Andover Norton

According to this forum I am not the only person to have a problem with the sainted Joe Seifert and Andover Norton parts. I am a Brit living in Invercargill, New Zealand (home of the Burt Munro event) and had a Commando built up from spares in 2014 by the local British bike expert. I hired a car to visit Andover Norton on my last UK visit to collect a pair of Peashooter silencers for it, and took them back to NZ as luggage. They were fitted, and the bike was parked in a friend's dry and well-equipped garage, along with his other racers and road bikes. Jon is an electrical Engineer and general bike genius, who builds and tunes his own engines on his home built dynanometer. The bike was assembled but not tarted up cosmetically or polished (see attached photo from 2014) as it needed to be fettled prior to use.


I then suffered health problems which prevented me riding bikes, and was horrified to see the condition of the AN silencers last year, especially the left side with chrome that had actually peeled off


Yes, 5 years had elapsed, but the bike was only started twice in that time, and no other object on the bike, or in Jon's garage had suffered the same fate. I took the silencers to our local chromer (also a Brit bike expert and racer at the Burt Munro) who tore a 4 inch strip off, and pronounced it as the sort of cheap, low quality chroming he is seeing a lot nowadays, as the base metal is not properly prepared.

I contacted AN and was given a lot of blather by a staff member and Joe Seifert over successive emails, including that the garage is near the sea, so salt air affected it, and that the bike was in poor condition cosmetically, as evidence that the silencer had suffered along with the rest of the bike. As I pointed out several times, Jon's garage is dry and well appointed, and his other bikes have not suffered, or the NZ manufactured Viking downpipes, which were unblemished


I am no engineer, but Jon is, and to the guff provided by AN and Joe Seifert responded with typical Yorkshire bluntness - "What happens to their F..in parts in Grimsby then?" (a notoriously wind-swept fishing town on the UK coastline). Our question as to how the AN silencers could deteriorate to this extent, while attached to the unblemished Viking down-pipes, was met with a selective, deafening silence by Joe Seifert. Very short sighted, as many British bike, Norton and Commando owners will soon be hearing personally from me about the shortcomings of AN at the imminent Burt Munro. So you've had no problems with AN parts? Good for you. It doesn't negate the experience of other Forum contributors, and my experience. I've just had a house built, and none of the thousands of items supplied were of low quality.

Robhj said:

Thanks for letting me know. How's it looking now?

Click to expand...

Yes, they are there now (so I deleted my original message).

I'd like to hear from anyone else who's had a problem with those units.

I personally have had no real issues with Andover parts thus far.

This does not include chromework or mufflers however.

My only issue is they do not supply new crankshafts and Interstate tanks which I had real issues buying in the past year.

Perhaps the reason lies in the answer they sent on my crankshaft query.

They cannot find suppliers who can or are willing to do a proper job making the cranks.

Maybe the same with chrome


I have not got Viking exhausts but close friends say they are extremely high quality. Made in NZ.

I'm getting some supportive private messages from platers and other experts. AN should be honest about their failings, such as the cams/followers debacle, which gave the lie to the "made to original specifications" claim. I don't like to have my intelligence insulted, as in Joe Seifert's failure to reply to my repeated question about Viking/AN chrome discrepancy. Shouldn't be rocket science to answer that question, but it was obviously difficult for him... But then easy to be impressed by tales of swanning across Europe on Nortons with your well-heeled mates. Sounds like Joe has a lot in common with Stuart Garner:

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...torcycles-collapsed-amid-acrimony-and-scandal

As they say in the UK, 'Bullshit baffles brains'...

I'm curious, why do you think the corrosion and peeling on the left silencer was worse than the on the right?

Can you post pictures?

Yes, it looks like a cheap shitty silencer, like Unity and Wassell used to sell (maybe still do).

But coming back with a complaint five years later? Good luck with that!

I agree with you robhj, they don’t look like the best quality.

But I don’t know of any retailer that would offer any kind of warranty support regarding cosmetic issues on 5 year old motorcycle parts!

IMHO, your disappointment is 100% justified, but your expectations are not.

