Since its winter and there’s not a lot of exiting stories to
tell I thought I’d run over where my Norton Commando obsession came from and
developed;
I first caught the Norton bug when I was in my mid teens, I
remember the motorcycle police riding around on their Norton Commandos in
Perthshire and loved the sound and look of thesewhat seemed to be at the time
massive bikes. My first big bike was a BSA Road rocket which fell to bits every
time I took it out, my twice weekly run to the college in Dundee almost always
involved some pushing and returning home with less bits on the bike than when I
set off. A friend at the time was selling a Commando to buy a new fangled GS1000
and offered it to me for £650, after scrambling around another friend lent me
enough for the deposit and finance was obtained to buy this 4 year old Commando
complete with Dunstall rearsets, 2 -1 -2 Exhausts and a half fairing. That bike
(BNC64M) got thrashed regularly, ridden through all weathers and was from
memory never maintained, I probably owned it two years and coming back from the
Iron & Steel Rally in Scunthorpe it consumed almost a gallon of Castrol GTX
on the 350 mile trip. A rally was looming in the peak district at the start of
December and there was no way I could fix it before then (I had neither the
ability, facilities or finances) so I did the sensible thing and traded it in
to Mr Bloy for his own Mk1 Guzzi Le Mans which was at the time the price of a
small house. The salesman (The bearded stripper for those that may remember)
was a genial and incredibly dodgy character who filled out the Hire Purchase
forms and asked me to sign, I never was sure if I actually got anything for my
Commando.
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| Getting ready to leave the Iron & Steel rally, Dunstall fairing had been ditched by then due to numerous crashes! |
The Guzzi I have to admit didn’t endear itself to me
immediately and I was wishing I’d bought one of Sandy’s brand new Mk3 Nortons
which he was selling at £999 at the time if i remember rightly, anyhow, we
eventually bonded, I started racing which improved my mechanical skills a bit
but I always wanted another Norton. In the April of 1981 I found myself with
some spare cash (very unusual as the racing kept me completely skint and
usually in debt up to my eyeballs) I remembered George Peddie had a Commando and
went to visit him, long story short I came away with MVD944L and some money as
George refused my first offer saying it was too much, what a gentleman.
If I remember correctly it was a Tuesday and I had a course
in Stafford the following Monday, George had started to overhaul it but had
lost the wiring loom and the sidepanels, (that’s the bits I remember
anyway) I obtained a wiring loom,
rewired it gave it a check over and topped up the oil tank as it was pretty
empty, I got it running and took it for a celebratory lap of Perth, sitting
idling outside the Police station I could smell oil, I looked down and the bike
was doing a passable imitation of the Torry Canyon (An oil tanker that sunk in the 80’s) This was my first experience
of wet sumping, my first Commando was probably never more than 12 hours between
start ups so I wasn’t aware of the issue, I got home, emptied out the excess
oil, cleaned the mess up as well as I could and felt quite happy with myself
and so started a very long relationship with this wonderful bike.
On the way to Stafford the following week I stopped off at
Jacksons of Chorley , a wonderful emporium of all things British and bought a
couple of second hand sidepanels, the bike was complete. Over the years it’s
taken me to over 20 Countries and always got me home, thats not to say there
hasn’t been some serious roadside maintenance from time to time. Broken Chain
on the motorway just outside Glasgow where a good Samaritan saved me by going
home to find me an old bit of chain and joining links (now I always carry
joining links) Burnt a valve on the way to the TT trying to keep in front of
all my pals jap multi’s on a very hot day, still got me home.
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| Repairs in a supermarket car park in Cherbourg, I made new French friends who helped me, thats what happens..... |
I even raced it
at Beveridge park once after I’d had a big blow up on my race bike and couldn’t
get it fixed on time, I crashed at the Snake in the final practice session, I
deserved to, I was being a total loony on a bike with half worn TT100’s and
apart from wiring the drain plugs no other preparation (The scrutinisers did
make me take the rack off the back) The last complete engine rebuild was after
an epic trip to Romania, a 5000 mile trip that proved its too long to go
without an oil change! As I write this its almost finished after a major
overhaul, funnily enough just finished rewiring it also, the old loom was
pretty knackered after almost 40 years and I reckon 160 thousand miles, looking
forward to wearing it out again as soon as Spring comes.
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| MVD at Draculas Castle, Brasov, Romania |
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| And on Holiday in Ibiza visiting fellow Norton friend Lolo |
In 1987 we were on strike, the best 3 weeks I ever had
working for BT, I had previously built a Trident T160 which I’d bought with a
bottom end failure, I needed some cash because although being on strike is good
fun, manning the picket line and antagonising the police, it doesn’t pay well,
it doesn’t pay at all and my mortgage was due, the MCN had an ad for a JPN,
despite being skint I had to call, the seller was in Kilmarnock and after a few
minutes I realised It was Geoff Proven, fellow racer and Norton fan, The bike
was in big lumps but all there, I rented a van and shot through with the
Trident in the back, I got £600 and the JPN in exchange for my Trident, Geoff
was happy, I was Happy, the world was good.
