New(ish) owner intro

[mfennell]

Japanese parts on a British bike, single carbs for lazy people who don't want to learn about their old bikes, I don't know why so many have troubles with Amal carbs, I replace my worn out old pot metal Amals back in 1979 with new alloy Amals and haven't had no problems with them since, easy to replace jets, easy to tune and my Norton runs so well with them, I have put other carbs on my hot Norton but found the old Amals worked better when jetted right for my motor, tickle, kick, fire, no need for choke and twin carbs will rev right out if everything is set right.
Simple to maintain, I hardly touch my Amals but depends on how many mile I clock up I just replace the jets, needles about every 4 or 5 years as part of maintenance as they do wear from vibrations, carb kits are cheap for a smooth running Norton.

Ashley

You would have had an aneurism if you saw the CBR1000 front end that was on it before!

How do you feel about the 4 piston Italian brake caliper? Should I be looking for a Norton-Andover?



My Bimota db4 has Keihin FCRs. That's about as much carb fun as I need in my life.

 

[gortnipper]

How do you feel about the 4 piston Italian brake caliper? Should I be looking for a Norton-Andover?

Nothing funny about serious braking!

 

[ashman]

You would have had an aneurism if you saw the CBR1000 front end that was on it before!

How do you feel about the 4 piston Italian brake caliper? Should I be looking for a Norton-Andover?



My Bimota db4 has Keihin FCRs. That's about as much carb fun as I need in my life.

No best thing is having good brakes, the stock Commando brakes are so bad, I replace my whole front disc brakes with a full Grimica set up from RGM when my stock brakes tried to kill me over 15 years ago.
As for carbs depends on what carbs you go for but my Amals are set up for the work done to my motor and with the Joe Hunt magneto both work so well together, when my Norton runs so sweet I leave it alone and just do the maintenance on it when needed, not much on my 850 is stock, everything changed when converting to the Featherbed frame, way back in the early 80s.

Ashley

 

[lazyeye6]

So, there….. I guess.

 

[Mart UK]

When I got my 850, it was on a single Amal mk2 934. I bought it intending the first job to be switching back to twin carbs. Then my sprag failed. So, that was my first job. Once fixed, I rode it for a bit, to make sure I'd got it right. I love the low end grunt and it's still pulling fine at 7,000rpm, beyond where I'd normally choose to ride it. So I gave it a good clean and left the single carb on.

I suspect a Mikuni is an upgrade on the Amal on mine. Needless to say, if I were you, I'd leave it on there, unless you have money to burn and want the bragging rights.

I have 4 Keihins on my CB750K6, they're easy enough to set up and balance, but 4x the cleaning! My single carb Commando is much quicker than the Honda.

Just for interest, both bikes have Hagon rear shocks and (clean) stock front suspension. Both have branded brake lines, the Norton has a Lockheed 'AP Racing' front calliper, I put a new oem calliper on the Honda. Both weigh about the same. The Commando out-accelerates, out-brakes (massively) and out-handles the Honda and feels much lighter on the road. But the Honda is still lovely, fits like a glove and so smooth. Very, very different bikes. 1970s Sports vs. tourer. Sorry to digress.

 

[MexicoMike]

FWIW, the OEM dual Amals will outperform the single Mikuni at full throttle above 4500-5000 RPM. I did several tests of that years ago against a friend's Commando, switching carbs back/forth between the bikes. Whether that difference matters is totally a preference of the operator/how the bike is ridden. The appearance is another issue - the eye of the beholder!