Norton Commando 850 - A 50 Year Review 

Absolutely loved that mate, we're all dead envious. That's how bikes should be, look fantastic, simple Amal carbs, gravity fed fuel, dead easy electrics, wonderful to ride and easy to maintain and fix. Thanks TAYM.

You hope it wasn't boring for the viewer. NOT for a second. I'm sitting here at the end of another overly long Canadian winter counting the days when I can get the old '72 Norton Combat out to give this old man a thrill just like the first thrill it gave me 52 years ago when I picked it up from the dealer, shaking in my boots sitting on the saddle for the first time. Your ride was just what I needed. It was luuvlee.

That sound of a Norton - it’s a distinct purr! Beautiful sound !

Had a Yellow Dunstall 750 Norton Commando in the late 70’s. What a great bike. Reliable, good handling and a pleasure to ride. Watching that brings back the memories.

Looking at that, and all the years that have passed by since it was made, just goes to show that we haven’t progressed in many ways. I think character trumps outright speed and power, and plastic haha 🤞🏼

That's a big tick on the bucket list, Taym. What a wonderful, well sorted machine. Quaife transmissions are big in the motorsport world. Add me to your jealous list. Wow!

Morning Taym, greetings from the North Norfolk alps 😆 l can't believe anyone would find todays bimble 'boring',like you mentioned. l did smile, though, when you said you didn't know what the lights were like. There's a reason Lucas were called 'the prince of darkness'! Being started on Japanese fare in the 70s, l'm not sure how someone as cack-handed as l would get on with a right hand gear change, so well done you. Top class as usual 👍

There was the 1000 cc Sportster. The Bonneville. The Earth changing CB750. And by this time the ass kicking Z-1 903. But any kid with a soul (and who saw the Norton print ads) longed for a Commando. Probably the most beautiful street bike of all time.

I had a 1961 T120 Bonnie with a pre unit engine, rode it from Bristol to the Isle of man in 1988 to see the TT, made it there and back so i know the feeling these old bikes give you, nothing comes close.

Morning Taym the fast back was on the 750s the 0riginal one's 😊 how can this be boring you are a very lucky lad riding your pin up 😂

What a beautiful bike! Takes a few minutes to remember where the gear change is after a left shifter. The amount of times I've tried to change gear with the brake lever on the bullet when pulling away (seems OK when moving for some reason). The colour really suits the bike, fantastic with the Quaife box, just lovely. Please keep doing these type of reviews, gives us oldies a warm feeling 👍

Great video mr Taym, wonderful to see you riding such an iconic bike as the Norton commando,envious ??. You bet 😊😊.🏍🏍🏍

Wow! Wow! Wow! Beautiful bike… what a proper motorbike should be. Thanks for taking us along ( I’m super envious) ❤

Now you're torqueing! 😁 It was wonderful to get the opportunity to see that bike in action, let alone actually ride it. That must have been a great experience. Using the gearbox would be a bit like looking in the mirror! What a looker the bike is👍👍.

You surprised us today Mr Taym with the most amazing and favorite bike Norton Commando Fastback ,in the most beautiful colour British racing green, my dream bike ..just Superb Mr Taym....

Beautiful machine. That 360 crank twin sounds (to my ears) so much better than the modern 270s, no vibration penalty either with the isolastics. I found it really amusing that Norton having blanked you then lent a bike to TMF (less likely to criticise?) only for him to tell us the new Commando is a bit crap.Tittered me lots😀

A marvellously Splendiferous Green bike, Mr TAYM, thanks for sharing. What a great sound too! Norton would do well to hear your words 😁

I Owned 1 of these in the 70's. Best bike ever!

What a lucky lucky boy TAYM I think we're all a bit jealous. What a marvellous experience and what a brilliant video the joy in your voice came through brilliantly. A fireblade might be fast but that Norton can do time travel and take you back 40 years in a second.

I remember one of the last prototype Commandos built had the coils in one of the side panels, which really tidies up the styling. I believe if my memory serves me that it also featured an SU carb which gave ridiculously good fuel consumption. Marvellous!!! 😎

thanks for bringing back the memories,Mr.TAYM. My third bike in 1975, with the same tank and seat from the first model 750 fastback.Good stuff.

