THE WAY TO GO COMMANDO

My Norton may have left the Andover factory over 40-years ago, but it was a new bike in all important respects. With that in mind, I had followed the ‘break-in’ recommendations and decided to carry out the 500-mile first service. This began with the manual neatly summing up the real classic rider’s lot in life: ‘...the owner must pay for all replacement materials but labour and time are free’. Seriously though, the service checklist is comprehensive and well worth going through to see how the engine, transmission and running gear had fared over the first 500 miles or so.

The service included oil changes, flushing the oil tank and checking fastener tightness including re-torqueing the cylinder head and barrel base nuts. Checks on the electrics, valve clearances, timing, Isolastic clearances (ugh), wheels and brakes gave a good picture of how well the bike was holding together. I even cleaned the carburettors, again, having flushed quite a bit of crud out of the tank. Just to be sure, I put a filter in the fuel line.

The exhaust valve clearances and rear Isolastic mount needed adjustment, as did the rear chain, but there was nothing that was seriously out of whack. Nonetheless I went through my now well-practised setup of the carburettors before turning to the perhaps deservingly, much maligned electric start.

What it says on the tin

Or on fibreglass in the case of the left side panel: ‘850 Commando Electric Start’. Bearing in mind that Cadillac introduced electric starters to their cars over 60 years earlier, motorcycle versions outside Japan were in their infancy.

Richard Negus describes Norton’s first attempt at an electric start in RC148. He tells of serious difficulties in designing a reliable starter system for an aging, large