| Author | Message | ||
     Xb9 |
Another torquey beast! If you love Nortons, you gotta check this out: http://www.nortonamerica.com/ There's also a blurb in this month's Cycle World on this. | ||
| Johnc |
I've alway loved Nortons, I had a 70 Comando 25 years ago. I've looked at Dreer's creations with lust over the past few years but the price has kept me from being an owner. Maybe some day! | ||
| Roc |
I know a Bueller who lives at the bottom of the hill where the video on the Norton site was shot. On sunny weekends it is a sportbike parade. | ||
| Mark_In_Ireland |
I'd buy one over my Buell but the price would have to be a lot lower. A lot of the things he has done with his 880 I had already done with mine over 20 years ago in a wooden shed! | ||
| Rocketman |
And of course Mark, yours is as good today as it was then  Rocket  | ||
| Jmartz |
Sean: I heard this story from a friend which might shed some light on your wheel bearing failure. Rumor has it that Dymag uses an aluminum tube to space the bearings. Since they kept that a secret, you might have tightened the axle nut to 70 ft. lbs. crushing the spacer, resulting in the bearing spin you experienced. A local wheel dealer told me he has heard of numerous bearing failures in Dymags. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"I've looked at Dreer's creations with lust over the past few years but the price has kept me from being an owner. Maybe some day!" I remember saying the same thing years ago about Erik Buell! Alas, without some sort of factory support, Dreer doesn't stand a chance of ever being anything but a boutique bike builder, but what beautiful bikes they are. Maybe someday... | ||
| Rick_A |
The frame looks pretty spindly for a sportbike. ...otherwise I think it's great. | ||
| Xb9 |
The Norton Commando frames had a very large diameter "backbone" that ran under the tank from the steering head. Can't see it real easy unless you have the tank off. They also had an "isolastic" drivetrain mounting system, somewhat similar to Erik's XB9 design. Had to keep it adjusted with shims. As long as the shim clearance was within spec, they handle great (for that era). | ||
| Rocketman |
Jose, the hubs on my Dymags are magnesium. To effect repair Dymag machined the mag hub to accept an aluminium spacer and that's how it is now. I mentioned at the time that I might have run the belt a little tight and I can remember Aaron's witty comment on Badweb back then after he'd seen the failed wheel in Bethune, 'Rocket if you don't think that belt's to tight you're on drugs'. Anyway, Dymag repaired it free of charge and paid for the postage. Apparently the MD was telling me, they'd had this problem in the 80's with a lot of Dymag mag Honda wheels, I forget which Honda's in particular, but they used the alloy insert then too and it apparently worked. Nice people on this side of the pond and a really helpful and 'down to earth company' I found. Rocket | ||
| Jmartz |
Sean: Do you think the failure occurred because you sqeezed the bearings together too much? There is a tube (generally steel) between the bearing that Dymag at times has used made out of aluminum. Such wheels need a gentler nut tightness or else. | ||
| Rocketman |
That's a good observation Jose. I noticed that problem too. I honestly can't say if that caused failure or not but when I took the wheel off I noticed the inner most bearing hadn't been spinning properly. As a side note to all this, Dymag's come with new spacers and bearings installed. Rocket |
