Kenny Dreer's 355 lb street tracker

jseng1 · Jan 20, 2023

Got a call from Kenny Dreer yesterday and he told me about his latest 850 project.

"Jim, here's several photos of Norton scoot. Triumph TT pipes make up the exhaust system. The bike ready to ride is 355 lbs. Pictures of the swing arm cradle Assyria. I made about 6 of these units, boy do they work well. Vernier adj, you'll notice the gear box is positively located, a HD Sportster nylon shoe works to adjust the primary chain. I worked w Tom Reid to design the cush drive Assy. Urethane bushings from golf cart leaf springs, always available at Amazon. I'm running the oem points ignition with a Dyna Ignition Booster and Dyna 3 ohm coils, Shorai 14 amp battery, works great. Running the motor on Penn Grade 50 w here in FL." Kenny Dreer

Schwany · Jan 20, 2023

Seat looks a little stiff.

Real nice. Thanks for posting.

Any chance he'd want to make a 7th one?

Fast Eddie · Jan 20, 2023

Nice !

BritTwit · Jan 20, 2023

Fascinating.

edgefinder · Jan 20, 2023

It's easy to ruin the look and function of old bikes while upgrading parts for the wrong reasons. Huge forks and double 320 discs on RD Yamahas for instance. Kenny's bike is how I like to see it done. Other than the seat it looks ready for action. I do wonder how the tires will last

jan nelder · Jan 20, 2023

Is it for a Cycle World article?

Longtimegone · Jan 20, 2023

Kinda makes me wish I'd done my frame in silver.

MichaelB · Jan 20, 2023

There's a lot of trickery going on there.
The more you look, the more you see.

Nice to see Kenny hasn't lost his passion for Norton's.
Once again Proves
'You can take the little boy off the Norton, but you can't take the Norton out of him.'
Or,
'Once bitten by these wretched machines, you're forever cursed'...

Like I said, Nice to see he's still at it..

Richard Tool · Jan 20, 2023

OEM points ignition - hallelujah ! I am in good company it seems…

mdt-son · Jan 20, 2023

jseng1 said:
Got a call from Kenny Dreer yesterday and he told me about his latest 850 project.

"Jim, here's several photos of Norton scoot. Triumph TT pipes make up the exhaust system. The bike ready to ride is 355 lbs. Pictures of the swing arm cradle Assyria. I made about 6 of these units, boy do they work well. Vernier adj, you'll notice the gear box is positively located, a HD Sportster nylon shoe works to adjust the primary chain. I worked w Tom Reid to design the cush drive Assy. Urethane bushings from golf cart leaf springs, always available at Amazon. I'm running the oem points ignition with a Dyna Ignition Booster and Dyna 3 ohm coils, Shorai 14 amp battery, works great. Running the motor on Penn Grade 50 w here in FL." Kenny Dreer

I am excited to learn that Kenny hasn't put his inventive gifts on the mantlepiece.
Kenny, if you read this, please let us see the details of your swing arm and cradle, also the cush drive assy (rear hub?). Is the cradle and box section swing arm a straight retrofit?
A fixed location gearbox is the way to go, even with belt drives!

- Knut

mdt-son · Jan 20, 2023

The swing arm and s/a bearing conversion appears to be a Dreer development from 2005 approx.

Here is another application.

David Edwards' Kenny Dreer Norton Commando

If you’ve ridden just about every motorcycle ever built, you’re going to be pretty selective when it comes to your own ride. In the case of former Cycle World editor David Edwards, that motorcycle is a custom Norton Commando built by Kenny Dreer. Edwards recently got his Norton back after some...

www.bikeexif.com

- Knut

MichaelB · Jan 20, 2023

Points iggy, single Mik, Chain primary. Who would have thunked.
Wonder if it's an OE triplex or duplex chain....

