The yearly summer trip.

Summer is fast approaching and it is time to get the motorcycles in good order for the next trip. Once again, an all-BMW line-up. And of course there are some major reworkings going on: Witold is having the gearbox on his G/S overhauled, again. We suspect a bent selector fork is preventing gears from staying engaged.
Marco's bike is also undergoing "a little bit of work":

(Notice the outrageous expansion exhaust on the orange moped. That thing is mad, bro...)

Unbelievable. In less than a day the two of them had the gearbox off the G/S and Marco's special totally torn asunder. Ok, things like the front end, suspension and transmission are pretty much sorted, and what they're doing here is having the engine fine-tuned with a new ignition and new carburetters. But then they thought "eh. might as well".

So the frame is being powder-coated, a new twin seat is being prepared and the whole thing will be put back together as a neater, meaner machine. Cool.
Now, for reasons that will soon become apparent, I will not be joining the dudes on this year's trip, but I might meet up with them on their way back. Still, can't wait to see Marco's beemer back together...

Which Commando?

So, all the recent talk of Norton Commandos has you thinking you should get one for yourself, but now you can't decide between all the various trims available!
This handy reference chart could help: with the exception of such rarities as the R, the Interpol the Fastback Long Range and the John Player special, you can check all the most popular Commandos against a range of tasks and pick the one that suits you best.
Remember, at the end of the day a Commando is a Commando: you can always change *pretty much* any model into any other, especially if your starting point is a late 750/early 850, which were a happy medium in terms of components, and well sorted mechanically.

(for the humour-impaired: apply tongue-in-cheek now.)

get on with it!

I really have to get this thing done, if I leave the fresh new bores and piston rings sitting for too long I'm afraid they might be damaged before I've even put a single mile on them.
I mean look, the engine has already started to sprout pushrods for goodness sake!