- Joined
- Oct 19, 2005
- Messages
- 18,978
Them Norton Commandos are just something else with roots that go deep into many souls. This mysterious serial saga is off current mc-engine list, see if ya can figure it out while being entertained. hobotness ==============================
mc-engine@yahoogroups.com
nobolts3@yahoo.com.au 3/17/2013 5:21 PM
Related to anyone here ??
"PS. Mr.Hinton indicated that Commando #123667 was "possibly experimental and was sold to Byron Black in the USA, date 14.8.69""
.......................................................................
englishcorrection@yahoo.com 9:24 AM
Well shucks. I fear it is a long story I must unfold to give you an explanation of what transpired, but in a nutshell I suspect the answer is NO.
Not this Byron Black anyway. (I thought I was sort of unique, ha ha, until that Zimbabwe tennis player came on the scene. He's the one you get if you ever try and google me). There may well have been another motorcycle-mad Byron Black in the USA who bought an experimental Norton but I was long gone by then.
In 1969, just a couple of steps ahead of the FBI, I received an assignment from an industry publication called MOTORCYCLE DEALER NEWS, located in southern California, to write articles on the European companies, many of which were going through major changes. I had previously contributed quite a few first-person and travel pieces to CYCLE, CYCLE WORLD and CYCLE GUIDE magazines.
With my Japanese photographer pal, I planned to travel from London to Calcutta, and then to ship a bike onwards to Tokyo, where I had been hired by Ivan Wagar, editor of CYCLE WORLD, to be their Japan Correspondent. I spent a year doing that, and it was exceedingly frustrating, but that's another chapter.
My connection with Norton was through one Dennis Poore, head of Manganese Bronze Holdings and hapless owner of the Norton-Villiers trademarks at that time. He decided I was worth giving a Norton Commando 750 to, on the basis of my plan to write a book on our tour through Europe and Asia, and presented me with a new 750.
(Can't much see that kind of thing happening these days, frankly.)
We did tours and articles on the factories of Husqvarna, Maico, Ducati and a couple of others on the way through Yugoslavia, Turkey and Iran, where I fell ill.
What's interesting is that I had long had a strong prejudice against Brit-shit road bikes, as the 1960s were an era of clunky designs, unbelievable quality control, vibration and breakdowns. Prince of Darkness and all that.
Among other delightful surprises was having the crank seize up on a nearly-new big twin Beezer, and when torn down revealing that some unschooled yob in Birmingham (or Pakistani with a hammer) had inserted rusty bearings into the engine. I interviewed executives at BSA who actually seemed to believe they were going to be able to compete with the Japanese, though on which planet I could not say.
BSA for Bit Stuck All-over, and bits were falling off as you motored down the road.
Thus the Norton Commando I was presented with was a true eye-opener. The Isolastic suspension doughnuts absorbed practically all of the big twin's vibration, and it would squirt up to 80 or 90 mph very nicely, smoothly and with sharp handling. What a sweet surprise.
We tore down French roads with the oak trees whipping past like fence-posts (old joke: "Why do the French plant all those big oak trees along their highways?" "So the German Army can march in the shade")
I experienced practically no problems whatsoever with the Norton, and even had it lifted in a sling in Istanbul, where we boarded a freighter that deposited us in Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast.
Easy through Iranian Border Check and then 90mph down the Shah's brand-new highway to Tehran. Thats when the e.colitis put paid to our travels.
Jump forward to Tokyo, where I decided to sell the Norton, as I had the hots for the just-released CB-750. Four cylinders! Wow.
A week or so later I happened to pass the English bike dealer in Tokyo where I'd sold the twin, and spotted it on display up front. Polished to a perfect shine, it gleamed in the sunlight. And as if by magic, the odometer had suddenly lost about 5000 miles!
Never had another Norton though I've dreamed of riding the Wankel.
So much for the elderly time-waster giving you all the boring back-when, onion on my belt, young whippersnappers etc. etc.
