like the crazy old man in the neighborhood riding his old unrestored Harleys. Hope I'm remembered as the old man on the Norton Atlas!!!! Did mention it LEAKS oil!!

mean gene said:

...Put gas in her and POP started right off! It is so ugly dirty, rusty I love it. I will never restore this bike.

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Very neat survivor. I'd be very tempted to find a decent set of used original mufflers, though...

I had to replace the head light switch, and a set of points, don't want to spend to much on it!! LOL

This Commando came to me by way of one of the forums back in 2008; I picked it up on one of my road trips when I was racing with AHRMA, in St. Louis on the way up to Road America. I used it as a pit bike there, then sold it when I got home.

1971 Commando Roadster with single Mikuni carb and Dunstall Decibel mufflers

In early 80’s I was in local hardware store picking up stuff for house resto I was doing in spare moments an old friend yelled meet me in parking lot when done .... this guy lived and breathed bikes so wasn’t really surprised he was revving a ‘72 Type S or so it appeared as he was not fussy sounded great ! He told me he had done Cabot Trail earlier and had raced all the Harleys up every mountain .... never saw it again .... fast forward 10 yrs or more , I was drinking beer with my son in backyard , lamenting my no bike situation .... he say why not find a Commando .... couple days later went down to my buddies work place ( bike shop) .... first thing out was he wanted to know when I got out of jail , lots of looks from customers .... he still had the Norton among 40 other bikes , we struck the deal right there , he would get it road worthy as it had been sitting for yrs , plus he would inspect and certify for the agreed on very favourable cash only price .... been the proud owner ever since , my buddy passed on a while back , he had a living funeral , band , food , booze the works , he could barely talk at this point but he did get me to promise I would treat the old bike with respect for as long as I had it ..... still do and I have ....

This next bike is familiar to many folks on here, it's the Dreer New Norton monoshock prototype bike.

It all started when I saw the first publicity shots of the test mule with dummy engine, I just HAD to have one!


I did some research and called looking for Kenny, but was only able to speak to one of the design guys. I asked if there was any way I could buy a VR and swap out the engine for a 952 when they came out, but he assured me that the new engine would not fit a classic chassis. I tried to reach Kenny a few more times and was finally able to talk to him at some length. One thing anyone who has talked to him will agree about, is that he LOVES to talk.

So, a few calls later, we struck a deal for him to sell me one of the last sets of VR cases that he had, a set of 880 cylinders with JE dished pistons & Total Seal gapless rings, and a Baisley prepared head (ported, external oil drain, all new valvetrain); he couldn't sell me anything related to the 952 engine (although a year or so later, I saw several engines somebody else was selling, had to have come from him). Over the next few months, while he was selling off everything so he could retire, I also bought the monoshock rear end from the show bike, one of only 3 sets of carbon fiber primary cases that he had made, a set of FCR carbs, the bodywork and tight-tuck pipes from the show bike, a VR front hub (dual disc), another "big bearing transmission cradle & box-section swingarm, and another set of 880 jugs with 5 JE dished pistons. Right at the end when he sold the last stuff, I bought two more sets of bodywork (including the Green set on my other 880) and 4 VR style dualseats (Rikki Rockett {drummer from the band "Poison"} bought one for one of his Nortons).

Mocked up, and shown at the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation fundraiser in Corpus Christi, TX-


The forks were from a ZX6 crotch rocket, rear hub assembly from a MkIII, but with a single axle made from a miscellaneous CAT diesel heavy loader bolt. The primary case had no way to actually bolt to a set of 850 cases without re-work which I was not prepared to do. I still hadn't worked out a brake pedal & master cylinder arrangement, among other issues.

I ended up finding a very nice, complete 850 MkIII e-start engine and made a deal for it, picked it up at the Sandia Classic in Albuquerque were I raced Production Heavyweight (4th in both races) and VMX 250 Sportsman where I took 2nd to Dave Aldana with his bones leathers (dude was F-A-S-T, lapped me in 2 laps).

Dropped that engine in, mounted a huge AGM battery under the seat hump, converted the transmission to right-foot-shift, figured out a mounting bracket for a rear master cylinder, and bodged together a few other items to make it nominally rideable...

A few other nice touches - MkIII sprung head steady, Carl H stainless adjustable isolastics, Windy Eads front steady, Sparx electronics, and hand-wired electrical system with individually fused circuits.

I don't think I'll sell this bike of my own volition...