50 years ago today.

From #2
To dead last.

...Sargeant Pepper Taught the Band to Play?

Drooled over most of them, ridden a few. Happy days.

All of the US publications did those multi-brand showdowns back then.
Cycle Guide, Cycle World, Cycle Magazine, Motorcyclist.
Yep, those were the days!
Oh yeah, and that's also when men were men!

Aye, helmet made of cork and leather, no reinforcement on the jacket, single layer jeans and workboots. No regrets.

I've had four

I had the magazine.

And a Honda 90

I prefer the 1970 Cycle Superbike 7 shootout.
Norton came first in 1/4 mile acceleration, ahead of the Honda 750 4, the Kawi triple 500 and all the rest.
Why is the Honda 750 called the first superbike when the 750 Norton was so much quicker and had better handling?
Also no godawful tingley high speed vibration like the Honda was famous for.

Glen

Well, back then most of the motorcycle press was enchanted with anything from the Orient.
The Commando in addition to being quicker than the Honda, and handling better, was better looking and had the big twin exhaust note. And of course let's not forget the Norton girls.
But it did have a few warts too, like oil tightness, electrical issues.
The Honda had - push it off a cliff, start it up, drive it home reliability.

I recall that the Norton had something like half again the available torque vs the Honda at 70 mph in top gear.

Glen

The Commando was also about 50-60lbs lighter too.

Well in 1974 I left school at 15 and all my mates did as well we all got into Honda dirt bikes as the new Honda dealership moved into our local area, but at 17 we all started to get into road bikes and licences in 1976 all my mates went for new Honda 750 4s, myself went the other way and brought my new 74 850 Commando (new old stock) and did my mates who went the Honda road give it to me, "they leak oil, unreliable, they vibrate etc etc" was the norm for me and my choice but when it came to the handling and torque between the 2 they soon learned to shut up, now after 46 years of ownership my Norton is still oil tight, still reliable and still goes better that when I first bought it and one of my old mate who went the Honda 4 road not long ago put sh.t on me for my choice of the Norton over a Honda 4 and my reply was "well where is your Honda 4 now, I still own my leaky old unreliable Norton" he been out of bikes for over 30 years now and drives a Honda car that cost him a fortune to service and my reply sort of kicked him in the guts, he didn't like it at all and he had no come back as I fired up the Norton and rode off sticking it into it.
I was 15 years old when the movie Stone came out and my brother sneaked me in as it was 18+ movie at the pictures at the time so the race between the Norton and Kwaka was enough to know which road I wanted to go, light weight over heavy weight and me being a skinny runt when I turned 17, the choice was easy.
But then I also love my Triumph Thruxton 1200 S, it handles great and has enough torque and speed for me.

Ashley

The Commando weighs 86 lbs less than the Honda 750 four!
No wonder it was quicker and had better handling.

BritTwit said:

Well, back then most of the motorcycle press was enchanted with anything from the Orient.
The Commando in addition to being quicker than the Honda, and handling better, was better looking and had the big twin exhaust note. And of course let's not forget the Norton girls.
But it did have a few warts too, like oil tightness, electrical issues.
The Honda had - push it off a cliff, start it up, drive it home reliability.

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I’ll still take the Norton any day

worntorn said:

The Commando weighs 86 lbs less than the Honda 750 four!
No wonder it was quicker and had better handling.

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That didn’t surprise me. What did was the Commando was 30 lbs lighter than the H2!

worntorn said:

The Commando weighs 86 lbs less than the Honda 750 four!
No wonder it was quicker and had better handling.

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Also the Honda 750 4s were top heavy where the Norton's the weight is all down low.

Time Warp said:

View attachment 96896

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This is good to read
I spent a lot of time reducing weight off my 750 roadster only to have to put it back on when I fitted an Alton starter!!
Not to long ago I had my bike weighed properly and it was 442lb wet
So only 3lb heavier than the real world figure in the magazine

It seems to me that none of these bikes are as well supported today as the Commando. If your pockets are deep enough you can nearly build a Commando from scratch with new parts . Can the same be said for the others ? That must say something about which one is most worth saving .

Richard Tool said:

It seems to me that none of these bikes are as well supported today as the Commando. If your pockets are deep enough you can nearly build a Commando from scratch with new parts . Can the same be said for the others ? That must say something about which one is most worth saving .

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Or which one has the greatest need for parts supply !!

Fast Eddie said:

Or which one has the greatest need for parts supply !!

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Or original shit parts replaced with aftermarket shit parts,
Choose your supplier wisely!