Going Commando

GOING COMMANDO

Partner in crime

IS THERE EVEN SUCH A thing as a stock Norton Commando? Maybe in a museum, but out on the road these most useable of classic British Twins are far from 100-point concours queens. Most have been owner-modified for performance, reliability and looks.

Dave Howe’s 1973 Commando Roadster is guilty on all three counts.

“The only untouched part you can see is the clutch lever,” says the 62-yearold marketing coordinator for aftermarket firm Biker’s Choice in Fort Worth, Texas. “Otherwise it’s got most of the mods and upgrades known to Nortondom.”

Howe’s deviation from stock started in 1975, soon after he purchased the bike used. “I didn’t really intend to get this carried away,” he claims, “but then I installed the Dunstall Decibel silencers and one thing just led to another!”

Ma Nature and Joe Lucas, a.k.a. The Prince

of Darkness, also had a hand in reshaping the bike. “It’s been through two floods and an electrical meltdown,” says Howe, which explains the repaint in 1984, and the engine rebuild in ’88. The latter was an extensive affair.

“Everything that moves was replaced by NOS, modified NOS, Norvil race shop parts or aftermarket performance items. It was built by Norton race engine expert Ralph Del mar and is the sweetest Britbike motor I’ve ever seen,” says Howe, who knows whereof he speaks, having gunned a vintage 500 Triumph across the Bonneville Salt Flats at 119 mph.

Apparently, he’s not much slower on the street. Dave and his Commando have been banned for life from leading group rides by his local club, the North Texas Norton Owners Association. “We may have broken a few laws,” he admits. Thankfully, the bike stayed still long enough to cop Best Modified honors at two national Norton rallies.

Once a daily rider, the Roadster is now in “semiretirement,” but still serving a useful purpose in its 20th year of Howe’s stewardship.

“The bike has been great fun through all the years and all the different iterations,” he says. “But the most fun may be sitting by the hour, cold beverage in hand, just

admiring at the beauty of the Norton, a motorcycle originally designed and built by men who really cared about what they were creating-machines greater than the sum of their elements and at least equal to their legend and mythology.”

And, no, it’s not for sale. Take it from somebody who’s already asked...

—David Edwards