Dear fellow Norton enthusiasts/mashochists, Has anyone had any successful experience converting the taillight and turnsignals on the Commando to LED's? Bearing in mind the limited output of even the RM24 alternator it seems like a worthwhile conversion. Cheers!

I considered an LED stop/tail bulb, until it was pointed out that the light is red, so the number plate illumination will be red.

Bulbsthatlast4ever has a LED Taillight Conversion that has White LEDs for lighting of the license plate. They offer 2 different models, http://www.bulbsthatlast4ever.com/564.html and http://www.bulbsthatlast4ever.com/679.html. These will work with either Positive or Negative Grounds. Good Luck, Bruce B.

Dave, Yeah, I changed my '72 Combat over to an LED tail light. I guess I should have shown it to you when you dropped off the brake rotor! It (obviously) requires you to reverse the polarity to the tail light. I did this by removing the ground strap and insulating the bulb holder. I then soldered a wire third on to the bulb holder housing. Now, in order to make this work without modifying the stock harness (which I really did not want to do), I am using the tail marker lead as a power source and then switching the brake light (to ground/+ve) with a relay. The only thing that you lose out on is the brake light will not work unless the headlight is on. I figured that was acceptable, since you have to run with the headlight on anyway. Oh yeah, with a 750 tail light, the LED will not illuminate the license plate, therefore, no red plate. I haven't attempted the signals, as they are not on all time, unlike the tail light. HTH,

Derek

Hey Derek, Ouch - sounds like a lot of work with little return! It seems the LED replacement lights are for neg/ground systems. Not much good for our pos/ground Nortons. I'm thinking about building my own LED bulbs from scratch wired up for pos/ground. By the way, I stopped over two or three times to show you the new exhaust nuts Neil made up for the bike - they are really cool! How's the Combat rebuild going? Don't think I'll be out much until spring - Norton and I have to hibernate for the winter. Cheers!

Actually, the conversion is not that bad. The bulb draws close to zero current, which is what I was after. Exhaust nuts, eh? I'll have to see these. I'm actually in the market for a set. How much does Neil want for them? I was actually considering a Scholtz set, but I would sooner give my money to Neil. Are they stainless? The Combat is to the point where it would run, but I'm still waiting for the gas tank mounting kit to come in and the body work from the paint shop. I picked up a 4 piston front brake caliper and am in the process building a mounting bracket for it. You will hardly recognise the front rotor. It's out being zinced and powdercoated at present. Cheers,

Derek