Poll

I'm one of those 40 yr olds. Well, 44 (for now).

Now lets see if I can remember my Nortons. I bet the first couple were parts bikes. I think maybe 1989 when my brother and I picked up a MkIII that had been wrecked. I have the tank now and he used the frame for his 73.



Then (I think) I bought the 72 as a basket case. That was probably around 1990? Took a few, ahem, years to get that one back together.



I finally got a running Norton, an 850, my guess is 1993. As you can tell I'm not real good at dates. Or remembering shit.

Speaking of which, what was the question?

Dermot here
Started with BSA in Scunthorpe Uk in 69. Had Starfire, b440 and b50 SMS last of geezers oil in frame.
Accident in 72 ,and biking stopped till 00. Had a few bmw boxers in between purchased my boyhood dream bike, a1972 Interstate 750. It is my pride and joy now and Brings me back to my youth.

Dermot again
forgot to say I am 62 years. maybe I don't want to think about it
Cheers

Just turned 57 and bought my 850 IIa Roadster in 2009, only about 35 years after I first wanted one as a kid. Still, got there in the end.

Aren't they just wonderful.

41 years old. Bought my '75 Roadster about 3 years ago. It was a runner (kinda) but with lots of help from the forum and upgrading some parts its very reliable now and one of my favorite bikes ever. Growing up in late 80' early 90's Ireland my license was limited to 125cc but to be honest the insurance costs were huge for what we were earning back then. Problem was there was only one insurance carrier for the country and they charged what they liked. The only Norton I remember seeing back then was the "Nemesis" prototype on the cover of MCN!

Monjebricks said:

So as a 20 year old, in my Norton club -NCNOC- thy call me the puppy I the group and I'm curious as to why there aren't more younger people involved in bikes like these. I told the president Of my NOG that I would do my best to bring the age average down and recruit younger folk and so far I've convinced one person and that was my Principle from High School. Although its not the age I was looking for its a start and soon enough ill have my own gang to ride with. Have fun riding guys and be safe. If you see a young kid on a commando its probably me so don't be afraid to stop and say hi!

Monjebrick

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glad im not the only 'kid' 8)

age 34
first bike when I was 25 (Lambretta Li200 )
first commando 3 years ago

Eneko

Turned 58 last November. Bought my Combat in 1978...only bike I've ever owned...average +2000 miles/year since full restoration in 2008.

I bought my MkIII in 1979 at age 17; that makes me 50 now.

Sold it to my dad to buy a car for college (a Triumph) and then rode the Norton whenever I was home, putting 100 miles on for each of his. When I moved to Michigan after college, he rolled the bike into the basement where it spent the next 10 years dry and warm until I convinced him to sell it back to me. Still have it, and it will never be sold.

I'm 52
Bought my first Combat in 83, which was my first bike. Drove that many miles and picked up a few more on the way.
Presently driving a 74 850 Interstate. Close to finished my Combat restoration.
Cheers,
Thomas
CNN

What year was that hobot, that you were 20 in Tallahassee?

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I got out of hi school in '70 and started FSU in '71 age 19 with polyester mother picked clothes, penny loafers with a shirt pocket circular slide rule for the rough and ready plus a long more accurate slide rule in belt holster. I quit the Vaseline in my hair and let its blonde locks get below my shoulders. I was told the P11 was built by Pagent's Cycles in Tallahassee for sole purpose to put down all other brands in 1/4 miles and did for '68 & '69. Tossed pilot off at end of last run so quit it and bike got handed down barely running to a young relative with a new H2 triple so thought the Norton was dinosaur shit to be rid of. That dragster could hardly lean but it made a great off road scrambler in Fla woods and deep sand lanes and by a friend who let me ride his Harley righteious chopper talked me into letting him blow off steam on if one night doing off roading through university hallways, grass grounds, through hedges up and down stairs then through the narrows of the brick women's dorms [open drag pipes echo'd to high heavens!] till too many flashing lights chasing him he dumped it behind bushes to show up telling me where he left it but he's wasn't going back with all the heat out. It had no stands so laid on side. O.F! I collected it next day and shot out of there but did see some uniformed folks waving angry fists and radios as I went by... That started a forced on hobby similar to the Ghost Rider where its open season for police to plot and gang up on but never catch... Hehe if ya ever see online reports of mysterious LOUD sounds that shake home foundations and felt in gut more than heard, well i know what's going on. We produced the noise makers in garage the P!! kept out of sight in. One pm after a couple of "sky quakes", Cops, Fire, Recuse, FBI, Bomb, Drug dogs and MIB decended at once cornering us belly to belly 10 people inside sniffing and probing and rather angry in our faces, They KNEW it was us, but found absolutely nothing so left like in the movies with tires squealing and troops cussing. At that point me and partner Rolled on the Floor Laughing our Asses OFF and Knee slapping yelling and stomping around till about blue and red in faces pasted out in cramps. We had one cooking up under the table with a compressor and generator chugging away slowly filling a DIY thermobaric bag we about pee'd in pants as it was swelling up but beyond comprehension of investigators. All's I can add is those troops did not need a call to know they'd missed another one >>> KABOOOMM before that got to stations...
they were so intense excited spitting while speaking state, over looked the Candy Apple Red tanks with gold dust embedded highlights right under noses too.

