Commando

Aye Laddie, it takes a special bloke to appreciate old British Iron, LOL. The Nortons, especially with the Dunstall "dustbin" fairing and race seat set up were fantastic looking and kicked butt during the late 50's and early 60's!! In the John Player British racing green colors, using the "Featherbed" frame, Norton whip up on the MZ Augusta's, Benillie's and Moto-Guzzi's of the time period but by the late 60's, the English domination of world level racing was ending!!

Bikes like the Honda six cylinder's came to races like the Isle of Mann and slowly took over from the British Dynasty! A Norton Commando in great shape,has a awsome sound coming from the Conti-Exhaust. Check out and see if you have a "Norton" club in or around your area and have your friend hook up with them. They will show him how to "awaken the beast" the Commando series was!



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BJ Ondo, "Old Fart"
Colorado
1980 GS1100E Suzuki
"The 1980's Hyabusa"

No A Norton isn't up to R1 standards but tuned right and with a great rider they can still turn pretty quick laps. Just goes to show you how far bikes have come in the last 30 years.

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Ride the Pace,
JD

Nortons Never Die

You won't believe this...

There's a fellow in the NW who is refurbishing and selling Commandos for $20,000! His refurbishment is unbelievable though, with re-cast crankcases, etc.

Nortons have this thing with the crank bowing and oscillating at higher RPM. You had to basically have slop in one side and a particular bearing to support the play in order to keep the crank from cracking the cases. This fellow has beefed everything up, but still, you've got the performance of a Duc 750 SS with a moderate tune on it and a lot less in the chassis.

Isolastic mounts are hilarious. Only the Mk IIIs were of any good, and if you didn't keep them adjusted your bike got pretty loose if you let off the gas in a turn.