You don't see many of these!

I saw this at my local motorcycle shop today. Norton Commando with rotary engine.....

Johnnymac said:

Norton Commando with rotary engine.....

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Unfortunately.....not!

what are they asking for it?

Unfortunately it isn't for sale. My local shop, Donelson Cycles, has a museum of sorts attached to their shop... it is a colletion of the owner's bikes. Every time I go in there I ask him if he'll sell them.... he always says no way. :-(

That is a copy of a Norton Classic using an ex police or military Interpol 2. There were about 1000 rotary Nortons produced. I have one to complement my Fastback. It's also an ex military bike without the fairing. It's abit on the heavy side compared with modern machinery and produces 79 BHP (the civvy police version develops 85 BHP) The giveaway on the one pictured not being an original Classic (only 105 produced) is the black engine cases and the non standard headlight brackets. Apart from that it's a fine example of where the factory should have gone IMHO. These bikes are turbine smooth, my party trick is to stand a 50 pence piece on edge on the tank and (briefly) redline the engine. The coin stays put. Quality was good when mine was produced, Koni shocks, Italian forks and wheels and brakes, Jap alternator and every screw and bolt stainless steel. The fully enclosed rear chain normally lasts about 85,000 miles. With only three moving parts in the engine, maintenance is minimal. I love it.
Dave Evans
Shrewsbury

Some years back, I nearly got a demo ride on such a bike for sale.
Nearly - unfortunately it wouldn't start. And as new plugs were like 25 quid, thats about where this story ends ! 2 strokes.....

Have a look at " short history of rotary motorcycles " on this board .

Capeable of sounding like a heard of Buffalo on heat , with a decent exhaust .

Its Ex BSA > NVT , Not a bad ' Bonneville ' , Last of the line of the true Norton ascendancy , or is that Descenancy . :lol: Arghh . BOTHER .

Gennerally the head up the rectum defeatism delayed , missguided and disscontinued it .

THAT engine assy cleaned up in English Raceing for a time .
If theyd built the stupid Red Tri Bike , they wouldve blown off all the Whizz Bangs , in the 80s . ( weep moan gnashing of teeth ) . FUDGE .

instead it was , finally , ' I Know , We'll make it Really Expensive ' , & play the rich & Famous act . Barstewards .

Matt Spencer said:

THAT engine assy cleaned up in English Raceing for a time .

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It was rated at 588cc, so had a fair old advantage over 500cc opponents ? !!

If you look in the 'Others' section on this board, Norton based rotaries are still flying, powering military drones. LAB even produced a pic of an ultralight with 2 bods flying a Norton, although the engine makers website says only umanned things supplied with engines.

Yes It is rated at 588cc but cleaned up in the superbike class which at the time was I believe 750cc Steve Hislops epic TT duel was against Carl Fogarty on a RC30 Honda

corection to my last, 1992 Senior was against Fogarty on a 750 Yamaha. Some say it was the best TT race ever!

I think we need film of that gripper.
That would be very interesting to see.
AC.

A trifle noisey . Had video fo that , dunno if it didnt walk , of I lost it as half of its of the durex sponsored twot who broke his neck , didnt look to healthy .
Sort of fogartys intensity with none of his grit .
Has helicoptor film of them ripping along the veranda , and a few shots of them ripping past . I will see if i still have it .Wot .

Apparently The Injun was the typical half arsed ' why bother ' with no eutectic spray , on sideplates . But its doable after . Also a centre oil feed , whatever that is . Trans was T 160 initially , If the hair cooled injuns still available , a pre unit tri gearcase , a old 70s tri Chassis to butcher , and youd pretty much have someones avatar here .

The 92 bikes developed 130bhp but the 588NRV developed by Brian Creighton in 2006/7 pushed out 170bhp @11,500rpm and weighed 130Kg dry. Unfortunately they failed to perform at 2010 TT with a series of problems. I believe the variable venturi intakes involved a mechanism from a ATM "hole in the wall" type cash dispenser!!

Hi there.

I was reading about Norton rotary engines and i found your blog... ¡cool!.

I am buying an original Norton Interpol II right know, (the rare Police unit you know). Just to deal with it, I am more a cafe racer bikes guy...

What do you think about this bike? Is that engine so difficult to take care of it?

Best regards.

gripper said:

The 92 bikes developed 130bhp but the 588NRV developed by Brian Creighton in 2006/7 pushed out 170bhp @11,500rpm and weighed 130Kg dry. Unfortunately they failed to perform at 2010 TT with a series of problems. I believe the variable venturi intakes involved a mechanism from a ATM "hole in the wall" type cash dispenser!!

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The variable length intakes that the Mazda 787B had used the pop up head light motors form the series 4/5 RX7

OttoElPiloto said:

Hi there.

I was reading about Norton rotary engines and i found your blog... ¡cool!.

I am buying an original Norton Interpol II right know, (the rare Police unit you know). Just to deal with it, I am more a cafe racer bikes guy...

What do you think about this bike? Is that engine so difficult to take care of it?

Best regards.

Click to expand...

As long as the rotor housings are in good condition (they can get chatter marks on them) the rest can be fixed relatively easily. The end plates wear but they can be thermal sprayed and reground. Other than that you could almost think of it as a two stroke Commando without the isolastic system. Some of the seals can also be replaced with cut down Mazda ones which are probably better than the Norton ones, or aftermarket Mazda ones which will be better again.