What’s the best none Norton Norton ?

cliffa said:
FE, That looks suspiciously like your garden ;) ?
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I didn’t realise my lawn was so infamous…
I decided to stand the old ‘74 Commando down from track duty this year and try something a bit more modern.
The ole Norton has been my regular track toy for nearly 10 years now, in various guises / states of tune.
So it’ll be interesting to see how I get on with the newcomer.
Guess I’ll either love it… or frighten myself silly…!
One thing I’ve already learnt is that I won’t be doing many road miles on it…
 
Out at one of my favourite biking haunts on Sunday, quaffing down bacon and eggs (with extra cholesterol), when one of these rode up and parked directly opposite. Love it or hate it styling, but up close this is one beautifully constructed motorcycle! Rider had just been pulled by the local plod for having his number plate tucked up under the tail unit. I would LOVE to ride this!

What’s the best none Norton Norton ?
 
Stephen_Spencer said:
Out at one of my favourite biking haunts on Sunday, quaffing down bacon and eggs (with extra cholesterol), when one of these rode up and parked directly opposite. Love it or hate it styling, but up close this is one beautifully constructed motorcycle! Rider had just been pulled by the local plod for having his number plate tucked up under the tail unit. I would LOVE to ride this!

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What is an RR 800 Dragster?
 
Stephen_Spencer said:
Out at one of my favourite biking haunts on Sunday, quaffing down bacon and eggs (with extra cholesterol), when one of these rode up and parked directly opposite. Love it or hate it styling, but up close this is one beautifully constructed motorcycle! Rider had just been pulled by the local plod for having his number plate tucked up under the tail unit. I would LOVE to ride this!

View attachment 95988
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Sorry I think it looks terrible almost as bad as the new broughs
 
baz said:
Sorry I think it looks terrible almost as bad as the new broughs
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Yeh Baz, pretty polarising in the looks department I agree. Never really been into streetfighters, but up close this is an aggressive, purposeful, nicely put together machine. It certainly caught my eye amongst the ubiquitous Duc’s and other more common fare. 168 Kg - 140hp; I just reckon it would be a blast to ride!
 
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Makes me appreciate the old Triumph 955i triple with its curvy lines.
Not bad on numbers for a 17 year old machine either.

161 bhp vs 140

74 TQ vs 54TQ for the Brutale

A bit heavier at 185 kgs but not a heavy bike.
Maybe too common for some though.

Glen
 
worntorn said:
Makes me appreciate the old Triumph 955i triple with its curvy lines.
Not bad on numbers for a 17 year old machine either.

161 bhp vs 140

74 TQ vs 54TQ for the Brutale

A bit heavier at 185 kgs but not a heavy bike.
Maybe too common for some though.

Glen
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Nothing common about the 955i Daytona Glen, you would have a choice of about four for sale in the whole of Aus currently, if you were lucky. I’d be drawn to a nicely maintained classic Daytona more so than most modern offerings. I guess my taste in bikes has changed significantly over the years. I have just got less and less interested in modern mass produced bikes, however capable they are. I strongly suspect that I am not on my Jack Jones.
 
worntorn said:
Makes me appreciate the old Triumph 955i triple with its curvy lines.
Not bad on numbers for a 17 year old machine either.

161 bhp vs 140

74 TQ vs 54TQ for the Brutale

A bit heavier at 185 kgs but not a heavy bike.
Maybe too common for some though.

Glen
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Same could be said about our 961 Nortons.
 
Stephen_Spencer said:
Nothing common about the 955i Daytona Glen, you would have a choice of about four for sale in the whole of Aus currently, if you were lucky. I’d be drawn to a nicely maintained classic Daytona more so than most modern offerings. I guess my taste in bikes has changed significantly over the years. I have just got less and less interested in modern mass produced bikes, however capable they are. I strongly suspect that I am not on my Jack Jones.
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They aren't common here either however being a UK built bike they sold very well in the UK.
Triumph held them at 149 bhp by fitting a suppressive silencer. Supposedly this horsepower level gave a UK insurance cost at a much lower rate than the Yamaha R1 (150 bhp) and the GSXR 1000 (158 bhp).
Before leaving with their new 149 bhp Triumph all purchasers were informed about Triumphs "offroad" silencer and tune that added 12 bhp.
Another 450gbp was raked in as most opted for the extra power and sound.