hobot said:

I got out of hi school in '70 and started FSU in '71 age 19

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#3 son is finishing grad school this semester. You would not recognize the campus - 90% of the buildings are 10 years old or less.

BillT said:

hobot said:

I got out of hi school in '70 and started FSU in '71 age 19

Click to expand...

#3 son is finishing grad school this semester. You would not recognize the campus - 90% of the buildings are 10 years old or less.

Click to expand...

Probably wouldn't recognize the buildings when he was there because of all the pot smoke in the air. :mrgreen:

Duh dear dudes this was during Vietnam returned troops on VA benefits and SDA riots with smoke clouds and draft raffle brithdays lottery plus Jimny Hendrix, the Bee-et-tuls and Moody Blues and Pink Floyd ontop of hippy Woodstock culture and Timothy Leary and Baba Ram Dass in full bloom, so don't think current campus is as comfortably numb and painfluly confused as back then. I got to visit Gainsville a good bit with friends and got my SCUBA card in crystal clear cold Fla. Garden of Eden rainbow shimmering rivers. Fla. was best in the '50's 60's 70's but so many folks moved in till its as messed up as where they left. Most joke about not remembering the '60's, sheeettt thankgood I'm in constant flashbacks. Oh yeah my car was an Olds VistaCurser wagon.



I was bad depressed w/o much self esteem but that ole P!! and mushrooms and Window Pane, Orange Sunshine, Purple Haze killed off that miserable kid. Was one of the first to try-test what a decade or so later became known as Ectasy, but back then was extracted from Sassafrass root bark. BLATTT! >>>>

65

I'm 56. My best friend whom I have know since I was 5 is a Merchant Marine.
He would get off the ship will a wad of cash and just blow it on toys.
In '78 he showed up with this 73' Dunstall, he rode it for a year and then sold it to me for $1000.
He went out to sea again and when he came back he bought another Norton, a '74 Roadster.
Rode that for another year and sold it to me for $500 plus a trade of a '73 Honda 250 Elsinor.
I still have them to this day. One I ride and the other I'll be "restoring" this year.

I am 23.
Reasurected my fist bike at 19. It was a '71 750 my Dad used to ride it then put it up for 25 years in the basement(cracked oil tank). It was my first and only motorcycle as of now. I taught myself how to fix it, how to ride, and it is now Version 2.5 and still running strong.

speaking of tight spaces to work on rides and store them; Back in college I moved my Norton once in the back of a Honda Element....It was a tight fit.

Cheers,
John

When I was ten years old I bought my first motorcycle, it was 125 cc. Until I was 16, I had a lot of motorcycles, from 50 to 350cc.
For survival the critical youth years I delayed the purchase of big motorcycle until I was an adult . First, in 1999 I bought my first Norton. This was a fastback -70 that I restored and had some years.
In 2009 I purchase my current Commando Roadster 850 This have been restored little by little, but not finish yet.

I was born in 1960 and is now 52 years.

Jan-Egil

Age; almost 54
I "borrowed" a friends older brothers Commando, a '72 I think, when I was 13 or 14. Scared the hell out of me. Always wanted one since that day. At age 50 I aquired my first (and only) Commando, a '69S, much to my delight. I had to buy a bunch of parts and assemble a good portion of it but it was worth the effort.

Tom

55....
I bought my one and only Commando almost 20 years ago. When I ride that bike I feel like I'm 20, riding my long gone T120R