I Am Thinking of Taking a Risk.

Big_Jim59 said:

I just do not want Norton's or any other bikes to end up as scrap.

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Do you believe many old Bentley racing cars end up as scrap ? I would like to tow one away. I only want to drive it once at about 100 MPH. Computers remain fun for a very long time, but what is more valuable than a full-on speed induced adrenalin rush. Most cars these days probably have a higher top speed than my Seeley 850.
I suggest a lot of people have silly ideas about speed. With modern vehicles, you usually do not know when you are speeding.
If you watch MotoGP, many bikes reach the ends of the straights together, outright speed does not make much difference, and in corners the bikes are probably a handful. Slipping past another bike in a corner might be more by good luck than good management.

What puts me off extremely fast cars and motorcycles is the thought of brake failure at the ends of straights. One of my friends was climbing off the back of an RG500 Suzuki as he passed another guy and was killed. At high speed, bad things appear to take much longer to happen. To that guy, horror would have been in slow motion. Always leave yourself somewhere to go.

Al you need to get out more and your opinion about racing is safer than riding on the road is your opinion and your own fear of riding on the road, I have no fear of riding on the road, at lease riding on the road you get to ride whenever you want, how long has it been Al, I been riding on the road for 50+ years, yes motorcycles can be dangerous in the wrong hands same as any form of driving on the road or track it's the risk we take same as anything in life.
As for letting young people enjoy our old bikes, most aren't interested unless they have grown up with them, my youngest daughter has been riding since she was 9, I was building my 1960 Manxman cafe racer for her but she wasn't interested at all although she still rides, well till she sold her Triumph 660 triple, she been on my Norton before she had her bike license at 18 and as I say most young ones show no interest if they have never grown up with old bikes, and most kids that have grown up with them would also know how to work on then.
Taking a risk in letting someone young ride a bike that completely different to their modern bikes they have ridden is in your own hands, could you imagine if they needed to do a emergence stop and hitting the gear lever instead of the brake or the front brake that hasn't got all the bells and whistles.
No the risk is too much, I built my old Norton for me and me only, I don't even let my mates ride it who I have been riding with all my life (well one or 2 have had the pleasure), what happens to my old Norton when I am gone will be out of my hands, but my youngest will get all my bikes and she been told and knows my old Norton was my life, she also knows the value of my bikes, it won't be going to the scrap heap and if she sells it I am sure it will go to someone young who has grown up with old bikes because dad had one.
Just think if you did let a young one who has been riding for some time ride your old bike (but no experience with old bikes) and something did happen, just that thought be off putting unless they know what they are doing because they grown up with old bikes.
But its always good when a younger rider checking out your bike and asking questions about it, I have also been riding along minding my own business and a younger rider come up alongside of me and give me the thumbs up, or they sit behind me listening to that lovey note coming out of the open exhaust, or stopping somewhere my old Norton always get a bit of attention and sometimes it's from a younger rider, but I wouldn't trust anyone to ride my old bike that I didn't know or trust the risk is too high.

Ashley

Big Jim59, I agree with and practice your approach myself. I live in Hong Kong and occasionally ride with a group of local motorcycle enthusiasts, they ride everything from Vespa Scooters to big Ducati sports bikes and many are curious about my Norton. If I observe that someone is a competent rider I will always let them have a spin on my bike if they show interest, although I will make sure that they ride it on a country road with sparse traffic. I've managed to convert a few and intend to carry on doing so. I'm not too worried about the bike getting damaged as I can fix it myself, just as long as no one gets hurt.

I tried for half an hour to come up with something positive to say, but my reality kept getting in the way.

I wouldn't recommend a Norton to anyone under the age of 65, and they would have to be in good enough shape to kick start it cold. Small market apparently

I let my neighbor (my son's age) ride my Cdo. He's grown up on dirt bikes, road raced, a talented mechanic and most importantly, let me ride his Aprilia RSV4 while he rode the Norton.

dave M said:

Big Jim59, I agree with and practice your approach myself. I live in Hong Kong and occasionally ride with a group of local motorcycle enthusiasts, they ride everything from Vespa Scooters to big Ducati sports bikes and many are curious about my Norton. If I observe that someone is a competent rider I will always let them have a spin on my bike if they show interest, although I will make sure that they ride it on a country road with sparse traffic. I've managed to convert a few and intend to carry on doing so. I'm not too worried about the bike getting damaged as I can fix it myself, just as long as no one gets hurt.

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That's what I was thinking. I want people that are unfamiliar with the brand to get some experience. Makes a few new Norton riders as well.

As a follow up to my previous post, I received a text today from the friend's son I mentioned and he is dropping by to hang out with me in the garage wed aft. I have not seen him much this year since he graduated from high school and it will be good to see him. It's a reward for the risk and far exceeds the risk on guiding him over the last few years. I would like find another youth to teach the rewards of the hobby. If we all did this our old bikes would have a place after we are gone.

It can be surprising how playing with old motorcycles can improve skills. I worked in defence factories as a scientist after becoming professionally qualified as an industrial chemist. I often worked with engineers developing weapons. But I can also drive a lathe and a mill, and weld a bit. After I retired, I had a job in another defence factory bringing hand grenades into production. Engineers in our group used to sit around figuring-out how to package things. I was in my 60s, by boss was a 29 year-old engineer. I showed him my Seeley 850. He said 'I am impressed'. I did not say anything.
When I was 18, my mate Allan Greening was a lift mechanic, about4 years older than me - and had raced motorcycles in the 1950s. He taught me how to build race motors, and by competing with him on public roads - how to ride fairly quickly. Some guys do not seem to know how to race-change up and down through a gear box. I am glad one guy in particular did not know. I rode his bike once, and I was faster on it than he ever was. We used to race wheel to wheel in many races. He could usually just get ahead of me - his bike was a Triton 650, mine was a Triton 500. A 6 speed gearbox in the 1970s used to cost about the same as it does today, so now they are about one tenth as expensive. I was too lousy back then to buy one. So a good torquey motor was always better.
I never thought I would like the Commando motor so much.

