What is a Norton Commando ?

I know that's a strange question but to my mind, a Commando is a non-unit motorcycle with close links to the first Model 7 twins. I am interested in old motorcycles (although my Commando wasn't when I bought it) and to me the current use of the name 'Commando' is simply marketing. I find it irrelevant that the name is being used again.

I see that long-term posters are now being challenged by someone with (currently) three posts, all about the current factory problems, and being accused of lack of loyalty to the Norton marque. Sorry Pixie darling but some of us have been loyal to Nortons for most of our adult life to the extent of putting replacement parts before things like beer and clothes.

The point of all this drivel is to ask whether it would be possible to bounce the 916 stuff into 'Other Motorcycles' cause they ain't proper Commandos or if the administrators consider that they are, could they separate into unit and non-unit or somesuch ?

Regardless of the merits of the new thing, it really has nothing to do with a technical forum relating to the Norton Commandos which were our subject matter until a few years ago.

By shear numbers and time and acceptance the Commando name has been shanghai'd by Norton and everyone else to mean an isolastic canted vertical air cooled non unit twin. After that is a sliding scale of what some call a Commando til only the decal label left. Rotary's respected this by the name Commander. So I guess the new Norton 961 seemingly going down the drain could be well be known a Commode. Check out the new 'vintage' Triumph range to see what might of been. There are two other updated vintage superbike contenders for the new Norton market that out perform it. I forget their names but remember the depressing comparsions in the video reviewing.

It is generally recognized that the term Commando was model specific, as in isolastics and inclined motor.

The "new" Commandos are named such purely for marketing purposes to appeal mostly to us old Commando owners.

Maybe sometime in the future Norton will make a big single and call it a Manx.

You stay awake at night and worry about which forum the posts belong in? :roll:

Well put 79x100. Funny how the new "N" passes there emmission tests for North America, and we get new forum members immediately defending them. Co-inky-dink?

I don't have a problem with the new commando - bring 'em out and race them against other old technology thunderbikes and we will see how good they really are. Battle Of The Twins ?

Hey Swooshdave, I don't lie awake at night, far from it. It was earlyish evening here when I posted and I'd just come in from rubbing the 16H down with an oily rag after putting something over 300 wet miles on it this weekend. I poured myself a beer (I can afford it at the moment as I haven't had to buy many Norton parts this year !) and did my regular skim through the recent posts, only to find long-term 'real' Commando owners being castigated.

I really do think that the 916 stuff belongs with the other motorcycles. It shares the same name, but if this were a Dominator forum, would the Honda model of that name be accepted ?

...and while we're on the subject of the new "N" as Snorton puts it, the bastardised logo doesn't even have a proper 'T' in it, so they're NorLon 916Commandos really.

I've nothing against the bikes. I thought that what Kenny Dreer did was a bloody good effort to make a modern version of a machine that he was thoroughly committed to. What I don't quite follow is why a cynical marketing effort should be thought to appeal to the owners of a bike that ceased production more than thirty years ago. If it said 'Kawayamahonzuki' or 'XYZ whizzbang' on the tank, would we even give it a second glance ? In my case not, which might well be my problem rather than the rest of the world's

79x100 said:

916
916
916

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Ahem.....961 :wink:

L.A.B. said:

79x100 said:

916
916
916

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Ahem.....961 :wink:

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Oh Yeah, I like 916s... It just shows how little attention I've been paying at the back. :roll:

Basically , its a Norton , that (hopefully ) gives us the get up and go of a Manx , with the capeability of intercontinental :? touring .

"Gives us", Matt? I reckon you`ll have to pay -so how much was your deposit - as a % of full price - anyway?

We can see he's coming around to the idea......

IMO, the 961 IS a Commando. It's called evolution. The Atlas evolved into the Commando 750. The 750 evolved into the 850 and then to electric start MKIII. Who'se to say that the 961 doesn't represent what the design would have evolved into if the original company had stayed in business?

Why is the 961 any less of a Commando? Because the company has new owners? Or because it's not kickstart with some ancient carburettors?

Am I imagining it, or did Triumph drop "New" from "New Bonneville" ??

Very briefly, the modern inmechanization was called "New Commando", was it not?

Well if you speak to some Norton owners Commando's aren't even proper Nortons, anything not made at Bracebridge Street is not worthy of the name so I do think you can get a bit carried away with the authenticity of a particular incarnation of a vehicle. Personally I wouldn't mind either way but I do see the 961 as a natural evolution of "our Commandos" and much closer to the original than say a new MIni is to the original - and thank goodness for that as someone who has owned both!

spelky said:

...I do see the 961 as a natural evolution of "our Commandos" and much closer to the original than say a new MIni is to the original...

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Yep, it's even closer than the New Bonneville is to the old. Commando = pushrods, Bonneville = OHC.

hobot said:

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Nice Commando.

The other ones aren't Commandos...

Ok then there are HyRyder, Roadster and Interstate Commando's just dressed up differently so this one fits my Commando classification, if isolastic equipped, other wise just a chopper with Norton engine.

spelky said:

Well if you speak to some Norton owners Commando's aren't even proper Nortons, anything not made at Bracebridge Street is not worthy of the name ...

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I can't help but comment out loud (or at least in print) about your observation. Technically speaking then, very little of my Commando was actually made at Bracebridge Street given the original parts that were sourced out and the original parts that have been replaced or modified to date. Since I have rebuilt the engine and gearbox, added belt drive, changed the ignition and carburetion, replaced practically every bearing, repainted it and re-plated many of the original parts, I'd be at a loss to actually identify what parts were actually in their original condition from BS (perhaps none?). I guess to a purist my bike is no longer a Commando even though it looks like one! Hmmm...