Pressureangle

on a '72 Norton Commando The dumb part

One day we'll trade stories. Two 21 year old morons leave Detroit for Daytona on a '72 Norton Commando and a '76 BMW R75/6. February 25th.

I was kinda stunned coming into the valley and seeing miles and miles of cranberry ponds, mist hanging in the heat of the morning. Nobody East has visibility on CA agriculture, all we get to see are tent cities in SF and Death Valley. Occasionally adverts for Lake Tahoe vacations.

Da Winnah! Just a simple assembly flip at the factory, I suppose. Oh, do you want original licorice, or the fruity ones?

I am philosophically opposed to re-inventing the wheel. The stock manual-adjust and the weak suck stock spring loaded tensioner are well addressed with this one. I did consider how I could add a spring behind the stocker when this lump proved unfit. But a new one is in the mail.

Good times. Who is 'we'? PM me if you don't want the stigma of racing a Sportster.

Not that *you* ever have to chase anything... except that old drum brake Tonti that keeps showing our age.

Bzzzzzzzzzzt. Nope. No G&P for you either. Here's a clue

The Californian wants the fruity ones. So many jokes, so little time. You get none anyway- if gears were available I'd be installing them, but this tensioner is new. I won't be installing it, either.

..and, today begins the stuff I *really* don't enjoy. But at $50/hr even at the brother-in-law rate, I just can't stand to pay for humble work I can do myself. This thing was... mishandled at best, and stored in a few different garages without love for near a decade.

The mounting plate on the tensioner is upside down. Figures I got the bad one. Paint, easy. The trick is of course to prep the uglies, but then to wipe everything down with acetone and let both the item to be painted and the can of paint soak up the sun for an hour before applying, and rest in the sun an hour or forever afterwards. With the temperature and extra spray pressure, it gives a finer spray and the carrier evaporates much faster, allowing a thicker coat without runs. This is my secret to hiding poor prep. lol

A box of Good & Plentys to whoever can tell me why a picture of a tensioner is here.

...as classic as...

With modern upside-down forks it's much less likely that they'll get misaligned. Back in Flat-track days, with old forks- if you were lucky, 35mm Ceriani- after a getoff, the trees would *always* be misaligned, and bouncing was one way to see clearly if they needed more straightening than a kick at the tire could address.

Well, yes, but implicit in the axle going through both sides easily without the wheel accomplishes this mission. Usually I give the fork bottoms a couple bumps with a rubber mallet to this end. Something particular about the 'Sport front end, same as the V11 I have here, is that the axle nut clamps against a spacer over a spacer, eliminating the usual clamping friction of the nut side from the equation. Academic probably, pedantic certainly. Yet considered.

pn 90404255. In stock at Harper's.

Uh, mine's 600 miles away at the moment but... Front caliper bolts, 'tight' lol Official torque spec for a 8mm coarse bolt is about 20 lbs-ft, but care is warranted since they're going into old aluminum that's had any number of repeated R&R on those bolts. Front axle, first of all put it through the forks without the wheel; it should pass through both sides easily. This will tell you that the length of the forks is equal and avoids any bind in operation. It may also show that your fork trees are not perfectly parallel. The fork tops *should* be equal in the top tree, but if they're a mm different better to have the axle straight. Then install wheel, snug axle nut a little to be sure the head is seated properly, snug pinch bolts, tighten axle nut, tighten pinch bolts.

As it goes back together, I have to review a *lot* of material on here, which didn't always sit in a space in my brain because it wasn't all relevant to my 1100 Sport.

That will certainly be a big surprise, more for me than for the rest of you!

If I had every part in-house I could have it assembled in time, but just can't get away. I got a special surprise for next year, though.

The absence of parts necessary to make 'visible' headway allowed, nay forced, me to attend the critical electrical system. Fuse and relay boxes examined and De-Oxit-ed. New Picker relays. No sign of any hardships anywhere, except the ignition switch which had the *very* expected mung and corrosion inside. DeOxit, brass brush, and dielectric silicone grease brings it back to new. Voltage regulator is wired to bypass the harness, so ok...I guess. With new wiring, anyway. Steering head out for bearing exam and service and removal of the... lovely hand-hewn handlebar mounts. Will need some decorative blings to cover the holes in the top tree. Strangely the steering head bearings are perfect, which leads me to believe they were replaced when the high bars were 'installed'.