YING · Jan 21, 2023

What is the advantage of having a fixed gearbox?Is it a matter of less flex in the drive train?
Thanks,Mike

marinatlas · Jan 21, 2023

YING said:
What is the advantage of having a fixed gearbox?Is it a matter of less flex in the drive train?
Thanks,Mike

The top bolt beeing fixed is no more able to move either fore/aft (due to engine sprocket force vs rear wheel/transmission forces) and more can't twist as the both combined forces are playing only on one side of the assembly (hope my english is good enough to explain !
Ludwig somewhere in the forum explain it better than me and had done it on his bikes ..........

olympus · Jan 21, 2023

I wish i could get on with a reversed gear lever.... i don't know if its because I'm 6ft 4" of have size 14 UK boots but just cant get the geometry right

SteveBorland · Jan 21, 2023

olympus said:
I wish i could get on with a reversed gear lever.... i don't know if its because I'm 6ft 4" of have size 14 UK boots but just cant get the geometry rightI

I had the same problem. I think it's to do with the pivot point for the lever being so far away from the ankle joint. In the normal lever arrangement, the distance between the ankle joint & the lever pivot is rather small. The reversed lever does work well if it's near horizontal, but as soon as you have in inclined, your toes are trying to push the lever instead of rotating it.

SteveBorland · Jan 21, 2023

jseng1 said:
Got a call from Kenny Dreer yesterday and he told me about his latest 850 project.

Any chance of seeing the other photos Jim?

olympus · Jan 21, 2023

SteveBorland said:
I had the same problem. I think it's to do with the pivot point for the lever being so far away from the ankle joint. In the normal lever arrangement, the distance between the ankle joint & the lever pivot is rather small. The reversed lever does work well if it's near horizontal, but as soon as you have in inclined, your toes are trying to push the lever instead of rotating it.

100% in agreement Steve and its a real pity. i even purchased a "bare metal" lever from RGM, i tried lengthening it and shortening it all to no avail
i also think the other problem is that the physical lift of the lever (in standard form) is to great

Fast Eddie · Jan 21, 2023

A reversed lever always rotates away from, not with, your ankle / foot. On a standard box, the lever travel is so great that when combined with the aforementioned, it made for an unpleasant shift for me. Up and down.

Generally, I prefer a linkage shift with rear-sets because then the lever is always pivoting with my ankle / foot.

But, FWIW, a TTI box has a greatly reduced lever movement, so I suspect a reversed lever would be fine with wanna them. Maybe Quaife Boxes were similar, as the Quaife designed Triumph box also has quite low lever movement.

And, of course, those with more flexible ankles than me (seriously) may well find a reversed lever to be jus’ fine anyways.

cliffa · Jan 21, 2023

olympus said:
100% in agreement Steve and its a real pity. i even purchased a "bare metal" lever from RGM, i tried lengthening it and shortening it all to no avail
i also think the other problem is that the physical lift of the lever (in standard form) is to great

The early 961's like mine had a reverse lever, and as Steve said the higher the shaft is above your ankle and the more towards vertical the lever is the worse it feels as the lever tends to try run along the top of your foot as you change gear. I found that allowing the rubber to rotate made it feel a bit better, but in the end I capitulated and bought a later selector drum and copied the factory linkage.

I love Kenny's Street Tracker. Thanks for posting @jseng1. I'd love to see some more pics as well. Is Kenny a member on here? if not perhaps he could be invited. I'm sure he could tell us some very interesting stories.

Is that a Benelli Mojave tank?

Kenny Dreer's 355 lb street tracker

jseng1

Schwany

Fast Eddie

BritTwit

edgefinder

jan nelder

Longtimegone

MichaelB

"Sons of Arthritus"

Richard Tool

mdt-son

mdt-son

David Edwards' Kenny Dreer Norton Commando

MichaelB

"Sons of Arthritus"

YING

Pittsboro,NC

marinatlas

olympus

SteveBorland

SteveBorland

olympus

Fast Eddie

cliffa