Hey,
The legendary frame builder is Jeff Cole. He is the one that created 'C & J' frame back in the 60's. Designed and built some of the most successful race frames in the industry. Some of them was of course for flat tracker Ron Wood.
From there Jeff went on to work with several national teams and when he starts listing the racers he built frames for you just have sit back and try to keep up. For awhile he worked with several Formula 1 teams and built those tubular frames.
He was also responsible for designing the Soft tail for H-D. Of course, Harley will tell you that 'they' did it but he was commissioned by them to develop it.
The CNW frame was developed from scratch and has zero relation to the VR880 frames that Kenny Dreer had made. Not sure who Kenny Dreer used to build his frames.
When I approached Jeff and told him about what I was after he got really excited as he has a soft spot for Norton's. Of course, since Jeff designed all those OIF frames back in the 60's and 70', he knew exactly how to make that work just right. Some of the things I required:
- Keep all the critical dimensions from the Commando frame. Such as the 850 steering neck angle, iso mount location, shock mount location etc.
- Wanted an oil capacity of 2.5-3 quarts
- Built in battery and electronics trays under the tank, next to the oil tank
- Chrome Moly steel
- All tig welding
I sent him a perfect, one owner low mileage (2500miles) Commando frame. He used this to build a frame jig in order to duplicate the dimensions needed. Once the jig was completed he built a prototype that he sent to me. I installed all the critical parts to make sure everything was just right.
He then started making them in batches of 3. As the frame is completed, it gets sent to Evan Wilcox that makes the alloy body work for the Cafe's. This way Evan will fit the fuel tanks to a specific frame. This gets tagged and makes a set. This ensures a perfect fit.
Fenders and tail sections are fitted here in the shop.
Since we were making this really nice frame, I wanted a swing arm to match. Jeff Cole makes that as well. This is an oval tube piece that is extremely rigid and uses MkIII style fittings
If anyone caught the Cafe Racer (season 3) on the Velocity channel it has a segment that shows Jeff making the CNW frames. He is a true artist, master designer and welder and an overall great guy.
I am working on a new section on the website that will detail much of what went into creating these Limited Series machines. It will show a step by step how they come together. Still a little ways out though
Matt / Colorado Norton Works
http://www.coloradonortonworks.com
PS. C & J as a company still exists but Jeff sold it many years ago and retired. In recent years C & J they ran into some trouble with quality control etc but Jeff was not involved with the company during this time.
