British humour...

I don't know if you remember this :



A gearbox cover sent to me by a renowned british reseller... That I sent back to him, and here is what he sent me back :





The same one, with numbers erased, and dent son it as a bonus ! I think I should refer to Andover Norton on this one.... I don't like this kind of humour... :evil:


Xavier

What a dealer sells is his responsability, unfortunately. Other than ceasing to supply him there is nothing Andover Norton can do. We can't stop dealers from selling dangerous items, pattern parts like Chinese con rod bolts or soft stanchions etcetc. The only thing we can do is to "forget" to mention certain dealers when asked for a trustworthy one.

I think I can guess who supplied you with this gearbox cover. It reeks of a certain party. I can also gues who did NOT play this game with you, because they simply wouldn't do it.

I think forums generally give a pretty good idea whom to trust and whom not. There are names that crop up again and again in connection with iffy parts and behaviour.

It's always a bit of a gamble with these old bikes. The genuine factory parts have not been manufactured for years, so what choice do we have?
On one hand we should be greatful that someone is manufacturing parts to help keep our bikes on the road, but on the other we should not have to put up with parts of shoddy quality likes these. If you look at the photo, it's not just the gear change markings, the whole case is covered in porosity from the poor quality casting process. Even 1970s british build quality was never that bad!
I've got no problem with rubbish parts if thats all that is available, but I'd like the supplier to be honest and tell me that they're rubbish. Quite frankly this well known Norton parts supplier should be ashamed of themselves.

Xavier, If I was you I'd ask for a full refund and try and find an original case.

Have a look here http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/mcy/2903653503.html
I've bought several parts off Tim and he's a great guy to deal with, maybe he still has an outer case. His username here is kraakevik, try sending him a PM.

Webby

My guess is that those 'dings' are teeth marks from a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

Webby03 said:

The genuine factory parts have not been manufactured for years, so what choice do we have?
Webby

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What does that mean? Of course you have the choice of genuine factory parts.

ZFD said:

I think I can guess who supplied you with this gearbox cover. It reeks of a certain party.

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No need to guess, as we already know who supplied it as a supposedly "genuine part" but genuine what? Genuine NORVIL "factory" part? Genuine COMMANDO "factory" part? Neither of which I believe are Andover Norton "factory" parts - not that it matters because AN will get the blame. Factory? It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.




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L.A.B. said:

Xpongebob said:

I was just wondering if it was the quality I should have expected from A.N. as I don't know at all their products. But ,now, I admit this thing appeared to me as a badly cast alloy part not deserving to bear the name of Norton, that's all.

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Maybe not a genuine AN part though?

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L.A.B. said:

Xpongebob said:

I got the label certifying it is

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You bought the part from Norvil?

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Xpongebob said:

L.A.B. said:

You bought the part from Norvil?

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Affirmative. But again, they will change it, and I'll see what they send instead... The rest of the spares I got from them was of fair quality, but this one really disapointed me.

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swooshdave said:

Webby03 said:

The genuine factory parts have not been manufactured for years, so what choice do we have?
Webby

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What does that mean? Of course you have the choice of genuine factory parts.

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If you can find either a batch of NOS, or second hand.
Our biggest problem, unlike owning a Honda for example is that many parts are not subject to any form of quality control.

Webby03 said:

swooshdave said:

Webby03 said:

The genuine factory parts have not been manufactured for years, so what choice do we have?
Webby

Click to expand...

What does that mean? Of course you have the choice of genuine factory parts.

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If you can find either a batch of NOS, or second hand.
Our biggest problem, unlike owning a Honda for example is that many parts are not subject to any form of quality control.

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Again, your only chance of QC is to buy Andover, everything else is a crap shoot.

Ok I dont get on everyday nor read every post and if their is a bad reseller hiding then name helps No one I'm slowly rebuild my 71 and the only true way to know about good resellers are mainly this and other forums !!!!!!!!
Please let all of know or heck just pm me so I don't make that mistake I have a enough hard times getting the money from the wife without wasting what little I get too

Last spring my front stoplight switch failed just before the annual MOT test. I normally use Mick Hemmings, but this time decided to give another Midlands dealer a try.

The new switch took over one week to arrive and was badly corroded. I sent it straight back, still sealed in it's plastic bag and did what I should have done to start with and picked up the phone to Mick Hemmings. Angie put a switch in the post to me that day and I had it the next morning. This is normal service from Mick and Angie Hemmings and in my experience they are an absolute pleasure to deal with.

