P11 vs TR6c

You’re trying to decide between an XL350 runner and a P11 basket case … but these are two completely different things !

If you want a long, complex, costly project, do it. But understand that a P11 basket case resto is only something to do if it’s really what you want to do.

If you wanna have fun in the dirt… buy the XL.
This has been a consistent conundrum for me- to wrench or ride. Secretly I think I like working on em more than riding. But horses for courses- a dirt bike Norton is probably more of a dream than practical reality.
 
I took on my P11 partly because it was given to me, partly to prove I could resurrect it, partly because I had some inheritance money to spend on it, partly because @motorson was willing to help me with it and partly because I wanted to learn as much as I could about British bikes because I have always been attracted to them but have never owned one or worked on one (aside from building wheels for a few of them). And boy, have I learned a lot. For me the whole project has been worth it for the education even if for some reason I never get anything else out of it. If not for the expertise here on Access Norton and the ease of finding parts on the web, I never would have made it this far.

Also I have a disease that compels me to resurrect dead bikes especially when it makes no sense to do so.
 
I wonder if the 'rather work on them than ride them' is an age thing. With the perfect summer weather this year you would think Id be out riding everyday but I'm not. Rather, in the garage building up a Trident powerunit from scratch. And I already have a good Commando and Trident ready to head out any time.
 
I wonder if the 'rather work on them than ride them' is an age thing. With the perfect summer weather this year you would think Id be out riding everyday but I'm not. Rather, in the garage building up a Trident powerunit from scratch. And I already have a good Commando and Trident ready to head out any time.
I ride the commando or cb750 to work every day, but the days of riding off for a week or more at a time have faded away with young kids and aging parents. I think wrenching give you the thrill of unlimited potential without the crushing reality that you can’t go anywhere anyway.
 
I’ve joked that the more bikes I own the safer I become as I spend more time working on them than actually riding them. At some point, the logic goes, I won’t be leaving the shop at all.

It doesn’t help that my wife has dubbed my shop the “No Kill Motorcycle Shelter”.
 
I’ve joked that the more bikes I own the safer I become as I spend more time working on them than actually riding them. At some point, the logic goes, I won’t be leaving the shop at all.

It doesn’t help that my wife has dubbed my shop the “No Kill Motorcycle Shelter”.
I write for the Montana vintage motorcycle club and just last newsletter referred to myself as the ‘British bike cat lady’ where they go for one last tank of petrol before dying under the porch-
 
I ride the commando or cb750 to work every day, but the days of riding off for a week or more at a time have faded away with young kids and aging parents. I think wrenching give you the thrill of unlimited potential without the crushing reality that you can’t go anywhere anyway.
I agree--when I was single I could hop on my KZ1000 and ride across the US, or I could hop on my CB750 and ride 4 hours away to visit friends for the weekend. Now as an family man my rides are all much shorter.
 
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