Living proof, right there, that folk of a certain age buy on emotion. Fabulous Vlog

Wow as you said what a privilege to ride and what a lovely rumble from that 850 engine . Thanks TAYM

What a fabulous bike..! Stunning from any angle and you got to ride it too, you lucky man. Now your note said it was sold soon after you filmed it, my question is does Mrs TAYM know it’s in your garage yet..?🤣🤣🤣

You are indeed a vary lucky boy, I am so jealous that you have ridden such a magnificent bike. That the current Norton people do not even respond is a really difficult thing to get your head around. Very strange from a business that purports to want to sell motorcycles.

That Norton sounds fantastic, brings back memories of many miles done on my commando years ago, thanks that was just great.

Absolutely fabulous; what a bike, my dream bike when i was a lad.

What a stunning bike m8. Sounded wonderful and you sounded like you where over the moon. Glade you enjoyed your trip down memory lane.😁. Great stuff👍👌

Yes Mr Taym, a real treat from yesterday- lived it😅

The stuff of dreams! So very cool. Thank you!

That exhaust sounds so sweet, and compared to modern bikes, the engines had a very nice "Mechanical" sound. Some people may think it's noisy, but it's like music! Now I want to leave work and go get on my old Triumph! 😁😁 To bad you never got to test ride a new Norton, but I hope someday you can get your hands on one and let us know what it's like compared to this one!

Dear TAYM, thank you for this video that I enjoy watching very much from snowy Sweden!

Awesome! rode a1973 Commando in Hawaii. Year round fun. 🙏

That brought back some wonderful memories. In 1975, I was lucky enough to own a brand new 850 Commando Interstate in Candy Apple Red. Now I’ve almost come full circle with only my second British bike, a Speed Twin 1200 in Baja Orange. 😊

Another top quality video TAYM Quaife was famous back in the day for four into five speed gearbox conversions. Now I feel old for knowing that. Super sound from those exhausts and IMHO that contributes a great deal to the sense of power that is available from you right hand

Hands down the best review l think on a Norton commando , 850 , on you tube , the enthusiasm is infectious , l am lucky enough to own three of these , Inc electric start , all different , roadster interstate , thinking about chopping one in for a bmwr90s , after seeing this , could just change my mind , keep up the brill videos ,. All the best ,Don.

My dream bike too in the early 70's. This model is a "Fastback" hence the tailpiece. There was also the more conventional "Roadster"," Interstate" and even an "Ezy Rider".

I had a Commando in the 80s, fantastic fun bike, lovely punchy engine. Id put that one back to the standard Roadster, different tank and seat and take off the fastback.

Che spettacolo, amo Triumph ma allo stesso tempo anche Norton ❤🇮🇹🇬🇧

Real bucketlist stuff taym, just such a shame they didn't do a triumph/bsa/ royal Enfield job for us, yes these were a superbike in their day, but an affordable one, if they'd produced a modern retro copy of the commando at 10 or 11 grand they'd have sold thousands, instead of an overpriced garage queen that most will end up in collections. Anyway I'm sounding like ice didi meldrew, savour the moment

Fabulous sound, fabulous bike, you lucky boy!

Splendiferous motorcycle!

Grail bike! Looks, sounds and runs magnificently. 🤩❤

Speechless? TAYM. As if! 🤣 Thank goodness! 👏👏🤣

Can you tell us if you liked the bike as I couldn’t tell from your commentary. 😂😉. Great to see your enthusiasm mate. Great bikes.

Morning Mr TAYM. Stunning !

Eh TAYM great to see you enjoying that Norton Fabulous bike totally different experience That’s why I like the old machines so much Beast of a machine love it 😍 ❤

Nice one TAYM, excellent midweek video, the Norton looks and sounds fantastic, definitely the classiest British big twin.....😊

Lovely jubbly. Not jealous as all. Honest.

What a treat.

And one more dream machine by Mr TAYM !!

