Norton'ing...

Just felt like it was high time I put another photo of this old girl up again... she's running pretty good at the moment (touch wood!), apart from a sticking slide in the carb. I've been having a lot of trouble with this bike for the last couple of years that I think is related to it being kept in a shipping container in fairly cold Christchurch winters. Sometimes I open it up and it's literally like a refrigerator in there. I think this is why my cables have been getting shitty and corroded, and also why the slide's been sticking so bad that I have to pull it out and lube it if the bike's been sitting for a week. Anyways we're about to move and I'll have an actual garage... for the first time since I've owned this! So in like 10 years! Can't wait to have a proper work space etc too... and a nice long ride through the country to get to work.

Fare-thee-well Lionel 'Duc' Newbery

Last week one of our contributors passed away. A real gem of a man, Lionel Newbery, or 'Duc' as many people called him, contributed fragments and memories of his ride around the world back in the late '70s to issues #2 and #3 of Head Full of Snakes under the title 'Not Safe'. That's Lionel above on his 1974 Moto Guzzi GT850, the bike he rode from London back to NZ. He still had this bike and it was great to see it again, sitting out the back of his house at his funeral/tangi last Thursday. His kids told me that they plan to do the ol' Guzzi up too, in Lionel's memory.

Last Thursday was amazing and seemed a really fitting send off for someone who was so sort of quietly influential in quite a few peoples lives. Lionel had a large and really loving family, and he was also well known to the locals over in Lyttelton where he lived. It was actually seeing Lionel riding his old red Ducati (below) around Lyttelton back in the very early 2000s that made me get back into motorcycles (having since sold my bike after my cousin died on one). I loved the look and sound of Lionel's Ducati, and he'd often be parked up outside No.6, one of the old cafes that was run by Bruce Russell and his wife Kate back then.

Lionel had shown me photos of his old Ducati GT 750 that he'd bought brand new and raced, but I'd never seen it in the flesh. Turns out his brother had it up in Auckland, and so he rode it back down all the way to Lyttelton for the funeral! I think it bought a tear to many people's eyes when Lionel's son (on the red bike) and his brother (on the GT) started up both bikes to lead a procession of motorcycles over to the Diamond Harbour cemetery. Lionel went in the old Citroen you can just see in front of the motorbikes there.

I thought it would be a slow sombre ride around the bays, but no! These two on the Ducatis took off and this would easily be one of the fastest most hair-raising group rides I've been on. A fitting tribute as everyone agreed, 'that's how Lionel would have ridden'.

The ceremony was beautiful with no involvement from any weird outside participants who didn't know Lionel. The family filled the grave with shovels, everyone got real dirty. There were no speeches, but there were a couple of songs. It was really moving and special.

Here's to you Lionel, and long may the Guzzi run.

Norton Commando Fork Rebuild (And Stuff)

Thought it was about time we had an update on this guy! Above is a photo of my Commando at dad's a couple of months ago after I took it there to clean it up after the HFoS #4 launch ride... which was a total wash-out; rain, dirt-roads, breakdowns, crashes etc. Very eventful, kinda fun, but left the old Norton in a rough state! Anyway while giving it a good 'up-close-and-personal' type clean I noticed heaps of shit needed fixing and replacing – starting with the gators below...

Now these pieces of shit had only been on the bike for about two or maybe three months. I'd had Roger rebuild my forks for me in about late Feb or March I think? He put these gators on and I dunno where they came from, but they obviously are shit.

I was hoping I might get away with just replacing the gators, but there was so much shit had got in them by this stage the seals were buggered and needed replacing.

Dropping the forks out was fairly self-explanatory. I followed my manual a bit and winged it where I could. To dismantle the forks I actually went and bought a cheap belt-spanner (see below). You can see by the marks on the lower fork tube that people have been doing it in the past with vice-grips or whatever but I wanted to try out the belt spanner and it was only $20. Stoked I did too cause it worked really well and was well worth the buying.

I could have just replaced the seals but decided to strip 'em right back and have a good look at everything internally. In the end I just replaced the fibre washers at the bottom of the damper rod and the stanchion seals. The bushes all looked fine.

Putting the new gators on the lower fork legs was proving difficult until I heated them up in front of a heater! That made easy work of it. These gators are from John Miller and they're proper Andover ones, so hopefully the bloody last?

