A Slice of Dunstall Norton History (2013)

Status
Not open for further replies.
benz

benz

Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
28
Country flag
No questions here, just thought you fellas would appreciate these scans of dad's order form and confirmation from Dunstall. After picking up from Dunstall who was reportedly a bit of an asshole, he toured Europe for roughly two weeks. Returned to England, bought rear sets and the ubiquitous half fairing and shipped her back to PA.

More here: http://www.dunstallnorton.blogspot.com

A Slice of Dunstall Norton History (2013)

A Slice of Dunstall Norton History (2013)

A Slice of Dunstall Norton History (2013)

A Slice of Dunstall Norton History (2013)
 
Very intersting.

Have you got any pix of/by your dad from his collection trip, and/or later photos of the bike?

Sounds like a well-thought-out machine.
 
What the hey is going on with that exhaust system on the Dunstall letterhead? It looks like a Norton/Honda 4 morph.
 
RennieK said:
What the hey is going on with that exhaust system on the Dunstall letterhead? It looks like a Norton/Honda 4 morph.
Click to expand...

Precisely.
A hot seller ?!
For those "cylindrically challenged", or "suffering cylinder envy" ??

Guzzi singles at some point in the 70s came with something like that as stock.
And was all the rage on bobbers, some choppers, and little 2 strokes !
Have a look back through all the old period pics...
 
This little black duck was not impressed by Dunstall bits. When I got my 650ss in about 1974 it had brand new Dunstall mufflers and the engine had been built with a new Dunstall racing cam with associated followers etc. The mufflers were rusty within one month....30 days! The cam lasted 1500 miles from new, despite careful running in. Mind you it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding under 4500rpm, above that it was marginally better than the standard one, which was fitted at about 1550 miles.
Dunstall was not alone, a lot of the so called cafe racer stuff that was available then can be best described as absolute rubbish.
cheers
wakeup
 
You are not alone; the Dunstall street cam I purchased was actually slower than the standard Norton SS cam, as the lobe timing was way out on the Dunstall's own specification sheet.
In Dunstall’s shop in Well hall Hall Rd, he was trying to sell some used race cams that had excessive wear on the cam lobes from the cam followers, and a new self made full race cam ( NOT Newman) that had flats ground about every 5 degrees.

The only way to stop the Dunstall Decibels from rusting was to have the chrome stripped off and then given the triple chrome treatment.
 
grandpaul said:
Very intersting.

Have you got any pix of/by your dad from his collection trip, and/or later photos of the bike?

Sounds like a well-thought-out machine.
Click to expand...

Paul, no photos yet. We suspect they may be deep in storage just like the Norton was. Someday....hopefully soon.
 
davamb said:
Great stuff, but I've just got to ask what is a "chain pull twist grip"?
Click to expand...

In many if most twist grips the last inch or so of cable wraps around the twist grip drum when you twist the throttle open.

In a chain pull twist grip a small chain is used to wrap around the twist grip drum thus relieving the cable end of the cyclic bending. I recall seeing these on maybe some mid 60's Ducatis. Neat little set up.

Had a DNF at Sears Point on my Commando road racer several years ago because of a frayed and broken throttle cable.
 
Not all Dunstall stuff was rubbish. In 1970 purchased swept back's and decibel silencers for my 88ss cafe racer The multi way tubes inside silencers blew out in France on the way to Le Mans. I still have the pipes but now very rusty and have to be replaced. The silencers are quite good so am going to use them as you can't get replica's
 
nice, that you have history of this bike. and it still mostly resembles a "Dunstall factory bike" . I can't remember seeing a full dunstall on the showroom floor, but the local NVT dealer had a great selection of parts, from whence my 850 dunstall was born...
 
"My opinion" if you want to call it that, is fine with me.
Paul Dunstall motorcycle as a dealer,
1. Sold his custom parts for selling by dealers to bike owners (This was my situation with my new 70 roadster, rearsets, clip-ons, 1/4 fairing) or to do norton dealer in house builds.
2. Sold norton type parts direct export to customers who you will assume were norton owners.

