What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

I didn't do anything with my Norton today. But I did ride my AJS to the pub for the first of planned monthly classic bike and car mornings. Chilly, and I broke my hearing aid in my pocket! Trip to the audiologist tomorrow, if my wife hasn't killed me before then!

This week I have put the rebuilt TTi gearbox back into the Rickman Norton, changed the gearing and installed the drive chain. I don't propose to go into detail, but 'rebuilding' it was a saga running from October to beginning of March.

Next: Install and align the Norman White clutch with new steel plates. Fit belt, pulley and cover. Fit the carbs and exhaust, fill with oil and try to run it up.

Might get that done by the end of the month!
 
Fast Eddie said:
Why choose second best ??
Click to expand...
Well I am a Featherbed person and they were more involved with Norton from the 50s till late 60s, Seeley not so as far as I know, my first taste of a British motorcycle was riding my mate's hot 750 Commando in a Wideline Featherbed at 17 then buying my new 850 Commando 2 weeks later then converting it to the Featherbed in 1980, so you know my choice of frames.
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
 
ashman said:
Well I am a Featherbed person and they were more involved with Norton from the 50s till late 60s, Seeley not so as far as I know, my first taste of a British motorcycle was riding my mate's hot 750 Commando in a Wideline Featherbed at 17 then buying my new 850 Commando 2 weeks later then converting it to the Featherbed in 1980, so you know my choice of frames.
View attachment 118794View attachment 118795
Click to expand...
Don’t make it too easy for me Ash… I was only winding you up !!

I still ride both a featherbed and a Seeley on the track. I don’t think I’m a good enough rider to stipulate which is better and why. I’d argue that the better set up bike would be better.
 
robs ss said:
Okay - I did not know all that.
It was just that when I looked at the AN parts list the mushroom ones were just one part number different (1890 vs 1891) and are about 10GBP dearer.
I haven't hit on a touchy point here, have I?;);)
Click to expand...
Hardly!

As I said… I thought you were gonna give us an answer !

So now I’ve opened it up to others to counter my points.

I’m genuinely interested in understanding the arguments for the positive.
 
Last edited:
Bonzo said:
I think the mushroom ones need the rockers removing to fit and I couldn't be arsed.

Happy with the socket heads as regards adjustment. Much easier & more accurate than the standard set up 👍
Click to expand...
I've been using the socket head adjusters and stellite valve tip caps since the early 1990's. The first set of the socket head adjusters I bought was soft and got little craters in them that put divots in the valve tips, then I got a second set and the stellite caps. I also put the stellite caps on Black Diamond KW valves that are not supposed to need them. I may have tried some elephant foot adjusters back then, but they were problematic to install or came apart. Anywho, the socket heads are definitely easier to work with in tight spaces.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Hardly!

As I said… I thought you were gonna give us an answer !

So now I’ve opened it up to others to counter my points.

I’m genuinely interested in understanding the arguments for the positive.
Click to expand...
As you know, I know bugger all except for changing tappet adjusters😂

For those that don’t remember, I recently had a mushroom type fail and when I removed the other 3 they were all badly pitted but the valve stems were undamaged thankfully. I did manage to replace them with a far sturdier design with only by removing the spindles and by means of a wooden barbecue skewer to keep the washer and Thackeray in place.

The supposed advantage of the mushroom type is they’re reputedly kinder to the valve stems and I can only say, despite the horrendous condition of the adjusters they were still flat, no centre dimples after 12k miles. They also have Allen key sockets which I prefer to the flat blade screwdriver arrangement of the old set.
 
Let's not forget the tappet should strike off centre to the valve to help promote rotation
And I assume to spread the wear on the valve stem
 
Fast Eddie said:
Don’t make it too easy for me Ash… I was only winding you up !!

I still ride both a featherbed and a Seeley on the track. I don’t think I’m a good enough rider to stipulate which is better and why. I’d argue that the better set up bike would be better.
Click to expand...
No wind up for me Nigel, I can only comment on the Featherbed, set up right they are great to ride and handle great, as for a Seeley I have never rode one with a Norton motor or anything so can't compare, last big group ride I had a few comments on how good my Norton goes and playing games in the twisties with my mates, so much fun running circles around them lol.
As I have said have never had any problems using the stock valve adjusters to justified changing them for others.
 