Clever!

Glen
 
worntorn said:
They aren't common here either however being a UK built bike they sold very well in the UK.
Triumph held them at 149 bhp by fitting a suppressive silencer. Supposedly this horsepower level gave a UK insurance cost at a much lower rate than the Yamaha R1 (150 bhp) and the GSXR 1000 (158 bhp).
Before leaving with their new 149 bhp Triumph all purchasers were informed about Triumphs "offroad" silencer and tune that added 12 bhp.
Another 450gbp was raked in as most opted for the extra power and sound.

Clever!

Glen
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I must admit I have been looking at 955i s on eBay lately
They are at bargain prices for what you get IMO
 
I really regret selling mine...



What’s the best none Norton Norton ?



I had a factory race can on it, and the sound was reminiscent of a Merlin on full chat.
 
The 02 on models received a big jump in power and some weight reduction as well.
Not that the earlier models were short on power at 130 bhp!
The styling on the earlier bikes is really nice.
They did have a potential problem with starter sprag breakage. It is very costly to repair as the engine has to be completely disassembled.
Triumph did away with that fault with the redesign. They toughened up the sprag and changed things so that the sprag can be changed easily.

Additionally the post 02 motor (Daytona only, lower spec internals on Speed triple and Sprint) has all forged internals and sodium cooled valves . You can run them very hard for a very long time.
On the other hand, plenty of the T595 owners have done over 100,000 miles with only maintenance.

Glen
 
worntorn said:
The 02 on models received a big jump in power and some weight reduction as well.
Not that the earlier models were short on power at 130 bhp!
The styling on the earlier bikes is really nice.
They did have a potential problem with starter sprag breakage. It is very costly to repair as the engine has to be completely disassembled.
Triumph did away with that fault with the redesign. They toughened up the sprag and changed things so that the sprag can be changed easily.

Additionally the post 02 motor (Daytona only, lower spec internals on Speed triple and Sprint) has all forged internals and sodium cooled valves . You can run them very hard for a very long time.
On the other hand, plenty of the T595 owners have done over 100,000 miles with only maintenance.

Glen
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I didn’t realise the engines were so different internally.
 
Yes, different heads, different cc shape, bigger inlet valves, sodium cooled on the exhaust, bigger throttle bodies and ports on the Daytona model.
They went all out to catch the Japanese.
And they did.
For about 2 years!
It left us with this really great hot triple roadster that is remarkably comfortable when used for touring.
It has more power&speed than one can possibly use on public roads.

Glen
 
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worntorn said:
Yes, different heads, different cc shape, bigger inlet valves, sodium cooled on the exhaust, bigger throttle bodies and ports on the Daytona model.
They went all out to catch the Japanese.
And they did.
For about 2 years!

Glen
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But they took a long while to catch up on the character factor ( 2008 and the Crossplane crank in my opinion).
 
That triple engine does have a great, addictive howl to it.

I have an 02 road test where the new high hp Daytona is put up against 5 other Superbikes from 02. There was a Ducati 999, R1, GSxr1000, Honda RC51 and a 954 Fireblade.
They have 4 GP riders and each rider does his best on each bike, on a racetrack in Spain.
Generally the Triumph was back by a second or so, although 1 rider set his fastest time on it.
All agreed that the other bikes had the edge for track use as the Triumph suspension wasn't really stiff (harsh) enough for the track.
All were given the choice to ride any bike they wanted on the 150 mile ride home thru the mountains in Spain.
There was a 4 rider fight for the keys to the Daytona!

Glen
 
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