Sir Edward Bilton-Smith Late Great Norton twins

That really sucks! Many blessings to all his family and friends!

It sort of pisses me off that he did not see his 500cc Norton dream through.

Very sorry to hear this. I have a set of Sir Eddy's lovely finned rocker covers on my Commando. They are truly a work of art.

He was always nice to me, a stanger and fellow maker. I will miss his being here with us.

I talked to him a couple of times, really nice guy, I also have a set of his rocker covers and points cover on my 75. Sad he never made it to Bonneville with his bike, He really sounded like he was close. I would like to think that the family would finish his dream and and run the bike, Life is so short.

Ten days or so ago, I was at his shop checking out his work he asked if I wanted to ride the LSR Norton. I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not and that wouldn't he rather have someone with experience on the salt flats. He said all I'd need to do is overcome the fear. I could do that on the flats (but I'm slow on the curves). I still couldn't tell if he was kidding and I was planning on asking him if it was a real offer the next time I saw him. He would've finished it this winter. I never saw his angry side, but I only met him a few times.

Ah so Globe Trotter Smith, I too had that chat with him but have stopped holding breath. Don't ya know 5 minutes on a bike like that could be worth a life time on lesser craft...

R.I.P.

R.I.P. BS I hope he's tearing up tires and track for ever more.

Dont count out the LSR racer yet, I have been involved since day 1 of the project. It was ALWAYS Sir Eddys baby, and wasnt possible that anyone else could have come up with it or pulled it off. And there was a number of people over the years who helped make this happen to get it to this point.

We spent hours exploring design and theory, crank centerlines and timing issues. I donated many of the parts, some were used, some cut up and discarded. The first crank he made with the Norton halves and the custom made steel center was made from 2 cranks I gave him and he did the rest. Dances with Shrapnel was instrumental in talking him into a new solid billet crank.
My local balance guy (Dynamic) E.V Lewis was/is scheduled to do the dynamic balance on the new crank, Eddy carefully vetted him after i talked him up,
One of the main guys who was invaluable was a local guy Les, of Littles engine service in Vancouver Washington, one of the secret weapons of many of the local road race guys. His contributions are too many to list here but if anyone deserves credit, its him.
Where do you guys think Hobot came up with his rantings on Singh grooves? The combustion chamber and cylinder head work were top secret and confidential but at this point, theres no shame in showing it off.

Ill post more stuff about this motor and the race bike as time goes on. The irony is, while there has been many years of delays, the damn thing was VERY close to final assy, the cam was recently completed, the pistons were custom made, and there was like 2 years of issues getting those made. Recently we found an error with the Carrillo rods. Eddy was in a panic last week, we never imagined Carrillo would make a mistake.He kept calling me to go out and mic rods and bearings I had. But Eddy talked to them and luckily they are a 100% upright company, and despite the years since they first made them they agreed to take them back and rework them free of charge. (Props to Carrillo).

You guys will flip out when you see the Oil pump and squirter design, its a modular Nascar style pump (a small fortune alone) and its mounted in the old magneto postion and chain driven with external oiling and squirters. keep in mind this beast is designed to run up to 11,000 rpm. Bet you guys didnt know Superblends are only good to 8,000 rpm?? Over the years each and every hurdle has been addressed and overcome.

Eddys family would still like to see the bike run, it consumed him for so many years, it would be a shame not too. Its not my place to decide and the choice is theirs alone. But I have volunteered to help make it happen if they make that decision. Les has said he would help if thats their desire. What will happen is up in the air and how it will be done will be decided later but dont lose hope of this thing, its too close and too important, its what Sir Eddy would have wanted.

It would be a great honor to be a part of this to see it to the end, its all I ever asked for from the beginning 10 years ago when Eddy called up and said,,,,,,, "You know, that 500 pushrod record is pretty soft, what do you think about giving it a go with a modified Norton?"

Maybe a little fund raising through NOC's and places like this forum.? Just a thought
I will be in to support something like this.
Regards Mike

Fellas , to get the link off photobucket all you need to do is open your album and click on the desired photo. You will then see a window beside or below it when it opens. Click next to the address with the '/img' in it, and you will then see a yellow colour appear with the word 'copied' in it, in place of the link. The image link is then on your clip board ready to paste into your post. After you have witten your message, right click next to it, and click on 'paste' and the image link will appear. Submit your message, and then click on 'view submitted message', and you should see the desired photo in the right place.

I got a email earlier today from Paul, one of Eddys sons, he stated that the racer WILL get done, and that it would be a number one priority. So my intent is to help in anyway possible. Theres other issues to sort out but at least anyone who is interested, the project will move forward.
The first step is assess where all the parts are, and who has what, some stuff is out for work, some new parts were ordered. I sent Steve (hobot) the pictures i had of the new crank being made. Its all coming together.

