Some brothers surprise their dad with a special Christmas present. They sneak his basket case 69 Norton out of his basement and get it fully restored for a Christmas present all without him knowing it. A WIN all around!
...and not on a small scale either. They're talking MotoGP. Is it possible that the new Rotary has been developed to the point that it could compete in GP? Will the rules even allow for a rotary bike? If not GP can it race in WSB? This should be interesting. Turn up the volume LOUD!
Here are some vids of the new Rotax powered racebike being developed....
And of the original early 90's F1 Rotax bikes warming up.. "Filmed at Bob Mac memorial race meeting at East Fortune on 14/6/09"
Hey Steve
Hope all is going well. I continue to enjoy your Motorcycle Photo of the Day.
Thought you and your viewers might be interested in these shots of the first new Norton Commando to hit North American shores since 1976. 2010 Commando 961 Sport. I was at the Unveiling Event in Newmarket, Ontario (Toronto) on August 11th. Came out of the crate, fired up and driven around the block by President of Norton Canada Peter Howes (in the black Norton shirt). Looks and sounds like a Norton – 2010 style. As an old Norton aficionado I can’t wait to ride one and see what it feels like. Production bikes (limited quantity, basically small scale hand made) will arrive in Canada www.nortoncanada.ca and the U.S. (U.S. Distributor is Matt Capri in Long Beach, CA www.southbaynorton.com) by next Spring. 3 Commando models – Sport, Café Racer and SE. U.S. More info at www.nortonmotorcycles.com
P.S. Work continues at Norton headquarters in Donnington Park, UK on a new 700 cc rotary engine race bike which should be racing in the 1200 cc Superbike class soon. Watch it go. Norton would appear to be back – in style!
Here's a few start/finish pics from Jean Des Rosiers excellent build of his Cafe Norton. If you want to see how it's done you could do a lot worse that checking out his site. http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/cafe_racer
Jean writes in:
Hi,
Saw your blog and the many bikes you have posted on there, especially Nortons. Please take a look at my café racer build galleries at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/cafe_racer The bike took about two years of on and off work, mainly on during winter and off during summer. The job started by fitting a belt final drive of my own design and fabrication and evolved into having an open clear area in the back of the engine by hiding everything that normally goes there.
Best regards
Jean
Really excellent stuff! Thanks Much Jean!
Joe Abramo sends in some great stuff all the way from Hawaii!
He Writes:
Surf on over to see the complete web pages..........
http://www.napaliprop.com/72-Commando.html
http://www.napaliprop.com/66bsa.html
http://www.napaliprop.com/2008-T-100.html
Love the MPOD concept!!
I go there every day now.
Joe Abramo
Great Stuff! Thanks Joe!
While I'm NOT an authority I'd say this one looks very well sorted out with upgraded air filter, brakes, carb and no doubt ignition.
I've been on a big Norton Kick lately. Sorry. Just keep finding (or receiving) really nice ones.
Two more bikes from reader Mochammed Ballazam from Jakarta, Indonesia
Mochammed Ballazam from Jakarta, Indonesia sends ins these stunning pictures of his 1969 Norton Cafe Racer. There will be a few more from Mochammed later tomorrow.
A real Beauty! Thank you for the great pictures!
Something you don't see very often. A Norton Featherbed frame with an actual Norton engine in it!!
Corrected by an alert reader in the comments. Thanks!
This was in the parking lot of a local shop that specializes in old british bikes. It's not often you see a period correct all original "flower power" paint scheme so well preserved on an old ride like this. Not exactly my style but this must have been just the ticket back in the day...
I've recieved a LOT of great material form Paul zuniga (AKA:GrandPaul) in a short period of time and I've been so busy that it's taken me a bit of time to get it sorted out. I'll start out with the first bike he sent me. An outstanding custom Norton monoshocked special.
Paul Writes:
I came across your site through a link from PipeBurn.Com. I'd like to submit a couple of my Norton Monoshock projects for you to consider on your site. I have been into classic bike (especially Britbikes) for over 20 years, and have been restoring old bikes for almost 5 years now as a business; www.bornagainbikes.com is my web address. I am a forum moderator on TriumphRat.Net & TriumphTalk.Com (classic & vintage sections), and I host my own classic, vintage, and customs forums on Delphi (links in my signature). I ride with CMA (Christian motorcyclist's Assn.) and the BIR (Brit Iron Rebels); wierd mix, I know.
Anyway, here's the poop on the bikes-
Blue bike:
Ever since the first time I spotted a pre-production Photoshopped picture of the proposed "New Norton" in 2001, I KNEW I had to have one. Kenny Dreer was in the process of acquiring the worldwide rights to the Norton name; he came up with the new design for a horizontally split "wet sump" engine, started building a couple of test mules, and started taking deposits for the first 100 "signature" edition bikes. My goal was to have one!
