John Player and other racing Nortons

Heaven forbid there should ever be a discussion which is not directed and censored. What can you say about a John Player Norton which has not already been said ? The space frame bike was interesting, but a bastard to work on - so you would never build a replica of it. Monocoque replicas are already being built.
It would be interesting to know if the short stroke 750 was faster than the long stroke 750. But we never hear about that, because it was probably slower.
When I built my long stroke 850 motor, I never believed it would be fast enough to be competitive - it proved me wrong. It is a bloody good design.
 
Last edited:
acotrel said:
Heaven forbid there should ever be a discussion which is not directed and censored. What can you say about a John Player Norton which has not already been said ? The space frame bike was interesting, but a bastard to work on - so you would never build a replica of it. Monocoque replicas are already being built.
It would be interesting to know if the short stroke 750 was faster than the long stroke 750. But we never hear about that, because it was probably slower.
When I built my long stroke 850 motor, I never believed it would be fast enough to be competitive - it proved me wrong. It is a bloody good design.
Click to expand...
"What can you say about a JPN which has not already been said?"

REALLY?

Quite a lot, as it turns out... Or maybe it's just that YOU, personally, have HEARD it all? As for myself and many others, we haven't.

As a matter of fact, one fellow who built a replica of the monocoque bike has just posted pix of his build. Also a photo with Peter Williams who was "honoured" to see the job he'd done (and, it was competitive)
 
acotrel said:
Heaven forbid there should ever be a discussion which is not directed and censored. What can you say about a John Player Norton which has not already been said ? The space frame bike was interesting, but a bastard to work on - so you would never build a replica of it. Monocoque replicas are already being built.
It would be interesting to know if the short stroke 750 was faster than the long stroke 750. But we never hear about that, because it was probably slower.
When I built my long stroke 850 motor, I never believed it would be fast enough to be competitive - it proved me wrong. It is a bloody good design.
Click to expand...

I know of 2 spaceframe replicas....there are more

the short stroke motor was more powerful than the 89 stroke motor

None of them needed methanol

But you knew that didn't you?
 
Spied at Barber Vintage Fest AHRMA races
John Player and other racing Nortons
 
grandpaul said:
Actually, I was mistaken.

It was not a Kuhn Family member in the group, it is Norman CURLEY, from Reg Curley's family (I get those two fiberglass fabricators mixed up)
Click to expand...
I think that you might find that Reg Curley fibreglass used to make the glass tanks for Gus Kunn also - it's a small world.
 
The Gus Kuhn road bikes did not look so good. The styling was strange. The space frame Commando would be worth building, but for racing, it might not be as easy as a Seeley. You need to be able to get at the motor to make adjustments when you are at race meetings. A Seeley frame is usually much more open. Also weight for strength, the Mk3 Seeley frame is probably better.
One thing which I did not know at the time, was Ken Blake road a Commando for Gus Kuhn, before he was killed at the IOM.
 

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