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
JShepard35@aol.com
"..,and it was exceedingly frustrating, but that's another chapter."
Don't leave us hanging!
John
mc-engine@yahoogroups.com
nobolts3@yahoo.com.au 3/17/2013 5:21 PM
Related to anyone here ??
"PS. Mr.Hinton indicated that Commando #123667 was "possibly experimental and was sold to Byron Black in the USA, date 14.8.69""
.......................................................................
englishcorrection@yahoo.com 9:24 AM
Well shucks. I fear it is a long story I must unfold to give you an explanation of what transpired, but in a nutshell I suspect the answer is NO.
Not this Byron Black anyway. (I thought I was sort of unique, ha ha, until that Zimbabwe tennis player came on the scene. He's the one you get if you ever try and google me). There may well have been another motorcycle-mad Byron Black in the USA who bought an experimental Norton but I was long gone by then.
In 1969, just a couple of steps ahead of the FBI, I received an assignment from an industry publication called MOTORCYCLE DEALER NEWS, located in southern California, to write articles on the European companies, many of which were going through major changes. I had previously contributed quite a few first-person and travel pieces to CYCLE, CYCLE WORLD and CYCLE GUIDE magazines.
With my Japanese photographer pal, I planned to travel from London to Calcutta, and then to ship a bike onwards to Tokyo, where I had been hired by Ivan Wagar, editor of CYCLE WORLD, to be their Japan Correspondent. I spent a year doing that, and it was exceedingly frustrating, but that's another chapter.
My connection with Norton was through one Dennis Poore, head of Manganese Bronze Holdings and hapless owner of the Norton-Villiers trademarks at that time. He decided I was worth giving a Norton Commando 750 to, on the basis of my plan to write a book on our tour through Europe and Asia, and presented me with a new 750.
(Can't much see that kind of thing happening these days, frankly.)
We did tours and articles on the factories of Husqvarna, Maico, Ducati and a couple of others on the way through Yugoslavia, Turkey and Iran, where I fell ill.
What's interesting is that I had long had a strong prejudice against Brit-shit road bikes, as the 1960s were an era of clunky designs, unbelievable quality control, vibration and breakdowns. Prince of Darkness and all that.
Among other delightful surprises was having the crank seize up on a nearly-new big twin Beezer, and when torn down revealing that some unschooled yob in Birmingham (or Pakistani with a hammer) had inserted rusty bearings into the engine. I interviewed executives at BSA who actually seemed to believe they were going to be able to compete with the Japanese, though on which planet I could not say.
BSA for Bit Stuck All-over, and bits were falling off as you motored down the road.
Thus the Norton Commando I was presented with was a true eye-opener. The Isolastic suspension doughnuts absorbed practically all of the big twin's vibration, and it would squirt up to 80 or 90 mph very nicely, smoothly and with sharp handling. What a sweet surprise.
We tore down French roads with the oak trees whipping past like fence-posts (old joke: "Why do the French plant all those big oak trees along their highways?" "So the German Army can march in the shade")
I experienced practically no problems whatsoever with the Norton, and even had it lifted in a sling in Istanbul, where we boarded a freighter that deposited us in Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast.
Easy through Iranian Border Check and then 90mph down the Shah's brand-new highway to Tehran. Thats when the e.colitis put paid to our travels.
Jump forward to Tokyo, where I decided to sell the Norton, as I had the hots for the just-released CB-750. Four cylinders! Wow.
A week or so later I happened to pass the English bike dealer in Tokyo where I'd sold the twin, and spotted it on display up front. Polished to a perfect shine, it gleamed in the sunlight. And as if by magic, the odometer had suddenly lost about 5000 miles!
Never had another Norton though I've dreamed of riding the Wankel.
So much for the elderly time-waster giving you all the boring back-when, onion on my belt, young whippersnappers etc. etc.
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
JShepard35@aol.com
"..,and it was exceedingly frustrating, but that's another chapter."
Don't leave us hanging!
John