Combat norton

Follow along as we rebuild this Commando, whipping back into shape through some serious PT, making it ready to report for street duty. Pre restoration assembly of parts into a rolling chassis.

Checking for fitment issues and making a parts list. Gear box cases media blasted and tumbled to a factory finish. Genuine Norton parts from Andover. New gearbox bearings, bushings, springs. They will be cleaned up and throughly inspected. Any defects will be repaird. The crank and connecting rods will be resurfaced and balanced. Aluminum Roadster fuel tank from Norvil. The OHV parallel twin made 58 bhp at 6, rpm and could prople the lb bike to a top speed of mph. Handling was quite good thanks to the featherbed frame and Motor Cycle News readers voted it bike of the year five years straight from Unfortunately for Norton and indeed all British bike manufacturers, there was a problem coming from the East.

The Japanese invasion, spearheaded by the Honda CB with its bulletproof reliability, electric start and disc brakes, was fully underway and setting the stage for the s. Norton racers did develop some ingenious answers to their power disadvantage. For example, Peter Williams made a lightweight monocoque frame, in which the motion of the swing arm actually drove the fuel pump.

The fuel was housed in saddlebag fuel tanks low down to help the center of gravity and Williams won the Formula TT on a Norton. The Norton Combat occupies a weird niche in the collectible motorcycle market. They are valued at least as highly as the regular Commando and possibly more if the proper work has been done to the motor. The Combat engine had higher compression due to a shaved head, a long duration high lift cam that was really good at the high end of the power band and added about useable revs to the motor.