As for soliciting for donations, too soon to tell. many years ago when this first got off the ground, Eddy recieved a $500 dollar donation for purchase of the frame. Back then here we had the NWNO, aka North West Norton Owners which was chapters of Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The main group was based out of Seattle, 2nd largest was us misfits here in Portland Oregon and some scattered members elsewhere. that $500 came from the NWNO and recognition is due for that. Since then, Oregon has its own chapter. O.N.E aka Oregon Norton Owners and you can look for the website Swoosh Dave put up, and yes,, the yellow beast is featured. Im looking at making up new shirts, Lowbrow customs used ot have a cool design I came up with featuring the Isle of Man and Sir Eddy, truth is,,Eddy raced in the UK & US., but never on the island, but we featured him in the design because it was cool picture and we liked him. Im thinking of a new revamped design, and proceeds would help the race project. a Win-win for everyone.
you get a cool shirt, and the race project gets help for funding. Beyond that Its too soon to tell. Im sure we will need advice as well. Mr Magyar was very helpful to Eddy, and Ken Carnaga,,,While most details were worked out, im sure something will come up.

If any of you attended the national INOA rally in Oregon,,what 6-7 years ago? Eddy and I were there with some of the race bike stuff on display, Eddy was supposed to give a tech session but had caught a nasty lung infection, so instead we had the stuff set up outside the motorhome and people were welcome to stop by and visit and talk, If any of you were there,,We likely met. We also had a C-Do Hi rider there and Sir Eddys Horton. a blend of hot rodded Honda CB750 and Norton Commando. Phil Radford of Fair spares declared it one of the nicest bikes he had ever seen and Eddy should build more. There is discussion that Oregon will be hosting the Norton National rally again very soon, hopefully by then you can come and see the Current 500cc pushrod class record holder

Was his Horton the one that just sold on ebay? It looked very well done. I'm curious.

He DID sell Horton on ebay, 3 maybe 4 years ago. It used to be Black with Gold leaf "Horton" on the tank. When he sold it, it was Silver.

Originally built around 1974, He thought the Norton Engines had problems, especially as they came from the factorys, only after extensive rework and blue printing were they useable in his opinion, one in which I grew to agree with as well. On the other hand, Eddy felt that Honda really produced a quality product as far as their engines went. He felt Honda Chassis were crap, and the Norton Chassis was pretty good at least in 1974. So he found a rolling chassis with a blown up motor (not hard to do in the 1970s) and modified it to accept a Honda CB 750, never content to leave anything along he put a big bore 810 kit on the Honda with a performance cam and rejetted the carbs. Seeing as he liked comfort as well as power,, not to my tastes but he put a large 2 person touring seat on it, one of those overstuffed bucket things.
Later years it got a small clear fairing. It always looked spotless,, and rode it intermittantly all thru the years.
Leaving my house one day, he had a deer knock him off on his way home., the accident was brutal, He was airlifted, and died at one point in the emergency room, was in a coma, Broken neck, many other injurys. Hobot to the rescue. Diagnosed his broken neck 2 days before the doctors figured it out. Eddy was a big guy, Built like a bull, they couldnt see the neck break in the XRays, after the swelling went down they found it. The Doctors were freaked some wacko over the internet diagnosed what they missed. I passed on everything from Steve to his wife and she tried, but the docs wouldnt accept it.
He recovered for the most part but had limited neck mobilty and had problems with tingling in his hands,numbness and stability. Hobot was a great help. I recovered the wrecked machine off the side of the road, Eddy rebuilt it about a year later. Then sold it on ebay to fund the racer.

I dont know what you saw on eBay, but that was a cool bike, people at the Norton rally really didnt know what to make of it. there was a few naysayers and rude comments, Phil Radford is well respected in the Norton community and he told a few people in effect to shut up and and show some respect to a well built machine. Ill try and find some pictures of it. Ive ridden it many times, he was right,It did "Run like the Clappers" Felt a bit heavy but when you rolled on the throttle it got up and really went. I would be interested if anyone knows the bikes whereabouts now.
He felt it was worth a lot of money, I tried to be gentle, its a uncommon custom not to too many peoples tastes. he evntually settled for around $3500 but im really not sure on the exact amount.
A funny end note was a few years later there was some Portland Hipsters who had a little bike shop, I bought some parts from them for a project, and they were telling me about this "Horton" bike and how a guy who rode in a Benelli scooter told them all about how he built it. Knowing the real story and knowing the lunatic on the Bennelli, I filled them on the real story, and Eddy found it amusing that JXXX the lunatic was going around Portland telling tall tales

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1973-Nor ... 500wt_1182

After seeing this one, something clicked with me. I have always liked the SOHC Cb's, and done right in a norton frame, all the better. And with the Sir Eddy connection, it's a done deal, I will have to build one someday. If I had the money I would have purchased this one. But all my funds are tied up in my Dunstall Commando right now until I sell it.

Sir Eddy had good taste and amazing knowledge. It's a shame I never got the opportunity to meet him.

