Tall Tales...what ever made me buy a norton?

I wish to hear why some of us bought a Norton...there must be some tale behind almost all of our bikes. If someone wishes to get the ball rolling...we could have a bit of fun here......I will, in a couple days jump back in and tell my tall tale.....so get your pens out and put some good stories on the air!

Easy answer.
Seeing Jerry's bike on this forum.

Scooter
(log in is not working?)

I remember it like it was yesterday.

I had been following the Commando through magazines for a few years. Always on the inside cover, with that SEXY Norton girl. The 'S' model in particular with it's graceful upswept pipes, the advertised 12.69 ET on and on.
I had been to a dealership a few times but was too young and penniless to attempt a purchase.

Then in the spring of 73 it happened. I was driving by a dealership and saw these reflections in the parking lot and had to stop.
There they were. 3 brand new 850's. All polished and glimmering in the sunlight. A black one, a red one, and that metal flake blue.
They were all beautiful, but that blue, with alloys glistening and sunlight dancing off the metal flake, I was done. I was totally smitten.

The problem was, I was a student and still didn't have any money. It consumed me for months. I kept in contact with a few dealers through the summer, then finally in the fall I made my move.

Since this was going to be my biggest purchase ever, I didn't just jump, I shopped a little for comparisons. I looked at the then new 'Mighty' Z-1, I thought it was rather ugly with it's orange and brown paint, seemed mufflers etc, etc,. Seemed heavy and cumberson. Eliminated it.
I then shopped for a Sportster. As usual, no one would even talk to me.
I looked at the bike. It seemed cobby and not put together well. It seemed heavy and unbalanced, the carb hit my leg, the tank was too small, No good.

These were all rationals to go to the Norton dealer. Barney Tillman, in East L.A. There it was. A blue one, along with a red 850, a black 750 and some Interstates. Barney tried to explain to me the 750 was faster than the 850, I wasn't having any of it. How could a 750 be faster than an 850. And besides, that blue one kept winking at me. He, Barney, must have alterior motives.
Someone else must want the blue one and he is trying to sell me the smaller more inferior 750. I have to have the blue one, NOW.
I made him an offer, to my surprise, he took it. I gave him a deposit.

Now for the hard part, a talk with DAD.
I explained to him how I had to buy another motorcycle. Further went on to explain how tired he was of having things torn apart in HIS garage and if I were to buy a brand new motortcycle, I wouldn't have to work on it all the time. (ha, ha , ha)
"But son, you know me, buy American."
I was ready for this. Armed with magazines, I pointed out how the Norton was one fo the best balanced, lightest and best handling motorcycles around. And with it's new disc brake, it's one of the safest. (My big pitch was on safety, I conveniently skipped over the performance areas.)
A slight moment of silence, then. "Well at least it's not Japanese."
Right Dad, If I could just get you sign right here.


To Barney's surprise, I came back a few days later with a Bank draft. He couldn't believe it. (Neither could I, I must be dreaming)

I took delivery one day before my 20th birthday. I thought it was a rather nice present to myself.

I was most satisifed motorcycle owner in world for about two years, then....

Not nearly as poetic as Michael B, but here it is...

Grew up with a good friend whose older brother was a bit of a mechanical anglophile - MG's, Rover's and (yep, you guessed it) a Norton Commando. Seems all those years of standing over his shoulder and watching him wrench on it didn't take the tint out of my rose colored glasses.

Finally, decades later, I heard that one of my current co-workers was selling a stored '71 750 cafe replica - and jumped at it.

"Needs to belong to someone with mechanical aptitude," he says. "Nearly perfect, just needs a little twiddling," he assures me. Sure.....

That was last June - now nearly $10k ago in parts and labor (with little to show for it 'cept a bunch of shiny, new parts). I'm having a great time, nonetheless, and still shooting for a finished bike for the INOA Rally in July.

My story also goes back to the 1970's. I grew up in a biking family and Dad was one of those guys who always had to have something new. His previous bike before the Norton was a Suzuki T500. But the Suzuki dealer also sold Nortons and they caught his eye. He ended up trading the T500 in on a beautiful new 1973 850 Roadster. It had custom paint, pearl white with orange panels and hand-painted lettering. It had been custom painted for someone else and the guy backed out of the purchase (losing his deposit in the process). We all agreed it was the most beautiful bike we'd ever seen. So Dad bought it!

