Norton (motorcycle)

Norton is a British motorcycle marque from Birmingham and founded in 1898. By 1913 they had begun manufacturing motorcycles. This began a long series of production and racing wins.

They were one of the great names of the British motorcycle industry, producing machines which for decades dominated racing.

History

The original company was formed by James Norton in Wolverhampton in 1898. In 1901 Norton began building motorcycles with French and Swiss engines. In 1907 Norton won the twin-cylinder class in the first Isle of Man TT race, beginning a sporting tradition that went on until the 1960s - The Isle of Man Senior TT, the most prestigious of events, was won by Nortons ten times between the wars and then every year from 1947 to 1954 J.L. Norton died in 1925 aged only 56, but he saw his motorcycles win the Senior and sidecar TTs in 1924

Nortons also appealed to ordinary motorcyclists who enjoyed the reliability and performance offered by single-cylinder engines with separate gearboxes. The marque withdrew their teams from racing in 1938, but between 1937 and 1945 nearly one quarter of all (ca 400.000) British military motorcycles were Nortons, basically the WD16H (solo) and WDBig Four outfit (with driven sidecar wheel).

Post war, the Norton brand was renowned for the quality of the design and handling of their motorcycle frames, particularly the Norton Featherbed frame, developed through racing with riders inclduing Geoff Duke, John Surtees and Derek Minter. These racing succeses were transferred to the street through Cafe racers, who would use the feather bed frame with an engine from another manufacturer to make a hybrid machine with the best of both worlds. The most famous of these were Tritons - Triumph twin engines in a Norton frame.

In 1960, Norton was sold to Associated Motorcycles (AMC), who also owned the brands AJS, Matchless, Francis-Barnett and James. The Birmingham factory was closed and production was moved to AMC's Woolwich factory in Southeast London

Revival via NVT

By the late 1960s competition from Japan had driven the whole British motorcycle industry into a precipitous decline. In 1966 AMC collapsed and was reformed as Norton-Villiers. In 1969 the Commando was introduced, its revolutionary isolastic frame and powerful engine made it competitive with Japanese superbikes of the era. Despite different variations and respectable sales, the company declined and would go into liquidation in 1974. In 1972 the former giant of British motorcycle manufacturing BSA was also in trouble. It was given government help but on the condition that it merged with Norton-Villiers and in 1973 the new Norton-Villiers-Triumph (NVT) was formed, the Triumph name coming from BSA's Triumph subsidiary. 1974 was the crunch year. The outgoing government withdrew the subsidies, after that years election the incoming restored it. Rationalisation of the factory sites to Wolverhampton and Birmingham (BSA's Small heath site) only caused industrial disputes at Triumph's Coventry site; Triumph would go on as a workers co-operative alone. In 1975 the Government asked for a repayment of its loan and refused export credits further damaging its ability to sell abroad. There were massive redunancies announced and production of the two lone models still made was ended.

Wankel engine

In the 1980s, the company went through several incarnations - mainly because, both the name was popular, and now owned by several parties: in liquidation from NVT, the global rights were split between (at least) Norton UK, Germany, America and Rest of the World.

The name was relaunched on an ambitious scale in Lichfield in 1988. The new models have succeeded on the race track - winning the Senior TT in 1992 - but they have moved rather more slowly in the commercial market. The british company had some success making the Wankel-engined Interpol 2 motorcycle for civilian and military police forces and the RAC.

This led to a civilian model in 1987 called the Classic. Subsequent Norton Wankels were water-cooled. The Commander was launched in 1988 and was followed by the Spondon-framed F1. This model was a replica of Norton's RCW588 factory racing machines which won many races including the 1992 Isle of Man TT. The F1 was succeeded by the restyled and slightly less expensive F1 sport. With high prices and possibly some customer suspicious of the Wankel engine, the factory suffered from low sales, and production ceased in the early 1990's

Replica revival

During the 1990's, Dreer of Oregon evolved from restoring and upgrading Commandos to producing whole machines. He modernised the design and in the early 2000's went into series production, but then suspended operations in April 2006.

Trivia

One famous rider of a Norton motorcycle was the medical student and future revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, who along with his friend Alberto Granado, famously toured South America on a 1939 Norton 500, nicknamed 'The Mighty One'. Unfortunately the bike did not complete the journey with them, as it was wrecked somewhere along the route.

Models

Pre War (1908 - 1939)

Big Four (Model 1)
16H
Model 18
Model 19
Model 20
Model 22
CS1
ES2
CJ
Model 30
Model 40
Model 50 & 55
International

War time (1937 - 1945)

WD16H
WDBig Four

Post War (1945 - 1970)

16H
Model 18
Model 19
Big Four
Model 500T
ES2
International
Manx
Model 7
Model 77
Dominator 88
Dominator 99
650ss
Atlas
Mercury
P11
N15C
Jubilee
Navigator
Electra

Superbike era (1967 - 1978)

Commando Combat
Commando Fastback
Commando Hi-rider
Commando Interstate
Commando Roadster
Commando Interpol

Rotary period (1981 - 1992)

Interpol 2
Classic
Commander
F1
F1 Sport

External links

1898 establishments | Motorcycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom | Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom

Norton | Norton Motorcycle Company | Norton (motorfiets) | Norton (mc)

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Norton (motorcycle)