Putting the forks back into the bike proved a little more difficult than pulling them out. I think they were like this before, but the right hand stanchion wouldn't go fully up into the tapered yoke. You can see below the left one does, but the right one is sitting quite a bit too low...

This has been a real headfuck! I tried cleaning out and polishing the hole with ultra-fine sandpaper and it didn't make any difference. I know you're supposed to use the chrome top bolts to pull the legs up into the taper (with the washers and instrument housings on), but that simply wouldn't work. It didn't matter what I did this wouldn't go up into the taper. In the end I showed these photos to both Ray Coleman and Andrew Daly at bikenight and they both said they didn't think I needed to worry about it too much, so I've taken their advice and put them back together and I'm trying to forget about... while shit like this really plays on my mind!? Still I think it has been like this for ages...

So forks back in, exact amount of oil in each, and I have to say they feel better than they ever have. Which is weird cause all I did was replace the seals!? And I didn't notice anything was super wrong when I pulled them apart, but they used to be real clunky/noisy... and now they ain't? So yeah I dunno what I've done really but they're feeling really good. I did drop new springs in after Roger had done them earlier in the year – could I have fucked something up then?

While I was doing this I thought I'd try and fix a bunch of other niggly little things too. One being the piece-of-shit petrol tank I'd gotten from India a while back. I'd finally cleaned it out and had it painted (black and gold) but when I put it on the bike and rode it round it started leaking – seeping through the shitty welding round the taps and mounts. Sooo... I'm about to try putting a liner in this tank (without fucking the paint!?). I've got one of the POR15 kits and I've finally got the bungs I need etc so will be doing that soon.

On the last ride the throttle had been sticking really bad, so I stripped and cleaned the carb and also got a new throttle cable. Also I noticed the oil filter mount was loose and when I tried to tighten it the thread in the mount stripped. I'd actually had these re-threaded recently and so obviously that metal's gone soft so I ordered a new filter mount too...

And the tail-light that I'd gotten from MMCC a while back had also fallen off a while ago. It cracked from the vibration, and I'd just been riding round with no light for that last 6 months or so. Anyway I gave the bits to Jimi and he welded it back together but added these neat little braces on the side. He's done a bloody nice job. I'm lucky to have friends who help me with this sorta shit!

So yeah very close to being back on the road again. Really all I gotta do is get the tank liner sorted. I'll try and post again when that's done, maybe document that process here...

Norton Commando update...

Haven't posted any photos of this for a while cause I was waiting until I was more-or-less happy with it... that and just haven't been in the right kinda mood. I'm sorta getting quite sick of custom motorcycles... for a bit anyway. My Facebook feed and Instagram etc, it's all I ever see, and I'm sick of it. All the bikes look the same now and I dunno but I think I'm just finding it really boring. That said, I'm feeling fairly happy with where my Commando is at... EXCEPT the side covers. I'm gonna strip and repaint them just plain glossy black. I HATE the decals I made for them... as soon as I put them on I realised they look too 'gang-y', and fuck that. I am happy with the tank though, even after a good ribbing from various friends about how I should have got it hand painted, I'm pleased I stuck to my guns and made these decals at school. I won't go into it too much except to say that (like the whole custom bike thing I guess) the hand-painting thing has just started to seem a bit 'twee', a bit 'dinky', and actually too 'crafty' for me. As a graphic designer and NOT an illustrator, I'm more into mechanical reproduction, so this suits me and my schitck I guess. Beyond the decals I'm happy that I've kept the Commando fairly straight. The mods are very 'light', I haven't cut the frame or anything, and all the original bits can be put back on at a moments notice (when I get bored). I like that it looks a bit like it could maybe have come out like this? And it suits my riding better now too, I like to sit a little lower and feel more part of the bike now. That and I just like the way it's looking.. it suits my mood.

I took these photos in the weekend when I was replacing the oil line that runs up to the rockers. Unfortunately the lower banjo bolt had been RTV'd in though and it fell right out as soon as I loosened it, so now I've got the timing cover off for a helicoil or something? Shouldn't be long off the road though and I'm looking forward to riding this to Wellington in March for the Mummies gig there!

