July 2010
Last weekend was the 38th CVMG Paris National Rally, Paris Ontario that is.
I brought down my 750 Commando and my MZ TS 150, I had hoped on selling the bike or at least generating some interest – alas the gods conspired against me and it wasn’t to be. The kind gentleman that helped me unload the MZ summed it up “If you can get it running I might buy it.”
I had brought the MZ bike down to Brantford on Friday night and took the trailer back to Toronto to load up the Norton. It’s not a long drive to Brantford from Toronto, and only 15 min from Brantford to Paris. So why, do you ask, am I hauling my Norton Commando? Simple answer is a family doesn’t fit on a bike – unless you’re in the 3rd world.
I arrive Saturday morning to discover that the key position labeled OFF is actually taillight, OFF is a click over – dead battery. No problem I think, this is a kick start – pull the plug – give it a kick and …. nope – nothing. It’s a 6v battery, didn’t have a spare or charger.
The bike was difficult to start in the fall – but runs fine when it does.
Back home I charged the battery and worked my leg until it was flooded. I decided that it shouldn’t flood after 3 kicks and pulled the carb off. Discovered that one side of the float was cracked and contained gas. I drained the float and let it sit in the sun for a few days to gas off – then soldered it up. There are some small stress fractures on both sides of the float, I tinned the leak and one of the bigger cracks on the other side. Tested it in a bowl of hot water, no bubbles
Got it running last night, now I just need to fettle the carb to make it a less grumpy starter – could be old gas.
ps – if you are wondering about the title of the post, a float in German, is a swimmer – I rather like the image of the float swimming in gas.
update: after posting this I went out to start the bike – started on third kick :-). I think the cases were just bogged down from too much kicking!
great bike, i had the same one in the late 90s. mine was the red one. a great looking bike! i raced mine at the world famous searspoint raceway in sonoma ca, in the vintage class and won many races in my class, keep it and race it, its a blast!