Manx Norton special

baz

baz

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Does anyone on here know of a Manx Norton with a single oil in frame front down tube?
 
I've looked at many Norton race singles (350 & 500) and photos across the years but never seen one that fits your description.
 
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Could you even fit enough oil in there? Seems you'd need both entire cradles. Maybe the only one who tried, seized his motor up solid!
 
t ingermanson said:
Could you even fit enough oil in there? Seems you'd need both entire cradles. Maybe the only one who tried, seized his motor up solid!
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In the photo I saw the downtube looked between 3 and 4" diameter
And was very upright
 
baz said:
In the photo I saw the downtube looked between 3 and 4" diameter
And was very upright
Click to expand...
Huh... I wonder what would be achieved with that? Couldn't have been much lower than a central tank, and any lower would be offset by a somewhat asymmetric center of gravity.

Was it a privateer or a factory effort?
 
t ingermanson said:
Huh... I wonder what would be achieved with that? Couldn't have been much lower than a central tank, and any lower would be offset by a somewhat asymmetric center of gravity.

Was it a privateer or a factory effort?
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I don't have hardly any information on it
I've never seen one like it before
 
I have Baz it was featured in a classic mag but my memory doesnt shout anything else. I know it had a very low headstock.
Got this will keep the wheels turning tonight lol.
 
Chris said:
I have Baz it was featured in a classic mag but my memory doesnt shout anything else. I know it had a very low headstock.
Got this will keep the wheels turning tonight lol.
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Ok thank you
 
t ingermanson said:
Huh... I wonder what would be achieved with that? Couldn't have been much lower than a central tank, and any lower would be offset by a somewhat asymmetric center of gravity.

Was it a privateer or a factory effort?
Click to expand...
I’d guess his thinking was that it’s up front, in the air, so is acting as a cooler.

It’s also ‘racer logic’ to try and have one component do two things. Or three if you count the cooler function.

Or maybe he was just tired of his alloy oil tank cracking ?!?
 
A properly mounted alloy oil tank is less likely to crack. Every part of a featherbed frame has a function.. Oil in frame is usually pretty horrible. With an oilt tank, you simply take it off the bike to flush it. With oil in frame, you need to put petrol in the frome to rinse the tank and pick the whole bike up and shake it.
'Because I can' is never a good reason for doing anything.
Some guys think the 'Drain-pipe' frame might be good. - It is just ugly.
Featherbed frames are inferior to Seeley frames, but if I did not have a Seeley frame, I would use a Featherbed, The Featherbed framev was excellent in it's time. The Triumph oil in frame attenmpt was horrible.
I think the Commando frame is a good idea for a twin cylinder road bike which is going to be used for touring. But for fast pleasurable riding, a featherbed 650 SS might be more fun.
I would like to try Ashley's Featherbed 860. I once saw a race bike like that. It was being raced against Manx Nortons in historic races. - A bit obvious ? You could tell it was not a Domiracer from about 200 metres away.
 
Nope
I've not seen the club member since
But when I do I shall ask
 
baz said:
Does anyone on here know of a Manx Norton with a single oil in frame front down tube?
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Maybe the one built for Geoff Duke by Ken Sprayson.
 

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ES234 said:
Maybe the one built for Geoff Duke by Ken Sprayson.
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Yes that looks very like it but I think the downtube was straight
I only saw the picture briefly on my mates phone
 
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