From: Ben Zimmerman
[mailto:xxxxx@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 11:28 PM
To:
Subject: RE: norton
Steve I just picked up your vm and I assume it is to late
to call. I am off on a weeks vacation tomorrow but will be in cell
coverage sunday and I will give you a call.
From:
To: xxxxx@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: norton
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:11:12 -0400
Ben:
I’ve
purchased six bikes on e-Bay over the past 5 years ranging from a 2005 Ducati
Multistrada through my recent ’57 Triumph. Your Norton bears the
distinction of being my first experience with misrepresentation. I
understand that it’s a forty year old bike and if you took the time to visit
the loudbike blog, you’d know that I’m comfortable with vintage machines.
I have what I would call a reasonable set of expectations for a bike of this
vintage that has been referred to as a “daily rider” – one that “I would ride
anywhere”. And one that is represented as being very “together”. I’ve
bought and sold bikes that would fall into that category and yours doesn’t even
come close to the picture you painted in your listing.
To
paraphrase from your listing – with my comments:
Here is a rare
Norton Commando 750. It is the last year of the 750. This bike came
from the factory with many 850 upgrades. It has the RH 6 head with 32mm
intake ports etc. 850 style tailight and gauge buckets and all the
refinements. This is not a COMBAT model. I have been saving this
bike for many years because it was low mileage and all original. It was
stored properly and I got it running last year. It has been my daily
rider and start and runs excellent. I put thousands into this bike
all parts that are new have less than 300 miles on them. This was a very
unmolested bike it has the orignial smiths speedo drive and when I went into
the primary to clean the cluth I was the first one in because there were no
wrench marks or anything same with the valves. It does not even drip oil from
the primary. It has both stands center and side. It is fast and
runs excellent, shifts smooth etc. The bike has under 7k original miles
and has a clear title. I think it even has an original mirror. It
starts on 1/2 a kick and has No smoke or issues. I would ride
it anywhere. I wouldn’t. I went around the block twice and then
had to lube the throttle cables ‘cause the throttle was so stiff. Then I
gave it a quick once-over, adjusted the chain, added almost a liter of oil,
rode it for 5 miles and parked it on the lift – where it’s been since.
This is a
partial list of what is new.
- Many stainless
bolts
- Completely new
British Made Exhaust System - When you say “system”,
you imply headers and mufflers. The left side header pipe could be new
and if the right one is, it’s been irreparably stained
- Metal tank - new
canary yellow paint
- Fenders Polished
- Forks polished
- Primary and valves
polished
- New Clutch and
throttle cable – The throttle cable was not new – it was shot and badly routed.
- New Petcocks – Only one new; which
you corrected in your listing comments
- New brakes in rear
- Rebuilt Front
Master Cylinder and new Brake pads and a freshly ground rotor - smooth brakes –
- Rebuilt Tach
(Gauges are smooth)
- New Plug wires
- Rebuilt Carbs –
If they were rebuilt, it was a real quick
job. The bowls were leaking like crazy and when I opened them up, I found
doubled-up bowl gaskets and incorrect float levels as well as very dirty jets.
- New Avon Super
Venoms front and rear
- New Boyer ignition
- New Seat cover
- New Plugs, (the
plugs I guess are 300 miles old ‘cause they have silver paint overspray on
them) clutch clean all new fluids and a complete tune all engine
bolts tourqed and valves adjusted.
- Compression was
high and equal in both cylinders
This bike is located
in Shakopee, mn. I perfer you come see it in person so you can see how
together this is and that it is not the typical junk you see. I
have to strongly disagree. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call it junk,
it was certainly a far cry from “together”. I find myself confused at the
moment. From our phone conversations, you sounded like you had a very
good handle on the mechanics of these bikes; however the state of the machine
wasn’t consistent with the aptitude that I heard on the phone. “Daily
rider”? That just doesn’t make sense to me given your background with
Nortons and the level of knowledge you imparted on the phone. As I stated
earlier, I rode it 5 miles and parked it. Had we not had a conversation
that led me to believe you had a pretty high level of mechanical aptitude and
knowledge of the bike, I would have simply passed the issues I found as poor
maintenance on the part of someone who had little knowledge and / or skill.
