Going commando

[gripshift999]

So to speak , today while i was watching my daughter riding around on her tommy , i decided to get the commando out and give it a bit of a clean up .

I removed the back rack , brake caliper, and then attacked the rear guard with wire wool and warm soapy water , as i did the caliper and the back rack .

Then it started to rain so i had to put it away but it looks sweet .
Are there any other commando owners out there ?

[admin]

I had one when I was a nipper and hated it, fortunately I got a Grifter the next christmas!

[leewarby]

yeah mate ,ive got one ,
ive owned a few
i like em ,and still cheap

[gripshift999]

I have decided that i am going to give her a clean up to show as opposed to ride .
She is a 9/79 bike and should come up ok , if the rear of the bike is anything to go by.

You dont seem to see many of them in this day and age so im going to bring it along to RAB meetings.

There are few of them around so it would be great to see these little bikes making an appearence .

[admin]

What colour is it Steve?

[gripshift999]

Its the black version , with the dayglo yellow/ orange wording which is ok one side but pretty much gone on the other

[leewarby]

mines a black one aswell ,
are the wheels ok as ive got a spare set somewhere !
its still in a box waitin to be cleaned up

[gripshift999]

To be honest i have not had a go at the wheels yet but i am eager to get them done .
You have to make that a summer resto , a cracking little bike we may well get a couple of more of them on this site if i get my way , i think a little badgering may be in order me thinks

[leewarby]

keep the commando flag flyin
just wish i could ride it
look like monkey on a walnut

[admin]

I think wayne and bmx girl both own one

[gripshift999]

Wayne has got the sister bike to mine , i swapped it for a mk1 tommy

[admin]

Theres a couple of camo ones on the bay at the mo

[gripshift999]

Work continued today at a furious pace , well ok i sat in my garden tinkering , the biggest thing i have done today is to remove the rear brake cable as it was black and should be white and replaced it with a white one that i had spare .
Sounds easy but its far from , the inner was knacked at the end so i decided to tidy it up a little , so i cleaned it off and removed some of the threads that had become frayed, then all i had to do was to re attach it into the outer , it went in about half ay but would not go any further .
I tried and tried but still it would not go through .

So i decided to snip the end off as this was causing the problem , so i did , and then cut too much inner off , so it would not reach the lock nut on the caliper ,tit head.

So i removed the rear brake cable from my donor shopper that is residing in my garden , and tidied it up a little , then inserted the inner through the outer and set it all the way through until it was in place , then it too was snipped and finally job done .

Then i removed the front calipers and wire wooled them as i did the front guard and the turn stop .

But now its lunch time and im having a well earned rest

[admin]

well done that man. When you insert inner cables do you twist them as you go? I do and find it much easier especially if using previously used parts

[gripshift999]

And then i replaced all the front that i have cleaned and treated it to a small amount of polish , and OMG it shines like a new penny , then i polished the frame and it came up really nive so i am going to strip it fully and do a proper clean up i think .