I have bought two sets of A/N mufflers over 5 years ago. Both were 1st rate quality chrome and are still perfect. The have "Norton"
etched on the back end of each. I once ordered a set of black cap mufflers and on arrival one had a small dent which couldn't be seen
when mounted. I brought this to their attention and was promptly refunded half the cost of the pair. Recently I ordered a new Lucas
headlight shell. They sent one for a Triumph. I brought this to their attention and they immediately sent me the correct one and
said to keep the incorrect one. I have ordered parts from them many times and have found them all to be of high quality with excellent
support and communication.
That said, those mufflers in the picture look like crap. Clearly that was from a bad batch they bought from a sub-standard supplier.
But waiting 5 years to complain doesn't seem appropriate. Surely one would have noticed pitting and separation much sooner than
that.

Were these parts waxed before storage? (I think you say “polished”) I expect you didn't plan on being ill.
Tell us about the storage environment.

My bike has a pair of the aforementioned Norton logo silencers. Five years old no problems. They live a pampered life in a heated garage riding out on
fine days only.
Tough luck though for you. I cannot imagine anybody giving you much joy after five years. If you were a big customer then maybe they would throw you a bone. Maybe.
The only thing I can say that AN likes to sell itself as the top dog of Norton bits and any problems with their product should be dealt with totally honestly and transparently.

The Peashooters were handed to me at AN, but didn't have a Norton logo. I realise it was 5 years, so I didn't expect replacement, just a sympathetic ear and a valid explanation as to the deterioration. Instead I got accusations that I had kept it in a damp garage. As per one of the comments, why was one simply pitted with rust while the other had a patch of chrome disappear? The local plater gave the explanation by peeling off a further 4 inch strip, and saying that the surface was not prepared - "I see a lot of this nowadays - cheap plating job that looks good for a few weeks". Friend's garage is dry and none of his other bikes suffered. Yes I could have spotted it earlier, but as above, the left silencer was doomed from poor preparation at manufacture. And still leaves the question I kept asking without response - why are the Viking downpipes unblemished? Same applies to original chainguard, headlamp shell, and locally chromed instrument surrounds. Regarding the latter, Steve said chroming onto alloy is very difficult, but somehow that has stayed on...

And to paraphrase friend's comment, if this is what happened to silencers in a dry garage, WTF did they have to do to them if the bike was kept outside on the rain slashed Yorkshire coast? Of course, the answer to that is that original Norton chrome didn't have to be continually buffed in a pampered warm garage

Well, sounds like you got duds there!

As to the question why did the Viking downpipes remain good? I’d have thought that was fairly obvious, it’s because his stuff is simply as good as it gets! Period.

He does peashooters too you know...

Robhj said:

And to paraphrase friend's comment, if this is what happened to silencers in a dry garage, WTF did they have to do to them if the bike was kept outside on the rain slashed Yorkshire coast? Of course, the answer to that is that original Norton chrome didn't have to be continually buffed in a pampered warm garage

Click to expand...

There is no doubt, yesteryears run of the mill, mass production chrome was far better than today’s.
To get that today, it’s big money “show plating”.
Reference the rare modern vehicle with a chrome bumper. They don’t age well. Not defending AN, just citing a sad fact.

johnm said:

I personally have had no real issues with Andover parts thus far.

This does not include chromework or mufflers however.

My only issue is they do not supply new crankshafts and Interstate tanks which I had real issues buying in the past year.

Perhaps the reason lies in the answer they sent on my crankshaft query.

They cannot find suppliers who can or are willing to do a proper job making the cranks.

Maybe the same with chrome


I have not got Viking exhausts but close friends say they are extremely high quality. Made in NZ.

Click to expand...

Crankshafts are on my list to do, but with you lot and the bosses wish list the list is a long one.

Personally, I'm grateful that AN exists and on those rare occasions where something wasn't perfect, they have taken care of it without complaint. I have bought a LOT of parts from them. Also, I ask them a technical question from time to time, usually by email, and always get a good and quick answer.

Viking downpipes simply better quality? Ah, that's why Joe S and previous AN contact didn't answer my question...I hope this and other complainants knocks Joe S off the pedastal he is obviously on for many. Gives the lie to the PR they like to portray, as do the many posts about dud parts, such as having to reposition and weld a fixing. If they can send a Triumph headlamp for a Norton, similar incompetence explains the posts about dud parts, and poorly chosen suppliers. As to silencers, Jap bikes had a lesser reputation for chrome than British bikes, but my teenage succession of GS750, Z650 and GT550 didn't suffer from gormless lack of maintenance and being kept outside. The latter bike was famously blinged in chrome everywhere, but was still pristine when I sold it on. So why do AN silencers need pampering in a heated garage?