Why are all Nortons Black?

I agree with Debby and Seaguy. Black bikes look cool and bad. 8)
I love to see other peoples Commandos in Fireflame purple......but I like mine black and gold.
I wanted to do it black with a real big metalflake in it, but my painter said it would look grey :? Has anyone seen a METALIC black Norton?
Anyway you can't see all the oil splatter on black paint. My bike would look a right mess after a day out if it was red.. :roll:

Hmmmmm...

I'm a VERY complex person, I have at least one of each color except Pink...

bpatton said:

I think a lot of people, myself inculded, wanted to capture a classic British look. Black and gold sure fills the bill. And it is plausible, after all they did make'em. I don't think I've ever seen a black BSA.

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My old BSA in Black

bigstu said:

I wanted to do it black with a real big metalflake in it, but my painter said it would look grey :? Has anyone seen a METALIC black Norton?

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I have a roadster tank in Black Metallic, Looks OK, Kind of a greyish tint to it when in the sun though

Missus H used to be a commercial artist years ago, she pointed out that it's colour that accentuates shape/form.

Seems to make sense that bikes, cars, WHY, look better in some colours, and not in others.

Lol, I don't consider myself a 'naughty, up-market' biker...Maybe is why I'm in a hurry to change it :shock:

H

Black? Because the oil doesn't show up as bad!
rvich

Orange: A biker who likes physical comfort, pleasure and sensuality,

Apparently she never saw the seat of my orange Buell S1 Lightning ! :roll:

Well,
This is how mine arrived off the trailer...



Sexy or what!!?? That's genuine sellotape pinstriping, that is

It was originally candy red.
I've thought long and hard about this, and I'm still not 100% sure which scheme it's going to be:
My first plan was to do it in white with the blue & red stripe - my local dealer (T&D in Leyland) had a brand new one in the showroom for years....they couldn't sell it in the '70s and wouldn't sell it in the '80s.
I still wonder what happened to it :roll: Great looking scheme, and more nostalgic for me than most, although an older relative had a silver Interstate, but I've yet to see that done on a Roadster!
I then saw the Fireflake colours - Sorted!
I ordered some light blue flakes...they look pretty good.
I then thought about going 'original' with the candy red.

Decisions, decisions

I had a whinge about 'pseudo-Velos' on this thread :-

metalflake-factory-colors-t4354.html

The period brochures referred to 'Traditional black and gold' but of course it isn't for Nortons as they were traditionally silver (well, the civilian ones anyway - Most of Norton's production was split between Khaki Green No.3 and Standard Camouflage Colour no.2 brown ))

Black was probably the longest running Commando colour and appeared on both Interstates and Roadsters but I recall lots of Candy Apple Red and 'Interstate Blue' in the UK.

My 850 Roadster was black and gold when I bought it. That lasted about three weeks. Since then it's been metallic blue, candy red, white with stripes (twice) and Tangerine. I have absolutely no wish to look 'bad' or 'cool' (couldn't do cool even if I wanted to ) and I just find black such a cliché on a British motorcycle.

The 1974 US market brochure carried the road-tester's comment "If a movie director were casting a motorcycle movie starring Burt Reynolds, he'd probably put him on a black Norton. Wherever I went, people looked and agreed : the Norton is one bloody good-looking motor cycle"

The UK equivalent (similar pictures but with different silencers) said "It is so smooth that even the rear view mirrors do not vibrate"

I think that it's pretty clear that the black versions were aimed at poseurs and Bert Reynolds wannabees

...did they reach their target market ? that's the question :twisted:

I always heard green bikes were bad luck. Probably just old chopper folklore like gremlin bells.

I'd run a green bike as I have nothing but bad luck all the time anyway.

Black is basic. The less colors you have the more detail emerges.


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RS

Way back when I didn't like yellow bikes. Now I ride one every day and it's kind of growning on me.
I did have an orange one until the first time I dropped it. Then it became metal flake blue. I'm enjoying seeing all the nostalgia colors now too.

I think the whole color thing and trying to somehow look into someones mind is a bunch of zodiac hogwash. Could it be it was just the color of the bike you bought? Nah! It must be that all the people that own a certain color are just the same, LOL LOL LOL. I would hate to think people are that simple. Just my opinion of course. :roll:

I totally agree Hortons Norton.

Isn't it amazing that 80 % of the cars are black, grey or similar nowadays? Primary colours are out - with the exception of sport cars maybe. Motorbike colours are not much different. The other day at a big motorshow, people were asked what motorbike make had the best looking colours. Most of the people said: Ducati. At that time, they hardly sold anything else than red bikes.

Anyway, the combination black and gold is awesome:

Hey Paul does your Buell look like this? So orange means what? :roll:

almost :shock:

Paul please know I am just having fun with this color thing, But it is so cool we have the same color bikes! There were very few with this color combo. My brother has the S 1W in the same color too, But if I read the color chart right it says orange and blue are opposite. What was Erik thinking when he came up with these colors? So how do you like the S1?

h'm, this is a (or "the") Norton forum... but ok. :wink:

When I first saw it on a Belgian motorbike show, I was staggered. I thought Buell painted the bike in Nuclear Blue / Molton orange just for the show but then I realised that you could buy it like that ! Next, after this love at first sight, the test drive convinced me completely : this bike was made for me.
Untill a couple of months ago when I could buy the marvelous Commando Production Racer you see on the right.
Now I understand where Eric Buell found the base of his rubber engine mounting. The first hours I had to get used to the superb handling of the Norton: even better than the S1 !
In one other thread on this forum, someone wrote : Buell is a Norton on steroids. That's pretty close. I'm just not sure which bike I prefer.

79x100 said:

I think that it's pretty clear that the black versions were aimed at poseurs and Bert Reynolds wannabees

...did they reach their target market ? that's the question :twisted:

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There aren't enough black bikes to cover the 'target market'. This is my bike posing in Alaska someplace. I'd be posing on it but there wasn't anybody around, only bears and they can't take a decent snap to save their furry butts.

Hmm...nice yellow crash helmet Bob !