Jay Leno's Garage

frankdamp said:
It may have been that the US importer named the model gthat everyone else called the 650SS as the "Manxman", since "SS" was a term that might upset former WW2 participants. That would appear to make it US market only.
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According to Wikipedia, Joseph Berliner, a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and Auschwitz, became the sole USA importer of Nortons to the USA in 1961. That was the year the Manxman was produced. He had tremendous influence on the British motorcycle industry as the USA was where most of it's output was sold. I certainly could see him being adamant that 650SS was inappropriate. But then, why was it ok from
1962-1967?
 
Petersen said:
Can't have been US only. The main Norton importer in Sweden, "Rådhes" imported at least 10 Manxman to Sweden.

It said in an article in the Swedish Norton Owners magazine that almost all the buyers immediately swapped the high US-bars to flat handlebars but no one much minded the red seat. If I recall correctly, but don't quote me on that, there are now only 2 Manxman in original condition in Sweden.
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Interesting, hopefully someone is documenting the history of this interesting model? @Mike T ?

Maybe it was that the bike was designed for the US market but not limited to only the US.
 
In my whole life, I have only ever seen two 650cc Norton Twins. The Manxman my mate had was very impressive. It was twin carb which was unusual in Nortons in those days.

 
With vertical twin cylinder four-stroke race motors 650 cc is about as big as you can go and still have reliability. With four-stroke single cylinder motors, it is 500cc. Lack of reliability is a reason that some race classes fail, when everybody needs to have the biggest motors to remain competitive. The best race class of all for old bikes is probably the Junior capacity class. But these days the game is all stuffed up by organisers who have never raced themselves, so would not know. In Australia, the guys who organise the road races are mostly sidecar racers.
 
swooshdave said:
Maybe it was that the bike was designed for the US market but not limited to only the US.
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Sounds plausible. The fact that 10 Manxman (Manxmen?) found their way to Sweden is probably more down to Rådhes (Main Swedish Distributor) beeing on his toes.

By the way; The Swedish Norton Owners Club member register today contains 4 Manxman, 25 650 SS and 30 Mercury.

You fellas don't mind pictures, do you? Here's another mid 60's picture from Sweden. (Those saddle furs were really popular here in them days... Or maybe he's just covering up the red seat?)

Jay Leno's Garage
 
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Acotrel:

Since my commuter "hack" 650SS was a company-owned model may be why it was configured to whatever the last thing they were trying out. It had a single speedometer, no tach and twin carbs. I may have been unwittingly responsible for its death!

I had given my notice to quit, having landed a job with Boeing. DW and I were closing down the house ready for sale and she was moving to her folks' place in Leyland. I'd arranged to have the 650SS to take her home, only to find, when I went to gas up for the trip, someone had removed the oil tank.

A panic search didn't find it, but did reveal an older design tank, maybe off an early 50's bike. I installed it and filled it for the trip north. It leaked quite a bit, destroyed my wife's shoe on that side. She said she didn't know why her foot was warm! Before heading back to Wolverhampton, I took the tank off and cleaned it, fixed a small crack with my soldering iron. Next morning, I headed out, back to Wolverhampton for my farewells.

Cruising down the M6 at about 85 mph, approaching a service area, the engine started to tighten up. I switched quickly to the curb lane, pulled the clutch and shifted to neutral. As I coasted into the parking lot, the engine stopped.

I called the office and explained what had happened, and Peter Inchley dispatched the M-X support van to pick up me and the 650. We wheeled the bike into the shop, then I picked up my retirement stuff and got a taxi to the railway station. I stopped by Marston Road on my first Boeing trip to the UK a couple of months later and the bike was still there, untouched. There was also a P-11 that we'd tested for Berliner for a pending lawsuit. It had been slightly damaged in shop work. N-V was in its death throes and I don't know what happened to those bikes. I doubt they were ever fixed and were probably included in the close-of-factory disposal sale.
 
That is a very sad story. In the 1970s, most guys were obsessed with Japanese bikes and the older Brit bikes did not receive much attention. I started racing my 1958 (?) Triton in about 1967 and persevered with it for about 12 years, usually in Allpowers C grade races against Kawasakis and Yamahas. My bike was nasty to ride, but I usually did OK, even though it was only 500cc capacity. I have raced two-strokes, but have never really been interested in them. The 650SS Norton was pretty much unknown in Australia. I have a friend who raced a 750cc Atlas in A grade races successfully in the 70s. The bike still had it's tail light and headlight and registration number plates - that used to upset a few of his fellow competitors. He still has that bike. He progressed to TZ700 Yamahas and became one of our top riders. These days he races Historic with a G50 Matchless. The young guys are never really aware of who is amongst them, so all is good.
 
For me road racing is about improving my bike, then testing it in races, and not so much about winning. I am usually upfront with the leaders when I race, but mostly my interest is in what my bike is doing. You can do a lot to a Seeley Norton 850, but not much to most other race bikes. If I had a 650SS, there would not be much I could do with it. Finding a suitable race class for it, would be nigh on impossible. As a road bike, it would probably be wasted.
One of my friends is a big millionaire. He has a 650SS, but I don't think he does much with it. He tried road racing a Manx in 1973 in a race which involved some of us who'd been racing for over ten years. He spiflicated himself and went back to racing motor cars.
 
lazyeye6 said:
According to Wikipedia, Joseph Berliner, a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and Auschwitz, became the sole USA importer of Nortons to the USA in 1961. That was the year the Manxman was produced. He had tremendous influence on the British motorcycle industry as the USA was where most of it's output was sold. I certainly could see him being adamant that 650SS was inappropriate. But then, why was it ok from
1962-1967?
Click to expand...

Duh! 650SS was ok 62-67 because it was almost totally sold in the UK. The Manxman was sold almost totally in the USA.
 
I think my friend's Manxman had high-rise bars fitted as standard. Which was unusual in those days.
 
I went to Burbank, CA., today to buy some metal for fabrication. As I drove down San Fernando Road, crossing Clyborn Avenue, there was Jay Leno, white hair and signature blue denim shirt, sitting at the traffic light in some giant high wheeled blue 1920s or 30s luxury car . . . I waved; he waved back. :)
 
As I think I posted in another thread, I rode a company 650SS from my home in Kenilworth to N-V's works in Wolverhampton (about 45 miles each way) for a few months before we found a local house we could afford. It was in a village about 8 miles north of Wolverhampton, called Coven. After I got closer to the factory, the 650SS went back to Plumstead Road and I rode whatever was on test at N-V. My ride-to-work was considered part of the endurance testing program and was often the prototype 250cc Starmaker. After we found a problem with cylinder liner unusual wear on 2-stroke lube, we switched to Castrol "R", temporarily. It was a PITA having to shake the bike about to remix the "R" (which was a vegetable oil) with the gas. A half-hour parked was enough for it to separate!

I was pleased to find, after emigrating to the US for a job at Boeing, that the "Starmaker" made into production. even under another name. I understand there are quite a number of them in "gentle" competition use in the US. I plan to do a search to see just how many there are. I'd appreciate a number, from the folks who handled export sales to the US, how many there were and where they went.
 
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