The Joy of Nortons

It has been more than three months since Garry and I finished our Sturgis road trip and riding has slowed down for the fall. Big Red has been in Victoria since October 14th waiting for parts from Milwaukee to replace the clutch assembly and parts of the transmission. Fortunately, this work was covered under the Extended Service Plan that I purchased last year so the total cost of the repairs is fifty-six dollars.  However, I also had the 96 000 kilometre service done and I had the front brake pads replaced. At the same time the mechanic found that the drive belt on Big Red had picked up a rock which went through it and damaged the drive sprockets, and they had to be replaced. So, the total bill was an unexpected one thousand nine hundred dollars. It made quite a large hole in my 'mad money' account.

Barnes H-D delivered Big Red on December 2nd, so they had her for more than seven weeks. I'm glad this happened at the end of the riding season so I didn't miss a lot of Harley time.

Fortunately, I have two classic motorcycles, both 1974 Norton Commandos, and they have filled the void admirably. I haven't done any long rides recently, but it is great to have the option to hop on a motorcycle on any day of the year that is good for riding.

My 1974 Norton Commando Roadster

Me and my 1974 850  Norton Commando Roadster

My 1974 Norton Commando 850 Interstate

November is usually the end of the riding season, but I have put quite a few miles on the old girls since mid-October. And both of them are running beautifully, starting on the first kick most of the time. Whenever I take one of them out, I inevitably have someone give me a thumbs up or even come over and want to talk about the bike. It is quite surprising that even though Norton Villiers made only about 57 000 Commandos, almost everyone used to own one, or knows someone who used to have a Norton back in the day.  I think that Norton has a cachet that most of the other British bikes don't seem to have, with the exception of Vincents and Brough Superiors.

1974 Norton Commando 850 Interstate, Jan. 3, 2016

I have had a love affair with Norton motorcycles since April, 1971, when I bought my first Norton Commando. Even though I owned it for only a little more than a year before I traded it on a 1972 Suzuki GT750 LeMans (aka 'Water Buffalo'), I always had a soft spot for Commandos. When I got the chance to buy a 1974 Roadster in September 2013, I pulled the trigger. This was followed a year later by a 1974 Commando Interstate. After the ministrations of my friend Jim Knight, both motorcycles run flawlessly, most of the time starting on the first kick.

The only photo I have of my 1971 Norton Commando 750 Roadster.

I had my Interstate out for a short ride on December 13th. Following that I took the Roadster out a week later, on December 20th. This is the latest date in the year that I have ever been riding, but I was hoping to get in another ride or two before the weather turned bad. My ultimate goal was to take one or both of the Nortons out in the last week of the year but with the weather changing that was my last ride of 2015.

My 1974 Interstate on December 13th

There is something about the sound of a Norton that is unlike any other motorcycle. For me, the two best sounding motorcycles I have ever heard are Nortons and Harley-Davidsons, and I can't decide which one I like better. It probably depends on which bike I'm riding at the time. Here's a little taste of the sound of Nortons.

1974 Norton Commando Roadster at the beach

Four Norton Commandos

In Campbell River a retired gentleman, Ron Bailley, rebuilds Nortons and sells them in places as far away as Australia. Interestingly enough, he doesn't ride and the only motorcycles he works on are Nortons. I was able to visit him one afternoon and see three completed Nortons, one of which was sold to a person in Australia, the other was tentatively being sold to the same person, while the third, a 1973 Command Interstate, wasn't for sale. Ron has only one bike left to be rebuilt and I think that he doesn't want to let the Interstate go because he might not have anything left in his garage. When he rebuilds that final Norton I wonder what he will do next. Interestingly, Ron rebuilds Nortons because he loves to do it. One of his Nortons was featured in Motorcycle Classics magazine in the spring of 2013

Nortons are becoming harder to find and the prices, even for basket case Nortons, are starting to rise to what I consider to be unreasonable levels. I think that I'm really fortunate to have bought my Nortons before prices got crazy.

In July 2014, my friend, Jim Knight and I piled our Nortons into the back of my Toyota Tundra drove to Ashland, OR, to attend the International Norton Owners Association rally. It was three days of seeing and hearing Nortons, the oldest dating to 1946, and the newest to 1975. For three days, Howard Prairie State Park was a Norton mecca, with more than one hundred and fifty of the marque in one place. One guy had even ridden his Roadster from Pennsylvania, more than three thousand kilometres.

Our plan next year is to attend the INOA Rally in Quincy, CA, in July 2016. The dilemma we have is whether to take two Nortons in one truck, four Nortons in two trucks, or four Nortons in a truck and trailer. Decisions!

To begin the New Year I took both Nortons out for rides on January 3rd, making this the earliest day in the year that I have ever been riding. I left it until January 3rd because I wanted to have a goal of bettering that day in the future. This year I'll try to ride after December 20th and next year before January 3rd. It's always good to have goals!

My 'stable'. Warming up the Nortons.

First ride of the year. January 3, 2016

First ride of the year. January 3, 2016

A final, parting thought. In an article in the jan/Feb 2016 issue of Cycle World Peter Egan  and his friend rode a 1976 BMW, and a 1974 Norton Commando on a trip through Wisconsin and Illinois His summary: "The BMW is the ultimate motorcycle and the Norton is the ultimate experience."  I agree.