Topic: Hey Nick, Have You (or anyone else) Seen This Article About Nortons?

[bill440cars]

     First, the link to the article:

      http://www.cycleworld.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=316

     

     And then THIS picture to entice you.   Works for me!

[nickjtc]

Yup. It was in a past issue; can't remember when.

It's a lovely looking bike, and a marvel the way it was put together. The featherbed frame was a very innovative design when first produced in the early '50s, and a quantum leap ahead of the competition. The 'isolastic' principle, launched to make the Commando a viable proposition in the late '60s, was also ahead of its time. The fact that many other manufacturers use the same concept on modern machines speaks volumes for the soundness of the idea.

However, I personally don't 'get' the idea behind this hybrid. Commando engines which have been re-balanced have been successfully fitted into featherbed frames, without the necessity of using the isolastic mountings....

[bill440cars]

        I just happened to come across it and it was the first I'd heard of it. I thought it was a really sharp looking bike and should have known that a Norton buff like yourself, already knew about it. Wouldn't mind checking one of those out myself.

                                Take care, Bill

[dummkauf]

They are still making Norton's, although it's an American company now, and they are making just the commando as far as I can tell.  I have also yet to find a price definite price on these, but it's one nice looking bike for any of the cafe racers fans on this site.  I found a site somewhere online with an article titled "How to buy a norton" which suggested the only way was to find them at a bike show and place an order, they also speculated that they have a starting prices of around $20,000/msrp which is out of my price range for a bike.

http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/bike/961_gallery.asp?imageNum=4

If you keep your eyes out you can still find these every once in a while.  When I set out on my quest to build a cafe racer an old norton was on my list as well as the CB750(I have th cb750 now).  To my disbelief I found one in my area on Craigslist for $500!  I called the guy(had only been 2 hours since he'd posted it) and he informed me that another gentleman had called very excited about the bike and offered him $600 right away, but that he'd keep my number in case the other buyer fell through.....I obviously never heard back from him.

[bill440cars]

        So, am I reading this right? Is the new Norton, that Kenny Dreer was working on, still coming out?


         


        Not the same as the original, but pretty cool all the same, IMHO.

[fuzzybutt]

in the latest issue of cycle world it was mentioned in another article, no that effort has gone by the wayside unfortunately. deposits have been mailed back.

[bill440cars]

in the latest issue of cycle world it was mentioned in another article, no that effort has gone by the wayside unfortunately. deposits have been mailed back.

          fuzzy, was that in the August Cycle World? I've looked all through it and can't find what you are talking about. Not to say that you aren't right. I remember when Kenny Dreer and his Norton backed off because of financing and all. I hated to see that one out of the business too. I kept checking for a while, in hopes of a return to business as usual. But, according to this, as of April 2008, they are still working on getting things back on track.

          http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/company/news_detail.asp?newsID=19 

[fuzzybutt]

it was mentioned in the article up front about the guy who tried to bring vincent back, who died recently

[bill440cars]

it was mentioned in the article up front about the guy who tried to bring vincent back, who died recently

        Okay, now I remember reading that part about Kenny Dreer and his comments about that guy. It might be that Kenny is no longer part of the effort to bring Norton back and this other guy, Don W. Niles is. I don't know, may just be wishful thinking on my part. Niles says that there is anther chapter coming. Maybe he is still trying to make it happen. He has been part of the effort for a while now. Guess we'll just have to see. Thanks for reminding me about where it was said, I had read the whole thing about Li and HIS efforts to bring Vincent back, what a shame that he couldn't have seen his dream happen.