Several years later he had a bad accident on it and decided to give up riding. The bike was undamaged in the spill and he gave it to me. It was quite an upgrade from the Suzuki TS185 trail bike I was riding at the time! I loved that 850 and put a lot of miles on it. But by about 1980 it needed a lot of work. I felt the restoration was beyond my abilities and resources so I reluctantly sold the bike (I know now it wouldn't have been that difficult to fix it up).

I kept the service manuals, rider's manual and the various tools we had for it, hoping to get another one someday. But whenever I saw one listed in the paper the asking price was outrageous and the bikes were invariably in poor condition. So the dream seemed pretty hopeless. But then along came the internet and ebay. I was amazed to learn that parts were still available and there were still quite a few Commandos still in service. And the bikes listed on ebay all looked so great! I started the search for another Norton.

After looking at a few overpriced, poor condition bikes for sale locally I found my current Norton, a 1971 750 Roadster, for sale on ebay and bought it. The bike looked great but had been poorly maintained. Getting it going again proved to be much more difficult (and expensive) than I had thought, but now it's a good solid runner again. This forum was an invaluable resource to me as I struggled to sort the bike out. I almost gave up and sold the bike several times, but people on this forum were very helpful and so I persisted. So after all those years I have another beautiful Norton to ride and enjoy!

ps - Dad recovered fine from the spill and before long bought another bike and continued riding. His new machine was a Suzuki RE5 rotary. He owned a lot of interesting bikes but I always thought the Norton was the best one!

Debby

When I was a kid I ate, lived, breathed, and slept motorcycles.
I knew all the bikes in town by their sound.
The first Norton I saw was one of those gold metalflake painted Commandos, and then I heard that reverse cone megaphone sound and swore that someday, somewhere, somehow, I would own one.
Years went by, plenty of Jap bikes, until one day an ad appeared in a local paper with Roadster 1972 (born in Andover, England in October of 1971 actually and sold in January of 1972 as a 72 model as I later dug up the history of the bike) for a grand. It was mine two days later. It was also my only bike for more than 7 years and never failed to get me home or entertain me or get admiring glances. Everyone remembers their first Norton.

Why I bought a Norton

I was always a motorhead, thanks to my Dad. He always told me about the 1929 Henderson 4 he had that my uncle conveniently took apart while Dad was away in WW2. Later on, a neighbor had an Allstate (Puch) that Dad actually bought. I don't know what was wrong with it but I conveniently took that one apart and one day it was discarded. Too bad. Then one day I was downtown with Grandma and I saw the most beautiful machine I had ever laid eyes on. It said, "BSA" on the tank. I drew pictures of it from memory for some time afterward. Eventually, Dad got a Bridgestone 175 that actually ran (boy did it run!) and I learned to ride on that. Then we got a couple of Honda 450s that seemed big and inimidating at first. Dad hit a Buick head on with one of them and totalled it, but not himself (quite). During this time I was riding with a buddy who had a BSA Lightning. I thought that thing was the tits! Truth is, it really wouldn't run away from the 450 that much if at all, and we spent a lot of time pushing it, but it looked and sounded like a motorcycle should, whereas the Honda was, well, a Honda. When I got a job at the steel mill and thought I had struck it rich I started shopping. Cycle magazine published a comparison magazine of all the best bikes of 1973 and I poured over it. It was a foregone conclusion that it would be British but the BSAs were gone. Looked at the Bonneville, nah. The Trident, hmmmm. But then there was the Commando. Never heard of one. Well, after studying my book until the pages fell out I went and bought a '74 850. I'm embarassed to say what I paid for it but they sure saw me coming! I loved that bike and it served me well and rather reliably even though I ran the snot out of it and had no real idea how to maintain it. It went to seed later on but I still have most of it. I bought my current 850 after being bikeless for a couple of years and that's my daily ride. Now, gotta get that Trident and that BSA, and that Bonneville. Sorry to ramble on ...

