Nater_Potater
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- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
- Messages
- 1,342
Well, after a twenty-three-year hiatus, our old girl is back home, clean, and on the road. My dad bought her new in '74 from the local British bike dealer (Buzz Chaney). We were there when the crate was opened to help with the final assembly. We still have the crate's end-panel that has all the shipping data stenciled on. I'll try to get a picture of that also. Dad had Buzz install some taller bars (ouch!) and rode it for a few years. I rode it in my last years of high school ('78), and installed the Dunstall mufflers you see here when the original Interstate mufflers rotted through. I took my girlfriend out on our first date on this bike (we've now been married thirty years), Dad sold it to my brother-in-law, who then took it to Colorado. Upon his return, he sold it back to my dad, since he was whining about needing another bike to ride. I don't know if he ever did after that... Sometime later, he sold it to a family friend (we miss you, Pete!) to add to his British car and bike collection, where it sat in a warehouse ever since. That had to have been around '90. I had said in an earlier post that it had been eighteen years - after reflecting back with the family, it's more like twenty-three years in storage! I had been talking with Pete the past couple of years about buying the Norton back, but I could never seem to get my ducks in a row. That is, until late last year. Unfortunately, Pete was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, so I felt it best to leave well enough alone at this point. It wasn't worth pestering him at this stage. I chalked it up to "A Day Late; A Dollar Short", and figured the Norton would get lost in a sea of red tape and estate sales. Pete passed away late in 2012.
At his memorial in December, I was introduced to his daughter who exclaimed "Oh, you're Nathan; you're name's on the list!" List? "Yes; you have first right of refusal on the Norton." Pete, even from the grave, you remembered me! Needless to say, I didn't waste any time making a move. Thanks to the help of Pete's daughter, I was able to bring the Norton home on Tax Day (April 15th), 2013, where I've been working steady to get it back to somewhere near its original glory. We went out this afternoon under her own power for the first time after almost a whole generation had passed. I'm looking forward to giving my future grandchildren rides on the old Norton some day.
Here we are in April '13 at the rental house. I don't know what looks worse; the bike or the truck. Okay, the truck! This is the same Dodge pickup that's going to carry me to my grave. Nobody's putting me in some GM hearse!
Not bad for 23 years of sitting on her sidestand in the dark. All of the aluminum and chrome had a dull patina (there's that word again), but the paint was amazingly clear. Don't let the right sidecover fool you; that's the oil tank you're looking at. The sidecover had been taken off by my dad because he felt it would help cool the oil better. The back tire still had 20 psi of air, where the front barely registered on my gauge (5 psi?), although enough to keep it up off the rim.
Unceremoniously stuffed behind the Nighthawk and Ascot. Since the rental house is a temporary thing, I'm not getting too excited about putting boxes away, and I'll probably wait until we move before I start doing anything with the Norton. Yeah; right!
Jeez, how I hate those bars!
Yep, couldn't stand it. This is at the Point of No Return, where I felt I could get to everything I needed to rebuild/replace/clean. I started to pull the rear fender, but balked at the lower bolts. Besides; the horn didn't work from new, so why bother now? To be honest, I didn't even know it had a horn until I got digging around under the battery tray.
Here we are towards the end of May, and things are already looking better. Check out the difference in the primary cover as compared to the prior slide. Mother's Mag Wheel Cleaner is amazing stuff!
Dig the new bars!
In the new house, and almost complete. I'm still trying to finagle pieces together for a braided brake line that will work as a go-between of the caliper and the cheesy fleabay 12mm master cylinder I bought new for twenty dollars. It'll get me by until I can get the original re-sleeved.
And we're there! This was taken literally seconds before her maiden voyage. I snapped the shot, tickled the carbs, made sure the clutch wasn't stuck, and she lit on the first kick! Off into the sunset for a quick jaunt through the neighborhood. Man, I'd forgotten how hard that thing pulls from two grand on up, and sounding good all the while.
There's a bit of ATF leaking from the primary and one of the carbs doesn't like to idle, but those are trifles. I actually look forward to tweeking things to bring them all in line.
Early on, during the whole house purchase thing, I was pretty adamant that we not buy the Norton back; rather, we use the money to help with the down payment. My wife insisted that I go buy that bike, since it's part of our heritage. 'Gotta love her! When I got back from our first ride, she's standing next to the Norton, wondering if she's tall enough to be able to ride it herself. We'll see...
At his memorial in December, I was introduced to his daughter who exclaimed "Oh, you're Nathan; you're name's on the list!" List? "Yes; you have first right of refusal on the Norton." Pete, even from the grave, you remembered me! Needless to say, I didn't waste any time making a move. Thanks to the help of Pete's daughter, I was able to bring the Norton home on Tax Day (April 15th), 2013, where I've been working steady to get it back to somewhere near its original glory. We went out this afternoon under her own power for the first time after almost a whole generation had passed. I'm looking forward to giving my future grandchildren rides on the old Norton some day.
Here we are in April '13 at the rental house. I don't know what looks worse; the bike or the truck. Okay, the truck! This is the same Dodge pickup that's going to carry me to my grave. Nobody's putting me in some GM hearse!
Not bad for 23 years of sitting on her sidestand in the dark. All of the aluminum and chrome had a dull patina (there's that word again), but the paint was amazingly clear. Don't let the right sidecover fool you; that's the oil tank you're looking at. The sidecover had been taken off by my dad because he felt it would help cool the oil better. The back tire still had 20 psi of air, where the front barely registered on my gauge (5 psi?), although enough to keep it up off the rim.
Unceremoniously stuffed behind the Nighthawk and Ascot. Since the rental house is a temporary thing, I'm not getting too excited about putting boxes away, and I'll probably wait until we move before I start doing anything with the Norton. Yeah; right!
Jeez, how I hate those bars!
Yep, couldn't stand it. This is at the Point of No Return, where I felt I could get to everything I needed to rebuild/replace/clean. I started to pull the rear fender, but balked at the lower bolts. Besides; the horn didn't work from new, so why bother now? To be honest, I didn't even know it had a horn until I got digging around under the battery tray.
Here we are towards the end of May, and things are already looking better. Check out the difference in the primary cover as compared to the prior slide. Mother's Mag Wheel Cleaner is amazing stuff!
Dig the new bars!
In the new house, and almost complete. I'm still trying to finagle pieces together for a braided brake line that will work as a go-between of the caliper and the cheesy fleabay 12mm master cylinder I bought new for twenty dollars. It'll get me by until I can get the original re-sleeved.
And we're there! This was taken literally seconds before her maiden voyage. I snapped the shot, tickled the carbs, made sure the clutch wasn't stuck, and she lit on the first kick! Off into the sunset for a quick jaunt through the neighborhood. Man, I'd forgotten how hard that thing pulls from two grand on up, and sounding good all the while.
There's a bit of ATF leaking from the primary and one of the carbs doesn't like to idle, but those are trifles. I actually look forward to tweeking things to bring them all in line.
Early on, during the whole house purchase thing, I was pretty adamant that we not buy the Norton back; rather, we use the money to help with the down payment. My wife insisted that I go buy that bike, since it's part of our heritage. 'Gotta love her! When I got back from our first ride, she's standing next to the Norton, wondering if she's tall enough to be able to ride it herself. We'll see...
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:lol: :lol: 
