yves norton seeley
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2014
- Messages
- 898
Hello all,
For the past months I said I won’t tell you which bike I am buying before the crate gets in front of my house well Thursday was the D day!
Already nearly half a year after my crash, I am happy to introduce you to my new Seeley Norton: The Sunburst, one of Kenny Cummings masterpieces!
I won’t say that I am proud as it is not my work, but Kenny Cummings’.
Unlike my former Seeley, the Big Spender, that was my “works in progress” for ten years.
The Sunburst is a MK2 Seeley frame made by Roger Titsmarsh, with a top engine: 750cc with Maney cases, crank and cylinders, PW3 camshaft, high compression pistons, a Fullauto head with Black Diamonds valves, Keihin FCR 35 carbs and Tri Spark ignition, Maney belt drive kit and 2 in 1 exhaust. Excel rims, Consentino fork internals, dual disk on the front, single disk on the back, Maney/Minnovation back hub with the Maney Cush Drive Unit, Falcon shocks, Sprint half fairing made by Flat Racer, but the most impressive are the many finishing touches from the hands from Kenny and his team, the electricity is spot on with a Motogadget rev counter.
Yet you see, Joe, the Sunburst former owner, almost never rode it, as he could never feel comfortable with the clip ons and rear sets, the bike as only 360 miles on the counter, it did (a great many) more miles on ships and trucks then on the road...
I can already hear people knowing me say: Yves will now change everything on the bike, as he always does...well NO!
I will keep intact the form and spirit of the Cummings Seeley, this is mechanical art at its finest, imagine you receive the Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, would you overpaint it?
I will make only a few changes and these are mandatory with my bad hip and knee: a E-start built by J.N. Gindrat from Yellow Peril fame, and I will set the footrests a couple of inches lower and one inch forward for more confort.
I will re-polish all the aluminium parts and put a slightly higher screen on the fairing, as this one is to low for me.
The only other change will be to replace the Sunburst original Norton 4 speed gearbox by my TTI 5 speed.
But back on Thursday: at 9 AM a big truck stops in front of my house and unloads a huge crate on the pavement, but I must wait for my friend Michael to open it. Joe, the former owner did a lot of work to perfectly protect the bike during transit.
Once the crate open, we had to put the fairing back on, put gazoline in the tank, and connect the battery, and soon another friend Tim, who also came to help starts the bike for the first time, what a sound, A few neighboring houses collapse as I gently blip the throttle a few times...
Then the most important moment to me: can I put my leg over the bike? well yes... with the help of my friends I did it, very painful still but I was not able to put my right foot on the footrest, thats why the first thing I will do is change their position.
We put the Sunburst in the garage for the night with my Yorkshire dog Toy keeping an eye on it to prevent Marina from setting it on fire... She is not very happy with my new bike: « Yves , you are 68 years old and you do it again! »
Well dear Marina, it is said that you become old when you stop riding but you don’t stop riding because you are old.
On friday, Bruno came to my house and rode the Seeley to my workshop 5 miles away , while I followed in my car.
Before I let Bruno give is first impressions I wish to thanks Joe, what a wonderful man, and Michael already six months near me to give me a hand and of course Bruno and my wife Marina.
You might say that I am a lucky man to own the Sunburst, but never forget that the stupid woman from the crash destroyed 10 years of work on the Big Spender, and that half a year after the crash I am still not OK with my leg and barely able to walk.
So there it is: a Christmas in March!
Yves
For the past months I said I won’t tell you which bike I am buying before the crate gets in front of my house well Thursday was the D day!
Already nearly half a year after my crash, I am happy to introduce you to my new Seeley Norton: The Sunburst, one of Kenny Cummings masterpieces!
I won’t say that I am proud as it is not my work, but Kenny Cummings’.
Unlike my former Seeley, the Big Spender, that was my “works in progress” for ten years.
The Sunburst is a MK2 Seeley frame made by Roger Titsmarsh, with a top engine: 750cc with Maney cases, crank and cylinders, PW3 camshaft, high compression pistons, a Fullauto head with Black Diamonds valves, Keihin FCR 35 carbs and Tri Spark ignition, Maney belt drive kit and 2 in 1 exhaust. Excel rims, Consentino fork internals, dual disk on the front, single disk on the back, Maney/Minnovation back hub with the Maney Cush Drive Unit, Falcon shocks, Sprint half fairing made by Flat Racer, but the most impressive are the many finishing touches from the hands from Kenny and his team, the electricity is spot on with a Motogadget rev counter.
Yet you see, Joe, the Sunburst former owner, almost never rode it, as he could never feel comfortable with the clip ons and rear sets, the bike as only 360 miles on the counter, it did (a great many) more miles on ships and trucks then on the road...
I can already hear people knowing me say: Yves will now change everything on the bike, as he always does...well NO!
I will keep intact the form and spirit of the Cummings Seeley, this is mechanical art at its finest, imagine you receive the Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, would you overpaint it?
I will make only a few changes and these are mandatory with my bad hip and knee: a E-start built by J.N. Gindrat from Yellow Peril fame, and I will set the footrests a couple of inches lower and one inch forward for more confort.
I will re-polish all the aluminium parts and put a slightly higher screen on the fairing, as this one is to low for me.
The only other change will be to replace the Sunburst original Norton 4 speed gearbox by my TTI 5 speed.
But back on Thursday: at 9 AM a big truck stops in front of my house and unloads a huge crate on the pavement, but I must wait for my friend Michael to open it. Joe, the former owner did a lot of work to perfectly protect the bike during transit.
Once the crate open, we had to put the fairing back on, put gazoline in the tank, and connect the battery, and soon another friend Tim, who also came to help starts the bike for the first time, what a sound, A few neighboring houses collapse as I gently blip the throttle a few times...
Then the most important moment to me: can I put my leg over the bike? well yes... with the help of my friends I did it, very painful still but I was not able to put my right foot on the footrest, thats why the first thing I will do is change their position.
We put the Sunburst in the garage for the night with my Yorkshire dog Toy keeping an eye on it to prevent Marina from setting it on fire... She is not very happy with my new bike: « Yves , you are 68 years old and you do it again! »
Well dear Marina, it is said that you become old when you stop riding but you don’t stop riding because you are old.
On friday, Bruno came to my house and rode the Seeley to my workshop 5 miles away , while I followed in my car.
Before I let Bruno give is first impressions I wish to thanks Joe, what a wonderful man, and Michael already six months near me to give me a hand and of course Bruno and my wife Marina.
You might say that I am a lucky man to own the Sunburst, but never forget that the stupid woman from the crash destroyed 10 years of work on the Big Spender, and that half a year after the crash I am still not OK with my leg and barely able to walk.
So there it is: a Christmas in March!
Yves
