Where have all the Nortons gone?

Hi Norm

I think people are holding on to them. I know of two households with over sixty bikes between them with the majority being Norton.

As a result, as with most things, the scarcer the bike is the more it costs. Therefore collectors only see their investment rising.

Regards

Graham

People probably are holding on to them but I do wonder how many are actually riding them. I often go on the social rides with my local VMCC section and there are usually between 15 and 30 bikes. Mine is often the only Norton there. Don't see the point of owning a Norton and not riding it. They are really nice bikes to ride after all.

Ian

In my case it's because two of three is under rebuilding. The old faithful 16H is out on the roads whenever it don't need a repair. Maybe they'll be on the road soooner if I don't spend so much time on the internet.

Mike

It's the too many bikes syndrome. Every Norton owner I know has other bikes and the Norton doesn't often come out. One is usually on his BMW, the other on his Velocette and so it goes on. When my Dominator was my only bike, it was used every day. As it is, it shares my riding miles with the others in the shed. In mitigation, at least my other bikes are classic brits - not an modern one amongst them. The other factor restricting my Norton use is no longer having the daily commute which was where my Norton clocked up the miles. So yes, Nortons are tucked up in sheds around the country. I would never sell mine, having had a lifetime of riding it. Other bikes have been sold allowing others to get the use rather than them gathering dust.

P.S. I find collections of bikes intensely depressing.

Well I was out on the Interstate an hour ago. So I couldn't use the ES2. Busy tomorrow but if Wednesday isn't raining I'll be out on the 500.

Bear with me.... I just competed restoration of a '46 Triumph Speed Twin. It is perfect. It gleams like a jewel and all who see it remark what a beauty it is. But compared to my other bike, a '49 plunger ES2...it's well,

a bit dull. If I had to sell one, it'd be the Triumph, no question. There is something I can't explain about my Norton; it is very noisy, it leaks oil, the back wheel rim is rusty and the petrol tank needs repainting but it seems better for those failings. Plenty of Triumphs for sale, I know why.

Previously Gordon Johnston wrote:

It's the too many bikes syndrome. Every Norton owner I know has other bikes and the Norton doesn't often come out. One is usually on his BMW, the other on his Velocette and so it goes on. When my Dominator was my only bike, it was used every day. As it is, it shares my riding miles with the others in the shed. In mitigation, at least my other bikes are classic brits - not an modern one amongst them. The other factor restricting my Norton use is no longer having the daily commute which was where my Norton clocked up the miles. So yes, Nortons are tucked up in sheds around the country. I would never sell mine, having had a lifetime of riding it. Other bikes have been sold allowing others to get the use rather than them gathering dust.

P.S. I find collections of bikes intensely depressing.

Gordon, +1 on your last line: you made my day!

I own a Norton M50, 1959 and a Norton 18, 1947 here in Chile, both in rebuilding condition, so, not on the road for the moment.

But, if my Nortons were ready to ride, I would prefer leave them only for the annual meeting by us, and ride them there for show. Not more, if you think the scarcity of spares, and the easy to ruin the engine or other parts by so many details that composes a whole motorcycle.

In example, the Norton 18 I?m rebuilding now, has a re-sleeved cylinder which needed an external jacket because the earlier sleeve had about 95 mm. thus near dissapearing the lower section of it. To hold the fins in its place, there are welded together.

All that because I couldn?t find an useable cylinder. Not to mention postage for a heavy item if I find one.

Shall I ride it anyways and risk a failure?

From the other side, as I own 17 classic british projects, I rode a Royal Enfield 500 2009, with confidence. At least, a neo-classic.

Going back to the original question about eBay ads. Maybe because people choose other ways to market their Nortons. In Sweden people use a local website. Norton was never a very popular brand here, but you find them quite often. They are usually reasonably priced which is not always the case on eBay. Two of my Nortons was bought about half an hour from home. The Manx was three hours away. I should not mention it on the Norton forum, but got a reasonable priced good running Vincent just 10 minutes away.

Ebay's the last place I'd try to offload a bike - too many scammers and time wasters amongst the genuine buyers. Have found word of mouth or dedicated marque websites a much better proposition.

PS. Also suffer from the depressing bike collectors syndrome with my three Nortons , a BSA RGS , Triumph Thruxton 900and an Egli Vincent - none of which will I part with !

I have been looking for a nice Commando Interstate for several years now, but have a limited (but realistic) budget, so am not interested in the top-price restored bikes. Even the traders with un-proven imports are asking £7k now, which I find ludicrous. Mind you, when I started riding 40-odd years ago and new Mini, Trident or Commando was £1000 which was a shocking sum of money for someone earning £20 a week!

My experience with eBay has been that half the bikes I have been interested in have been poorly described or I have not trusted the replies I got from the seller so didn't go. The other half have been bikes that were not what I wanted but could afford, so would not have been a happy outcome had I bought them.

So, I am still looking, but in the meantime my budget has been whittled down by time, bills and other bikes that were a good deal at the time but were not the Commando of my dreams.

There was an article by Frank Westwood in the back of one of the recent classic bike magazines bemoaning people who harp on about the bike of their dreams but end up buying something else instead, and I realised that he was talking about me. So it is time to clear out the garage, sell the bikes that I am not riding and look for the right bike, even if I have to pay top price for it. Unfortunately, it is easier to say and type that actually do, I find. I have invested a lot of time and money in some of these bikes and I don't want to let them go for peanuts. Which brings me back to the top of the page, I think.

Bugger!

Previously brian_steers wrote:

I have been looking for a nice Commando Interstate for several years now, but have a limited (but realistic) budget, so am not interested in the top-price restored bikes. Even the traders with un-proven imports are asking £7k now, which I find ludicrous. Mind you, when I started riding 40-odd years ago and new Mini, Trident or Commando was £1000 which was a shocking sum of money for someone earning £20 a week!

My experience with eBay has been that half the bikes I have been interested in have been poorly described or I have not trusted the replies I got from the seller so didn't go. The other half have been bikes that were not what I wanted but could afford, so would not have been a happy outcome had I bought them.

So, I am still looking, but in the meantime my budget has been whittled down by time, bills and other bikes that were a good deal at the time but were not the Commando of my dreams.

There was an article by Frank Westwood in the back of one of the recent classic bike magazines bemoaning people who harp on about the bike of their dreams but end up buying something else instead, and I realised that he was talking about me. So it is time to clear out the garage, sell the bikes that I am not riding and look for the right bike, even if I have to pay top price for it. Unfortunately, it is easier to say and type that actually do, I find. I have invested a lot of time and money in some of these bikes and I don't want to let them go for peanuts. Which brings me back to the top of the page, I think.

Bugger!

Hello all you Norton owners. I agree with some of the past comments regarding " collections" . Surely it is up to the individual. I had about twenty old British bikes in my collection once. What a waste . No-one saw them . They were kept under dust sheets. Just so I could brag to anyone who would listen to me going on and on about my bikes. They were hardly ever ridden. I decided one day to sell the lot. Well nearly all of them. I did that. Consequence was that there were more bikes on the road to be seen. I kept two Nortons for my own use, both of which I then rode. Due to bad health I had to sell my cherished bikes, which I now regret as I am back to normal again. So if anyone has a pre war 16 H out there please let n me know so I can get back on the road again. Russell J Burgess.