Well, as most of you, I always was into bikes. Even when I was 13 years of age, my best friend and I read everything about motorbikes. I reckon, it all started me, when my unkle took me on a ride on his Münch Mammut TTS in 1978. I was a eight at that time. A year later, he took me out for another spin on one of his other bikes (BMW R 80). He owned two Münch Mammut and several BMWs. That was it: I was completely addicted to motorcycling.
My first couple of bikes were all Japanese 500cc 4-stroke singles, then while being a student swapped it for a Vespa PX 200 (excellent!), non-estart. I have always had a strong link to Great Britain, via good friends whom I visited as often as possible. I even lived and worked there for a certain period. I bought a house and made my living as a Graphic Designer. Cool. I had been dreaming of an English paralell twin for a decade, though I always wanted a 1970 T 120R Bonnie. A Commando always came second. Until the moment I rode both... there was no doubt the Commando was the much, much better bike! Such a competitive allround package. Gobsmacking!
Last year I bought my first ever Norton ('72 Commando 750 Interpol) ,after almost ten years of dreaming of it. And what a disaster!!! Loads of problems on the engine, gearbox and carbs. The situation was getting weary, I made the biggest mistake you can make: rush a decision head-over-heels without thinking and examination. Then I had the chance to trade it in for what I believe is one of the finest Nortons ever built: a '69 Commando 750 S. Yes, exactly the one from the ads!!! In canary yellow. I was totally excited, but, well, watch it, don't make that same mistake again, you are talking big money here. So I checked it, I mean, REALLY checked it over. No rush this time. I examined the whole bike. It it a complete rebuid and has received all the care and maintenance it deserves. Beforhand I rode the S type of a friend of mine, to have a first impression of how a sorted out Commando goes. And by god, it flew!
So after riding my prospective new baby (that flies as well!), I took my chance of getting one of the rarest of its kind.

I am completely satisfied and happy about my S type. I feel as if I finally arrived and made my dream come true. As well as I am sure the S type won't be my only ever ride, I know that I will keep it forever.

What a bike, what a community, what a life, what a joy!

Cheers from Hamburg, Germany

P.S. Log in does not work, somehow...

Matt
--------------------------------------------------------
'89 BMW R 100 GS, '69 Norton Commando 750 S

I forgot to answer the opening question:

Well, what made me buy a Norton Commando?

The blant, clean, stylish looks, the sound, the engine performance, the pureness of the concept, the legendary story, the roadholding.

And it turns heads, creates envy and admiration wherever I take it.
It is just perfect, when you can fire it up by one kick only, when people are watching, hahaha!

WRROOOAAAHR!!!

Matt from Hamburg, Germany

I had lusted after a P11 when I was in High School in '67, but there were no funds and then there were the parents. We used to hang around the BSA shop and the sound of a British vertical twin was just music to my ears. By the time I was out of college P11's were no longer made, nor were the Commando "S" models. The Z1's had just hit the market and the Honda 750 had been out a few years, but the fours felt topheavy and I had had a 305 Honda Scrambler that didn't really impress me.
I read all the magazines, including the 1973 Superbike shootout where the Norton made a more than respectable showing. I graduated college in May of 1973 and on May 6 I walked into the Competition Accessories showroom (yeah they used to sell Nortons, Triumphs, and Ducatis) and saw a black Roadster, a black Interstate, and two blue metalflake Roadsters. Like MichaelB, it was a done deal. The blue metalflake was it. I rode it home two days later. It was poorly set up, the clutch cable routed incorrectly and binding, the carbs out of synch, a big piece of chrome flaked off the right head pipe, but I didn't care. I finally had my big British twin. It forced me to learn how to care for it. I quickly learned that what dealers were left in the area were not going to be much help.

I still have the bike 32 years, and some 50K miles later. It starts on one kick, idles under 1000 rpm, has the original (unsleeved) Amals, even the original blue metalflake paint. It now shares the garage with other rides, so it doesn't get the mileage, but it will never be sold.

How I first got the Norton bug?! - The sound! Definitely that awesome British twin sound.

Back in 1975 at age 15 I was sitting on my 50cc Honda moped, stopped for the last red light on my way out of town, and up along side of me stopped 3 Commandos… Hearing them taking off the moment the green light when on, almost made me pass out. Vibrations filled the air, and I could literally feel my bones resonating … Absolutely breathtaking!!!!! I never forgot that experience, and never will.

As “Commando 750” says in his post: “Everyone remembers their first Norton”, and I sure remember my first Commando! I got it on a Monday… - Monday, as in 4 days ago, haha … That’s right !! It took me 30 years to make my dream materialize, but here it is in the shape of a big, black and beautiful Mk3 Interstate. Can’t wipe that grin off my face..

Niels / Denmark

why norton?

This website is checked by yours truely at least four times daily. Is a valuable tool maybe the best.
It started in the late forties.Whizzers,Doodlebug,Cushman, Mustang.finally a Goldstar (jumped ten feet everytime it fired) Dot,Dkw,and a host of other Dirt and steet machines.. Always dreamed of a "NORTON" never had the money. Then one day I brought it home.A very beautiful Black 74 850 Commando.It is as new yet to-day.
To be sure the "Beast" had most of the afflictions described on the forum.
It is however a very great machine for serious rider(common sense and mechanical skills you will soon learn)At any rate this a great forum It offers much . As for me Been on two wheels sixty years now. And hopefully will stay that way. As long as I can see the front wheel...