I owned a 74 750 with high compression “combat” engine. Then rode an 850 regularly over the mountains from Sydney to Orange/ Bathurst for years: a 3 hr trip! With a set of Dunlop K81’s riding fast through the mountain the bike it was like riding with a God. You just couldn’t fault the handling if you knew not to back off in corners, it would hold the line like you were on rails. The original pipes don’t have that lip at the bottom when the taper started from the joint. The tail price is from a Fastback 750 - looks good, and the tank from an Atlas - a pre commando model. Duke ss 900 sell now for $65,000 plus; early 750’s for a lot more but these are still around the 20-30,000 mark, cheap.

What a beauty! ❤

I had a 71 Norton. One thing I wished it had was a gear indicator. Sometimes forgot what gear I was in

Wow amazing. I cracked a fat watching this

You sound so excited , your obviously enjoying yourself , you know what I think you should buy it and park it next to Berti 👍🏍

This Norton is a 'bitsa' - The Fastback Commando was only produced by the factory as a 750 in two distinct styles - Standard (3 gallon tank) and Long Range (4 gallon tank). This one is the latter. When 750 production ended and 850 started it was only made mainly as a Roadster or an Interstate. BTW the North American market always favoured the Roadster styled models (750 or 850) over other models available, although the Interstate sold well too. Nice to hear your enthusiasm in riding this bike though , they are great when set up correctly. I had a roadster way back in 1972/73 for a while and recently bought a 750 fastback to relive my youth - while I still can !

fantastic bike, I can see you enjoyed that.

Incredible jealousy stimulated by that bike! The sound of a vertical twin especially in full song. Two things need to be if there is an afterlife, our pets back and British motorcycles!😆

Those green clock logos were a brand logo design, that's all, That sounds like a well put together engine, I am glad you enjoyed it, my own one has a 100,000 miles on it and is still going strong. You should try a 750 Combat which is a tuned version, very light compared with an 850 and acceptably fast.😀

Smoothi Operator , nice bike👍👍😚

Love the-deep Rumble ! Dave nz

Old school TAYM, using his "tabulous" style words! Sounds of your voice tells it all!

Ah, gear lever on the proper side and the right way round. Up-changes are so much quicker when you stab the lever down! Back in the eighties I got to ride an 850 Commando that had been prepared for production racing; 4S cam, close ratio gear box and racing numbers on the sides but still street legal; I never managed to get into top gear!

Aaah, the almighty Commando 850. Member of the famous Joe Bar Team. :)

I agree, the old bikes seemed to give more power from less capacity, but I think a lot of that is probably down to the character of those old engines and the fact that they were smaller and lighter than modern bikes. I had a race tuned Norton Dominator 600 and a '68 Bonneville 650 back in the early 1970s and both could easily lift the front wheel in second gear, handled well and sounded amazing. There are plenty of faster and more powerful bikes now but most of them can't come close to the character and excitement of those old bikes.

What a beauty. I think thats my favourite motorcycle engine noise. Like Wendy but better. Is the Commando the Holy Grail of motorcycles I wonder. Cheers TAYM👍

🌟The tail housing, that held the tool roll, is from an earlier Fastback model which was the one I had when I was eighteen in 1973. I now have a W800 but I'd swap it for a Commando any day ❤️

Lordy Be!! I road 3 of those before my Ducati. Connecticut back roads with humps and jumps! I was 18/19 and a fearless idiot! The only real complaint was that the Roadmaster forks topped out loudly over the humps and jumps. Considering I lived through that era it’s a niggle. I massaged them every weekend. Points, tappers and they were dead reliable. We’d head up to Vermont and points beyond camping and my Norton was always the first to start. The 74 Ducati did raise the bar though.

Seriously salivating out here in RU-vid land !! & sold after the video 🤔 is it in your garage now 👌🏍😅

That 1974 Norton is nearly the same age as me. I wish I could say that I've aged so gracefully! To be fair, my body is probably about as effective as those drum brakes, lol.

And I got it wrong, fourth bike. On the gear change thing, I went from 1950 RE 500 twin - rIght side 1 up 3down, to 1971 Triumph Trident right side 1 down 3 up, to 1975 T140v Bonneville Left Side 1 down 4 up, to Norton right side 1 up 3 down, to 1977 Moto Guzzi Lemans left side 1 down 4 up. Was easy after that as most of the bikes i have had since were one the left 1down.