850commando said:
I can't remember seeing a full dunstall on the showroom floor
Click to expand...
3. REBUILT norton bikes by dunstall customized for sale and export direct to dealers. This is probably quite rare as there were so many configurations that it made the customer buy "as is" rather than what they wanted. It would seem unlikely the norton factory took the bike back to sell/export/ship to the US dealer direct or through Berliner. However they were primarily -legally a "norton".

4. Dunstall built and sold custom ordered bikes for sale and collection at his dealership, to be tested /used for later export by US GI or civilians back to the USA.
5. Only in 1967 was the british inland revenue recognoise Dunstall as a manufacturer. Mainly for politically satisfying racing rules. This rule was extended for 1968 ( the year of my "68 DUNSTALL ATLAS", which was bought by a GI then shipped to Colorado and later moved to Boston...and many years later to me.
6. in conclusion, almost all Dunstall commandos are still primarily legally Nortons. A commando is then a "dunstall tuned/built" if it pass through the dunstall shop.
7. A norton owner assembled bike with dunstall parts, is no more a real dunstall than a ford mustang is a Shelby 350 or 500 .

Any different real happenings? Glad to hear them...
 
dynodave said:
"My opinion" if you want to call it that, is fine with me.
Paul Dunstall motorcycle as a dealer,
...
7. A norton owner assembled bike with dunstall parts, is no more a real dunstall than a ford mustang is a Shelby 350 or 500 .

Any different real happenings? Glad to hear them...
Click to expand...

Dave; i hope your not missunderstand my direction. I think in the UK you could register it as a dunstall bike. but over here or at least in Canada they were all built cafe racers by a local dealer or owner of an original norton. as you suggest your #1.

i totally agree with your #7. personnally i am tired of seeing sellers advertise a norton with just one or two dunstall parts as a rare Dunstall bike. sadly even (in my opinion) the most desireable dunstall item = 2into1into2 exhaust was less than ideal because it just wasn't going to survive on some of the roads id been riding. In 1976 i settled for a set of the long mufflers and that was it, i think a main stand was alot more necessary.
 
850commando said:
the most desireable dunstall item = 2into1into2 exhaust was less than ideal because it just wasn't going to survive on some of the roads id been riding. In 197
Click to expand...
Yes quite true...
Have you ever seen a "sidewinder" (my term) exhaust as I have not seen it in print in all these days. 2-1-2 but the "1" pipe is down the RH side of the bike then splits into 2 normal decible silencers. They are supported on a single purpose built aluminum plate. I'll try and get a pix done and posted. It came on an early commando Dunstall kit. 1971
 
dynodave said:
Yes quite true...
Have you ever seen a "sidewinder" (my term) exhaust as I have not seen it in print in all these days. 2-1-2 but the "1" pipe is down the RH side of the bike then splits into 2 normal decible silencers. They are supported on a single purpose built aluminum plate. I'll try and get a pix done and posted. It came on an early commando Dunstall kit. 1971
Click to expand...

the OP's bill of sale has a picture of it on the top of the page post#1, interesting, without further pictures of the front end pipe details, wonder how the exhaust flow was balanced...
 
Perhaps you needed to live during the late 60s/ early 70s to appreciate what was available in trick bits ? - Dunstall had a name, but not much else. Persevering with British bikes because of his achievements was simply wishful thinking. Anyone who was smart bought a Japanese two-stroke. - I never did that. I still believe that a decent 250cc Japanese two stroke will cream most Commandos on most race circuits.
 
As an acquaintance of mine said "if you can remember the 60"s you weren't there" i was old enough to buy my 850 new off the showroom floor, but lets face it european motorcycle racing made no news in backwater North America. the Honda Yamaha, and Suzuki were it out here, if the dealer said they were good parts we believed them right? so dunstall it was. the WWW has changed all that for good., now we know it for the shoddy quality they were in most cases.
 
Last edited:
my part time job allowed my to ride a good cross selection of motorcycles, but none were british, not really sure what attracted me to the norton other than it was 100lbs lighter than a cb750, i was a 150lb weakling at the time
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top