Norton Wideline frame ID

Hi guys, just brought another Triton (I know it's an illness!) and the frame has a strange stamp on it and I wondered if anybody recognised it:

R.McK
1954

Thanks again

Jamie

Need to see a sideways pic of frame to determine if it is a Manx.
Either way, if it is a 1954 frame it's a wideline.

The Triton wideline frame I have, has 'R.McK 1954' stamped on it and has some small differences that a normal road featherbed. Can anybody shed any light on this frame?

The frame is on a Triton I just brought and it was put together in 1984 (when it was registered). There are no other numbers on the frame that I can see (it looks like powder coat) but it is different than another road wideline frame I have. The diagonal seat tubes (not sure of the proper name) are much thinner guage tube and the seat has a curved bracket supporting it (see pics). I have noticed that the seat tubes also have two rougher patches on them in exactly the same place both sides - looks like the number plate brackets were removed at some point, and also there is a flatter section on the front of the headstock that looks again like it may have had a fairing bracket removed.








I will try and contact the NOC and try and get some more information.

Thanks again

Jamie

You must have a very rare early featherbed frame if it is original!
The initials stand for Rex McCandless, the original designer, along with his brother Cromie, and maker of the featherbed frame, see;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Featherbed_frame#Origins

the seat sub frame was a bolt-on section originally, and has, without question, been modified with brazed on tubes.

McK = McCandless?

K isn't C; is that how they stamped them?

Curiouser and curiouser...

All-welded frames appeared later in 1954, for roadgoing frames.
Roadgoing frames were numbered on the left side swingarm gusset - you show the right side ?

Bracing around the headstock looks to be the roadgoing version.
Is it hi-tensile tubing, or unusually light ?

Clearly been reworked at a later date to Triton it, does that make it anything special ?

Could be one of thes4e ' new build ' frames . Must be more than a few around by now .

Manx subframe intercepted frame loops a bit below the top. If you put something flat on top of the tubes were the tank goes , the subframe hits DOWN
from there a way , around 3/4 in down . So the seat rails slope forward, raiseing aft.

Were International & other 500 single frames , with a flat on the inside edge of a lower tube , etc etc .

As someone mentioned , the ' road ' frames had a wrap around gusset under the steering head .

Ow about a few pictures of the owle bike , Gov . issita Pre- Unit ? Wottle she do mista . :lol:

grandpaul said:

McK = McCandless?

K isn't C; is that how they stamped them?

Curiouser and curiouser...

Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out, as I missed that.

If frame is welded and not brazed it could be a recent model by one of the few manufactures making them.

There are several books on the Norton by, amongst others, Roy Bacon. There was also a 6 page article in a Classis Bike Mag Nov.1984 on Rex McCandless, who eventually made some of the first featherbed frames at the Norton factory being paid at £1 per hour, which was a very good rate in those days.

Yes......curiouser and curiouser.

My Guess (and that's all it is!) is that it's a modified road frame. I would assume that the main loops are original but the rest has been added at at later date. Even the bracing around the headstock looks different than a standard bike. Either way, whoever build it did a very good job.
I think you should start looking for a Mr. R Mc K that was born in 1959.

Webby

Webby03 said:

I think you should start looking for a Mr. R Mc K that was born in 1959.

Click to expand...

...or DIED in 1959?

Anyway, newborns can't design or build frames worth a darn...

The date stamped there is 1954.

We have yet to see a full side-on view of the frame, to see where this fits in the scheme of things featherbed.

Sorry, the "9" was a typo, probably because my frame is a 59.

In another thread running here, the name Bob McKeever was mentioned, in connection with racing a Norton at Daytona in the late 1940s. As we all know, Daytona was a happy hunting ground for Nortons in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

His initials would be R. McK.
Ring any bells ?

norton-manx-and-twins-daytona-t11232.html

Was the thread mentioning Robert (Bob) McKeever...

Rohan said:

In another thread running here, the name Bob McKeever was mentioned, in connection with racing a Norton at Daytona in the late 1940s. As we all know, Daytona was a happy hunting ground for Nortons in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

His initials would be R. McK.
Ring any bells ?

Click to expand...

There appears to be yet another UK frame builder that I had not heard of before, who will build in either mild steel or T45 tube, weld or braze. See;


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130577293648? ... 1423.l2649

I wonder where they obtained 'original drawings' from.
And what year is that, there were so many variations...

Rochedale, isn't that near Unity Equpe ?
Wonder if they have decided to bypass the middleman ?