Most desirable Norton???

Yeah, well - that might make a downpayment deposit, but not a rideaway price..

Very good Rohan, Unicorns do exist then

Rohan said:

hobot said:

Duh, can anyone post a picture or a tale of a real Manx with road legal lighting and side stand that's been tagged and lived in public on?

Click to expand...

The Tonkin Tornado 2011

Click to expand...

That Tonkin Tornado was featured in a magazine here called 'Motorcycle Classics'

Tonkin won the 250cc class in the TT some years ago and now restores bikes. He used a Molnar motor with a decompression valve where the second plug would go so one could kick start the bike. He also built it with a 19 tooth sprocket to make it more streetable.
fontana brake
5-speed box
50hp/322lb

Nice article with a bunch of picks. He has since decided to concentrate on cafe racers:
http://www.stevetonkinclassics.com/showroom.html
take your pic of a 500cc Manx, Matchless or BSA motor
I personally like the Typhoon with the 600cc optional engine, Seeley MkIII replica frame, 5 speed, Commando primary.

Dave,
I'll have a look at that Manx article if you get a chance to dig it out. Would love to see it.
Thanks
Jeff

Me too.

hobot said:

Unicorns do exist then

Click to expand...

Nortons catalogs, back in the late 1940s even, had in the fine print for the manx racing models a paragraph something like "lighting kit and kickstart available to order". (or words to that effect).
This made them eligible to race at the Daytona races, being that they were available as 'road models'. Pics of them in the races don't seem to show headlamps though !

J.A.W. said:

Yeah, well - that might make a downpayment deposit, but not a rideaway price..

Click to expand...

I was thinking more along the lines of a few laps at the track, not take it across town and come find me when you're done.

Fair enough, actually its a good idea Snorton74, maybe you should suggest that S.G. provides a new Commando 961 like-wise, I`d hand over the plastic to give one of them a good caning..

Copy of Cycle article, Nov '73, "Cat for a Country Road - A Streetable Manx Norton":

Please believe that I don't want to offend you when I say the following, it is well intended. Historic racing started in Australia in 1973 with the declared intent 'to preserve the old racing bikes'. It never did that, the classes have always been used for development. These days it is impossible to find an unmodified Manx Norton here . The 'improvements' have been replica frames with 26 degree head angles, 18 inch wheels, molnar motors, 6 speed TTI gearboxes, and vast overboring. A friend of mine got the shits when I criticised his Manx on a forum because he had over bored it t o nearly 700cc to compete in the Unlimited Period 3 (up to 1962) class. He said 'it is my manx, and I will do what I like with it', recently he converted it back to 499cc, but it's still got 18 inch wheels, so it probably handles like a piece of shit. When the guys buy replica featherbed frames they usually specify 26 degree head angles to make the bike handle like a Suzuki two stroke. To my mind, the reason you ride a manx is to enjoy the experience, if I want t o ride a Suzuki, I won't try to turn a manx into one. The genuine items were developed over decades , and they are what they are. You can buy yourself a Molnar manx and delude yourself that you could have beaten Artie Bell and Geoff Duke in the fifties, but you would not be having anything like the same experience.
Years ago my friend had a long stroke manx on the street, it was painted a beautiful dark red with all the manx lining - in those days we thought 650 Triumphs and Tritons were beautiful, but we were just bloody ignorant. That old longstroker is now being carefully restored back to original and you cannot buy it. As I said and meant it, if someone has an original manx, and particularly a works one, I would pay to ride it just for the experience . The bikes were developed over decades and the 61 model 500 that I once rode was perfection. It was never going to beat an R6 Yamaha, but the experience was everything, and I treasure the memory of it. So what I am saying is please don't paint a moustache on the Mona Lisa so it will brighten up your little life. Think about the young guys who will be following you after you are dead, who will never appreciate what Artie Bell and Geoff Duke did back then. Perhaps you should buy a Type 35C Bugatti replica from Brazil and put lights on it ? I could see sense in that.

Somewhere on Youtube there is a video of the 1950 Senior IOM TT in which Geoff Duke started 20 seconds behind Artie Bell, the previous year's winner, and made up the time and passed Bell just before the flag on the last lap. This clip shows part of that. I don't want to send you on a guilt trip, but you are playing with an important part of our racing heritage :


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHzWScP2T1c

acotrel said:

Please believe that I don't want to offend you

Click to expand...

Offend who?

My 2 cents worth.
If the bike has added features like lights etc that can be removed at some future time, then what's the problem?
It's your bike to enjoy as you wish (lucky bugger)
As has been said, the real ones won't win any races today and are possibly too fragile to race anyway, so what's the alternative? museum? lounge room? or put it on the road and enjoy it.
Good on you, enjoy it as much as you can.
Graeme

There's been an argument over 'ride it or hide it' for decades. The whole reason for vintage racing was so people today could experience in some measure the thrill of seeing those iconic bikes and cars from the 'good old days'. One of the reasons why Mr. Barber built a museum next to his race course (or visa versa) is so some of the machines on display can be seen in motion.

In my mind, I see no problem with building an exact replica of a Manx or a Ferrari 250TR and race the hell out of it. I feel it is poor stewardship to forever alter a period machine. Its one thing to take last year's racer and update it to stay competitive, but another altogether to take a vintage machine and alter it in ways that were never done in the period. If one has the money to own an original, one should have enough to build a copy, too. I also think one should be able to enter a replica machine in a vintage race, but should own an original in order to enter the copy.

I have a 1962 Road & Track in which a '57 TR with a spare motor is advertised for $5000. Back then, it was just an old race car. Now the thing is worth millions, if that one advertised even survives today.

I used to work for a guy who, back in the '60s in SoCal, would yank out the 3.8 or 4.2 motor and trans of an E-type and replace it with a Ford hi-po 289 and T-10 4 speed. More power, lighter weight, better weight distribution, and a lot more reliable. Nobody would really think of doing that today, but he did it for dozens back in the day ('64-'68).

daveh said:

Copy of Cycle article, Nov '73, "Cat for a Country Road - A Streetable Manx Norton":

Click to expand...

I must say that, although somewhat taken a back, these street-ables are wonderfully outrageous.
Two words really comes to mine, "Road Warrior"!

Hate to be a kill joy . But a Commando donkey thrown in the hole in the manx , would be more apt for the dayly grind .

Hidious Qal copy from ' Big Bike ' from 70s , Combat Engined , Airhust braked Gen u wine Manx Chassis .

1964 Norton 750 Commando/Manx Special Racer . draggey pipes'n all , more authentic but flawed .



This one'd pass muster . ( Bill Bell source , http://www.google.com/imgres?start=103& ... :49&surl=1 )

B b b bother , heres the b b b brake .



Not to say that a Manx isnt a bad Idea .




The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, it seems. Carefully draining fuel into a gas can is Clarence Czysz, a top Norton tuner in the years following World War II. The location is Daytona and the Daytona Beach Course, and the year is 1948.



Read more: http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/class ... z2FGhcHShc

Anybody fancey a ride on THIS . ?



or maybe , ( nice mufflers )



Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder . Or is that Range of the confabulation .

Just ONE more as He appears to know what he's doing , & its a ' Modern ' . though descibed as a ' 350 Manx Norton ' .

Which head is on that engine????


This one'd pass muster . ( Bill Bell source , http://www.google.com/imgres?start=103& ... :49&surl=1 )
B b b bother , heres the b b b brake .

So, Bernhard, given that Dr Bauer had a low regard for the old `bed , how do the weights stack up, Commando frame vs F`bed?