Silver Dream Machine by Mike Ryan

Mike Ryan has some very definite ideas about how a machine should go and look. Read his thoughts.

What is it about café racers? Why mess about slinging something together with bits and pieces which obviously do not belong together, when you can buy a bike that is all as it should be and probably a whole lot more reliable to boot! Let’s face it; there are some cracking bikes available today, be it classic, modern or retro.
Well let me tell you why. Being an individual is where it’s at! And that’s what the café racer is all about, having a bike that is unique and stands out in a crowd.
This is what I wanted – I was very tempted to go and buy a Triton or the like, but the majority just seemed to lack something. Don’t get me wrong, I admire them and love their heritage, but in the end not for me and the decision was made to build my own interpretation of the evergreen café racer. I wanted something different, but not radical. It had to have trick engineering, but nothing too obvious and it had to have its own identity but nothing over the top. Decisions had to be made.
The choice of bike was simple, the Norton Commando. Two very good reasons for this were;
a) I know the Commando inside out and
b) I can ride a Commando all day long without the dreaded pins and needles. I had to be a bit careful though with time periods. The Commando was around in the ’60s, ’70s and the ’80s and I did not want to confuse any of these periods with the wrong styling or fitments.
I purchased (on my doorstep from a friend of a friend!) a 1972 750 Interstate that had been stripped for a rebuild in 1977. It got as far as the frame being painted, boxed up and that was that!
My first thoughts were of a ‘no paint’ bike, everything plated and polished. Great, until I saw one... it looked far too tarty.
I decided that, even with lots of forethought and planning, this bike would have to naturally evolve during the build up and there was no better place to start than the bodywork. I spent a long time deciding on the shape and coming up with drawings. My own brief was that I wanted a bike that almost looked as though it was a factory built production model. Therefore, the shape of the tank (which was to be the starting point) had to flow into the frame correctly, follow the frame tubes from the head stock and at the rear on the knee indents, then had to be a correct match into the seat and side panels. I wanted traditional, with a hint at modern – the shape of the tank on my drawings can only be described as a cross between a Manx Norton and Gus Kuhn.
Living in Cheltenham, I dragged the rolling chassis over to Peter Keyte at Custom Tanks and Designs in Pershore (01386 554136). There, with my drawings, I told Peter what I wanted and left it with him. A month later I was summoned. Half my tank was formed and the profile of the seat was in place. This was to be like having a tailored suit made – I must have visited Peter at least 10 times for various progress inspections to get everything just right. This guy is a genius when it comes to bashing a piece of alloy into a beautiful shape and I am very envious of his talents. It’s a crying shame that he cannot find a youngster to pass these skills on to. In Peter’s words: “If it’s not computerised, they don’t want to know!”
Decision, decisions is what this project was all about! Did I want a small or a large Monza flip cap and did I want it in the middle of the tank or at the side with a bulge? Perhaps sir would like an aero filler (which is a prime example of confusing time periods). And the whole project ever since has revolved around decisions and more decisions... Arghhh!
So, after a short while in Peter’s charge, it was hacksaw to frame time. This involved removing the rear hoop and the front coil and tank mounts so that a slimmer profile of the front of the tank could be obtained. The rear hoop was modified and welded back on to support the single seat. Lugs had to be welded to the front of the frame to accept two rubber cups for the tank to slide onto.
Eventually it was finished and boy was I pleased. The only niggle was with the side panels that Peter had made, which were problematic from the start. There was nothing wrong with them, but as we had adopted the ‘female shape,’ as a design base, when viewed from above, they seemed to make the bike too portly in this area so I decided to use roadster side panels. Anyway, next decision, polish or paint the tank? I love polished tanks but, as I said earlier, I was striving for a factory look and so paint won the day and this was carried out by Dennis Motorcycle Resprays in Cirencester (01285 658645), who does a top job for little money, my kind of man. The frame was sent off to Toombs and Bliss stove enamellers in Cheltenham along with the swing arm, engine cradle, battery tray and oil tank.
While all this was going on it was time to think about other fittings. This is where a good friend of mine, Mark Baker, came in as he has access to all the up to date machinery to turn lumps of metal into lovely bike bits. First on the list was the primary cover that was vented as it was going to have a belt drive. Next on the wish list was some billet yokes and boy did these turn out good. A lot of specials are let down in the use of bolt on bits, headlamp brackets being a good example. After rejecting three sets of clamp-ons, Mark was at it again machining up some super brackets that perfectly match the radius of the clip-on mounts and the bottom yoke – poor bloke, do I give him grief or what! Talking about the clip-ons, I ‘bought them in’ – they’re really nice apart from the actual bars that were hollow with black plastic plugs in either end. Ring... Ring... “Hello Mark, could you just...” And then there are all the other trick machined bits such as the rear sets etc. Thanks again Mark, you are a gent.
It was time to think about getting the bike rolling so that the visual aspect could be checked to see if I was on the right track. Wheels and tyres were needed (yes, another decision!... I won’t mention decisions again... honest!). When it comes to Nortons, in my opinion the top man is Norman White, ex JPS Development engineer for Norton, I have never had reason to doubt his advice unlike some other so called Norton experts. So, on Norman’s recommendation, I have gone down from 19” to 18” flangeless alloy rims with modern sticky tyres, namely a Bridgestone 120/80 x 18 on the rear and a 100/90 x 18 on the front. Needless to say the hubs were polished and the spokes are stainless.
The frame was collected with the other related parts. Stove enamelling is definitely worth the extra cost as the finish is so much nicer than powder coating, but the downside is you have to handle it with more care than powder coating as it can chip. It was time for a loose build to see what the bike would look like. The swing arm was mounted to the engine cradle and assembled with the isolastics into the frame using a special jig I have for when the engine is not in place. This brings me on to a good tip. If you remove the engine from a Commando with the bike on the centre stand, be very careful – as soon as the engine is removed the engine cradle, stand and the rest of it swings forward – all of a sudden you will be holding the engine as well as the rest of the bike!