Pre Season Checks

Accnor73 said:
Thanks, and is that when cold or after 2 min run/ 1 min sit, and cap screwed in or out?

There’s a lot to get wrong here.
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After the 2 min run, just before you switch off raise to 2000 rpm for a few seconds. Cap in or you will have oil over the front end!
John
P.s. if you mean when checking the oil then cap screwed all the way in - if anything err towards the bottom level - it is really easy to overfill these bikes.
 
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Cap screwed in , 2 min run , 1 min settle , then check. Anywhere in the knurled section is fine .
 
Thanks guys. Oil spot on at bottom 3rd of knurled section of dipstick.

Right wind up though..... bike started great, run up the road, realise my new bar end mirrors aren’t positioned well so I nip back to grab an Allen key. In the rush to get it I put the side stand down without putting in neutral, so then it stalls.

Mirrors adjusted.

When I go to start it I always pull clutch in, but forgot it was in gear, made an attempt to start but it didn’t. Found neutral, went to start again, wouldn’t tick over. Tried again, wouldn’t tick over, tried again.... relay sound of death!

So despite only taking off of of trickle charger last night, it literally could only manage 6 starts. It had a new battery last June and has been on a trickle charger since November. Is that all you get from these batteries,6 starts?

Anyway, 1.5 hours of pre ride checks, gearing up, getting on the drive, lovely morning. Failed!! Oh well, next Sunday?
 
BritTwit said:
There is nothing more beautiful on a classic motorcycle or sports car as laced wire wheels.
And nothing requiring more maintenance either.
i.e. Spoke tightening, rim truing, laborious cleaning.

I wished that Norton would have offered a classically styled mag wheel for the 961 like the old Morris mags from the 70's.
No maintenance, no inner tubes, silly easy cleaning (hose spray), and 90 degree air nipples for easy filling.
The old mags came in different finishes, polished alloy, gold, gun metal, black.


Pre Season Checks
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Cast Alloy wheels were available for Commandos, in the UK, made by a firm called Campbray.
I've had a couple of sets over the years, granted though they are pretty rare.
sam
 
Accnor73 said:
Thanks guys. Oil spot on at bottom 3rd of knurled section of dipstick.

Right wind up though..... bike started great, run up the road, realise my new bar end mirrors aren’t positioned well so I nip back to grab an Allen key. In the rush to get it I put the side stand down without putting in neutral, so then it stalls.

Mirrors adjusted.

When I go to start it I always pull clutch in, but forgot it was in gear, made an attempt to start but it didn’t. Found neutral, went to start again, wouldn’t tick over. Tried again, wouldn’t tick over, tried again.... relay sound of death!

So despite only taking off of of trickle charger last night, it literally could only manage 6 starts. It had a new battery last June and has been on a trickle charger since November. Is that all you get from these batteries,6 starts?

Anyway, 1.5 hours of pre ride checks, gearing up, getting on the drive, lovely morning. Failed!! Oh well, next Sunday?
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That doesn't sound good to me. I never started mine for 3 months until 2 weeks ago and it fired up and ran just fine, and the battery wasn't charged or kept on a trickle during the 3 months.
sam
 
Accnor73 said:
Thanks guys. Oil spot on at bottom 3rd of knurled section of dipstick.

Right wind up though..... bike started great, run up the road, realise my new bar end mirrors aren’t positioned well so I nip back to grab an Allen key. In the rush to get it I put the side stand down without putting in neutral, so then it stalls.

Mirrors adjusted.

When I go to start it I always pull clutch in, but forgot it was in gear, made an attempt to start but it didn’t. Found neutral, went to start again, wouldn’t tick over. Tried again, wouldn’t tick over, tried again.... relay sound of death!

So despite only taking off of of trickle charger last night, it literally could only manage 6 starts. It had a new battery last June and has been on a trickle charger since November. Is that all you get from these batteries,6 starts?

Anyway, 1.5 hours of pre ride checks, gearing up, getting on the drive, lovely morning. Failed!! Oh well, next Sunday?
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I had this when at work last year, the bike started fine when I picked up the side stand.
Sit on
Side stand up
Put key in.....
Might be the same issue?
 
trident sam said:
Cast Alloy wheels were available for Commandos, in the UK, made by a firm called Campbray.
I've had a couple of sets over the years, granted though they are pretty rare.
sam
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Does Campbray make mag wheels for the 961?
I've seen Campbray wheels for vintage 750/850 Commandos.
They are nice, but I would still prefer Morris mag style.
 
