I'm 72, I've ridden 60 years, started on Honda 50 step through and my dad's full sized Brit 500 dirt singles, and I started racing in the late 60's--motocross and road racing, then dirt track and desert--and raced 50 years until I had that one last good crash I promised myself I would quit after. 6 ribs broken through and through, some complications, no doubt this one was a good enough crash to make me stop. And I haven't ridden motocross in a while, knees, but I still ride on the street, but its frustrating because I am like pulling back on the reins hard, to keep the horses from running away, if you get my meaning, I still like to ride a bit hard.
What had changed in racing and made me think the end was coming was, a sort of a dawning lack of intense focus, the thing that keeps you safe. I still have enough for the street, and realistically, street riding is 1000 times more dangerous than the race track. Certainly racing is dangerous, but no one on the race track will hang a left in front of you oncoming when it is too late to respond, or pull out in front of you from the right, or mow you down from behind while looking at their phone. The shortcoming of street riding is that the risk contour or risk balance is all out of shape. Realistically, it's not all that fun, and the risk level is ridiculously high. Racing, the risk is there, but so is the fun of riding on the edge, which makes it more in a balance of risk and fun.
And I have had the same '73 850 Commando since '89. I also had a '72 750 Combat at the same time, but I ran it a little hard and it didn't really work out for me, glad I kept the 73 850. I did it frame up once in 89, main bearings up, trans too, and have never really worked on it in depth again. It has Works Shocks, isolastic top engine mount, 18 inch Akronts both ends, Boyer and electronic regulator/rectifier, AMT anti-sumping mods, stabilized swingarm pivot, on and on, all the refining mods. I have a dozen Brit bikes, and the Norton is definitely in the rotation. Its longer, heavier, with a heavier lazier crank, but really civilized. My Triumphs and BSAs are shorter and more agile, and more fun on a twisty road, but the Norton is more composed, less vibration, more civilized, and it definitely has a place in the rotation.