CNW

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When I see a ratty, oily, ill-maintained Norton I find it pretty repulsive. I'll take a CNW Norton, any day, even if it's a trailer Queen. Somewhat analogous to who I see on the back of Harleys, as opposed to who I see on the back of the sport bikes.
 
JimC said:
When I see a ratty, oily, ill-maintained Norton I find it pretty repulsive. I'll take a CNW Norton, any day, even if it's a trailer Queen.
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Spot on JimC. Matt's products and services speaks for themselves. I do not recall a time where Matt felt compelled to expound on the virtues of his work products - really no need to. There are a select few others out there that do the same.
 
I am also a great supporter of CNW. I have wanted one for many years, but I just couldn't afford it. However, late last year, I purchased a pre-owned CNW off of their site. If you look under the tab "Complete CNW Rebuilds" you will see a link to "Pre-Owned Bikes." That is where I found mine. It's #72 and I have had Matt change the color. I hope to be posting some pictures before too much longer.

Yes, there are alternatives to CNW. If you keep an eye on Baxter Cycles out of Marne, Iowa, you will see some Norton's for sale. The typical 1975 850 is usually listed at a price of about $15,000. I have owned 2 bikes that have come out of Baxter's. One I purchased directly, and one I purchased second hand. Nothing against Randy Baxter, but they are not even close to a CNW. They are good bikes and have been gone through, but certainly not to the detail that CNW completes on their bikes.

Just my two cents. Again, nothing against any of the other bike builders out there, but I don't think anyone is in the same class as Colorado Norton Works. If there was someone that was as good, or better, I would have bought one from someone else.

Regards,

Chris
 
when a CNW bike is shown on here,it's always a dry sunny day, You wouldnt take that out on British Salt covered roads. or would ya?
 
Yes there is an alternative to buying a complete CNW build from Matt.
Matt sells most of the parts he uses to build his bikes.
Therefore, buying the key parts you want and doing the work yourself is a clear alternative.
Maybe not quite as special as a 'real' one, but it was the only way I could afford something comparable!
 
JimC said:
When I see a ratty, oily, ill-maintained Norton I find it pretty repulsive. I'll take a CNW Norton, any day, even if it's a trailer Queen. Somewhat analogous to who I see on the back of Harleys, as opposed to who I see on the back of the sport bikes.
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please dont get an "oily rag" motorcycle muddled up with a "ratty oily ill maintained motorcycle" they are way different beasts ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,baz
 
john robert bould said:
when a CNW bike is shown on here,it's always a dry sunny day, You wouldnt take that out on British Salt covered roads. or would ya?
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I am in Florida, so we have an abundance of dry, sunny days. But, I have ridden build 99 in the rain, and on a few dirt roads. I have a pressure washer and a hot air motorcycle blow dryer, and it does not take long to clean her up

I believe the CNW builds are far too beautiful to sit in a garage, or on a trailer, and should be ridden on a regular basis. The only problem I have is the other Triumphs and Nortons in the garage do not see as much saddle time as they use to see before the arrival of my CNW build
 
Must be a British/American thing "oily rag" over here is a well looked after machine that as a smear of protective oil..its not as you suggest a rat bike,lets face it keeping a smear of oil on a british twin ain't hard :lol:

JimC said:
When I see a ratty, oily, ill-maintained Norton I find it pretty repulsive. I'll take a CNW Norton, any day, even if it's a trailer Queen. Somewhat analogous to who I see on the back of Harleys, as opposed to who I see on the back of the sport bikes.
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I think there two types of bike builders, those who are certain they already know everything and prefer shortcuts, as opposed to those who are constantly learning and know a shortcut always leads to a shortcoming.

I've never owned a CNW Norton and being 70 years of age, I doubt I ever will. I will say, if ever I were to come into a large sum of money I would buy a CNW, if only for an objet d'art.
 
Jim, With your skills you can build a commando to the highest standards,and behond, not saying paint,chrome etc [guess that's not your bag]..but engineering perfection. After watching your billet jugs,whats your limit.?



JimC said:
I think there two types of bike builders, those who are certain they already know everything and prefer shortcuts, as opposed to those who are constantly learning and know a shortcut always leads to a shortcoming.

I've never owned a CNW Norton and being 70 years of age, I doubt I ever will. I will say, if ever I were to come into a large sum of money I would buy a CNW, if only for an objet d'art.
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john robert bould said:
Must be a British/American thing "oily rag" over here is a well looked after machine that as a smear of protective oil..its not as you suggest a rat bike,lets face it keeping a smear of oil on a british twin ain't hard :lol:

JimC said:
When I see a ratty, oily, ill-maintained Norton I find it pretty repulsive. I'll take a CNW Norton, any day, even if it's a trailer Queen. Somewhat analogous to who I see on the back of Harleys, as opposed to who I see on the back of the sport bikes.
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I know what you mean john
I have one of those "oily rag" monsters. I don't recall the last time I washed it. I figure when riding it every day, the rainy ones will clear of the road gunk.
That is not to say it ain't well maintained. It has at least $6k in aftermarket goodies fitted and it goes hard, everyday, all day.
 