Realistically, the risk is minimal. We let riders with a full licence who may never have never ridden a right hand gear change bike try ours. After a short slow practice in the car park they are fine and pick it up pretty quickly.

Big_Jim59 said:

Last week I met a few younger riders. They had made a post on the local FB group asking for area bikers to ride by a girls house on her birthday. It was what she wanted for her birthday. It was a nice day so I took my Honda ST1300 and joined the ride. It was fun. These were nice 20 something riders both men and women and most were mounted on sport bikes. I learned that most were trying their hand at some form of social media content. It got me thinking that when the weather warms up, I might offer them a ride on my Norton for their content.

I know it's a risk but I also know that we need younger riders to experience what we already know. I am quite sure that they have never ridden a Norton or maybe even kick started a bike in their lives.

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So long as they’re properly insured I don’t see why this would present an unreasonable risk ?

Love, Love, Love the idea. Had something similar happen to me at work yesterday afternoon. We have a super cool regular who comes in to my bar a few times a week. He has a pretty great collection of cars, and a few weeks ago he was talking about how he had ordered this GT3RS Weissach earlier last year. Of course me and all the younger guys at the restaurant were stoked for him and were asking him questions about it.


He took delivery of it yesterday, and drove to the restaurant, walked in, and tossed me the keys to take it for a spin. Pretty awesome dude.

Of course I didn't have the confidence to drive it, especially on the wet salted roads out here. But damn, kind of an awesome move. Older guy who just remembers what it was like to be a younger guy.

Love stories like this.

Despite the engine being in the wrong place, and being the wrong configuration, that is one cool car.

They have been working on it for 90 years!

Kind of reminds me of modern motorcycles; take something simple and beautiful and stick lots of pointy plastic (carbon) bits all over it and ruin a classic

Fast Eddie said:

Despite the engine being in the wrong place, and being the wrong configuration, that is one cool car.

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I do not usually like cars, but I love Porsches. I had a Volkswagen for years. It once got an oil change when the engine breather got blocked and the oil got pumped out. I cannot remember ever having checked its tyre pressures. I sometimes put petrol into its tank. German scientists were not all bad. One of my friends was a police-woman in Germany during WW2 - her husband was the main man in Mercedes in Australia - he wanted to meet me. I did not go to meet him - strange ? One of my brothers lives in Germany.

Whenever I meet anyone who is interested in old motorcycles, I always give them care and consideration. When I was racing fairly regularly, if I saw another competitor struggling, I helped them. Winning races is not the be-all and end-all. For me, it was only ever about developing the motorcycle. The faster the other guys race, the better my motorcycle has to be. I can probably ride well enough for any motorcycle. Old shit beats you up and forces you to improve.

I have helped many younger riders over the 50+ years of riding always stop if someone is in trouble and all no matter who it is or what they ride, but letting someone else ride my bike, only if I know them and trust them, but I never ask to ride my mate's bikes and they never ask to ride mine, but letting someone I don't know, no thanks, but if they want advice about our old bikes I am only too happy to help, even take them for a ride on the back and have taken many kids over the years for a ride on my bikes, but my Norton is built for me and me only and in 49 years of ownership only 2 of my best mates have ridden it, once when it was in Commando form and the other after the Featherbed conversion, but all my mates have their own classic bikes and they never ask and some of their kids are also into old classic bikes that they have built.
I have never had any young ones ever ask if they can ride my bikes, but have had many show interest in my bikes, I always answer questions they have, I have a lot of time for people who show interest, but letting them ride my bikes is another thing.
Same as when someone ask how fast it goes, I just tell them it's fast enough I have nothing to prove.
If I crash/damage my bike I fix it but if someone else did the damage, I wouldn't be happy about it and worst if they got hurt/injured or even killed I couldn't live with that on my head and the excitement of riding a classic bike they tend to forget what they been told if something happened in an emergency and remember things happen so quickly when on the road.

Ashley

ashman said:

I have never had any young ones ever ask if they can ride my bikes, but have had many show interest in my bikes,

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Back in my bike shop days a customer stopped in for a rear tire on his Ducati GT750. I asked if I could ride it. (I rode customer's bikes all the time.) My coworkers were floored that I would even ask but the guy laughed and said "OK." To this day I have no regrets. I still remember the feel and the sound of that bike even though I was being VERY careful.

There are bikes I wish all riders could experience. Like floating down the road at speed on a BMW /2 with earls forks. The sound and power delivery of a Triumph triple. The crisp handling of a Moto Morini 3 1/2. It would be cool to have a track day and offer rides to younger riders but alas, all these bikes are just memories.

I know my mates would have no problem letting me ride their bikes if I ever asked, but I don't ask and they don't as well and I have never had anyone ask if they could ride my bike, I have given my dirt bike to others to ride but riding in the dirt is different to riding on the road and in my younger days have taught a few mates to ride a bike on my old dirt bike, but dirt bikes are different and can handle a few bumps and burses from falls, but I spent a lot of money over the years on my Norton, it's my pride and joy (although it's no show pony), trusting a complete stranger to ride it, no way.
Even letting a dealership workshop take my bike for a test ride if they are doing major work on it, I be worried about that as well but it's part of any service they do, why I do all my own work, but workshops have full insurance for liability, well you hope anyway, as well if you take a bike for a test ride they make you fill out the paper work first to cover anything and of course they always add "at your own risk and pay for any damages" to cover their own arses, they pay a high price for insurance cover.