norton electra

hi there, curious if the norton electra was a bad idea of a bike, or what? i saw one for sale a while back, kind of cheap, but needed a lot of work. parts aren't around and i can't fnd much info on them. bad investment to pick one up?

iusedtolikehondas said:

bad investment to pick one up?

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Depends how much you pay for it?

The electric starter drive was a bit fragile apparently, and the model was not particularly popular, but a good one would still be worth having I suppose, at the right price?

http://www.nortonownersclub.org/models/ ... etail.html

Quote: "(there were only ever two machines built with electric start anyway)." By that, I'm sure they meant to say that two Norton models had electric starters = the Electra and the Commando 850 MkIII.

The Electra was a very poor machine. Firstly, it was only a 350, and a rather weak one at that. The cycle parts were really strange. I think the frame was a welded sheet steel design.

They made two bikes of similar design - the other one was the Jubilee 250.

Neither of them were considered "real" Nortons.

They were viewed as a last ditch effort to save the company by gettting into the beginner bike market, particularly the Jubilee, as the market for the bigger bikes was being gobbled up my the original Mini. I think the rule limiting learners to 250ccs or less had already been introduced.

frankdamp said:

The Electra was a very poor machine. Firstly, it was only a 350, and a rather weak one at that. The cycle parts were really strange. I think the frame was a welded sheet steel design.

They made two bikes of similar design - the other one was the Jubilee 250.

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Actually Frank, there were three models, and I guess it's probably just slipped your mind, but the Electra was a 400. The 350 was the "Navigator".
Their frames were apparently Francis Barnett items, and so were the 250 Jubilee's forks and wheels, the 350 Navigator and 400 Electra models at least had the Norton Roadholder forks and Norton wheels/brakes!

You're absolutely right, LAB, I had forgotten the Navigator.

I'm a bit surprised about the use of F-B frames, as I didn't think Norton had joined Associated Motorcycles by the time thos bikes were released to market. Maybe they just bought the stuff from AMC, or I'm remembering events out of sequence.

Since they had to come up with three new engines in a fairly short time, it does make sense that they would get bits from outside contractors.

frankdamp said:

I'm a bit surprised about the use of F-B frames, as I didn't think Norton had joined Associated Motorcycles by the time thos bikes were released to market. Maybe they just bought the stuff from AMC, or I'm remembering events out of sequence.

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Apparently, AMC took over Norton in 1953, and the first year of the lightweight twins (250 Jubilee was the first model) was 1959.

thanks for the input guys, i am going to take a peek at it on friday. i'll make sure not to go overboard on the offer....