Old Britts Visit

I first met Fred and Ella a long time ago with the Northwest Norton Owners club. This would have been the early 90s. The last time I visited their place was probably 15 years ago. I have some free time right now so I decided to hop on the bike and ride up there. It's been nice weather here in Portland, cold in the mornings (40˚F) but warming up to the mid 70s in the afternoon. I put on just about every piece of clothing I could and still move. It was nice and sunny in Portland but the second I crossed the Columbia River into Washington I was hit with a heavy fog. And the temperatures dropped. Not a good sign as I had another 150 miles to go. I had just put fresh Avons on the Triumph so at least I knew the tires were good, I also put the flyscreen back on in hopes that it would divert a little wind. I kept going.

I stopped pretty often to stretch and see if I could still feel my fingers. My gloves are waterproof but they are not insulated. I could reach down and put my left hand on the cylinder head to warm it up but the right hand was on it's own. When we were riding down to Barber on the Norton I could crank down the friction screw on the throttle to create a cruise control, nothing like that on the Triumph. About half way I stopped for gas and hot chocolate. That helped some. But unlike down south the fog never lifted, except for brief (very brief) glimpses of blue sky. It took me about 4 hours which was just about right considering the couple stops I made.

Old Britts does not have a retail location, all the of the business is internet only. A majority of their parts are from Andover (they are one of the largest Andover dealers in the world) but they also have other parts plus their own stuff.




Fred and some of the parts bins.


The other boss. Will chase ball upon request, um, I mean will request to chase ball...


Exhaust souvenirs.


One of his customer's bikes he's built. It has just about every Old Britts goodie on it.


Old Britts Starter kit


Auto Meter electronic instruments, Old Britts dash, Power Arc controller knob (maps 1-4) and Magura master cylinder


Custom ventilated primary cover


Ground and lightened front disk



Rear sets and new rear master cylinder

Some other fun stuff around the shop:

Dyno


CNC Bridgeport


Cutaway Gearbox, perfect for tech sessions at the Norton Rallies. Like the one in Oregon in 2014... :mrgreen:


New frame (unpainted) from Andover awaiting a build.


Ella and Fred. Fred is on the phone with his brother. It was Fred's birthday so I didn't stay too long. It was great talking with them again and seeing the operation. You have two people here who really love the old Nortons and have been providing a solid source for Commando parts since before there were any other reliable sources. We are very fortunate to have someone like this to make our hobby affordable and accessible.

Just as I was leaving the sunny finally broke out. It was still cool but more tolerable. I headed to Tacoma for a hamburger at Frisko Freeze, an ancient drive in place that I use to frequent when I was in high school there. There is such a fine patina (some would say crust) about the place that probably adds to the flavor. :mrgreen:



Before I left Tacoma I stopped at Cycle Gear to see about shoring up my glove situation. I found their glove liners (on sale for $15) and hoped they would help. They did, although my hands were still not warm on the ride home they were less cold. The Triumph cruised just fine at 80mph but I was wishing for lower handlebars and rear sets so I could tuck behind the flyscreen more. The fog cleared as I got further south and the stars were out. It was a lovely ride but I couldn't wait to get home and take a nice hot bubble bath. With my ducky. :mrgreen:

swooshdave said:

Just as I was leaving the sunny finally broke out. It was still cool but more tolerable. I headed to Tacoma for a hamburger at Frisko Freeze, an ancient drive in place that I use to frequent when I was in high school there. There is such a fine patina (some would say crust) about the place that probably adds to the flavor. :mrgreen:

Click to expand...

Swoosh,

Gig Harbor High alum right here. Frisko Freeze was definitely a frequented post boozy joint.

Swoosh,

Thanks for putting a great writeup together on OB and Fred & Ella. I hope that they never decide to retire as it would put a huge frown on my face and I'm sure just about every old Norton owner that frequents this forum. They're really nice folks!!!

Holmeslice said:

swooshdave said:

Just as I was leaving the sunny finally broke out. It was still cool but more tolerable. I headed to Tacoma for a hamburger at Frisko Freeze, an ancient drive in place that I use to frequent when I was in high school there. There is such a fine patina (some would say crust) about the place that probably adds to the flavor. :mrgreen:

Click to expand...

Swoosh,

Gig Harbor High alum right here. Frisko Freeze was definitely a frequented post boozy joint.

Click to expand...

I'm sure there were some fun times trying to get back across the bridge. :mrgreen:

Thanks for posting this Dave, it brightened up my day considerably.

Dave
Thanks for posting this good info on OB.
I've used them a bunch and really appreciate what they do for us Commando owners. Way beyond being just a business.

I use ski gloves myself in winter since I'm 15 miles away from OB near Tacoma and you are right about the fog right now. Every day for the last week with maybe an hour of sun late afternoon.

From the look of your face at Frisco Freeze I'm hoping that was taken before you went in, since it kinda looks pained.
For myself the PickQuik drive in in Fife is an even better classic burger place, with picknic tables under the trees.

