Some old photos

[facthunter]

No Point having shallow water in a desert. The Lake at Mt ISA is 11 metres deep and still evaporates too much to be an effective storage. Nev

[onetrack]

Multiple hundreds of artesian bores are still uncapped. But the Qld Govt has introduced the Great Artesian Basin and Other Regional Aquifers (GABORA) Water Plan 2017, which requires all artesian stock and domestic bores to have watertight delivery systems by 2032.

 

I cannot believe the mindlessness of so many, so-called intelligent rural people, in leaving thousands of artesian bores uncapped, and wasting billions of litres of precious water, annually.

Even more so, I cannot believe that someone hasn't harnessed the massive available heat from the artesian bore water, to produce energy.

[Litespeed]

15 years to plug the bores?

 

What a joke.

[willedoo]

Another scan, my poor old Fastback outside the police station, 1973.

 

Edited 21 hours ago by willedoo

[onetrack]

Yikes, what happened to the Commando, Willie? It looks like it got hit by a truck!

[willedoo]

It hit the curb at around 110mph and went end over end a few times before tumbling and sliding the rest of the way. You can see where the top rear section of the frame is flattened onto the rear wheel. That's where it was airborne at some stage and came straight down on that section, wiping out the seat and rear fibreglass tail section. Both rims are heart shaped from the initial hit on the concrete curb. All I have left of it these days is the number plate.

[willedoo]

This is partially the same bike a year later. I bought it back from the insurance company and rebuilt it into this. It has the original tank, side panels, engine and gearbox, but everything else was replaced.

 

[facthunter]

They've had a slight recovery in Value Lately. Fairly quick in their time. Worked on quite a few of them even up to Lately. The engine rubber Mounting creates Issues but needed to Tame the Vibrations.  Nev

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

The engine rubber Mounting creates Issues but needed to Tame the Vibrations.

I remember when my original one had about 10,000 miles on the clock I was pulling into the yard from the street and the whole bike went pear shaped. The small bracket connecting the frame top tube to the engine had cracked through and the whole integrity of the isolastic suspension system was gone. Without that bracket, the engine/gearbox,swing arm and rear wheel were one unit and the frame, tank and front end another. Only the bottom mounts held the bike together. Just lucky it didn't break speeding into a corner. The Commandos of that era had a few issues straight out of the box. Some bad design, sometimes bad manufacture and/or assembly. The common joke of the time was that if you got one built on a Wednesday it was ok. Get one built early or late in the week and you could have problems.

[willedoo]

The only older Norton I've ever ridden was a 650 SS. With the featherbed frame, it was noticeably better handling than the Commando but at around 60mph had a very uncomfortable vibration that you felt in the seat of the pants. Once you went faster it would go away but the problem was the vibration was right at the speed limit you wanted to cruise at. To avoid it you had to ride slower or go faster and risk a speeding ticket.

[facthunter]

The 750 Kombat was even worse. Big Capacity Vertical twins can Vibrate a Lot .The Norton also have a driveside Mainbearing issue at High Revs. Edge Loading of a Roller Bearing causing Premature Failures. Lightening reciprocating Mass Helps. The Most Powerful Norton Ever had an AMC (AJS) vertical twin engine. Vee Twins can be better Balanced and don't suffer from having BOTH pistons stopped at the same time. You don't feel that, but it affects low RPM smoothness as piston mass contributes to Flywheel effect. Motors in Bikes are balanced to a factor found to be most suitable by test and somewhat dependant on the Frame it is in. Singles and Vertical twins start at around 65 % Factor. That Means you factor the Reciprocating Mass by That Figure and adjust the Flywheels Mass distribution to achieve it. Equally on BOTH flywheels on singles and dynamically on vertical twins. Nev