1970 Factory Racer on the Block

Raced the family's genuine Commando Proddie Racer in Rijeka/Croatia this October, it was fun. No, we were not competitive. Neither I, nor the bike against Japanese fours and freely invented other "historic racers" these days.
But that is the only way to get enjoyment out of it. Standing around it does little for me. On public roads it is no fun with the riding position, very high first gear etc. Last did it a couple of years ago- on the trade plate- and the wife saw me coming home and said "That looks uncomfortable!" It was.

By the way, looked the bike up that started the thread and according to the production records it is the real deal- went out to Berliner.
Joe/Andover Norton

ZFD said:

Raced the family's genuine Commando Proddie Racer in Rijeka/Croatia this October, it was fun. No, we were not competitive. Neither I, nor the bike against Japanese fours and freely invented other "historic racers" these days.
But that is the only way to get enjoyment out of it. Standing around it does little for me. On public roads it is no fun with the riding position, very high first gear etc. Last did it a couple of years ago- on the trade plate- and the wife saw me coming home and said "That looks uncomfortable!" It was.

By the way, looked the bike up that started the thread and according to the production records it is the real deal- went out to Berliner.
Joe/Andover Norton

Click to expand...

Great to get confirmation just in case there was any doubt. Were the PRs all consecutive numbers, or just random?
I'm asking because my PR-spec engine is a lower number within 200 of this one!

The PR riding position isn't much different to the standard modern Jap sportsbike; maybe the pegs could do to be a bit lower for long-distances?
When I look at my Ducatis it's easy to see where their inspiration (and competition) came from - until it got to the engine, of course.

Bogus,
Ducati's Taglioni once confirmed the Norton "space frame" racer inspired the modern Ducati frames.

Modern sportbikes, apart from the 916 which isn't that modern any more and has a reputation to be very uncomfortable to ride on public roads, tend to have their handlebars higher up in relation to the seat.
I once did 1200km in about 24 hours on an F1Sports, collecting it in the factory in Shenstone and riding it to Stuttgart/Germany for a magazine test. Riding position on that more modern Sportsbike was no problem. The sparse seat padding was, however.... I was a lot younger then, too...

The production racers were produced in little groups- if you send me your engine number in a pm I will look it up.
Joe/Andover Norton

You can see the auction results in the link provided at the beginning of this topic - however you have to register to see prices - name, city, state, and e-mail . I was surprised to see prices were not ridiculous for the CDOs. The Production Racer went for $29K US.

If you register and look, try this link....

https://www.mecum.com/view-lots.cfm?auctionID=LV0115

.... and just above the red button on the left middle of the screen click on "TEXT LIST", then on the next screen in the search box (top center) you can search for "Norton" and see all 33 results without having to hunt through all lots.

Dang with inflation that's a good bargain. If not aware of inflation then it seems the sellers are cheating ya instead of the banksters and their elastic currency. Likely can't do much with it prefromance wise as is w/o special breathers, ignitions, pistons etc etc. :roll:

I'd say the buyer got a good deal, and it's difficult to see it depreciating!

Hi

We had Colin Seeley come & give a talk at our bike club. It was a fasinating evening He even brought along the Roton as he was team manager when the won the British championship. Anyway, one of the storys he told was of being invited to Ducati where he designed & built 2 frames for the 750 v twin. Many months later he was suprised to find that his design (including swinging arm pullbacks) was in production!!!!
I believe he got a letter of thanks but no renumeration

Chris

ps still cant believe how much our bikes sell for. Just know I coul'nt afford to buy one now days. Then again I would'nt want to pay that much.