John Renwick Epimetheus

Tritons were better than Triumphs Nortons BSA bikes of the time, they were never compared to Manxes!
Norvins are simply stunning & Norton boxes were slicker than Vincent boxes. Nearly every sprint bike, special of the time used a Norton box. I don't remember seeing a Surtees 5 speed Vincent gearbox until about 2005/6.
I often dream of racing certain bikes, few of them are factory bikes (other than the MV 3) the majority are specials & a Norvin is one of them.
 
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acotrel said:
I think it is pretty bad when guys cut the gearbox off a Vincent engine to put a Norton gearbox behind it. If I had a Vincent and wanted to race it, I would find a good close ratio 5-speed gear-set and copy it. The bikes my brother builds are all speedway sidecars. I think some people fantasise about motorcycles. No Triton is ever as good as a Manx, and a Norvin is horrible. I have seen one normal 1000cc Vincent road raced. It was owned by an Englishman who always raved-on about Vincents. He raced one ar Calder raceway, and on about his first lap - he chucked it up the road at the end of the front straight. The next time he raced the bike was a Vincent sidecar. In about 1962, I saw Arthur Pimm win a road race on a 1000cc Norvin against 500cc Manx Nortons. When Orrie Salter returned to Australia with the 500cc Rennsport BMW sidecar, he made all the Vincent sidecars look stupid at Phillip Island - and the Vincents would have been using methanol.
Click to expand...
You think a disc brake would have helped?
 
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acotrel said:
I think it is pretty bad when guys cut the gearbox off a Vincent engine to put a Norton gearbox behind it. If I had a Vincent and wanted to race it, I would find a good close ratio 5-speed gear-set and copy it. The bikes my brother builds are all speedway sidecars. I think some people fantasise about motorcycles. No Triton is ever as good as a Manx, and a Norvin is horrible. I have seen one normal 1000cc Vincent road raced. It was owned by an Englishman who always raved-on about Vincents. He raced one ar Calder raceway, and on about his first lap - he chucked it up the road at the end of the front straight. The next time he raced the bike was a Vincent sidecar. In about 1962, I saw Arthur Pimm win a road race on a 1000cc Norvin against 500cc Manx Nortons. When Orrie Salter returned to Australia with the 500cc Rennsport BMW sidecar, he made all the Vincent sidecars look stupid at Phillip Island - and the Vincents would have been using methanol.
Click to expand...
I doubt anyone would hack the box off of a Vin unit today. If building a Norvin, it’d be easier / cheaper / better to get replica frame built around the stock unit anyway.

Plus, of course, anyone with real taste would opt for an Egli over a Norvin all day long !

The Surtees 5 speed box is excellent in a Vin, but as Chris says, these are a modern luxury that just weren’t around back in the day.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Plus, of course, anyone with real taste would opt for an Egli over a Norvin all day long !
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Mmmm, not sure about the "real taste" part of this. I'd rather say plain taste.
I'm lucky to have EV3 in my workshop from time to time for some maintenance work and of course I've ridden it here and there.
Yes, it's a fine machine but I'd never exchange it for my Norvin, I definitely prefer the way it handles and feel more planted on the road. I prefer the way it looks too.
Cheers.
Eric
 
"a Norvin is horrible" , "I saw AP win a race on a 1000cc Norvin against 500cc Manx Nortons"

Uh, am I missing something here?
 
ericg said:
Mmmm, not sure about the "real taste" part of this. I'd rather say plain taste.
I'm lucky to have EV3 in my workshop from time to time for some maintenance work and of course I've ridden it here and there.
Yes, it's a fine machine but I'd never exchange it for my Norvin, I definitely prefer the way it handles and feel more planted on the road. I prefer the way it looks too.
Cheers.
Eric
Click to expand...
Don’t feel bad Eric… we can’t all have the best taste… ;)
 
Ken Lucas in Victoria has Peter Guest riding his 1000cc Norvin in historic races. The guy who built it, said its weight distribution is 50% on both ends. Peter Guest win races with it, so it must be fast in a straight line. I rode a methanol-fuelled Vincent road bike many years ago. It had a Velocette read end grafted onto it. I only gave it a blast straight down a road - it is a strange feeling having so much urge without revving. When I raced Tritons, I always seemed to be bashing myself on something. A Norvin would be worse.
 

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