Gus Hoefling

Like others I too grew up with a father who had ridden, and had a few stories to tell. Heard the stories of his first bike, bought for next to nothing, stored at a friends place because mother would not allow one of these dangerous machines. Many hours spent pushing this thing around and some riding it – turns out it was worth a bit less than he paid for it. Later saw service in WW2 as a despatch rider in the British Army– where I’m told Norton’s were the favoured ride - for best ground clearance and more go. Then post war in Egypt, occupying forces. Still has the Bar None MC Club cast aluminium (aluminum to some?) membership disk, with pyramids in the background. And a cup for coming second in a desert motorcycle race – “was leading but throttle cable broke, stopped modified the brake cable for the throttle and finished the race with no brake to come second – try that with your modern bikes”.
On to me, had m/c posters on the wall from a young age. Grew up with a soft spot for British, but the Bonnie was favourite. Liked the sound, the simple uncluttered look of a twin, the way the front wheel bounced at idle.
The only Norton I had seen was a Commando being pushed by a guy with a Mohawk haircut (pre helmet law days) and a sour look on his face - so didn’t get too close to that.
Got a small scholarship during my last year as a Univ student, parked the push bike and wisely invested in a 250 trail bike. Got out, got a job, after pay packet No 2 heard about a well used Commando an acquaintance of a friend had brought back from the US, thought not a Bonnie but worth a try and immediately hit the bank manager up for a small loan, sold the trail bike and bought the Commando. Like one or two others in hindsight I paid more than I should have, but still riding the same machine 21 years later so have forgiven myself. And Norton over Triumph – definitely the right choice.

Ok, I am a bit younger then most of you guys... my Norton came to be the same year and month as I did!

I started out with a scooter (to replace the pedals) in highschool, then a Honda CB400T, a Vespa car (APE), Yamaha Radian, then a Honda CB900F that I rode for about 11 years all over the eastern seaboard. A change of work, location and life resulted in my selling my 2 wheeled toys. After 8 months I wondered what was I thinking... no bike, this has to be corrected.

I was introduced to Nortons when a friend I worked with had bought a '72 Commando. I watched him pour over parts books and saw a stream of parts arrive by courier. A gentle introduction to the ritual we all know. His brother is a Harley guy and he assured me Nortons were respectable, not that it really mattered to me, maybe they would finally wave back! They were relieved that I was thinking about riding a "real" bike.

After going to several classic bike meets, I saw a red Fastback snorting its way across the grounds, my immediate reaction was "I want that, what is it?" Love at first sight, the sound, the looks, the performance. It was just a matter of finding a project bike and you can guess the rest of the story....a little more project then bike!

Whilst still at High school, I had an "auto-bike", this was a Villiers 35cc engine inside a rotating hub laced up to an ordinary pushbike. It had a lever the same as a norton choke mounted on the handlebars acting as the throttle. It was fun, but not a "real" motorbike.

I remember myself & best mate "wagging" school one day & riding our pushbikes over to the army depot where we were told you could buy ex army bsa's for very little money at the time. Some army bloke we spoke to told us that all of the older army surplus motorbikes were all sold long ago.

Then he asked us if we new what a Norton Commando was. We told him we had both seen the new commandos in dealer windows & we both would have loved to buy one, but we were still at school. It turned out this army bloke owned one & he took us down to his quarters & showed us his commando. As the rest of you will understand, it was just such a beautiful looking machine. They have always looked like a piece of "art" to me, even the name Norton, written in the old english style the way it is on the tank & timing cover is artistic.
The owner then started his commando & the sound of it resonating off the back wall sent a chill up my spine. It just seemed like it wanted to take off the way the engine pulsated in the rubber isolastic mountings. We were both given a very short ride around the army barracks, but it was enough to make me want to have a commando in my possession to this day.

I went through a Honda Dream 305cc, a BSA 250 C11, an AJS 500 twin & a Yamaha RD350(1974) before I was able to buy my first of seven commandos.
That first commando was a 1972 Combat Interstate & was the first commando I had actually ever ridden. Being 1974, the prices of British bikes had plummeted as everyone was buying the Z1 Kawasakis & Honda 4s.
Great stuff as I was able to buy my commando for $900 & it was only two years old. They were $1700 brand new then. Man, it was so smooth & powerful compared to the 1970 Triumph a mate had that I used to get to ride occassionally. It looked good, sounded good & went around corners so well. I still have the receipt for that first commando.