Because we were on strike it only
took me a couple of days to build the JPN and surprisingly it ran. A few weeks
later I seized it on a high speed blast through Glenfarg trying to beat my pals
on a z900 and a GSX1100, will I never learn? The same night my race mechanic
blew his 750 Commando up spectacularly trying the same trick, I found him
sitting at the side of the road looking at the smoking hole in the back of the
crankcases (It had just been rebuilt and hadn’t had its torque down of the
barrels resulting in the barrels lifting and catastrophic failure)
The following year I needed a new bike for
the Manx GP so the JPN was reluctantly sold to finance a new Yamaha.
After I’d stopped the racing nonsense I had an opportunity
to buy a JPN replica based on a Mk3 Commando from fellow Norton man Gary
MacKnight (actually we were at the Christmas Norton do and I bought it when I
was drunk) Thats been a good bike and
has only let me down once by blowing a head gasket on the way to a rally, the
cam went eventually so it got a full engine rebuild and its been good since, a
surprisingly useable bike despite the clip ons and rear sets.
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| JPN at the Isle of Man (where else) |
A friend had crashed his 72 Interstate, a genuine low
mileage bike (7k miles from new) The frame had snapped through the main tube (I’ve
re framed a couple of Commando’s before with this problem after accidents) I
had a frame but was reluctant to part with it until John had looked to see if he could get one
elsewhere, he didn’t bother doing anything about it and left it strapped to his
trailer outside for two years while he thought about it, I eventually managed
to buy that one at midnight at a Guzzi rally after much alcohol, that is now a
750 Roadster.
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| 750 Roadster last year en route to Belgium and France, great touring bikes |
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| Out for a Sunday run |
A few years later I bought a Mk3 Commando from a Colleague
and used that extensively as well, I had the foot come off a cam follower and
took the opportunity to do a full engine rebuild as the cam had suffered some
damage also, I also has the primary chain snap on me on a German Autobahn which
resulted in a roadside rebuild (Parts were couriered over by RGM the following
day)
It then took me to the Belgian Begonia
rally and heading home from the ferry at Hull just at Newcastle it spluttered
to a halt, I had the shame of being recovered and stripped the top end just
after I got home to see why it stopped, compression seemed low but in the end
it was a fouled plug, anyway a good reason to clean up the top end and its been
fine since!
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| Roadside repairs in Germany! |
! I have along the way managed to
pick up a 750 fastback and a 750 drum brake roaster which are also giving me much
entertainment, its becoming an obsession.
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| Camping in the rain and a Norton Commando, what could be better! |
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| Fastback being readied for 2019 |
Finally this year I bought a Mk3 through a friend, the same
owner for 40 years and “restored” Stupidly I never looked that closely despite
the price tag being double the previous highest price I’ve paid for a Commando,
this turned out to be a mistake. I’ve spent over £1000 to get it rideable, time
will tell if the engine is ok but Springtime will soon reveal that.
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| After a lot of work and £'s, time will tell if its been a good buy |
In summary, if you buy a Commando, anything can happen,
cam’s go, parts wear out, buying new shiny parts is no longer cheap plus the
quality of some parts is sometimes dubious but when they are going they are a
most rewarding motorcycle to ride, sure they have their foibles but considering
they started rolling off the production line 50 years ago I think they’re
pretty damn good. You will also meet new and interesting people (slightly mad with a tendency to drink too much in my experience) If you have a modicum of mechanical ability they are
relatively easy to maintain and a great bike to learn on (and learn you will) a
handful of special tools and a bag full of AF and whitworth spanners and
sockets will also be required.
Useful mods include electronic ignition, single Mikuni carb
(or maybe the new Amal Premier twin carb set up is worth a go) They run well on
Avon roadrider tyres, don’t run a different size rear wheel, it seems to upset
the steering and they wobble more than normal so keep it 19” front and back or
18” Front and back (ground clearance suffers a little if you get carried away)
I’ve dabbled with belt drives and generally they are good if set up properly
but chains are also ok. Re sleeving the front master cylinder to 13mm is a good
idea and makes the brake significantly better, a cheap regulator rectifier to
replace the zener / rectifier is also worthwhile but wait until your old zener
packs in (+ve earth zeners are almost impossible to get now) The best mod though is ride the thing, its
addictive, I have had Norton free years for various reasons (I also have a
Guzzi and a long term travel fetish) but I’m always glad to get back on one.
Interestingly my £650 in 1977 is worth just under £4000 taking inflation into account, I
think Commando prices have gotten a bit out of hand, are they worth it? I don’t
know, I’d be very reluctant to pay the prices I see asked in some of the
websites, its been my experience that no matter which Commando you buy it will
need money spent on it, how much depends on your luck.