Well, I got tired of waiting for the new Norton, then heard Kenny was selling out the whole operation to some dude in Great Britain; so I contacted Kenny and made a deal to buy some of his leftover VR880 stuff. Sometimes you just end up in the right place at the right time; it turned out Kenny still had most of the 951 prototype bike, so we made a deal!
Kenny sold me several ONE-OFF components from the ORIGINAL prototype bike including the monoshock swingarm, "tight tuck" headers and carbon fiber primary; he also sold me the Blue fuel cell/gas tank, boat-tail seat & sidecovers, a set of FCR carbs, and most of the major components to build a VR880 engine including a freshly rebuilt high-end Baisley-built head & Spyke electric starter.
My plan was to take a '75 Mark III Commando frame and adapt it to accept the Dreer monoshock swingarm; The adaptation proved to be a bit tricky, but using AutoCad, I was able to come up with a simpler shock top mount setup than the relatively complex horzontal layout that was on the original prototype bike. For the front end, I decided to go with a modern inverted fork, and was able to source a nearly new complete ZX6 front end locally. The hardest part of the build was taking a Dreer VR880 front hub and sourcing the appropriate bearings and spacers to accept a modern 1" axle and 300mm full floating brake discs; Buchanan's did the lacing up to the drop-center rims. I decided against using clip-on handlebars because I intended to put some miles on this bike as a regular rider, and my back can't handle the boy-racer ergonomic position with clip-ons.
As anxious as I was by this point, I decided to install a complete running 850 e-start engine and build the VR880 lump later; I took a friend up on his offer for an engine and rear end, which I needed for the disc brake rear hub assembly. I then fabricated an electrical panel and hand-wired the bike to mate the classic charging system & lighting with the modern Sparx electronic ignition and UJM thumbswitch controls; the big-amp battery to crank the e-start is hidden under the seat's hump. A set of Clubman racing reaset footpegs were installed, using an earlier model right-foot-shift outer tranny cover & shifter shaft. The rest of the project came together pretty quickly and the results are what you see here, my take on the "modern" Norton Commando"
Bike Specs:
Engine
Norton 850 Commando Mark III, vertical air-cooled OHV pushrod twin, dry sump
Kehin FCR 35mm flat-slide carbs mounted to 33mm intakes, matched to head
Norton 850 Mark III primary system & electric starter
OEM Norton 850 engine covers, oil pump, transmission & clutch (Sureflex clutch plates)
Chassis
Norton 850 Commando Mark III frame, modified for upper monoshock mounting
Dreer Custom fabricated monoshock swingarm with “big bearing” conversion
Isolastic eng/trans mounting subframe, modified for e-start and swingarm bearings
Kawasaki 636 Fork yokes, stem turned to fit OEM Norton steering bearings
Mark III vernier isolastic mount system with Taylor top steady & Eads front steady
Wheels & axles
Excel rims (2.5” F, 3.5” R) laced with Stainless Steel spokes & nipples by Buchanan’s
Custom built rear axle & spacers for OEM Norton Mark III rear hub
Kawasaki 636 front axle with custom built bearings by Buffalo Bearings
Dreer VR880 dual disc front hub & rotor spacers, with custom built axle spacers
Metzeler Lasertech tires: 100/90x19 Front, 120/80x18 Rear
Suspension & Brakes
Front: Showa 41mm fully adjustable (compression, rebound & damping) inverted forks
Rear: KYB fully adjustable, gas charged reservoir rear monoshock
Front: Dual 4-pot Tokiko calipers, 298mm Brembo full-floating rotors, Nissin master cyl.
Rear: 2-pot Nissin caliper, lightened & drilled Norton 280mm rotor, Nissin master cyl.
Cycle Parts
Dreer VR880 matched seat/tail, fuel cell & sidecovers; in Blue with Red & White pinstriping
Dreer ONE-OFF “tuck in” exhaust headers w/ peashooter reverse cone megaphone mufflers
RK 520 chain, Drag Specialties Aero 95mm gas cap assembly, CRG bar-end mirrors
Kawasaki 636 push-pull throttle & clutch lever assembly, Doherty HD cables
OEM Norton footpegs, center stand, oil tank, kickstarter
Electrical Equipment
Sparx 12 volt, 230 watt, 3-phase alternator, Sparx 3-phase regulator/rectifier, H4 halogen headlight
Sparx magnetic trigger electronic ignition, Blue Streak dual-lead 4 ohm, 12 volt ignition coil
Kawasaki 636 handlebar mounted lighting & accessory control switches (2005 spec)
Born Again Bikes hand-wired electrical harness system
AGM heavy duty battery, Barrel-type security keyswitch
Thanx for your consideration, I'll add a link from my website.
-GrandPaul
Proprietor of Born Again Bikes Refurbs & restorations
Host of the Vintage Bikes Forum
