AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Hi Cliff,

I hadn't seen that as a relatively new Matchless owner (and new to the forum) but will read with interest when I have a little while. I had an 850 Commando for 20 years and it was a great machine - the clutch was, like the Stormer, a diaphragm spring affair that had the great advantage that when the lever was pulled in it reduced the force on the cable as the spring went over centre, so making quite a light operation for a powerful bike. The sintered bronze plates lasted for ever, with an occasional wash in petrol to clean the oil off, and the location of plates in the drum was a huge improvement over the AMC clutch.

Just read through that thread (good stuff - thanks) and it looks as though the Starmaker clutch was actually developed into the Commando version. The earlier 750s had normal friction facings; the sintered plates came in with the 850 IIRC.

I actually owned a basket case Stormer for a few months in the 80s - couldn't resist it at £30 or so although it had no primary drive or generator and I couldn't source them so ended up selling it in bits - ISTR the forks went to someone who was racing something interesting. I often wish I'd persevered.

A

Thanks for the picture, as I remember it, it was all uphill

A

A

A

A

Fascinating about the 500 twin. I would have thought a Commando / Quaife box would have been able to handle 70bhp?

A