Hi I'm Andy. I'm from the Norton Owners Club. It says so here, Norton Owners Club.
And we're going to show you some of our bikes that we've got on display today. So...
we start, they won't be in any sequence, so we just got what we've got. This is a CS1 from 1929.
It's an overhead cam bike. We call it the Cricket Bat for an obvious reason, it's got
shape of a cricket bat. It's the first time we had in Norton, an overhead cam job. It wasn't a
very successful motor. The next one in line is a Norton Electra. This is the last version that
started from the Norton Jubilee 250cc. Then there was a Navigator which is blue and white on the
background there. And then came the Electra with an electric start and indicators. This was 1963.
It was intended for the American market, but by then the Japanese had taken over,
and again this was not very successful sadly. The Jubilee Navigator did sell quite well.
This one here, I have to look on the board to remind myself, it's 1956. This is a Manx.
Now this is what Norton were famous for. 500cc, overhead cam.
Racing bike. And these were absolutely stormed over all the races that motorcycles had.
This engine found its way into, I think the baby Formula One cars,
and even into racing cars. This engine is a really strong motor, and what Norton made their name on.
The next bikes that we come to, in fact the racing bike has got the same frame and that's where it
started from. It's called a wide line featherbed. They then adapted it for these two bikes.
It was felt to be uncomfortable so they made it slimmer. So the frame tubes on this one cut in
a bit, whereas on that one they're wide. This one's identical. These two bikes are the same,
with one exception. This one has got a single cylinder overhead valve engine,
and this one behind us has got a twin cylinder engine.
This one's called a Dominator, this one's called ES2.
The Dominator engine started off at 500cc. That's a 600cc. It eventually ended up in
1969 with this. It's the same in design engine but it went up to 750cc, ultimately ending at 850cc.
And this is the Norton Commando. This is a very late one with electric starting.
So nestled below the carburetor is an electric starter.
This bike is an interesting project. This is a Manx engine
which we showed back there, a racing engine. But the owner of this bike has adapted it for
road use. He has added panniers as you can see. He's added indicators.
He's made the controls much easier. He's added us a screen, and he calls this his road going Manx.
This one I don't, as a narrator, I don't know too much about it. However,
it's got a nice history. It was rebuilt by a chap called George Cohen. Norton George he was called.
And it's got a magneto here for sparking, and it looks like it's got a dynamo here for
electric lights. But if you note, the absence of electric lighting.
What he's done, he's actually, this is a Heinz bean can. You can hear the serrations.
That's actually a Heinz bean can. Oh yeah, hollow empty. To look like a Dominator, a dynamo sorry.
And the last bike we have on display is this baby.
This is from World War II. Decked out in army colours,
with the old soldiers tin helmet here. And this is a model 16H. It's a side valve engine. It's very
simple, and the idea with this one was that in the field a soldier could maintain his bike easily.
Cylinder head comes off easy, just a few bolts, off it comes. Easy peasy to maintain.
Yeah so that was a quick resume of the bikes we've got on the show.
And we're from Bristol. You can join us, we meet every week Wednesday at The Bridge in
Shortwood Mangotsfield. Or you can join the Norton Owners Club on the website *nortonownersclub.org
And you'll find us there. Thank you.