Thanks for the report, Dave. We could use a lot more businesses like that currently.

rx7171 said:

Dave
Thanks for posting this good info on OB.
I've used them a bunch and really appreciate what they do for us Commando owners. Way beyond being just a business.

I use ski gloves myself in winter since I'm 15 miles away from OB near Tacoma and you are right about the fog right now. Every day for the last week with maybe an hour of sun late afternoon.

From the look of your face at Frisco Freeze I'm hoping that was taken before you went in, since it kinda looks pained.
For myself the PickQuik drive in in Fife is an even better classic burger place, with picknic tables under the trees.

Click to expand...

There is nothing more classic that Frisco Freeze. Those PickQuiks look too clean. :mrgreen: Maybe if I had grown up around them I would have been a bigger fan.

I looked at some ski gloves in the closet before I left. But they don't have much if any protection from the pavement. Those people drive like idiots between Olympia and Seattle. Sheesh.

North of Olympia there were 4 motorcycle WSP lined up every 100 yards just pulling people over one after another. I had forgot how vicious they are up there. In the old days we'd go to the Chucky Cheese in Federal Way and check out the WSP in the 6.6 liter Trans Am hunting for speeders. :mrgreen:

I had a set of these made up for the bike I ride the most. The downside is they are a custom fit and will not necessarily work well on different models. Other than that, they are very nice for cold or even cool weather riding. No need to wear heavy gloves, light summer gloves are plenty warm inside the Hippo Hands. This way you have good feel of the controls. No need for the usual somewhat leaky waterproof gloves either, the Hippo Hands work like a tent fly to keep your none waterproof Summer gloves completely dry.

http://www.hippohands.com/

Hi,

We call them handlebar muffs, check out this page http://www.mandp.co.uk/products/list/Ba ... ccessories

Lots of motorbike couriers use them as they tend not to wear gloves or wear very light gloves so they can handle pens, small items etc.

You can also use these in your gloves to keep the temperature up a bit: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Gel-Reusa ... B000MU4IJ2

I've also brought two pairs of gloves on cold long journeys, I tuck the 2nd pair under my jacket across my chest, when I stop I swop over the gloves, again it helps a bit.

If I'm doing big distance in a hurry I just take the FJR1300, heated grips & large screen :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

With a stock of parts like that I would be very tempted to build a bike just from Andover stuff. It would be an interesting exercise just to see what it would cost and if it would be an viable business.

Certainly it wouldn't work if you had to pay full retail. I suspect that you'd have to customize it some to get a greater price.

They don't look grumpy to me Glen, lol.

Great write up and pictures. Nice to see where all the stuff comes from. Fred and Ella are a class act.

Thanks Dave.

Very interesting write-up Dave 8)

Actually brought back memories for a Brit too - I spent time in Portland and Troutdale around 10 years ago, and when not 'working' I was lent a bike by my host Mike ( a huge H-D nut with 4 in his stable), and we rode up the river highway to Sandy while there was ice on a couple of the corners.
Great road, and my first experience of riding a H****y D******n on American roads - Never realised you guys had corners until then
Also did the Columbia river crossing to Washington State on another H***** a few months later when it was actually warm - a couple of memories which will stay with me forever - especially the one where I never worked out if I was actually insured for Mike's bikes or not!

Discovered Fat Tire beer too - very pleasant 8)

B+Bogus said:

Very interesting write-up Dave 8)

Actually brought back memories for a Brit too - I spent time in Portland and Troutdale around 10 years ago, and when not 'working' I was lent a bike by my host Mike ( a huge H-D nut with 4 in his stable), and we rode up the river highway to Sandy while there was ice on a couple of the corners.
Great road, and my first experience of riding a H****y D******n on American roads - Never realised you guys had corners until then
Also did the Columbia river crossing to Washington State on another H***** a few months later when it was actually warm - a couple of memories which will stay with me forever - especially the one where I never worked out if I was actually insured for Mike's bikes or not!

Discovered Fat Tire beer too - very pleasant 8)

Click to expand...

Fat Tire is a Colorado beer, next time you're here we'll introduce you to some real Oregon beer. :wink:

Do they do that flavored beer stuff on the west coast? Here there's all this flavored beer, wheat, probably even cinnamon or what ever. Ugh. Just give me a pilsner, the more hops the better. Not that I can drink more than 2 beers anymore.

Once in a while some idiot puts peach or raspberry in a beer. I think I ran across some pumpkin ale last fall. I'm all for good ole hops and malt myself.

Russ

It looks as if the old britts starter runs onto gears cut into the clutch basket? So no issues with sprang clutches and backfires.

This looks to me like a 'better system' than the Alton/Norton starter systems?

Any comments

chasbmw said:

It looks as if the old britts starter runs onto gears cut into the clutch basket? So no issues with sprang clutches and backfires.

This looks to me like a 'better system' than the Alton/Norton starter systems?

Any comments

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if there is any backfire protection with the Alton.