Most desirable Norton???
- Thread starter kempoyner
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A friend of mine has bought a Molnar Manx to convert into a street bike. That makes a lot more sense to me. I believe that most people don't recognise the intrinsic value of an original Manx. If you look at them in the context of GP racing cars from the fifties. You need to be a millionaire, one of the 'in crowd' and be told when the car is about to come up for sale, then you might get one. Some people believe a bike is only worth what you can get for it when you sell it - they are idiots ! I suggest that if you own the real deal, just keep it warm, polished and love it. Have a bit of fun with it occasionally, but don't hang bloody lights and number plates on it, that is sacrilege. If you cannot care for it, sell it to somebody who can and will nurture it.
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Polish it - nurture it - take it out occasionally?
Pffffft!
I say... Ride the wheels off of it!
If it breaks - fix it and then ride it some more.
Put lights on it if you want, hell, paint it fireflake purple if that floats your boat.
It's a motorsickle, it was designed and built to be ridden.
If a race bike can be made streetable, then by all means - ride it on the street if you want to.
Pffffft!
I say... Ride the wheels off of it!
If it breaks - fix it and then ride it some more.
Put lights on it if you want, hell, paint it fireflake purple if that floats your boat.
It's a motorsickle, it was designed and built to be ridden.
If a race bike can be made streetable, then by all means - ride it on the street if you want to.
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Manxes have the charming habit that they need to dribble oil into the valve guides, to keep them lubed. This is external - so the oil dribbles everywhere, including onto the riders knees.
Also, the cambox needs to be 'packed' so it doesn't piss oil out everywhere, note manxes with great wads of foam packed in around the valve springs - the theory is the foam will soak up oil before it goes everywhere. As long as the races are short, this works. But what happens on road rides of more than a few miles ?!!
Few drawbacks for road use.....
Also, the cambox needs to be 'packed' so it doesn't piss oil out everywhere, note manxes with great wads of foam packed in around the valve springs - the theory is the foam will soak up oil before it goes everywhere. As long as the races are short, this works. But what happens on road rides of more than a few miles ?!!
Few drawbacks for road use.....
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Yes, good point.
I built a replica TT2 and use it on the road. I've copped shit for the same reason the fellow with the Manx has, but it's a rep not the real thing, and can be made track-able at any time by simply removing the lights etc. If it was track only I wouldn't get to ride it much.
I built a replica TT2 and use it on the road. I've copped shit for the same reason the fellow with the Manx has, but it's a rep not the real thing, and can be made track-able at any time by simply removing the lights etc. If it was track only I wouldn't get to ride it much.
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My friend fitted aluminium catch buckets which surrounded the valve springs and had small plastic tubes to drain them. It's not impossible to make them stop spewing oil on you. I'm not hanging shit on your idea, but it is not something I would do myself. It shows a lack of recognition of the real value of the bike. I agree that it is desiigne d to be ridden, but it is not a 'throw away' item like nearly every Japanese bike. You cannot buy anything like your bike in Australia. Most manxs have been butchered, the mods are completely unauthentic. The situation is that no young guy coming up will ever know what Geoff Duke and Artie Bell rode in 1950. Our history is becoming lost and gone forever. Even now most of our historic racers have never experienced what the genuine manx is really like. I rode a really good 61 model 500 in 1973, and I've always been grateful to my capitalist millionaire nazi mate for letting me ride it. I now know what they are and why they were so loved by top riders back then.
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I'm probably a bit different to you guys I watched Tom Phillis beat all the top A graders at Phillip Island in 1961, including Trevor Pound, and Ken Rumble - all on top 500cc manx nortons. It was like watching Doohan, Gardner and Stoner riding the latest works two strokes in the same race . 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' ?
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I went to the motor-racing with my father & older bro as a kid in the `60s.
The Tasman series F1 was a big thing in those days with top drivers & cars coming to N.Z. from Europe in the southern summer.
The N.Z. G.P.national meeting always included a motorcycle G.P. on the program,.
So I do recall the period when the Manx & G 50s went from top-flight racers to ancient relics - humiliated by the latest Nip 2-strokes - & then deemed fit only for classic parading...
The Tasman series F1 was a big thing in those days with top drivers & cars coming to N.Z. from Europe in the southern summer.
The N.Z. G.P.national meeting always included a motorcycle G.P. on the program,.
So I do recall the period when the Manx & G 50s went from top-flight racers to ancient relics - humiliated by the latest Nip 2-strokes - & then deemed fit only for classic parading...