I think this is the best thing for the family, I could tell he really was living his dream. It just needs to be finished, I remember him talking about the Horton and telling me how he built it. He thought it was kinda funny when i then told him my last name, I really wish i could have met him in person. Please let me know if you do shirts or any other merchandise to raise money for the cause, I would love to see it finished. I also would love to see it run, I have spent time at Bonneville when my brother was riding and would love to return to the salt. There is no place like Bonneville, The history that the place has and just the area itself is awesome. And thanks for sharing this info with us, Chuck Horton.

Doug wrote hobot>

heres 2 more,. I looked on the website http://WWW.Lowbrowcustoms.com and
Tyler isn't currently showing the Sir Edward race shirts on there,,
but i think we might do another run of them, show here is the artwork
we came up with.

the moniker "No rest till the GP" is a tribute to the English metal
band "motorhead" and their album "no rest till the Hammersmith" as in
Hammersmith Odean, the GP stands for Grand Prix,, one of the famous
races at the UKs Isle of man. that picture is taken from the original
Canadian race photo and turned into line art. they sold a ton of
these in long sleeve, short sleeve, and sweatshirts. Eddy wore his at
the Old timers banquet at Lampheres dealership the weekend of the
20th

the other one is a publicity shop by Berliner Motors, Mr Berliner
himself told Eddy his engines were amazing, these guys blazed right
past the factory race bikes, some people said lapped them, Berliner
didn't care along as Nor tons crossed the finish line in front.

The caption: Left to Right: Sonny Burres of Portland Oregon, winner
of the 650cc Expert class and (Right) Truman Leroy Hoglan (T.L.)
Winner of the 750cc class with famous tuner of Norton's, Ed
Bilton-Smith whose special talents helped the the boys win the 10th
annual Northwest TT Championship

Eddy raced in Drag racing, and road racing, these were his motors in
Offroad TT or flat track racing in the dirt.

bwolfie said:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1973-Norton-Commando-HORTON-750-Norton-w-Honda-CB750-running-gear-/181007366637?forcev4exp=true#ht_500wt_1182

After seeing this one, something clicked with me. I have always liked the SOHC Cb's, and done right in a norton frame, all the better. And with the Sir Eddy connection, it's a done deal, I will have to build one someday. If I had the money I would have purchased this one. But all my funds are tied up in my Dunstall Commando right now until I sell it.

Sir Eddy had good taste and amazing knowledge. It's a shame I never got the opportunity to meet him.

Click to expand...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Holy layshaft bearing failure Batman! thats the bike!.. I cant believe it and i didnt know about it, I know Eddy didnt know, he would have gone nuts to see it up for sale again. He would have emailed it to everybody. Thank you for finding that.
That IS the bike. I really dont remember certain details, I picked it up off the road after the wreck, I know the frame was tweaked a little, one of the forks was damaged, the bars folded over, top triple tree tweaked, one of the instruments damaged,the controls damaged, maybe the master cyl, i think the seat was ripped. and i think the muffler,, cant recall the pegs or other parts. Eddy pulled the motor, straightened the frame, and replaced parts and had it repainted. I was supposed to paint the bodywork but took too long.
He had another guy paint it. Decided it was due a color change. Im wondering about that Seat..I dont think Eddy sold it like that, perhaps it was recovered again, and that muffler looks odd to me. But im fuzzy on those details. Ill have to send that to Eddys family, they would get a kick out of it.
To be fair he was upset when he had it up for sale people didnt value it as high as he did. Eddy always charged premium pricing, which hurt his business dealings at times, Sometimes he just didnt get the tooling and machine shop jobs because of his high billing rates. But you get what you pay for, and I always told people if you want the very best of work, go see Eddy, if you want production grade, go elsewhere. CNW wanted an exclusive on his castings, instead of dropping his prices, he looked at his labor and expenses and raised them. He CC'ed me all the emails between them and him during the negotiations. I dont think they expected that. (No disrespect to CNW).
So He felt all along that bike (Horton) was really worth $8,000 to $10,000 but it wasnt easy telling him otherwise. When he eventually let it go, he fumed about how cheap it went. He would have been disapointed at the price it sold at recently.
Thank you very much for finding that and bringing it to my attention.

Ill have to find the pictures of his Berkely car, His Son Andy still has it. Eddy was a big guy and it was fun seeing him in this tiny car, He hotrodded it of course and kicked serious booty every year at the annual "All British Field meet", The minis and other sports cars hated to see him coming, he raced it in the slalom competitions and no one could touch him. He liked his drinks and beer and often went out and raced the Berkely after a few pints and still won hands down. I remember one year they were forming the grid for the beginning of the race, he slammed his beer down and said "Time to collect my trophy!" he joked about a cup holder in the Berkely so he could keep his beer in the car while waiting in line to go out on the track

+1.......Condolence to Eddie's family and friends.

I was lucky enough to have had some spare cash when I saw his E-bay ad for the finned rocker covers and bought a set on the spot. Later sent one back that , for me, had a slight problem and I recieved the replacement super quick....I guess that was just his style, on or off the track.

Godspeed Eddie.