Norton club ride video

[video]http://youtu.be/F34vIVIvr1Q[/video]

This is the Oregon Norton Enthusiasts ride to the Oregon Vintage Motorcyclists show. It was about 90 miles to the show through the Oregon countryside. We even crossed the river on a ferry.

See if you can spot the variety of bikes in the group. Extra points if you can tell me about the various Vincents.

It was a good show, the honored marque was Hodaka, an Oregon native. I wish I had more time at the show just to visit with people. Next year I will!

So Dave at about 20 minute mark a fellow you were traveling with was having a running problem.
What did it turn out to be?

I saw a 650-4 Honda, a Hinckley Triumph, two Rapides and an Egli. What do I win?

Danno said:

I saw a 650-4 Honda,

Click to expand...

550-4? (The orange CB550F @ 28 secs.)?

Looks like them nortons had some mechanical issues.

Haha, I was the source of most of the problems!

At 00:13, Chris showed up with his muffler under his arm! It had decided to leave his bike before we got started. Safety wire fixed that temporarily for the ride. I thought it would be a good idea NOT to ride behind him on the trip there

At 08:10, that’s Geoff pointing to the fuel pouring out of my carb bowl. One of the small Amal screws had fallen out and the bowl was flopping around. More safety wire to the rescue and fortunately there was a swap meet at Corvallis about 4 miles away where a kind vendor simply gave me one from a carb he was selling.

At 10:07, that’s Dave forgetting to switch his fuel on as we left the gas station.

At around 20:00, I could feel a bee/wasp buzzing around inside my helmet in my hair and needed to pull over. I had my visor down but I think it flew into one of the small vent holes in the top of the helmet.

At 20:20, that’s me running out of fuel and switching to reserve. We thought we could get a little farther but there was a gas station a couple of miles up the road.

All in all, the bikes did brilliantly. We rode them hard 90 miles there and around 60 on the way back with just a few minor issues that we were able to fix at the side of the road.

It’s the stoppages and detours that make for some of the more interesting stories and footage!

Here's a nice interlude on the ride.. crossing the Willamette River on the Wheatland Ferry
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nRsGpFzn4Q[/video]

rx7171 said:

So Dave at about 20 minute mark a fellow you were traveling with was having a running problem.
What did it turn out to be?

Click to expand...

Switching to reserve solved the problem. :mrgreen:

Mike T said:

At 10:07, that’s Dave forgetting to switch his fuel on as we left the gas station.

Click to expand...

Actually the hose between the manifolds popped off. You can see Bruce point it out when we got to the show.

Danno said:

I saw a 650-4 Honda, a Hinckley Triumph, two Rapides and an Egli. What do I win?

Click to expand...

You got the Honda wrong. Plus one of the Vincents. If you check out my YouTube channel you'll see what the other Vinccent is.

I was impressed by the bikes and the fellas, they look very sensible. How did you get your club up and going ? I wouldn't have thought so many would have Commandos these days. Oregon looks like a nice place.

acotrel said:

I was impressed by the bikes and the fellas, they look very sensible. How did you get your club up and going ? I wouldn't have thought so many would have Commandos these days. Oregon looks like a nice place.

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The Oregon club is an off-shoot of the NWNO out of Seattle. We split off a couple years ago. I believe there are about 30 bikes in the club, but there are many more Nortons in the area.

Oregon is a lovely place to live and there are some great riding roads all over the state. Luckily it rains 400 days out of the year to discouage people from moving here. :mrgreen:

That's a great fun ride video Dave! I'm getting closer to riding my own Commando and it looks like I should get a camera to record the forward motion failures for better diagnosis by the crowd here.

In Australia, Tasmania is a well-kept secret. There is no work there for normal people, however it is extremely beautiful.