Today I’ve also replaced the handlebars. Not that it was broken or anything, but simply because my Norton Commando MKII is an European model but it was fitted with the US Interstate model handlebars. It just didn’t seem right and appeared quite “big” on my Norton.
Replacing the handlebars only took half an hour and not only does it look a lot better now, when I took it out for a ride I noticed that the smaller, UK Roadster handlebars makes the Norton a lot easier to handle on the road, as if she’s a lot “lighter” all at sudden. Photos are still to come, I guess not only the Norton’s battery was empty, those of my camera as well!
I also noticed, when I got back, that oil starts leaking around the RPM cable, where it is connected to the block. I wish I had more spare time, I start to enjoy working on it and it seems that I’m not done yet.

I admit, I was feeling stupid, but I just had to ask someone; Sure, I can get the Norton going, but lately, I had to kick 50, 60 or even more times before the engine would run. That can’t be right… Or something doesn’t work right or I’m doing something wrong. I’ve asked the question in the forum of the french Norton Owners Club who all agreed that it can’t be normal; a Norton should run after just some kicks.
Indeed, I remember that I used my cousin’s Yamaha XS650 in the past and impossible to get it going with a weak battery.
So today I replaced the battery and sparkplugs, a short push on the floaters of both of the Amal carburators untill gas flows over and yes! Two kicks and it runs! (I could have thought about that myself, but as the battery was new only from last summer, I didn’t even think about that)
But, what also could help, I was opening the starter (towards me) thinking that it would help starting the cold engine, but as it appears, the starter shouldn’t be opened but closed… Anyway, a new battery, new sparkplugs couldn’t hurt.

Strange as it may sound, the engine won’t run good with a dirty fueltank fillercap. Or rather, with a plugged breathing hole in the fillercap. That I already found out; after some minutes, a vacuum is created in the fueltank with as side-effect that the fuel won’t flow down anymore. And the engine stalls.
This is easy to spot; when you open the fueltank and you hear a “Ssslllluppp” sound (because the vacuum is broken when the fueltank gets opened) it is very likely that the breatherhole is plugged. So, I started cleaning, opened the hole, made it shine and… No difference!
So, back to Machines et Moteurs to buy a new fillercap. There they asked me if I already tried cleaning the small breather hole, pointing it out on a brandnew (thus clean and well visible) fillercap. I felt so stupid… Of course not, I cleaned the hole in the centre of the fillercap, I didn’t even see the tiny hole that was about 1cm off from the centre…

Back home, looked again (very) closely with a flashlight at the fillercap. Yes, indeed, barely visible on my Norton’s fillercap but there it was!

Breather hole marked in the red circle

I guess time did a pretty good job because I had some difficulties cleaning the breather hole out. While carefully covering and protecting the opening of the fueltank to prevent stuff falling into it, I managed with a tiny cross-screwdriver (and some patience) to clean it out. No more need to open the fueltank while riding every 2 minutes and no more “Ssslluuppp” sounds.
The Norton rides a lot more comfortable at sudden.