One of the best things about owning a commando is the fact that you can do all the work on them yourself. The 850 I have just finished building was completely sourced from parts all over the world via ebay & contacts. Something about having having built it from the ground up makes it the sweetest commando I have ever owned.

I have been sick for several days, so I didn't have the energy to put my two cents worth into the thread I started...but it seems like we struck a chord here.....everybody has a reason why they ended up with a Norton.

I, like many of us...seemed to always do just the opposite of what was expected from my parents. This includes having an interest in motorcycles. My interest grew rather slowly over the years, and my father made sure it grew slowly.
Although my father was an avid sport scar racer, he had a healthy fear of motorcycles. He told me when he was a kid, about 14, he bought an old machine from a fellow with money he made delivering groceries for people and proudly drove it home to where he lived. Home was down a steep hill and at the intersection before his house, he hit sand on the road and the bike went out from under him and flew up onto the beautiful front yard of their next-door neighbour. This in itself wasn't so bad, but the bike was a good solid thumper with a full tank and it landed on its' side with the gas turned up to about half throttle. The gas stayed turned on to a good speed and the bike spent something like two hours turning on the handlebar and tearing a ring shaped hole in the neighbour's lawn. No one could get to the bike to shut it off as it was turning too fast, so it dug in quite deep until it finally ran out of gas. Needless to say, his father wasn't too pleased with the repair bill the neighbour sent to him and my father never saw the bike again. There after......he was convinced that cycles were much too dangerous, and nothing I'd better get an interest in.
By the time I was about 15 or so...I had heard all about this and how dangerous the cycles could be and naturally wanted one. This was out of the question for my father and I wasn't even allowed to buy a Vespa that was being sold for 25 dollars in a yard sale down the road. Looking back, I can see his reason was a good one. In Rhode Island, our potholes were big enough to break a car suspension and his logic was that the tiny wheels on a Vespa would just see me into an accident. Good thinking, as it turned out years later, I hit a pothole with the commando and took out a Mailbox with my shoulder. But that's another story.
In my early twenties, I got married and eventually ended up going into the military, just at the end of the Nam period and got sent with my wife to Frankfurt Germany to serve my time.
My marriage didn't last over a year and we had a lot of scenes with made me happy I had a 50cc Mofa to ride and get away from her in the evening. It ran ever so well, French made and bright orange, and it got me up into the mountains north of Frankfurt on warm evenings to forget my family problems. Strangely, on last Thursday, I had to drive my daughter up there where all this stuff happened years ago and some of the places and buildings mentioned later still exist. I took her on a tour and showed her around...even the barracks room where this story took place is still there, but is now someone's "Condo". But getting back to my Norton story.
My wife and I just didn't work out. Within a year, I came home one noon and found someone doing the "wild thing" with a fellow from some other unit and what with having a smart First Sergeant and it being too hot to handle at home, I was moved into the barracks with a fellow from Maine. He had been in Nam and gotten all sorts of medals, and had no fear of doing foolish stuff. Under the influence, one evening, he told me that he couldn't die, if he had been meant to die, he would have died in Nam...from one of the 7 bullets he had gotten hit with. Needless to say, he looked on life as being put there to have fun with and he was just what I needed. A crazy companion and just the guy to make me forget about going through a divorce. I've lost track of him.... but I wish I could find him again...he helped me over the hump.
Being "free" again, was just the thing to get me in the mood to do what daddy didn't want me to do...after all...he couldn't see me...so I shopped around for something a bit better than a Mofa. There was a fellow in the unit that had been in the Angels in California and in a bar fight, shot someone. The judge gave him the choice of prison, or the Army.so off to Nam he went, and after Nam...he got sent to Frankfurt. He told me there was only a Harley to be considered, no other bike was a real cycle. He had a chopper and was President of a cycle club too...but despite getting called a "pus_y"...I somehow had eyes on a R90S that was up for sale. Gold paint and really nice. The captain that had it for sale, wanted too much and I just kind of had to swallow it...no BMW for me.
I had never even mentioned this to my roommate. He was gone a lot and I didn't even know he had a cycle. So we never discussed it.
One night I was in the barracks room and heard my roommate come in. He was white in the face, shaking all over and had trouble talking. He asked for a beer and I got one for him. Slowly the story started to come out.

