Commander and Krauser version

[MikeBristol]

Hello All, I'm wanting to know what's involved in turning a normal Commander into the Krauser version. I believe the seat and all panels behind are different, but how about the front sections, tank cover, side panels etc? Just how many parts, brackets, fixings etc are different? I've been looking for some better panels for my ex-police Commander, and there are some from a Krauser model on Ebay at present (though incomplete). Thanks for any information about the conversion, Mike

[Clive603]

Pretty sure its just the rear fairing unit that is different plus some extra metalwork to stabilise the panniers. Not sure about the handle for lifting onto the centre stand as I specified crash-bars for my Krauser Commander.

I think one of thee three seats I have is off the ordinary, non Krauser version, but they all fit mine. I re-padded that one to try and get the seat height a little lower whilst still retaining a bum friendly shape.

Or you could just do what I did with my first Commander and adapt the basic rear enclosure with longer side skirts and a bulge round the suspension units. Comes out a good 3 inches narrower than the official one. I set the hockey stick mounts a little further back and a little higher up so the indicator overlaps the rear bodywork and the mounts could bolt directly, or maybe with small spacers, to the bodywork. I managed to find a little more room to get the suspension adjuster on too. Mine was a rush job over the weekend. Late finish Friday and had to go to work on Monday so the finish was "less than good". Richard Negus was seriously unimpressed by the finish when he saw it about a month (I think) after I did it. Don't know if Norton were already thinking about a Krauser version then but, according to Richards tape measure, the indicators were too close together!

Was aways going to re-work it properly but never got round to it. Hey it worked for 60,000 miles. Besides I have a reputation for never properly getting round to the cosmetics to look after!

Clive

[MikeBristol]

Many thanks for this information, Mike

[tim harrison]

Hi Mike
I swapped over the krausers from one bike to another which made it straightforward. The seat on the earlier bike is slightly narrower and will therefore fit. All of the bracketry is different and but the side panels and tank cover do not need any modification. if you have the rear enclosure the rest should be obtainable or relatively easy to make. the lifting handle or crash bars can be used with the Krauser set up but you will need to decide whether to saw off the bracket on the crash bars that support the earlier boxes.
Tim

[MikeBristol]

Thanks Tim - since I missed out on the parts I was watching on Ebay I can't make any progress on this at the moment (in fact I really started just wanting some fairing parts, rather than the Krauser conversion - that was just a diversion!), Mike