Correct Gas Tank Logo for black 74 CDO with Gold Logo

I am seeking guidance on the correct gas tank “Norton” logo on a ’74 CDO. I have a damaged logo on the tank and am interested in replacing it, but before I do I want to ensure it is the OEM logo not a replacement logo.

I believe my ‘74 Commando is an original paint (OP) bike. The paint on the black tank has a very fine crazed/checked lacquer appearance and looks similar to others I’ve seen that are alleged to be OP specimens. The bike is a numbers-matching 316700 series with a #850F111701 frame tag. With that preamble, I am interested in knowing whether my tank decals shown below are the original decals fitted by the factory.



These decals are solid gold with no outlining. Looking in the online AN parts catalog, for ’74 Mk II parts, there are 3 decals listed - a gold, silver, and black, but I don’t see the decal presently on my bike listed. The gold decal listed is product 06.2021, but that decal is gold with a black outline, and mine has no outline.

In further exploring the subject catalog, I have come across a part# 06.4880 (also listed as 06.3179?), which is a gold decal with no outlining, and appears to match up well with the one on the bike. Might this be the correct decal?

I also notice that there are lots of repop decals out there and they are certainly not all the same. It appears the ones from AN are closest to the ones on my bike. The particular decal feature I’m looking at is the distance between the final “n” in Norton and the “swoosh” that passes by and nearly touches the “n”.

Any opinions on the correct decals for my bike? Thank you.

WZ507 said:

I am seeking guidance on the correct gas tank “Norton” logo on a ’74 CDO. I have a damaged logo on the tank and am interested in replacing it, but before I do I want to ensure it is the OEM logo not a replacement logo.

I believe my ‘74 Commando is an original paint (OP) bike. The paint on the black tank has a very fine crazed/checked lacquer appearance and looks similar to others I’ve seen that are alleged to be OP specimens. The bike is a numbers-matching 316700 series with a #850F111701 frame tag. With that preamble, I am interested in knowing whether my tank decals shown below are the original decals fitted by the factory.

View attachment 123646

These decals are solid gold with no outlining. Looking in the online AN parts catalog, for ’74 Mk II parts, there are 3 decals listed - a gold, silver, and black, but I don’t see the decal presently on my bike listed. The gold decal listed is product 06.2021, but that decal is gold with a black outline, and mine has no outline.

In further exploring the subject catalog, I have come across a part# 06.4880 (also listed as 06.3179?), which is a gold decal with no outlining, and appears to match up well with the one on the bike. Might this be the correct decal?

I also notice that there are lots of repop decals out there and they are certainly not all the same. It appears the ones from AN are closest to the ones on my bike. The particular decal feature I’m looking at is the distance between the final “n” in Norton and the “swoosh” that passes by and nearly touches the “n”.

Any opinions on the correct decals for my bike? Thank you.

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If an original paint tank, the stripes are on top of the paint and clearly done with a brush, and of course, no clear coat. AFAIK, the Norton sticker was a vinyl stick-on, not a "dryfix" and your picture looks like a "dryfix".

I'm going by my MK2A 310311 which had a factory tank when I bought it from the second owner. The stripes were poorly done and much of them worn off and the Norton stickers were ugly - they were thick and the edges were not good.

marshg246 said:

If an original paint tank, the stripes are on top of the paint and clearly done with a brush, and of course, no clear coat. AFAIK, the Norton sticker was a vinyl stick-on, not a "dryfix" and your picture looks like a "dryfix".

I'm going by my MK2A 310311 which had a factory tank when I bought it from the second owner. The stripes were poorly done and much of them worn off and the Norton stickers were ugly - they were thick and the edges were not good.

Click to expand...

Perhaps you have answered my question. The gold striping is clearly atop the black paint (you can see and feel it), and the gold logos are big thick ugly things, just like the gold graphics on the side covers. On the OP tank you reference, were the logos also gold and borderless?

WZ507 said:

Perhaps you have answered my question. The gold striping is clearly atop the black paint (you can see and feel it), and the gold logos are big thick ugly things, just like the gold graphics on the side covers. On the OP tank you reference, were the logos also gold and borderless?

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Yes, they were.

There should be no border. What AN shows for Mk2/Mk2A gold is incorrect as Norton changed to the cut-out 06.4880 gold (and black, silver) types around May 1973 according to service release N3/52.
The part numbers that appear in the Mk2/2A supplement also seem to be incorrect.