My mate as a bsa rocket three, just paid $500 [£300] for a tank paint job. well what a performance getting on the bike, "where's me zip..is it touching the paint" for christ sake! Once on the road he's always looking down on the tank, and when re-filling it's another song and dance ,,"carnt spill any on the paint, out comes a rag just in case! My Mk 3 as a small dent on the tank ..and it's stopping there! Wouldn't spend £300 just to get rid.
 
John, you may have me confused with Jim Comstock (comnoz). Comstock is, by far, more skilled and knowledgeable than me. I am an old retired ironworker, who likes and has owned a few Nortons.




john robert bould said:
Jim, With your skills you can build a commando to the highest standards,and behond, not saying paint,chrome etc [guess that's not your bag]..but engineering perfection. After watching your billet jugs,whats your limit.?



JimC said:
I think there two types of bike builders, those who are certain they already know everything and prefer shortcuts, as opposed to those who are constantly learning and know a shortcut always leads to a shortcoming.

I've never owned a CNW Norton and being 70 years of age, I doubt I ever will. I will say, if ever I were to come into a large sum of money I would buy a CNW, if only for an objet d'art.
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capehorner said:
Is there an alternative to CNW. I'm not rich.
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If you look at the CNW engine rebuild fee, it is quite reasonable for what it is. If I was wanting to fix up a tired old Norton and was looking to spend some major dollars but could not do the work myself, this is very good value. The bling CNW offers is great, but forget the bling, a clean Commando is already a great looking machine. It's mainly the engine/trans that prevents you from having a good ownership experience or provides you with great fun. For about 7 k, or the price of a TTI trans(most of us don't need those either) you get an engine and trans that is rebuilt to a standard which surpasses factory new. It looks like Jim Comstock and his tricks figure somewhat into this option, which makes it all the better.
Good value !

Glen
 
No, there is no alternative to CNW if you want a Commando that is restored to an extremely high standard with all weaknesses in the original design addressed and lots of trick parts installed. They are fabulous machines. If you want to build a Commando to the standard that Matt builds 'em, but don't want to pay for it, you'll have to do the work yourself.
 
:oops: sorry Old retired iron worker , i just thought Jim C was Jim Comstock.



JimC said:
John, you may have me confused with Jim Comstock (comnoz). Comstock is, by far, more skilled and knowledgeable than me. I am an old retired ironworker, who likes and has owned a few Nortons.




john robert bould said:
Jim, With your skills you can build a commando to the highest standards,and behond, not saying paint,chrome etc [guess that's not your bag]..but engineering perfection. After watching your billet jugs,whats your limit.?



JimC said:
I think there two types of bike builders, those who are certain they already know everything and prefer shortcuts, as opposed to those who are constantly learning and know a shortcut always leads to a shortcoming.

I've never owned a CNW Norton and being 70 years of age, I doubt I ever will. I will say, if ever I were to come into a large sum of money I would buy a CNW, if only for an objet d'art.
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There maynotbe another fella's shop offering a more finished sparkelly practical Commando than Matt's CNW but there's a handfull of other places to get a world class ready to fly Commando - in similar price ranges from famous folks in UK and USA. Almost all of em have been featured here over the yrs so search em up on google to window shop as can't find em by this forum search engine directly. If ya have a core Commando to start or send enough moola w/o one > then there are dozens of people/shops worldwide that can-will & do put together anything ya can imagine to afford. I'm an old fashioned telephone and snail mail guy and flatly state the vast majority of Commando activity-availablity is not online here, though not saying their activities are any better than the samplings on this fun forum.
 
I tend to go overboard on the sparkling looking bike approach and when Im done Ive spent far
too much and Im afraid it might get dirty. So I buy another to ride and winter comes and
the problem starts all over.
Perfect bike is a air head BMW. They dont give you much to polish!
 
Onder said:
I tend to go overboard on the sparkling looking bike approach and when Im done Ive spent far
too much and Im afraid it might get dirty. So I buy another to ride and winter comes and
the problem starts all over.
Perfect bike is a air head BMW. They dont give you much to polish!
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Ha! You could be talking a out me there Onder...

I bought my Commando as a 'carefree runabout' ... And winter came ... And now its looks not too dissimilar to something that may have emerged from Matts shop ... And now I find myself looking at airhead BMs on eBay ... !

Is there no cure ...?
 
Is there no cure ...?
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Yes death. So nasty dirty ride conditions and every side line set back and delay takes away our life and times, so spend and re-polish like there is no end eh.
 
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