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Commando engine and frame numbers

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Hello seven years ago i got an 850 Commando from a friend who bought it in 1983 rode it for a while then took bits and peices off it he did not like then the old story of loosing interest and leaving it like that to gather dust an loose bits over the years ( in fact he still does that to this day an AJS is his latest toy ). I did not do much better tho it has to be said untill now its just stood in garage getting slowly burried under all that stuff that life gives you for the sole reason of getting in the way of things you will do some day (does this sound familair to anybody?). Well that some day is coming fast an the old girl will move under her own steam once more, am trying to sound up beat here its going to take many days weeks months even years i know. The frame has in the past been cromed but not very well so the first task is to powder coated there dont seam to be any VIN numbers on it. The V5C says the frame number is 110605 and the engine number is 317015 it was first register in 1975. My problem is why are the numbers so far apart and should the engine an frame have the same or similar as all things i have been reading up on aboat Cammando's quote numbers like the engine number.I dont care aboat matching numbers its not a show bike its a bike to ride and if it rains then you put your waterproofs on an keep going ( well hopefully it keeps going ) but before i make Mr Norvil a lot richer am worried aboat paper pushing kill joy types at Swansea but they did give me this V5 so should i just relax its got a reg number its in my name an that all i realy need to get it back on the road.

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I think that you're OL Karl.

Dave Comeau's site is the only place I know that has attempted to collate information.

http://atlanticgreen.com/commandoframes.htm

At some point around early 850 production, Nortons seem to have tried to introduce a unique frame / VIN number (this pre-dated the 17-digit VIN numbers which later became compulsory). They started a new sequence with an 'F' prefix.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of the duplicated engine number stamped on the red US certification headstock plates, this information seems to have escaped the attention of most of the published authors and many owners. In a lot of cases, the rather shallowly stamped frame number has disappeared under the powder-coat anyway.

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Previously wrote:

That should be 'OK' !

Previously wrote:

I think that you're OL Karl.

i did sit trying to figure out what OL ment but as i work in engineering the only OL i know is short for Overall Length. Thanks for reply and for clearing that up iam sure i will have few more puzzles on the way and other people taking time to try to help you solve them gives your spirts a little lift bit of encouragment just before i dust off the spanners and put Norvil on speed dail ahah.

 

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