Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimline

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Triton Thrasher said:

Rohan said:

as a 'special' the concept that there is some standard to judge them by seems somewhat odd.

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Standards? There's "looking like a Manx" and "running well."

Mine looks unlike a Manx and it blew up last night!

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Good on yer !

Proper Tritons should get blown up once in a while !

It is simply an excuse to rebuild it, better, faster, stronger...

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Acotrel correctly states that Norton would only sell a complete Manx Norton. The weapon of choice in the F500 race car class was the Manx engine. competitors would buy the complete bike for the engine and gearbox and flog (sell) the rest off to recoup some money. The cafe racer boys would buy the frame and fit into it whatever they could get their hands on. In the early sixties 650 triumphs were as common as muck and many were stolen to fill a Norton frame. His picture of a seely framed racer is a different kettle of fish as it is or was a much more modern racing frame and shouldn't be compared with a featherbed frame. I'm amazed that Acotrel contributes so much to the Commando forum having never owned one, I believe that he claims to never having ridden one either. He does however, keep me entertained------ for a few seconds.

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

And he never rides on the road, I have been riding my 850/Featherbed on the road as a everyday ride for 34 years now.

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Not supplying engines to racing car maker Cooper is not the same thing as supporting a Manx Norton customer with replacement parts!

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Fast Eddie said:

Triton Thrasher said:

Rohan said:

as a 'special' the concept that there is some standard to judge them by seems somewhat odd.

Click to expand...

Standards? There's "looking like a Manx" and "running well."

Mine looks unlike a Manx and it blew up last night!

Click to expand...

Good on yer !

Proper Tritons should get blown up once in a while !

It is simply an excuse to rebuild it, better, faster, stronger...

Click to expand...

Do they not say that a piston paints a thousand words?

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Do they not say that a piston paints a thousand words?

[/quote]


Looks like you caught that just in time Thrasher, before shrapnel increased the destruction !!

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin



Looks like you caught that just in time Thrasher, before shrapnel increased the destruction !![/quote]

Yes, the crack reaches the pin boss on this side.

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

I took a piston bright and new,

Fit for the deed I had to do.

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

A lone poet in the world of motorcycle butchery...!

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

With all due respect, I disagree with acotrel on 2 points:

First, as it has been said above, a special is a special by definition, and a slimline special is no less 'authentic' than a wideline special, all other aspects being equal.

Now the second point. A friend of mine owns a gorgeous Slimline Triton, with a Unit T120 engine with a Morgo kit. It has 19" front wheel and 18" back wheel on rather skinny tyres. THIS BIKE HANDLES LIKE AN ABSOLUTE DREAM. Even compared to modern bikes. It is utterly stable at all speeds and goes into a curve just by looking at it. This is by far the best handling roadgoing vintage bike I have ever ridden.

I happen to own a Norton special. Slimline frame with tilted Commando engine (850, PW3, Dunstall bits etc.) wich also handles very very well, but is a bit 'heavier' to steer in twisties than my friend´s Triton.
Now, it has a special swingarm, about one inch longer than stock, both my wheels are 18", and my tyres are just a notch wider than those on my friend's Triton. I honestly think that when I'll change the front wheel for a 19" and fit slender rubber on, my bike's handling will become very very similar to my friend's.

My point is there are much more important factors in the way a bike handles than the diff between wideline and slimline.

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Jagbruno said:

My point is there are much more important factors in the way a bike handles than the diff between wideline and slimline.

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Good call.
Great bike !

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

My Wideline handles great with the stock Featherbed swing arm and 19" wheels back and front, why did you go 1" longer in the swing arm, maybe that is what makes your Featherbed handle diffrently, I have ridden and own both Wideline and Slimline and properly set up there is no diffrents in handling, but changing wheel base and wheel sizes will change how the bike rides and steers.

Ashley

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

ashman said:

My Wideline handles great with the stock Featherbed swing arm and 19" wheels back and front,

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You have previously mentioned you have Commando forks and yokes in yours ?

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Yep and maybe thats why it handles so good. I am no expert on how things work and when I first built my 850 Featherbed I used what I had from both Commando and Featherbed, but what ever I done it works so well and remember I was a young man (21 years old) when I built this bike with no bike building experance at all and after 34 years I just thrown a few moden thing on to it, mostly for safety and performace wise, its no moden bike but it does surprise a few moden bike riders.

Ashley

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Ashley, I didn't 'go there'...I bought the bike like that and am not rich enough at the moment to by a lot of new parts for all my bikes. I'll probably fit new slimmer tires over the winter, and I might change the front wheel for a 19" if I find a good one. At the moment, It handles very well, but it feels slightly 'stiffer' on the road than my friend´s Triton which feels somewhat nimbler and a bit lighter on the front.

I rode over 350km (220miles) on small twisty Belgian Ardennes roads today, with a pack of modern bikes...The Norton never missed a beat and certainly didn't miss a curve... Lot's of envious looks... At my rear wheel.

:mrgreen:

Here is the bike as it is now, with Dunstall fairing:

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Its a nice looking bike and I was in the same boat when I built my Wideline, I built it on a shoe string budget and the last 5 or 6 years I got some good tax returns and spent the money on making my Featherbed better ( new PWKs, Joe Hunt maggie, full Grimca front brakes, round alloy oil tank, Lansdowns fork intenals ) and now not working no more so money will be tight again, but have my Featherbed all sorted the way I want it, would like to have a new alloy fuel tank, but I like the shape of the orginal Wideline tank but mine has so much bog in it.

Ashley

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

ashman said:

......would like to have a new alloy fuel tank, but I like the shape of the orginal Wideline tank but mine has so much bog in it.

Ashley

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Hey Ash, I really like how you've set your bike up. As I've commented before that the alum. oil tank you put on there from low brow customs really fits the bike and I also think that the shape of the gas tank that you have there defines that style of snortin' norton. But , what do you mean " so much bog in it " ? Cj

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

Hi CJ hows it going, bog is what we aussies call body filler after 56 years its been knocked around a bit, yes the round alloy oil tank looks like it was made for it and works so well, I am not a big fan of full fairings as I think it hides a nice front ends as well as not being able to see the motor, but its still a nice looking bike.

Ashley

Re: Stupid Question: Difference between Wideline and Slimlin

ashman said:

............ bog is what we aussies call body filler after 56 years its been knocked around a bit.......Ashley

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okay got it, I'm working on an old roadster tank for my Mk3 and it was "thrown in" with the purchase from the PO. It got dented and he tried to use compressed air to "pop" the dent out, but it just distorted it further and differently. Nice and thick guage steel tank though. I'm leaning towards just striping all the old bog off down to bare metal and painting it and running with it that way. What do they call it nowadays---patina anyway we're doing okay here, but I'm on the verge of hijacking this thread, peace out.