Feedback
FEEDBACK
MORE HODAKABILITY
I think Hodakas are great bikes. I’ve had a 90 for about six years and I haven’t had any major breakdowns until last summer. The coil apparently cooked and I sheared a couple of gears in the transmission, but after all those years of very hard use what can I expect? I am planning on buying a 100B or a 125 Hodaka. I hope they keep up the good work! Charlie West Cascadia, Ore.
COMMANDO: ANOTHER VIEW
I own a ’70 Norton Commando. At the present I have 39,000 on the machine with very little trouble. I have done one top end: pistons, rings, valves and valve guides at 25,000. The bike still pulls like a bull. I have ridden it down the Alaskan Highway, through Western Canada and the USA, Mexico and Central America. I have ridden it over many different types of climate and roads: rain, fog, salty air, hot
deserts, muddy jungle roads, gravel roads, superhighways and country roads. The bike has never once left me stranded. I have laid it down quite a few times, luckily just breaking the footpegs. I have used regular gas, which is all you can buy in Costa Rica and Central America, and 90 octane gas in Mexico. The bike ran fine.
The engine has a very flat power band and will lug at low rpms. I don’t have to gear down to raise the rpm to get power out of the engine. I find this feature very important when you are negotiating a bumpy gravel road where you cannot go fast. If you do, you wreck.
The bike is the lightest superbike at 420 lb. And if you do get stranded it is a lot easier to pick up and put in a car or truck. The light weight also makes for superior handling.
The bike has no chain problems. I am in the latter stages of my second chain. I have seen and talked to many Honda Four owners. The Fours eat chains. The chain on the Norton does not have to be disconnected to take the rear wheel off when you get a flat or put on a new tire.
I find the suspension is excellent and the ride very smooth due to the engine and gearbox being rubber mounted. I don’t think it is as smooth as a BMW or Honda Four. The rubber mounting does require some attention about every 10,000 to 15,000 miles, depending on> how you ride the bike, but it is not critical. The average mechanic should be able to tighten the mounts in two hours at the most. It is a very easy and inexpensive task.
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As far as the maintenance aspect goes it is simple. I can pull my heap in an hour. You only have two pistons, four valves and four push-rods. Since the engine is not overhead cam it does not require the cam to be removed when pulling the head off. For you Norton owners who are burning a lot of oil it is probably being sucked down the intake valve guides because they are straight up over the combustion chambers. You can solve this problem by having a new set of special sealed type guides installed. The ’72s and late ’71s should have the new special guides in them.
I don’t like the ’70 Commando’s side stand and center stand. Both are lousy. I have no center stand because it scraped on the pavement when cornering hard in a tight curve, causing me to have an accident.
The flanges which hold the exhaust pipes into the head do occasionally work loose. I find that tightening them when they are hot is better than when they are cold. I use a chain ratchet instead of a pipe wrench or hammer and breaker bar. This way I am less likely to chip the flange.
The brakes are OK but they could be better. In really wet weather my front brake gets a little wet and has very little stopping power.
In my opinion the Norton is the best all-around bike on the market. The bike is fast, smooth, dependable, lightweight, fantastic handler, simple in design and simple to work on. You put that altogether and you have a bike that is excellent to tour, road race, drag race or just plain ride.
Bucky Novak Sacramento, Calif.
HONDA CB 450 K4
Last April I decided to purchase a new Honda CB-450 K4 to use for touring. The dependability of the bike has certainly been proven beyond a doubt over the last few years. The performance of the bike itself was enough to hasten my choice.
As it turned out, I went on tour, leaving the end of June. I found the power of the machine to be really more than adequate, and the road handling properties left little more to be desired.
Accumulating almost 12,000 miles before I reached Billings, Mont., the warantee had long since run out. Up to this point I had encountered few difficulties except for a few new parts like a (Continued on page 28) new chain and rear tire and, of course, necessary maintanence.
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By this time I was satisfied that the dependability of the bike was indeed living up to its reputation as I could readily compare my bike with the vast variety of other machines that were also on the road on tour.
Ten miles outside of Billings, while cruising at a comfortable 65, I thought I heard a strange knocking coming from either the heads or the crankcase. The bike was due for a tune-up, so I placed my trust in the hands of the Billings Honda Shop here, just hoping that the “funny” sound was only my imagination.
After the bike was tuned, the knocking sound was very evident. Due to the weird sounds the engine was definitely making, it would be impossible to tell exactly what was wrong until the engine was actually torn down.
Wasting little time, I decided to have whatever was wrong repaired as soon as possible. Sure enough the problem was indeed serious, and with a guy like me on tour, coins are always of major concern; yet the bike is of prime importance.
I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw what the problem was, and immediately began to count my pennies. Where the front bearings ride on the crankshaft, an otherwise smooth, 360-degree surface was almost half gone! What was amazing was that the bearings seemed to be in perfectly good condition after making countless revolutions over this rough surface!
Seeing how the bearings and crankshaft and rods are a one-piece unit, a new one would have to be ordered. With the engine pulled apart there seemed to be no reason not to go on ahead and grind the valves as well as put in new rings. As far as money was concerned, parts alone could easily run over $150, not even to mention labor!
Jon, the mechanic who was working on my bike, was really impressed with the exceptional condition the engine was in, except for the crankshaft, of course. There was little doubt the crankshaft was defective and the visible evidence indicated that the engine was by no means run under extreme conditions.
The people at the Honda shop got on the phone and contacted the Honda representative in Billings, Bruce Peterson. Peterson was concerned enough to come out and look at the bike the very same day.
Here I was, up the proverbial creek, and parts nowhere in sight. I couldn’t believe it when I heard Honda had decided to go ahead and make the crankshaft good—and labor as well! They would also go the route and put in new rings and cover the labor too! All I would have to pay for would be the valve job. Not only was all this to be done for me, but the parts were going to be found even if all the shops on the West Coast had to be checked out.
The job was an extensive and painstaking one, but almost two weeks later the parts were finally located and forwarded, and the bike was put back together in less than two days! Jon actually stayed two hours after closing to finish up the job and help get me back underway.
The Honda people here have really squared me around. With the bike in the shop for over two weeks, I was out of transportation. This was quickly remedied as I was loaned a Honda 90 to get me around while waiting.
Like all other bikers, I, too, have encountered unfortunate situations and hassels in the shops, be it Honda or any other. What makes the difference is the people and how they treat you. And as a result they, in turn, are representatives of the company they work for. If the people are honest and considerate, you can’t help but think of the product they represent as one and the same.
Warren Brown Billings, Mont.