Accnor73 said:
When I go to start it I always pull clutch in, but forgot it was in gear, made an attempt to start but it didn’t. Found neutral, went to start again, wouldn’t tick over. Tried again, wouldn’t tick over, tried again.... relay sound of death!
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I do everything I can to make sure the first stab on the starter gets her running otherwise... mine will exhaust battery pretty quickly. One tip, might work for you, works for me.... IF my bike doesn't fire up 1st or 2nd attempt for whatever reason I calmly switch her off, count to 10, she usually fires up next attempt. There is a train of thought running through this forum that multiple failed attempts to start gets the ecu in a tangle so switching it off and on again resets it... might be hocus-pocus but works for me.
 
trident sam said:
That doesn't sound good to me. I never started mine for 3 months until 2 weeks ago and it fired up and ran just fine, and the battery wasn't charged or kept on a trickle during the 3 months.
sam
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Sam, that would be you and Nigel sorted then.... as for me, if bike sits for a week without trickle then I can forget all about starting her, no go, dead as a dodo.
 
MxMartin said:
There is a train of thought running through this forum that multiple failed attempts to start gets the ecu in a tangle so switching it off and on again resets it... might be hocus-pocus but works for me.
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It might be hocus pocus but each time the bike has stopped via the side stand I have found that putting into neutral is no good - I have flipped the side stand up and it starts first time. It is as though the ECU still thinks the bike is in gear with the stand down - even if you move the lever to neutral.
FWIW
 
MxMartin said:
Sam, that would be you and Nigel sorted then.... as for me, if bike sits for a week without trickle then I can forget all about starting her, no go, dead as a dodo.
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Martin, maybe there is a drain somewhere on your bike, do you have an alarm fitted ?
I must admit I was surprised when it did start after that time. (I've been in the process of moving house , so that's why the bikes were not being used)
Maybe I just got lucky that once :)
sam
 
trident sam said:
Martin, maybe there is a drain somewhere on your bike, do you have an alarm fitted ?
I must admit I was surprised when it did start after that time. (I've been in the process of moving house , so that's why the bikes were not being used)
Maybe I just got lucky that once :)
sam
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He knows that Sam, he’s already narrowed it down to the clocks IIRC.

Looks like mine might need new clocks... wonder if that’ll upset things in the power drain department !?
 
Re Starting issues - A short while ago I had starting problems which turned out to be the starter motor. In desperation I took off the cover housing the brushes and found that corrosion was preventing the four sprung brushes making proper contact with the commutator. A quick clean with available tools and it was working again, but after a couple of weeks it became slow to initially turn over. My thinking was that because it did not have that immediate kick to get moving properly it stalled causing a big voltage drop. One indicator was that the lcd display completely faded out. Did this indicate that the voltage drop was enough to mess up the ECU and sensors? Sometimes it would start but ran rough as anything. Once a bit warm I could switch it off for a while, restart and all was good.

A proper clean of the brushes and springs restored it to its former glory but I am curious in cases where you are experiencing starting issues what are the clocks/ display doing?
 
Ok, so an update. I normally maintain it on an optimate charger but that was being used on the car so I used the spare oxford one I have. It turns out that wasn’t properly plugged on the unit so wasn’t maintaining anything!! I charged it on the optimate last night and this morning the starter motor wound up lovely....but it wouldn’t tick over. Having read eljaharas advice I tried that, sat on it with stand up and tried again, plenty of battery power still and it ran and ticked over perfectly. So I’m pretty convinced there is something to that my friend.

As an aside I gave it a couple of blips on the throttle and caused the revs to drop and stall, but if left alone to warm up it ran sweetly around 1500 revs. Will get it out for a run in the next few days.

In summary, it wouldn’t start and run after stalling and trying to start in gear. But, side stand up and it started and ticked over lovely. Thanks
 
Clive said:
I am curious in cases where you are experiencing starting issues what are the clocks/ display doing?
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Clive, on a fully charged battery mine starts 1st time. On a partially charged battery (Lithium 'store' mode) my bike starts 1st or 2nd stab 99/100. The rare occasion when i'm pushing for 3 or more attempts, like earlier in the week, my LCD goes beserk and does it's own thing....and I gain or lose 19.1 miles on the odo and trip. Yes, exactly 19.1 miles! February 2018 I gained 19.1 miles out of nowhere after a start up failed miserably. Approx 6 weeks later, again after a failed start I lost those 19.1 miles. Earlier this week I re-gained those 19.1 miles. Work that one out :)
 
MxMartin said:
...Earlier this week I re-gained those 19.1 miles. Work that one out :)
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On my list of things to experiment with.... A small 12v power source which, using a couple of low forward voltage drop diodes, is able to power the ECU and voltage regulator at full voltage for a minute or so if the cranking voltage drops. A charging circuit then tops it up once the bike is running. Removes those starting voltage glitches which can mess up the ECU and sensor readings. Thoughts?
 
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