I have now been riding my Norton Fastback on a daily basis for the summer. Mileage has been split between crosstown idling and a few good day rides in the country.

The pic below is my friend Paul heading down a country lane on his '72 Commando. He's the one to blame for all this.

I thought I'd document some of the problems I've had, luckily I haven't been stranded and nothing disastrous has happened - knock on wood!

Really, is there such a thing as a bad curve? Is that like a bad dog?

• broken engine mounting studs - well actually one broke, the other fell out when the nut loosened - or the other way around.
  
  
• dragging clutch diagnosed when I opened the primary to change the oil, the clutch center nut was loose and the clutch was being held on by the pushrod oil seal (Dave Comeau's invention - Dave I owe you.)
  
  
• leaking right hand float bowl - damaged float needle seat. Swapped with spare bowl. I still can't top up the tank as the pressure forces gas out - will have investigate more.
  
  
• lost a float bowl screw (stainless hex) on a long ride, foot soaked in gas - I now carry locktite.
  
  
• Rubber insulator on oiltank broken
  
  
• clutch cable pulled out of the cylinder/ball thingy at handle bar - resoldered it. (this makes me really nervous about my brake cable....)
  
  
• exhaust header - flange broke off - wired it to the bike with some picture frame wire from the corner store - lasted three days until I put on the old beat up pipe.
  
  
• arcorn nut fell off the kickstart pedal - didn't notice until first kick in the morning and my foot slammed into the ground, lever whacked my shin and the pedal went flying away.
  
  
• lost both passenger rubbers - used glue second time.
  
  
• blown fork seal
  
  
• front cylinder base stud fell out !!! well actually it wasn't the right stud - p.o. had put in a bolt...