Where's all the good parts?

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May 6, 2010
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It''s times like this which are rare. A time when I have a couple of spare bucks to spend on Norton parts. But as we all know, anytime you have money, there's nothing good for sale. And vice versa.
Scouring the internet and making phone calls to see if anything good might pop up, but no luck. So it made me wonder, where are all the good parts? I'm not a Commando guy, so that's half my problem I suppose. There certainly seems to be a good amount of Commando stuff that pops up frequently.
But I'm curious to see what others on the forum have in their collection of goodies. The rare stuff. Even if it's not for sale, let's see it. I'm guessing that most are like me in that it's just cool to see some good stuff that you don't often see.
So let's see it. This should be interesting....
 
One of the things about a Commando is that genuine parts are still on offer.
Now, I know what you will say ' yes, genuine new made exact replicas of crap!'
Sure to some extend but if you want to buy Triumph bits, there is no 'genuine'
source. Honest dealers will sell you stuff that is the best available but unless it
is NOS it is a shot in the dark at times.
So except for the odd piece such as a Interstate tank or Dunlop or Jones rim,
you are down to the small production proddy racer or real early bike stuff.
 
Thanks for the reply.
The silence was becoming deafening, which was really starting to prove my point for even starting the post.

Personally, I have no issue with people buying "genuine" newly made parts in order to replace fatigued originals. As long as the parts aren't made in India, I think that a good portion of replacement parts from the UK serve their purpose. Obviously there are exceptions, but the bottom line is, if you're buying pistons, rings, gaskets, bearings etc etc in order to rebuild and maintain your Norton, then there's nothing wrong with that. I'm sure we can all agree that it's nice to be able to find NOS stuff though.

The main point of my post is this:
There's not a lot of pre-Commando stuff available for sale. From any source. I know that we're talking about things that are fairly rare, but there are parts out there. Weather it's factory original Norton spares, or cool period aftermarket parts. The stuff is out there.
There's countless guys with hoards of parts that have no purpose just sitting there. For every part in some hoard, there's 10 guys out there that need that part in order to continue or finish their project.
Don't get me wrong, if you have an old Norton, it's good to have spares. It's also good to be collecting parts for future builds. But there's a limit, and once that limit is past, then it's a hoarding situation. As an enthusiast, I simply like to see these old bikes have a chance to get put back together and get back on the road. I want to see them out there being ridden and enjoyed. Wether it's by me, or whomever else simply gets to enjoy them. There's been many times when I've let go of parts that I had no immediate need for, in order to help someone out with their project. And some have done the same for me. Which is what makes it great. A shared enthusiasm for all Nortons.
I completely understand that's it just cool to have this stuff laying around. But it would be even better to see it come up for sale so that somebody could buy it and get a bike back on the road.
Anyone that's ever built or restored a motorcycle certainly knows what I mean. Inevitably there will be that one or two parts that you can't seem to find anywhere. And that's what's keeping you from going any further. Those are the times when I wonder how many of those parts are out there, collecting dust.

So I figured I'd start this post, with 2 goals in mind:
1 - maybe it would make some guys look around at their collection of parts and see a few things that they aren't going to use. And then sell them, thus helping somebody else build a Norton and put a couple of bucks in their own pocket at the same time.
2 - I'm simply curious as to what parts people have. I was hoping to maybe see some cool photos or hear about some cool bits that people are collecting for that special build. Figuring that we all like to see cool stuff and maybe seeing what others are doing, it might spark the thought that maybe you have something in your garage that might help that person.
 
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