SteveA said:
Since both 'Seeley'and 'featherbed' fames are still winning races on the IoM you may need to be pedantic about your cut off date for 'TT' wins!

And, do you count any MGP, Classic TT wins etc?

You may want to specify who made them? Colin Seeley 'himself', Norton, or countless other copies?
Click to expand...
Was just responding to "second best" - second best at what? ;) ;)
 
I rode Norton two weeks ago and noticed that head and tail light were not working. I set out to fix these problems. Headlight issue was due to the head/pilot switch being nudged a bit in the wrong direction. Headlight now working, I went for the tail light. Brake lights work (front and rear brake) but not tail light. Removed lens and saw that one filament was broken. Hoping for an easy fix, I went to the auto parts store, bought a new tail light and installed. Tail light still does not work. Get the service manual turn to Mark III wiring diagram... and I can't find the tail light in the diagram. Is this some sort of puzzle? The wires to the tail light are brown/green and brown. There is a red ground wire in its little case. Where is the tail light in the diagram?
 
Replaced original crank breather with the cNw version for 72 750s. This was a major Pain in my arse. The tab washer was in just the wrong place to get a good purchase with a wrench. I think I would rather change the horn. Twice.
 

Attachments

  • What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
    CNW breather.jpg
    282 KB · Views: 173
  • What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
    breather.jpg
    496.9 KB · Views: 162
  • What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
    new cNw breather.jpg
    222 KB · Views: 150
baz said:
Let's not forget the tappet should strike off centre to the valve to help promote rotation
And I assume to spread the wear on the valve stem
Click to expand...
Not much worry about a Norton tappet being off center. One would have to go out of their way making shims to get them in the center of the valve stem.

Once a soft tappet starts to deteriorate there's no way it won't ware on the valve stem. If one has never had a soft tappet aka adjuster screw start to deteriorate, one would never have seen it.

The valves that have the stellite lash caps on the stem don't show any ware at all obviously, and the stellite is tuff stuff. The lash cap might show a shinny area where the tappet was tapping after 10K miles, but no divot.

Forgot to mention I have no idea if my valves are spinning correctly or not to make the seats last. My seats are the original ones lapped a little every time I take the head off, and I can't see in there while the motor is running anyway.
 
Last edited:
Schwany said:
Not much worry about a Norton tappet being off center. One would have to go out of their way making shims to get them in the center of the valve stem.

Once a soft tappet starts to deteriorate there's no way it won't ware on the valve stem. If one has never had a soft tappet aka adjuster screw start to deteriorate, one would never have seen it.

The valves that have the stellite lash caps on the stem don't show any ware at all obviously, and the stellite is tuff stuff. The lash cap might show a shinny area where the tappet was tapping after 10K miles, but no divot.

Forgot to mention I have no idea if my valves are spinning correctly or not to make the seats last. My seats are the original ones lapped a little every time I take the head off, and I can't see in there while the motor is running anyway.
Click to expand...
I'm sad enough to shim rockers to strike the valves in the centre
Or I should say I used to 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I did away with the thackeray washers and shimmed the tappets to the centre of the valve not realising the valve was supposed to turn
I also used to shim spark plugs so the open electrode faced the incoming charge
It makes a huge difference 🙄🤔🤣🤣🤣
 

Similar threads

Schwany
What did you do with your P11 today. he he
2 3 4 5
Replies
96
Views
9,374
Schwany
Schwany
Shelby-Right
What did you do with your Triumph today .
Replies
10
Views
1,680
Matt Spencer
M
CanukNortonNut
  • Locked
Ok what are you getting for mileage with your commando.
2 3 4 5
Replies
93
Views
15,252
CanukNortonNut
CanukNortonNut
V
What did you do to your Norton today?
2 3 4
Replies
67
Views
9,210
Richard Tool
Richard Tool
Back
Top