Last weekend I had parked the Norton on the side walk and I continued my ride like 15 minutes later. Not even 30 meters further, I got surprised by a loud "KLANG !". The engine continued to run normally and I didn’t notice anything strange. I even started to wonder if it came from the Norton or perhaps a (small) stone hit the inside of the mudguard. A bit more careful I continued my ride and a couple of kilometers further again "klang .. klang .. klang". Softer than the first one but it confirmed unfortunately that it came from the Norton.
Though it is always difficult to explain a strange noise or even to explain where it came from, I asked Constant if he may have any ideas. It could be the primary chain being too lose hitting the inside of the primary chain cover or even a small plate of metal that follows the camshaft that came lose.

Today I checked first the primary chain.

Primary chain inspection hole

Primary chain

The tension of the primary chain seemed about correct (measured at several points by rotating the engine). And luckily, because the nuts that hold the gearbox in place were stuck tight.

Difficult to access with the oil tubes and once accessed .. it appeared stuck tight

So I asked the neighbor for some help, who is pretty good with mechanics. He asked me what I was doing so I explained him about the "KLANG !" and wanting to tighten the primary chain. He checked too but told me it was pretty much alright and not to tighten it. Instead however, he looked at the rear (secondary) chain. It was way too lose and worse, could hit the middle stand. D’oh .. !
I should have thought about that.. After tightening and greasing the secondary chain, a small test ride and behold, no more strange and scary sounds.

Indeed, I guess that indeed I noticed the battery moving last weekend while revving the engine.

Broken battery strap

Oh well, this isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last; after a while the rubber starts to dry and it is easily subject to tearing. Since a couple of years I’m using gel batteries rather than acid batteries so not much harm done anyway. But for sure, with acid batteries, it is probably a good idea to keep them steady at their place.

Yep, definitely broken

The new strap had an open end so I had to slam a staple through it to attach the far end.

New battery strap attached

Fixed! That won’t move anymore. For now.

After that I went for a short ride, to Puteaux and back, enjoying the good weather and greeting fellow bikers on the road.

Norton Commando 20-05-2018