Yeah this bike was an adventure. I spent most of the winter looking for a Norton. I had planned on spending up to $3k and thought I would get a close to mint bike for that. Shortly after I started looking I learned differently.
I had in increase my budget to $5k if I wanted something worth owning and it would have to go even higher if it was going to be minty. I found a beauty in Penn that was a one owner bike. It needed some cosmetics and some upgrading but it was a great place to start. That bike was going to be $6.5, over double my original budget. I was at the end of the negotiation process when I stopped hearing back from the owner. Just like that, out of the blue, he stopped returning my emails. So I figured that he must have sold it locally and I moved on.
I found this bike way up in VT, close to the Canadian border. I drove up one day, checked it out and plunked down the cash to buy it. It was cosmetically ugly. Not at all what I thought I would be buying and certainly not for what I paid for it. But the positives fro this bike were that mechanically it was super solid. It also had upgraded electronics (very important on a British bike). It was also being sold from a well established British bike shop. Included in the asking price was a full tune up, clutch adjustment, carb cleaning AND brand new isolators (its a rubber mounted drive train).
So after a few weeks of waiting I went and picked it up, during a snow storm!! And its been sitting at home for a few months now. Once my new shed (12x20) came in I got to working on it. So far its coming along nicely.
I've only ridden it less than 5 miles so far. I had some adjustments to do and a rattle that was an easy fix, once I found it. If its warm today I will take it for a nice little shake down ride.
