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- Apr 15, 2009
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Carbonfibre said:Be interested to hear more on Norton and BSA motors for off-road machinery...............
No one is interested in telling you.
Carbonfibre said:Be interested to hear more on Norton and BSA motors for off-road machinery...............
Rohan said:Care to name your source ?
Carbonfibre said:Suffice to say its first hand information from someone who in the 1970s was trying very hard to sell Nortons against almost impossible competition from the Japanese, and not something I read in a ridiculous magazine "test" feature.................
Carbonfibre said:Hey Kawasaki is still in business, and Norton isnt................does that not tell you something?
Matt Spencer said:Was a Commando at the strip that day...
Murray B said:My Commando is a ’74 850 with manual start. It came from the with 8.5:1 compression and as far as I know this type never ran faster than low thirteens in the quarter.
Murray B said:Matt Spencer said:Was a Commando at the strip that day...
Matt, don’t forget that many frequent posters on this forum only know about “history” from what they have read which means they don’t really “know” much of anything.
As I recall the Commandos came with engines of two displacements and three compression ratios. One even had an Electric start, sort of. The engine fitted made a huge difference in performance which you already know but THEY might not.
My Commando is a ’74 850 with manual start. It came from the with 8.5:1 compression and as far as I know this type never ran faster than low thirteens in the quarter.
The 750 with 9.0:1 compression could run in the mid to high twelves and pretty much dominated stock class motorcycle drag racing from its introduction until the Combat came out.
The 750 Combat was the hottest stock Commando with 10.0:1 compression and often ran in the low twelves. [It is always possible for an amateur to add a second or three to the fastest times.] Back then it was amusing to go to the strip and watch people with their fancy new Mach IVs and Z1s be handed their arse on a platter by a full tenth of a second by the Combat version of the old Hopwood hemi twin. Not only were the Jap bikes losing but they were also blowing engines on their newish bikes because the magazines said their bikes were faster. They neglected notice that the magazines usually made no mention of the Combat at all. That was a fatal error on their part.
As I recall the Combat held most quarter mile records until the Kawasaki 1000 came out, which was in ’77 or something. The Mach IV never achieved the 12.00 second ET that was claimed for it and I don’t believe its fastest time was even within a tenth of the Combat’s fastest. Confirming the Mach IV’s quickest certifiable time is why I started this thread in the first place.
Rohan said:Carbonfibre said:Hey Kawasaki is still in business, and Norton isnt................does that not tell you something?
Yes, Kawasaki Heavy Industries has plenty of dosh to bail out an ailing subsiduary.
If Nortons had had that sort of funding, they'd have had 4 cylinder GP bikes in the 1950s.
And we'd be motoring around on V8's....
Rohan said:Rohan said:Care to name your source ?
Carbonfibre said:Suffice to say its first hand information from someone who in the 1970s was trying very hard to sell Nortons against almost impossible competition from the Japanese, and not something I read in a ridiculous magazine "test" feature.................
Now how did we know that no names would come forward.
BS is still BS, no matter how you cover it up....
hobot said:http://www.vintagenet.us/phantom/contents.html
Carbonfibre said:Kawasaki didnt need "funding" or any have any need to bail out its subsidiary motorcycle division, which in the 70s increased sales by 450% largely at the expense of the Brit motorcycle industry, which was by then on its last legs..................
Carbonfibre said:No road going Norton ever matched the 1/4 mile times set by factory prepared bikes running full race motors, and I am certainly not going to disclose the name of the person that told me of the doctored "test" bikes, but maybe the fact that no stocker ever got close might tell you something?
Carbonfibre said:Sorry I thought you meant they were still building motors today!
hobot said:Sad point is Norton did not end with the Commando or rotary bikes but made drone engines at least to 2007
Carbonfibre said:No road going Norton ever matched the 1/4 mile times set by factory prepared bikes running full race motors, and I am certainly not going to disclose the name of the person that told me of the doctored "test" bikes, but maybe the fact that no stocker ever got close might tell you something?