What a marvellous bike and review though not the one I was expecting 😏😉😎 I very nearly bought this bike after your earlier video on it, had you published this then I very well might have. I was contemplating the new Commando at the time and although it looks good enough to eat, it's vibeyness and questionable handling along with its price put me off. I was on the verge of phoning Hayward's when I decided to look again at the TTS, which as you know I went on to buy instead. That's the way with bikes, we want to own them all, only practicality and affordability mean we have to be very selective with our choices 😏🙄😀

Looks so cool mukka

No surprise it was sold looks to be in exceptional condition and an iconic machine..Feels solid because it has more metal and no plastic. A mechanical clocks etc. The only chips came with fish in those days. I guess the Honda 550 four a similar age. How did they compare?.

Quafe made racing gearboxs & produced 5-speed conversions for Triumph & Norton 4-speed box's.

The only bike better than a British Racing Green Commando , is a Red One . They feel more powerful than a modern bike because of the torque produced by the long stroke 360 degree crank . All this modern talk about 270 degree cranks in parallel twins and the Vtwin style power delivery is b*llsh*t . They sound nice because there's no DOHC and airbox whine and no they haven't shoved a cat up the exhaust either . Just how fast it actually is will depend on the cam and the size of the carbs , the fastest standard bikes were the 750 Combat engined bikes . But I suspect that the engine in that bike is rather special , I bet that above 5,000 rpm she really flies . It's a very nice Long Range Fastback replica , kudos to the builder . Thank you for showing it to us . [ Neutral Light ? 🤔. Wot's that ?🤣🤣🤣]

It depends on your point of reference; the latest version is a significant improvement from the Garner era, but I agree that compared to other bikes in its category, others do it better. Perhaps another way of expressing how Norton could get the Commando so right while allowing the negative sentiment and symphony of noise to effectively kill any chances of selling a new or used V4SV or V4RC. The V4SS issue will not stop haunting Norton until they stop burying their heads in the sand and pretending they can tough it out when it's evident that they are hurting more than the V4SS owners. Is Norton really that different under TVS than it was under Garner, as it's once again a brand attracting attention for all the wrong reasons and with a product line-up that does not quite make it?

Reason it feels so much more powerful is because it's only 189-191kg as RE650 Interceptor 215kg wet & T100 is 220kg & T120 225kg wet so 20-35kg lighter no Emission choking technology & taller gears that's why. Norton Commando 850 with 5speed is Creme de la creme bike everybody's dream bike buy TAYM 🦒.

when you rode through the village did you see steed peel the saint and number 6 ?

I'd be so worried I'd lock up the back wheel changing in to fifth😨 Is 'ginger cat' still ok?

Lovely bike TAYM sounds awesome you lucky so and so but my fave Norton was the Commando Roadster I would really like to have one of those such a good looker to me never road one though .I would have rather had one of those at the time instead of a Bonneville and in the early 70's it''s challenger was the XS650 Yamaha the Japanese answer good bikes too but a lot different from what I remember good times and sad as it might seem I would luv to go back there 😂👌👍Super !

It’s fastback tail right?

You lucky bugger TAYM, that’s the bike I covert most but with my somewhat lack of spannering skills one I fear to own in equal measure along with having to keep it outside under cover which would be criminal 😢. For this reason plus your personal enthusiasm for Wendy I bought the W Cafe; the nearest modern equivalent? You may be interested to know that Avon RoadRiders totally fixed the handling issues with a better ride to boot😂😂😂, absolutely love it know. Anyway, I’m soon off to the Pathfinder Cafe @ Blackbushe Airport Surrey to a classic bike meet where last week there were loads of gorgeous classics, here’s a video someone just posted of it. FYI my ‘Paddington’ is @13:50 ish ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SA9O8B3YvBI.htmlsi=fcAS1wUTUmxnoRAM but Wilma is having her turn today, ironically with on 152 registrations in the UK for the Cafe W it’ll probably be the rarest bike there hahaha!😅

Fastback, from 68 750

Poor new owner! The shame when they realise TAYM rode it! 😱🤣 A proper bike! 🤣

RR must be cooking tea, chopping wood, scraping sheep shit off his gumboots...and on and on and on

Turn the key off

Don't tell me 1

Trash that bike for God sake!