Where were Commando's 1st started up?

dennisgb said:

worntorn said:

The collapse seems to have more to do with factors other than a straight bike to bike comparison.
Forty years later we can still compare the bikes easily and Norton comes out on top by a wide margin.
If I am going on a long ride through the mountains, or headed to California on the 101 or in a hurry on the I-5, do I want to take the CB 750 or the 850 Commando?

-Compared to the Honda, The Norton has something like 40% more torque on tap per pound of machine and rider at 70 MPH. This is really nice all of the time, but especially when carrying a passenger and luggage.

- The Norton is completely smooth at highway speeds. At 70-75 MPH , the bar end mirrors on my MK3 850 are as clear as the rearview mirror in a new car. Even when new, my CB750 produced a horrible tingling vibration at highway speeds. It buzzed me and made the mirrors useless at speed. That alone is enough to put me off riding a machine today, though back in the seventies when almost all large motorcycles vibrated badly, we tolerated it.

- The Norton is a sweet handling bike. My memory of the CB750 is that it was a like other Japanese bikes from back then, a bit of a heavy ill handling pig to ride on challenging roads.

If I had a good CB 750 in the shed today , it would mainly be something to look at once in awhile, not something that would get ridden much at all with the Norton sitting there ready to go.

Glen

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Glen,

But the cost difference was what made the biggest difference. We make the assumption that the buyer understood the difference in power and handling. Not sure most people knew anything other than Honda's reputation and cost.

Then we could try and explain why people buy Harley's and that is another can of worms. The new Harley "Baggers" with the bags an inch from the ground and a 24 inch wheel on the front tell the story pretty well in my opinion. You never have to lean on a Harley...because you can't. Of course this is the other end of the spectrum...commanding an outrageous price for an inferior product...or at least a single purpose product.

Dennis

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Torontonian said:

Here in Canada we had the Avro Arrow debacle. :?

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wakeup said:

If it's any consolation, the same pollies that hobot mentioned were also involved in the cutting off at the knees of the British aircraft industry, shipbuilding in the UK, and the car industry. Of course there are a multitude of reasons for all of them, union unrest, clapped out machinery (some) bad management, Britain being broke etc etc. The fact is that there were some political individuals who presided over the whole sorry debacle and either allowed it to happen, or actually helped it to happen. All for their pathetic political ambition or ideals. They have all retired on a fantastic pension, many have been knighted or elevated to the Lords with little or no blame attached to them. The only good thing is that most of them have shuffled off this mortal coil by now (i.e. they've carked it).
Happy days
cheers
wakeup

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B+Bogus said:

Torontonian said:

Here in Canada we had the Avro Arrow debacle. :?

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TSR2... and now Nimrod. At least with TSR2 they didn't wait until it was ready to go into service...

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