The pay in the military was by German standards, quite good back then, but for a young fellow who had lots of girls and a motorcycle he parked in a garage off the military area, it just didn't add up to enough pocket money for him. He had thought up a way to improve the situation and done what many did back then...gotten to know the folks down at "shit park" in the city. .... On the evening this all happened, he had met with a Pakistani in the back room of a pub in town and purchased a large block of Hashish from the fellow. The money had just passed hands and the deal was done, when the local police burst through the front door screaming, "raid". The Packi and my roommate flew into the bathroom and with screaming police in the background, made it out the window and into the alley. The Packi went one way, my roommate the other, towards his bike. Naturally the alley was blocked by a police car, but not quite. Stashing the "goodies" in his jacket and quickly bending the sides of his number plate in so it couldn't be read, he got it somehow started on the first kick...fear will apparently start a Norton every time....and throwing it in gear, raising his feet and getting the bike between the wall and the police car, he gave it the gas and although crushing both of the Dunstall megaphones and bending the clutch lever , handlebars and such....not to mention what he did to the police car, he got it out of the alley and roared off. The police were not very far behind and within seconds there were three cruisers in on the chase. He told me he had never known that that bike could go.....so fast.......and never known police could too. It took him over an hour to lose them and only managed it by taking it through some woods where the police couldn't follow.
So there he was in the room, shaking and going on about how if he kept that bike, it would end up killing him...he now knew what it would do and it he kept it, it would make him want to drive like that all the time, he wouldn't ever make it to 25. All strange stuff for a fellow who had no "fear of dying"...but I guess he had finally seen the light. We are all human, in there, somewhere.
After listening to this "James Bond" story ...I couldn't help asking what he wanted to do with the bike. His response was..."sell it". "How much"? 800 dollars would get him a motocross bike ...he wanted to race Motocross instead.
Well...folks...I didn't even ask him what kind of bike it was.... didn't know what it looked like and hadn't even ever heard of a Norton.... but, I owned one now...and 30 years later, I still do.
We shook hands on the deal...and he sat down at the desk to cut his block up into "Dime" pieces.....

Personnally....I enjoyed all the input to this thread....but strangely, all input ended with my rather long entry above. Any reason? Or have we just played the subject out for all it was worth?
If I offended anyone with my story, it's subject matter, and the way I ended up with my Commando....sorry about that, but I can't change what happened back then, and certainly wouldn't, if I could.
If the subject matter of my tale has stopped the rest of you that have read this thread from adding to it, that would be indeed sad. I certainly didn't intend to bring the thread to a halt, by telling a true story; if indeed that is why all input has stopped. If the reference to the "naughty" deeds of the previous owner of my bike, offended....I'm indeed sorry, but don't let that stop you from putting your story into the thread.....I'm sure others, including myself, would get enjoyment out of hearing your tale. Besides...if he hadn't been that naughty, I'd never have owned a Norton.
Remember...we can't change our past....only our future....Peace!


hewhoistoolazytologin

Offended? Not in the least.

I'd already posted my short, pathetic story (my personal Nort'n story is, however, in its infancy - so there wasn't much to say).

I can't speak for the silent majority on the board, but some may not feel comfortable following your composition with their less engaging tales. As for myself, I don't believe I would have found my blurb worthy of the thread had you posted earlier.

The fact may be that the body of work presented scared off your competition. (That's a friendly prod to those of you who need to have some pride at stake to do your best work.)

Hey hewhoistolazytologin …,

Your “engaging” story reads like something out of a Robert Ludlum novel! How the heck can anyone top that?

Perhaps I should tell my story about being a double agent in Europe during WWII. I was shot three times by the MI 5 while riding a Norton Dominator flat out on the streets of London. You see I was carrying vital information on microfilm about ...

Just kidding. I enjoyed reading your story but would have to make up a pretty wild tale to compete.

Jason

Well it was just a short spin that hooked me for life on Nortons. I had sold and old triumph to a friend and helped him tune and fix it up a bit. Then one fine day he showed up on a 73 Commando he had bought cheap. He said take it for a spin it's really different. I banged it hard thru a favorite set of curves and new when I came out of the last one that I could have been doing twice as fast with no problems. A year later I found my cheap Norton 150.00 rolling basket 71. Ten years and ten thousand later I have a bike I wouldn't trade for any other. It's mine every part and it feels like a fine old shirt. I run it hard get it dirty and burn lots of gas. norbsa