Rotary Owners' Club

pics 084.jpg Over here on the frontier of the Pacific NW, travel miles can be high. 6500 round trip East coast, 3500 California from Spokane Washington. The SilKolene elixir that my Commander demands is not available on the road unless pre organised. To over come this problem I have put my tin-Smit...

DerekIntersting but my findings were opposite to yours.The BT45 Bridgestone got better the lower the pressure, it did not shake at all at 20 psi but of course otherwise handled like a herd of cattle. Not sure if shake cure was due to greater foot print or more flex in the wall. All radials have more...

I take it that the spacer ring is supposed to be there and situated next in from the circlip?I understand that generally, diaphragm springs need to operate in the flat zone. This is usually achieved by clutch plate stack height adjustment, adding or subtracting plates.In our case it seems the spacer...

CURED ITThis dragging clutch was driving me nuts. Pulled out the plates, all seemed in perfect order. With nothing better to do, I removed the glaze on the bronze plates by hand with light touch emery on block backing.The steel plates I carefully touched up on my belt sander.Reaasembled, perfectly f...

Thanks fellersLooks like clutch drag can be a on going issue on some bikes but not others. Mine is unmanagable with 10/30 oil, only border line acceptable when hot on ATF, has to be started in gear when cold. Slave piston lift is .095" (2.41mm) which is a bit lower than Richards 2.57mmWhat is a...

Thanks Richard for filing this one, good idea.To interested parties this is the situation as advised Richard. Master cyl is the correct Yamaha 5/8 item. Ajustment at the slave cylinder is a bit tighter than I prefer, no significant play. I extended the push rod slightly from M/C lever to piston to a...

CURED ITI fitted a Michelin 110/80 Road Pilot 2 on the front. Pressure 32psi. Within a few feet the bike felt pleasantly different.Wanging round the lanes I found handling was better than ever, light and 100% neutral. Took it up to 6500 in top going up my test hill. Coming down, I let it coast with ...

RichardPete Davies, one of the nutters on your Commando, and I were giving a talk recently to a large Laverda owners meeting. Pete was asked how he went so fast. He replied that he had a zip installed in his head which allowed him to swap brain for a pork chop.DerekThe Laverdas we raced did have rig...

DerekAll the Egli framed bikes worked very well at any speed. He was adamant that good handling required that both wheels were very firmly connected and in perfect alignment with inflexible means. The standard Vincent had nice rigid front and rear ends but were connected together by just a couple of...

BobMost instructive, thanks for your wisdom.I have tried more pre load on the head bearings a few weeks back, it raised the commencement speed by 5mph but as pre load was too high it was only a experiment. 20 psi in front cured it but bike handled like a heard of cows. The West midland police fellow...

BobThere is no legal requirement over here, just recommendations not to mix from the tyre (TIRE manufactures. Some Triumphs come new with Bias rear, radial front.Harley have some bikes with Radial rear bias front.What was your experience with radial front and rear?? I will certainly try a radial fro...

BobMost interesting experiences. Particularly your findings of a Radial on the front stopping the problem, I may try that. I have used the Bridgestone B45 pairs for years on all sorts of older bikes not designed for radials. Always found them very good, they often will cure a head shaking bike of th...

I have a steering damper assembly off a BMW R90S, It might fit the Commander. Keep you posted.Roger

I hace found basically the same results as Richard. I was once involved with testing at MIRA with Tony Mills and the two Dunlop test riders. We were testing half a dozen popular bikes of the mid seventies including BMW, Kawasaki, Honda and Laverda. We were not exploring low speed shakes but high spe...

PSMy ex West Midlands officer pal has just clarified that they were using only air cooled models that did not have the bar shakes. They have no experiance of the Commander. He is doing research as to why changing from Timkin taper had bearing on the Hondas to ball and cone type cured the problem, as...

Thanks fellarsGood points Ian re checking the small stuff, done every one of em.Derek's experiance of ALL FIVE of his Commanders having the head shakes seems to be very conclusive. It would be intersting to try the bike with the front and/or rear Tupperware removed. As best as I can measure on the f...

My Commander is suffering head shakes from 40 to 50 mph unless hands are on the bars. I habitually use both hands to make adjustments to jacket vents, none of my other bikes have this vice. Useing BT45 tyres at reccomended pressure and sizes. Used these tyres for years, always found them to be first...

Hello GrahamHere a couple of photos. Yes I suspected overcharging so checked, it is spot on. The one photo shows acid still running down the side from the terminal after three weeks sat on the shelf. The other one only leaks when on a trickle charger or the bike. It comes out of the joint where the ...

Bought a pair of YB14L-A2 batteries for my recently resurected Commander off some outfit called BATTERY GEEK. These crooks list these units on thier profesinal looking web site as GEL type unspilable. 62 miles into first ride acid piddling out of both batteries. It seems they are standard lead acid ...

As long as it reads fast & you know it does whats the problem. You have a 10% built in safety margin to keep within speed limits.In my experience all speedos read 10 to 15 % fast possibly to compensate for tyre wear/friction in the drive & for the manufacturers to avoid being sued by disgru...

I know I am way late on this thread but I can ad some recent info on clutch drag.My Commander is new over from Holland/UK, came all in bits. Just had first maiden voyage.Clutch drag is a nightmare, spoils a fine ride. It does have the hydraulic operating conversion, all in perfect order, no air in s...

Thanks fellersOut here on the frontier many freeways, (motorways to y,all), have marked speedo check sections. We have a six mile test section near here. On last weekends trip to Mt Baker up in the NW corner of this state, (Washington) I checked the speedo and the GPS on this section. 60mph and a se...

My Commander speedo is 10% fast, per GPS, Sat Nav I think you blokes call it.Any one have a fix for this? is there any calibration screw on the unit? If so where?Mile recorder for trip and total is not far out, it is just a speed issue. Thanks Roger in the lovely Pacific NW.

Yes, the same old bugger out here on the frontier. Is the plod bike ready? R

RichardAs you are painfully aware I am a absolute beginner with things rotary, I am embarrassed with all my dumb questions to you that you never fail to answer with great patience. Nice to realize that this senile geriatric still has some marbles re oil tank vacuum being a no no.Cured some of the pl...

RichardMy Commander has oily plugs all the time, most interesting mod, I will have a go at it. Main problem will be where to mount the tank as I have two batteries. Just a thought on plumbing it into main oil tank. Would the resultant vacuum in the tank slow or stop the oil feed to the motor??Roger

rjg30091982 wrote:There is one on ebay at the moment, not moly'd 50k on the clock but very tidy in german on german plates.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fine-Norton-Comma ... 43678eRuss

Thanks Russ, I am aware of that one, have more pictures of itRoger

Commander Wanted. Top price for a pristine low miles example.Roger