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Cheers Richard, I've had the rims and spokes on order for a while. They should be here any time come to think of it.
Doing the disc and calliper conversion will allow me to put the rim on the centreline between the forks, as I have gained clearance from the spokes. The standard Norton disc wheel is built about 5mm off centre, so the spokes can clear the calliper, believe it or not...The wheels don't follow one another!!
I was going to PM you at some point to ask you about your Nickel plating kit.
Darren, even the people that sell Norton parts say that the original brake (or at least the calliper) is now regarded as obsolete. A lot of folks go for Lockheed or Grimeca conversions, but they are still rather weighty and a little dated. The convertor brackets are large and clumsy looking too, and then there are complications with the lower mudguard stay, which I think I will get away with on mine. Not to mention being able to get the wheel central.
To brake hard properly... First step, compress the forks with moderate lever pressure. When the fork pressure balances tyre pressure, the contact patch will increase in size with increasing moderate lever pressure. Once the contact patch is fully extended, lever pressure can be increased further until the rear wheel lifts. The rear wheel should remain rotating (so no back brake) to take advantage of the gyroscopic stability this affords. There should be no wheel locking or skidding if done properly and the ABS will not be activated. This will work in the wet too if the lever pressure is sensitively built up.
The limit to how much power can go into the front brake ultimately is governed by the fact that the rear wheel will go over the front and dump the rider in front of the bike.
It's not hard to perform a "stoppie" as detailed above, with only the right hand on the bars, by gripping the tank with the knees. Only two fingers are used on the lever at any time. (great fun practicing this on the runway at Coltishal under professional supervision.)
Actually not expecting the Commando to do stoppies, but as short an arrest as possible would be nice.
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