Photo Contest - Commando Engines in Other Chassis - Race Bikes

Photo contest

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I could probably toss a few in this thread. But, in my humble opinion, everything pales to this:

Photo Contest - Commando Engines in Other Chassis - Race Bikes
Photo Contest - Commando Engines in Other Chassis - Race Bikes


Quite possible the most function-creates-form beauty I've ever seen. These beautiful photos of Jamie Waters' Ron Wood Lightweight Norton (Jamie also owns a big tube) taken in our shop by our esteemed fast guy photog Doug MacRae .
 
I had one of those YZ tanks on my '69 Bonneville till I got a decent tank for it. Very nice and light...
 
t ingermanson said:
Ken, what swingarm did you use on this bike? Any mods to the frame, other than the visible holes drilled?
Click to expand...

The swingarm was from Mick Hemmings.

Mods to the frame include removing some lugs/brackets, welding in a reinforcing section on the lower rear cross tube after it cracked, heavy bosses welded on for the swingarm pivot shaft, mounting plates welded on for rear-set footpegs, seat mounting crosspiece welded between upper rear tubes, and lugs brazed on for rear tank strap mount. I think that's all of it. I also straightened the frame on a chassis jig to correct the steering head angle back to the original 26 degrees.

Ken
 
Holmeslice said:
I could probably toss a few in this thread. But, in my humble opinion, everything pales to this:

View attachment 16529View attachment 16530

Quite possible the most function-creates-form beauty I've ever seen. These beautiful photos of Jamie Waters' Ron Wood Lightweight Norton (Jamie also owns a big tube) taken in our shop by our esteemed fast guy photog Doug MacRae .
Click to expand...

Hard to argue with that, Kenny. Not to mention the photo quality.

Ken
 
Agreed Kenny
One of the bikes I think off when It comes to Commandos.
 
Here's Leo Goff's dragster with his own frame. He owned the record in his class for a few years. Incredible performance with 140mph in the quarter mile using a long stroke Commando 750. My personal connection is the private phone calls I had with him about porting and other HP improvements I used in my roadracer. He helped me with tech info including installing a one way reed valve breather way back in the mid 1980s. Check out the extra long intakes - part of his power production.
Photo Contest - Commando Engines in Other Chassis - Race Bikes
 
The Rickman before our last race. Next time she sees the light of day she will have a new blue fairing and a few new brackets and clip ons...but will probably still have the dent in the tank where I kicked it on the way by!
pau.jpg
 
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Fast Eddie said:
Wow.

Jim, what’s the bottom end on that, one off ?
Click to expand...
It looks weird because Leo grafted on a Kawi 1000 gearbox. There is a gear on the crank driving the clutch and the machined primary cover is what looks different. There is no way he could keep an AMC gearbox together with full throttle launches.
 
cliffa said:
This is my entry. I did not take these pictures, but I have plenty of others which I have asked Moto55UK if I can post on here and await his answer. However, as he had previously put these two pictures on Access Norton they are already in the pubic domain. I met Mike in 2015 on the IOM, and was absolutely gobsmacked ( and that is a huge understatement) at what he's achieved. He got of his arse and did what I had only dreamed about doing. He built the frame, made his own patterns for the fork sliders, molded the tank / seat unit and i'm sure plenty more. I talked to him at length about it, and he was very very modest about what he'd achieved, but freely admitted it was very, very challenging. One thing which stuck in my mind was his comment that he thought the Peter Williams replicas were a bargain @ £75k. That is probably indicative of the amount of work he put in to achieve his own rendition. See what you think...

View attachment 16520View attachment 16521
Click to expand...

Seems to be a very sensible machine and an example of what could be, if we had better competition rules which encouraged development of the particular TYPE of motorcycle, rather than always trying to create a nostalgia kick. There is probably room for both ideologies. When I built my bike, I built it to be good, rather than to fit into a particular class of historic racing. It just happens to fit into the bullshit somewhere.
It does not really matter what you build as long as it is OK, you will usually get a ride somewhere, - even if you are horribly out-classed - you will still have fun. The bike in the picture would always be worth building. I'd love to own it or race against it. It really looks the part.
 
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There are a few pics of my bike on here. This one is the first time out at Donnington park, the jets for the carbs arrived the morning we set off for the meeting and I bought some foam for the seat whilst there, and cut it up with a bread knife to make it fit. Quite typical for me to be on a last dash push. Seeley Mkll, Maney motor and far too much front brake, the same one in the brake photo comp.:)

Photo Contest - Commando Engines in Other Chassis - Race Bikes
 
acotrel said:
Seems to be a very sensible machine and an example of what could be, if we had better competition rules which encouraged development of the particular TYPE of motorcycle, rather than always trying to create a nostalgia kick. There is probably room for both ideologies. When I built my bike, I built it to be good, rather than to fit into a particular class of historic racing. It just happens to fit into the bullshit somewhere.
It does not really matter what you build as long as it is OK, you will usually get a ride somewhere, - even if you are horribly out-classed - you will still have fun. The bike in the picture would always be worth building. I'd love to own it or race against it. It really looks the part.
Click to expand...


I would like to build that bike with the 961 motor from Zongshen. With a decent gearbox it might even be alright in one of our Formula Extreme classes in Australia.
 
storm42 said:
There are a few pics of my bike on here. This one is the first time out at Donnington park, the jets for the carbs arrived the morning we set off for the meeting and I bought some foam for the seat whilst there, and cut it up with a bread knife to make it fit. Quite typical for me to be on a last dash push. Seeley Mkll, Maney motor and far too much front brake, the same one in the brake photo comp.:)

View attachment 16562
Click to expand...

With disc brakes - too much is usually OK, because they are reliable and only do what you tell them to do. I use one finger on the brake lever and the rest around the twist grip.
 
Made another change to the rules in the first post. I've edited them to allow more than one picture per bike, since some posters had already done so. Feel free to go back and edit your post if it needs more pictures to show bike details. The rule is now that you can enter as many bikes as you want, but only one post with pictures per bike. Please keep all the pictures of each bike in it's own post. Multiple posts with pictures of the same bike could confuse the system. Keep in mind that only the first picture will show up in the voting summary at the top of the thread.

I realize that it has now become a bit less of a photo quality contest and more of a interesting bike contest, but that seemed inevitable. Photo quality is still going to be a big part of appeal for the entries.

Ken
 
This bike was built on a shoestring budget. The frame was abandoned in an alley and its what got me started with Nortons. After porting it was so fast that I decided to race it. The fairing, tank, seat, wheels, oil cooler, brakes and motor parts all came from a junkyard. Funky home made long guillotine carbs, clipons, pipes, oil tank, oil filter mount and fork brace. This full race Commando motor with lightened pistons in slimline frame was very successful on the track and spent most of its time at Willow Springs. Took 2nd at the 750 BOTT 1984 national at Laguna Seca after swapping 1st place every lap with (Phenomenal) Fred Eiker on his 750 Commando.

Photo Contest - Commando Engines in Other Chassis - Race Bikes
 
It wouldn't be right not to include the Commonwealth Norton in this thread. Built on a Vendetta chassis for Martin Adams back in the mid '80s, later acquired and restored by me, and then sold. A lovely bike with all sorts of trick stuff. This is the bike after I acquired it, without the fairing to show the details

Unfaired.jpg


And this one, showing the full fairing, is from it's race at Daytona in 1987 with Dave Pither riding.

Photo Contest - Commando Engines in Other Chassis - Race Bikes


That's another one I'd have liked to keep, but it joins a long list of others that I sold so I could buy something else.

Ken
 
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