Norton Commando Evening Wear

Got my Hi Rider tank and other set of side-covers back off Marty last week. This is the tank I got from India fucking aaaaages ago now, see it when I got it here. And also here it is with Marty last year when he was helping me out with the seat pan. So yeah it's been a long time coming and I was pretty stoked to get a text from Marty last week saying "come get it!"

I've procrastinated for ages over all of this but I'm real fuckin' happy with the plain old gloss black actually. I'd thought about all sorts a shit, even a metal flake, but yeah I dig the gloss black a lot. I'm also happy I didn't chop this bike more. I like the 'mild' customization job I'm doing on this – a light touch! I kinda like that it sorta looks like it coulda' come out like this?

There's still a bit of shit to do. The tank's just sitting on there at the moment. I'm going to make up some decals – not sure what yet – and then when they're on, take it back to Marty for another beautiful thick coat of gloss. I'm going to have to rethink the mounting as I want it to sit higher than normal too...

And yes the white handlebar grips will be going. Maybe onto the Triumph?

New Norton Seat

Here – finally!!! – is the new seat for my Norton. This has been a long time coming. About 5 years ago now I bought another Commando seat off TradeMe with the intention of using the pan the make a slimmer version. Earlier this year I gave that seat pan to Marty Winders (who made the T150 breadbox tank fit my Thruxton) and he cut it down for me, welded new sides on, made up new brackets, and painted it. He did an amazing job and got it sitting just perfectly I reckon. I then shaped the foam using the old original stuff and passed it onto my secret upholsterer. I'd been thinking about using leather for this (still dunno if that's a good idea?) and he had some lying around so I went for it. I spec'd up the diamond pattern for him and within a week I had it back.

I was gonna take this bike to the Smash Palace Bike Show but a couple of things prevented that happening, and in the end I think it's good I didn't cause it's nowhere near 'done'. If you've been following this at all you'll know that this seat is actually supposed to go with the Hi-Rider tank I got out of India last year (which I mentioned here). I've been super busy lately and also Marty went to Philip Island Moto GP so the tank didn't get done in time for the show. I'm not at all worried though, cause I'm keen for it all to get done right. And the seat I can surely say I am fucking happy with! I'm really liking the rear end of the Norton now, especially when you sit on it – I love how low, tight, and skinny it all is, without being/looking overly customized. I had been worried that that long rear loop in the frame should have been cut off, but I'm actually strangely happy with the way it all looks now with the new tail light and seat.

Norton – New Bodywork

I was propelled recently to do some shit to the Norton that I'd been thinking about ever since I bought it over five years ago now. The push I needed was breaking the frame!

It wasn't that bad, just a break at the rear loop. I immediately had the dilemma do I fix it 'as-it-was' OR shorten it??? In the end I have chickened out and am getting the frame fixed (and strengthened) in its original proportions. Two reasons for this – 1. This is an all original bike that still even has it's original number plate, AND 2. I'm kinda on the verge of being a bit sick of custom bikes I think? Every day I open my email or web browser and I'm bombarded with the bloody things! They're starting to all look the same to me, although that said you don't see many Nortons chopped and modified.

Anyway... I took the bike to Marty Winders (of Winders Rod and Restoration). Marty is a top man and had done a very similar frame fix for me when I was looking after Tim's bike (I'm pretty sure these breaks have nothing to do with me or my riding?). Looking at Tim's bike now you'd never know it had been touched. Marty is a magician when it comes to metal and paint! While there I'd mentioned to Marty that bloody rusty Hi-Rider tank I'd got out of India last year, and I thought I'd get him to have a look at that too... and then since he was gonna be doing all that I asked if he wouldn't mind also cutting this old seat pan down and welding some new mounts on it for me.

And here it is all underway. I'm going to also get a new blank rear guard that I can cut short and chuck a smaller tail light on (I've got a light on the way already from Christian Condo at the Modern Motor Cycle Company).

So the plan, at this point, is to have essentially a couple of different 'body kits', but to keep the frame original. The whole thing could then be changed over in a very short amount of time but potentially look really different... which'd be good for my short attention span! I also have a cafe racer kit on the go for it (I have rear-sets, but would wanna make a seat and get clip-ons for that... and also probably another tank, maybe an Interstate?).