There are so many ways you can go and still have a very reliable Norton, after over 40 years of hard riding my Norton, It has never let down except for the Boyar black box shitting its self while 100 miles from home, but that was a week after the major fire I had in 1982, other than broken chain no problems.
These bike were desinged to run twin carbies, they are a simple carb and easy to maintain, ever with worn out slides the Amals will still work, they just won't idle right, so turning your Norton to single carb it taking it a way from what it was designed for power down low till full throttle, single carb will have a effect right through the revs., plus it you have the money there are so mant reliable twin carb set ups.
Now for the debate on what is best for the fire, everone has their own throughts on this, point can be a hassle to work and get them right, E/T igitions are set and forget when set up, but there is the chance they will work fine one day and just die the next, plus that fully charge battery you need, I have been throught all these options, have had my share of failed systems, but also my last Boyar gave me 33 years service and is still running in my mate's old Norton.
But for me my set up will aways be twin carbs (32 PWKs flatslides) and if you want the most reliable system then you can't go past a new moden Joe Hunt maggie for putting the best fire into your motor, easy set up, will start first kick every time, will keep reving till your motor goes bang, will go down to very low revs, idles perfect and no battery to worry about, some will say it looks ugly sitting off the cam and timming cover, but after having gone through points set up, 3 ET igitions, so many flat or dead batteries, the Joe Hunt is the best set up I have run on my Norton in the 40 years of ownership, so there are plenty of things you can do to make your Norton reliable, fast or slow, but having what the bike was designed for and having the power when needed.
So asking for other peoples opinion and every one has a diffrent answer, I ride my Norton on plenty of back roads including dirt roads and some trails, but one thing for sure I would never ride my Norton down to 10 mph in top gear, what foolishness that would be, if you want a good bike then ride it the way it was designed for, don't under rev it or labour it, keep the maintenance up to it and which ever way you decide to go there are plenty of options to go, if your got big pockets.
Ashley
) should work better for getting the fueling even.