About a week later I received a replacement switch from the "other lot" with a sarcastic note saying that the part was fine and I should have wiped off the grease like they did. It wasn't the same part they sent back though.....

That's my one and only experience of that particular dealer and they won't get my business again.

Genuine Norton Factory parts are available, and that outer gearbox cover, part# 06-0740, is, as well as, of late, the Mk3 outer gearbox cover. I should be surprised if that cover with the numbers the wrong way round was from us- never heard of that problem, and the attempt at DIY rectification speaks against it, too.

There is a lot of old stock on the market, new and secondhand with the secondhand restored to supposedly new condition on occasion. This applies to whole bikes, too.

I should have thought the supply of goods that didn't pass quality inspection in the Wolverhampton factory and was then taken home by employees- purely to decorate their living rooms, I am sure- had dried up by now. Then again, perhaps it hasn't and is offered by the heirs to prominent Norton spares retailers.

If you want to make sure you get a new part, not a reconditioned one, you know what label to look for. If we, Andover Norton, make a mistake- it happens, occasionally, often with a trusted and established supplier who all of a sudden makes an unprovoked mistake (badly polished mudguards come to mind....)- we warrant the part and try to find a solution that satisfies the customer.

I have put our new man Keith on quality control- he now checks all incoming goods- and recently also put him in charge of warranty, which was only logical.

Joe

XpongeBob,
Order direct to Norton (http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/ .
ZFD on this forum is Andover Norton CEO (not sure he will call him a CEO). Delivery in France is great, prices are OK . Their policy is to deliver parts to factory specification , so use other resellers in UK for "upgraded" parts if needed .

For French readers you'll find some usefull tips on this forum http://www.motos-anglaises.com/ not Commando specialized , and general agreement is that "Il vaut mieux s'adresser au bon Dieu qu'à ses saints "

Bonne route

Genuine Norton Factory!

The only recently manufactured Genuine Norton Factory parts come from a large shed in Donington! :lol:

LAB,
The old jrb thread "Genuine" lurks in the back ground, being the only ONE supplier "Genuine "LANSDOWNE" damper parts...its a hard job :lol:
Don't think the "Big shed" in Donnington owner would like the that title ! Me... i'm a small shed in Staffordshire.

We all know the best British stuff comes from blokes in a shed. Has been that way for years. Look at the spectacular sports cars that have been produced.

ZFD said:

If you want to make sure you get a new part, not a reconditioned one, you know what label to look for. If we, Andover Norton, make a mistake- it happens, occasionally, often with a trusted and established supplier who all of a sudden makes an unprovoked mistake (badly polished mudguards come to mind....)- we warrant the part and try to find a solution that satisfies the customer.

Joe

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Hi Joe,
I'm glad to have a Anover Norton representative. I have the AN label that comes with the supposed "genuine part", but I don't think it comes from you... I question the integrity of you retailer. Do you identify this part as one of yours ? Its poor quality recalls India and Royal enfields to me...

JRD said:

XpongeBob,
Order direct to Norton (http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/ .
ZFD on this forum is Andover Norton CEO (not sure he will call him a CEO). Delivery in France is great, prices are OK . Their policy is to deliver parts to factory specification , so use other resellers in UK for "upgraded" parts if needed .

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Thx JRD, for the advice, after a quick and unsufficient search, I decided this dealer was not so bad considering french prices... I though ordering directly from AN wa not possible.

A plus

Xavier

tjfisher said:

Ok I dont get on everyday nor read every post and if their is a bad reseller hiding then name helps No one I'm slowly rebuild my 71 and the only true way to know about good resellers are mainly this and other forums !!!!!!!!
Please let all of know or heck just pm me so I don't make that mistake I have a enough hard times getting the money from the wife without wasting what little I get too

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http://www.norvilmotorcycle.co.uk/

Unless someone disputes this consider this your suspect.

Btw, you can't get anything you want to eat at Alice's Restaurant anything off an old Commando at Baxter's Cycles in Iowa.

I don't know man, that could have been a "one of a kind" and you didn't know what you had there. I think your kicking yourself for sending it back in the first place.


They got the "N" right......sort of(double hit).

pvisseriii said:

That could have been a "one of a kind". I think your kicking yourself for sending it back in the first place.

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Maybe it's one of those extremely rare and almost priceless reversed gearbox - reverse gearchange pattern covers from a Norton Wulf prototype? :lol: