The ‘Most Luxurious British Superbike Ever Created’ Norton has just handed us the all-new and re-engineered V4SV flagship of their...
1962 Norton Navigator 1962 NORTON NAVIGATOR BACKGROUND Norton has always been known for big powerful bikes like the Manx and...
CLASSIC BRITISH RAT BIKES – BORN OF CHOPPERS When I was growing up and learning to ride, around 1970, people were chopping all kinds of things, not just Harleys. Lots of guys were chopping their Honda 350s, 450s & 750s. I even saw a Kawasaki Mach3 chopper once, with extended...
CLASSIC BRITISH ROAD RACING MOTORCYCLES This 1969 Triumph Trident T150 Road Racer was campaigned by the legendary Gene Romero (above)....
BACKGROUND OF NORTON ROTARY MOTORCYCLES Norton’s air-cooled, twin-rotor Wankel motorcycles made up a unique and interesting chapter in the history...
Phil Radford, Norton Parts Expert Extraordinaire, owner of Fair Spares America, Inc., & all-around nice guy, beside a freshly-rebuilt Commando engine. MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE When I pulled up to the non-descript commercial building in a large industrial complex in San Jose CA, the small sign that said “Fair...
NORTON MOTORCYCLE BOOKS Norton was always a design leader with bikes like the Norton Manx, the Dominator twins, and the...
NORTON COMMANDO PRODUCTION RACER BACKGROUND When British motorcycle industry giant AMC (Associated Motor Cycles) collapsed in 1967, the only brand...
The Norton Cafe Racer EARLY NORTON CAFE RACER The Norton Manx, the BSA Gold Star and other big singles like them really paved the way, and laid the groundwork for Cafe Racers prior to World War II. After the war, a plethora of new bikes, including fast new vertical twins...
1962 Norton Jubilee 250 twin 1962 NORTON JUBILEE – WHAT’S IN A NAME? The name Norton Jubilee paid homage to...
1988 Norton Classic Rotary 1988 NORTON CLASSIC ROTARY BACKGROUND Norton’s air-cooled, twin-rotor Wankel motorcycle was a one-year-only run, with just...
1962 Norton Dominator 88 1962 Norton Dominator 88 Engine A WORK IN PROGRESS In our efforts to complete our online index, and make this the world’s greatest website about classic British motorcycles, we’re building pages as fast as we can. The first thing we add are the pictures. Then come...
AMC = Associated Motor Cycles BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE Associated Motor Cycles was more popularly known as AMC (not to...
CLUBMANS SHOW 2012 PICTURES WHAT A SHOW We’ve been talking about it for months now. The 25th Annual Clubman’s All-British...
The Clubmans Show 2011 DON’T MISS THIS SHOW!! The Clubmans Show 2011 promises, as do all Clubmans Shows, to be a Must-See event for anyone with a love of Classic British Motorcycles. This is the 24th year of this amazing event. Sponsored by the Northern California Chapter of the BSA...
CLUBMANS ALL-BRITISH WEEKEND 2017 MAKES 30 YEARS Every year for the last 30 years, the BSA Owners Club of Northern...
The Clubmans All-British Weekend-2014 27th ANNUAL CLUBMANS ALL-BRITISH WEEKEND-2014 This year’s Clubmans Show was a little smaller than last year,...
We not only covered the Clubmans All-British Weekend 2012, we set up a photo booth to take studio-grade pics of gorgeous classic British motoryclces. For more coverage of the show, and lots more eye-popping photos, go to our Clubmans Show 2012 Pictures page. CLUBMANS All-BRITISH WEEKEND 2012 – The...
The Clubmans All-British Weekend 2005 had more than just gorgeous motorcycles. We had a celebrity. That’s racing legend Eddie Mulder...
CLUBMANS 2011 PHOTOS: WHAT A SHOW!! As always, this year’s Clubman’s All-British Weekend Motorcycle Show was fantastic!! While it felt...