“Has
no issues”? Aside from the issues above, here are some of the highlights
from the hours I’ve spent in the shop on the bike so far:
·
There
was almost a half inch of sludge in the bottom of the oil tank
·
The
chain was shot
·
I
found over a dozen open connections in the wiring harness
·
The
battery was flapping around behind the side cover having come loose from the
bungee cord that was sort of holding it in place and the overflow tube was just
kind of lying on the tray
·
Both
footpegs were bent – very bent on the left side of the bike. There is
evidence that the left footpeg bent enough to dent the primary cover
·
One
·
The
manifold balance tube fell off on my second short ride
·
The
rearmost rear fender mount was very loose – the fender was just sliding around
on the frame
·
One of
the bolts holding the rear brake switch was missing
·
The
K&N filter was incorrectly mounted and therefore crushed
·
The
headlight lens was broken and glued back together
·
The
motor (and head and barrel bolts) was painted. Who does that?
·
Oil
leak at the base of the barrels sealed from the outside with silicone?
·
The headlight
ears have 1/8 inch of vertical play – o-rings incorrectly installed - noisy as
hell
·
Headlight
high beam not working
·
The
front axle pinch bolt was loose
·
The
left side center fender mount was loose
·
The
font forks were super loud when topped-out which was due to the lock nuts on
the damper rod not tightened against top fork nut – not being threaded into the
nut allowed damper rod to float free and impact bottom of top fork nut.
This also had an obvious detrimental effect on the fork performance
·
And
would appear that something is bent in the front end (likely the upper
triple). The bike pulls very hard to the left even after changing the
oil, attaching the damper rod, installing new springs and doing a wheel
alignment using my jig.
I finally fired the bike up yesterday evening after doing over
40 hours of work on the bike. But for the front end, it now feels like it
should. Having swapped to a higher set of bars, it’s now quite visually
obvious that the front end is left biased. I did a wheel alignment using
a jig and was able to achieve decent alignment after loosening the front end
and taking the necessary steps to allow the stanchions to align in the clamps
and axle in the wheel. Another ride showed improvement, but still a
continued left bias. I changed the fork oil; installed new springs
attached the damper rod to the top nut.
With
all of the above, I now have to go through the bike and check all of the work
you indicated that you performed (ISO’s, rocker clearances, clutch..)
Given
the state of the footpegs (particularly the left – which at one point was bent
enough to dent the primary cover) there’s no question that the bike’s been
dropped. What I’d like to know is at what speed and how bad the overall
damage was. You mentioned in your mail to me on June 21 that “you
detected no pull one way”. Ben, this isn’t subtle – it’s obvious.
So,
Ben – you and I need to talk. I’ll be available at 866-972-5683.
Steve
Munro
loudbike
www.loudbike.com
301.229.2080
From: Ben Zimmerman
[mailto:xxxxx@hotmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 9:53 PM
To:
Subject: RE: norton
Steve - I take ofense to most of what you
typed. I agree with none of it. It appears you should
have bought a restored bike. It sounds like it may have been damaged
in shipping, the headlight etc and other damage you claim was absolutely not
there when it left. I had no left pulling issues period. Do not
contact me in this tone again.
From:
To: xxxxx@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: norton
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:22:56 -0400
Ben
– Of course I didn’t expect you to say: “Gee, Steve, you’re right. Sorry
about that”.
Listen,
your offense pales in comparison to my disappointment. Don’t insult me by
suggesting that I should have bought a restored bike. I know what I was
buying and expected to have to do a substantial amount of work to the machine.
But, when you use terms like “daily rider”, “would ride this bike anywhere” and
describe the bike as “together” – you set a reasonable expectation of
fitness. And what you delivered did not come close to that. So you
either have mechanical standards that are pretty low or you seriously
misrepresented the bike. You pick.
Deny
that the throttle cables were not new, that the chain was shot, that the float
bowels were leaking, and everything on my list bellow. I documented the
process of discovery and repair in great detail. You can’t. You can
claim that the headlight was damaged in shipping and I might buy that.
However nothing else on my list (including the evidence of a fall on the
left side) could have been done in shipping.
As
for my tone – I was polite and factual. Instead of taking offense; why
not deny the accusations in point form with tangible evidence to the contrary.
At
this point, my biggest concern is that the bike was dropped on its left side
and what I want to know is when, how and how hard.
Steve
Munro
loudbike
www.loudbike.com
301.229.2080
From: Ben Zimmerman
[mailto:xxxxx@hotmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 11:31 PM
To:
Subject: RE: norton
Let me clear - do not contact me again period for any reason.
...Nice guy, eh?