- Phone number
- 214-532-9876
- Location
- Sherman, Texas USA
- Year of manufacture
- 1974
- Mileage
- 9760
It seems hard for me to imagine but I am contemplating selling my Norton 850 Commando I acquired it from Debby Johnson a few years ago. It is NOT a restoration. I guess a restomod would best describe it. I will let Debby describe the bike, its history and all that has been done to it:
"I bought the bike a while ago, maybe 2008? It was a parts bike on eBay. It appeared to be a 1971 750 chassis with a 1974 850 motor. It was supplied with cafe racer bodywork and loosely assembled. A bunch of parts were missing, other parts were broken or incorrect.
I tore it all down, sold the cafe racer stuff, and acquired all the missing parts. Some used from eBay and other sources, some new. Lot of Old Britts purchases. Engine and gearbox have been fully rebuilt. Head rebuild by Jim Comstock, including exhaust thread repair and new exhaust valves. He also modified the cradle so you can remove the gearbox without removing the engine.
Engine has rebore to first oversize, new JCC pistons, new rings, new main bearings (Superblend), crank shimmed for proper end play, new big end bearings.
Gearbox has the proper lay shaft roller bearing, other parts replaced as required, lay shaft shimmed. New Mk3 style kickstart lever. CNW oil tank mod. Custom front brake. EMGO rear shocks. Gauges rebuilt by Mark Bohman. Wheels built by Woody’s. New vernier isos. Halogen headlight kit, relay driven. Completely rewired by me.
Used Amal 932s mounted on the correct manifolds for the 30 mm intake ports. (Note: these carbs were worn and causing hard starting issues. They were replaced by the CO with a single Mikuni.)
RH10 head, rare and highly sought after because they don’t crack like the RH4 heads.
Pazon Electronic Ignition plus aftermarket switch gear (horn, high/low beam & turn signals) and it does have a aftermarket kill switch. All lights plus high/low are accessible by thumb on the left hand. No key, wired the on/off as a toggle. Added a fuse block that uses blade type fuses. This is velcroed onto the side of the battery for ease of access and for vibration dampening. Bike has new wiring and also included a Kuryakyn LED 12 Volt Battery Gauge. This sits just forward of the handlebars and gives you the charging information at a glance. It's pretty nice.
I'm running custom oil filter heads made by a local machine shop. Alloy body, barbed hose fittings, and they take the Chevy filters without an adapter.
napa 41040 oil filter
STP S3387A oil filter
WebCams #12 cam. It is very close to stock duration with slightly wider lobe centers and a little more than stock lift. It will make the idle quality better and easier to tune. It will also make a small increase in power throughout the stock rpm range.
Front Brake:
The brake uses a Harley rotor and a Nissin 4 piston caliper from a Honda CBR600F4. You can buy these parts cheap on ebay from owners who are upgrading. I paid $35 for a pair of calipers. Brembos usually sell for about $200 per pair, used.
On this bike I'm running a Brembo 13 mm master cylinder from a single disk Ducati Monster. On my 750 I'm running a Nissin 13 mm master cylinder from a Honda CBR600F2. Both work equally well. Good used master cylinders are hard to find - they usually have crash damage - but new Brembos are available.
The Internet says DOT4 for Nissin 4 piston caliper from a Honda CBR600F4
The Bad:
The tank looks OK 12 feet away but has bondo patching showing. The bike is on a Bonded Texas title. It is a good Texas title and the bonded part will expire in 3 years.
Debby didn't ride the bike much due to the hard hot starting issue (now fixed) and also due to her failing health. I have not ridden the bike much as well. I have a 25 mile scenic loop I like to ride and I do this once every two weeks or so when the weather is good. It is a great runner and one of the best Nortons I have owned. The images are a bit old. I have added the lower front fender brace courtesy of CNW, the single Mikuni and bar-end mirrors.
"I bought the bike a while ago, maybe 2008? It was a parts bike on eBay. It appeared to be a 1971 750 chassis with a 1974 850 motor. It was supplied with cafe racer bodywork and loosely assembled. A bunch of parts were missing, other parts were broken or incorrect.
I tore it all down, sold the cafe racer stuff, and acquired all the missing parts. Some used from eBay and other sources, some new. Lot of Old Britts purchases. Engine and gearbox have been fully rebuilt. Head rebuild by Jim Comstock, including exhaust thread repair and new exhaust valves. He also modified the cradle so you can remove the gearbox without removing the engine.
Engine has rebore to first oversize, new JCC pistons, new rings, new main bearings (Superblend), crank shimmed for proper end play, new big end bearings.
Gearbox has the proper lay shaft roller bearing, other parts replaced as required, lay shaft shimmed. New Mk3 style kickstart lever. CNW oil tank mod. Custom front brake. EMGO rear shocks. Gauges rebuilt by Mark Bohman. Wheels built by Woody’s. New vernier isos. Halogen headlight kit, relay driven. Completely rewired by me.
Used Amal 932s mounted on the correct manifolds for the 30 mm intake ports. (Note: these carbs were worn and causing hard starting issues. They were replaced by the CO with a single Mikuni.)
RH10 head, rare and highly sought after because they don’t crack like the RH4 heads.
Pazon Electronic Ignition plus aftermarket switch gear (horn, high/low beam & turn signals) and it does have a aftermarket kill switch. All lights plus high/low are accessible by thumb on the left hand. No key, wired the on/off as a toggle. Added a fuse block that uses blade type fuses. This is velcroed onto the side of the battery for ease of access and for vibration dampening. Bike has new wiring and also included a Kuryakyn LED 12 Volt Battery Gauge. This sits just forward of the handlebars and gives you the charging information at a glance. It's pretty nice.
I'm running custom oil filter heads made by a local machine shop. Alloy body, barbed hose fittings, and they take the Chevy filters without an adapter.
napa 41040 oil filter
STP S3387A oil filter
WebCams #12 cam. It is very close to stock duration with slightly wider lobe centers and a little more than stock lift. It will make the idle quality better and easier to tune. It will also make a small increase in power throughout the stock rpm range.
Front Brake:
The brake uses a Harley rotor and a Nissin 4 piston caliper from a Honda CBR600F4. You can buy these parts cheap on ebay from owners who are upgrading. I paid $35 for a pair of calipers. Brembos usually sell for about $200 per pair, used.
On this bike I'm running a Brembo 13 mm master cylinder from a single disk Ducati Monster. On my 750 I'm running a Nissin 13 mm master cylinder from a Honda CBR600F2. Both work equally well. Good used master cylinders are hard to find - they usually have crash damage - but new Brembos are available.
The Internet says DOT4 for Nissin 4 piston caliper from a Honda CBR600F4
The Bad:
The tank looks OK 12 feet away but has bondo patching showing. The bike is on a Bonded Texas title. It is a good Texas title and the bonded part will expire in 3 years.
Debby didn't ride the bike much due to the hard hot starting issue (now fixed) and also due to her failing health. I have not ridden the bike much as well. I have a 25 mile scenic loop I like to ride and I do this once every two weeks or so when the weather is good. It is a great runner and one of the best Nortons I have owned. The images are a bit old. I have added the lower front fender brace courtesy of CNW, the single Mikuni and bar-end mirrors.