My Classic Motorcycle Restoration Project: My next cheap Classic Motorcycle Restoration Project: This sweet 1979 Triumph T140D Bonneville Special, pictured here in our state-of-the-art Research & Development Center (my garage). CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE RESTORATION PROJECT: THESE BIKES ARE CHEAP! Obviously, ‘cheap’ is a relative thing. But, when you think of what...
BSA Cafe Racers are not as common as Triumphs & Nortons. This 1969 BSA Rocket 3-based custom is nothing short...
CROWDED MARKET The Norton Dominator was Norton’s entry into the crowded vertical twin market, & it was intended to capitalize...
EVOLUTION OF THE ATLAS The Norton Atlas evolved from the Norton Dominator line, which had grown since its inception in 1949 from 500 cc to 600cc then again to 650cc with the fire-breathing twin-carb Dominator 650SS. The Norton Atlas was the next logical step. The venerable Bert Hopwood-designed vertical twin...
NORTON NAVIGATOR BACKGROUND Norton has always been known for big powerful bikes like the Manx and the Commando. But they...
1971 Norton Commando 1971 Norton Commando ROADSTER 4 NEW MODELS The 1971 Norton Commando line grew from 2 models in...
2014 Norton Commando 961 2014 NORTON COMMANDO 961 BACKGROUND When the classic Commando went out of production in 1975, a battle over the rights to the name ensued. Ultimately UK business man Stuart Garner, who already owned Norton Racing Ltd acquired the rights to the Norton Commando brand. His new...
1974 Norton Commando A 1974 NORTON COMMANDO FOR EVERY TASTE The Commando was available in a variety of configurations, all...
1962 Norton Dominator 650SS 1962 NORTON DOMINATOR 650SS BACKGROUND The story starts not with a Norton, but with the 1938...
1957 Norton Manx 1957 NORTON MANX BACKGROUND The Norton Manx was developed in 1937, in both SOHC and DOHC form, to compete in and win the Isle of Man TT. Before fully developed, World War II intervened, and production of the Manx was delayed until 1946. The Manx quickly gained...
1967 Norton Atlas 750 1967 NORTON ATLAS HISTORY The story starts not with a Norton at all, but with the...
1970 Norton Commando ABOVE: The 1970 Norton Commando came in a new guise: The Norton Commando Roadster, or Type R....
1973 Norton Commando ABOVE: 1973 Norton Commando 750 Roadster was more or less the “standard” Commando. BACK ON TRACK After the dismal finish of the 1972 model year, thanks to the Combat engine, 1973 was a good year for Norton Motorcycles. The entire model line had benefited from the engine...
1968 Norton Commando ABOVE: The first 1968 Norton Commando was the Commando Fastback, pictured here in this British racing green,...
1951 Norton International 1951 NORTON INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND The International was sort of the road-going version of Norton’s factory racer, the...
1975 Norton Commando ABOVE: 1975 Norton Commando MkIII Roadster in Union Jack paint scheme. TROUBLE BEHIND THE SCENES While the Norton Commando was enjoying reasonable success in the marketplace, other problems, both inside & outside the company wreaked havoc with Norton Motorcycles finances. By 1975, the Meriden Triumph fiasco was...
1962 Norton Navigator Deluxe 1962 NORTON NAVIGATOR DELUXE BACKGROUND Norton has always been known for big powerful bikes like the...
1972 Norton Commando 1972 NORTON COMMANDO MODEL DESIGNATIONS All four road models became MkIVs & one completely new model was...
1970 Norton Mercury 1970 NORTON MERCURY BACKGROUND The Norton Mercury-series ran from 1968 to 1970 and represents the last model in the Dominator family. With Featherbed Frame production having ended in 1968 with the death of the Dominator 650SS and Atlas 750, and the launch of the new Commando. Production...
1969 Norton Dominator 650SS 1969 NORTON DOMINATOR 650SS BACKGROUND The story starts not with a Norton, but with the 1938...