After the decline of the British motorcycle industry there were many stops, starts and restarts.  Some restarts were heralded as the return to greatness, while others were bemoaned as misrepresentations of a legend.  Today Norton Moto rsports, Inc., has the consensus support  of both the industry and the Norton faithful. The new company is committed to restoring the luster to the brand and carrying the Norton torch as if the original Norton Moto rcycles were still in business today.

Norton Timeline

1902: The first Norton motorcycle was produced. It consisted of a bicycle with a Belgian Clement engine on the front down tube.

1908: The long lived 633cc side valve Big 4 with all chain drive is introduced. It will continue as a mainstay of the five model range from after WWI until after WW2.

1909: Available at Harrods (the agent in the early days in London ) eight models were offered for sale, two with bought in engines, six with Norton engines.

1916: The famous curly Norton logo appears. They also move to a larger location

1922: Norton produced their first OHV machine, the Model 18. The OHV made little impact at the 1922 TT but before the year was out it had firmly established itself as one of the quickest forces around.

1924: Alec Bennett won the Senior TT with an OHV Norton , averaging over 60mph for the first time.

1926: Four speed gearboxes and internal expanding brakes were standard equipment on several Norton models along with automatic primary drive chain lubrication.

1926: Stanley Woods wins the 1926 Senior TT on a Norton .

1926-1927: Walter Moore designed an overhead camshaft engine that retained the classic Norton dimensions of 79 by 100mm but that was the only similarity. The drive from the crankshaft was taken through a set of bevels, and then by an enclosed vertical shaft to the cambox via another bevel set. The cambox was bolted to the cylinder head and the valves returned by coil springs. A new frame was also introduced, a cradle type with single top and front down tubes. The exhaust pipe was to the left of the machine, which was the standard Norton practice at the time.

1927: Bennett won the 1927 Senior TT on the OHC machine

1929: Norton gets Arthur Carroll to redesign the OHC engine. He produced what became one of the most dominant racing engines of all time with a racing dominance that lasted for the next twenty-five years.

1932: Bill Lacey raised the one hour record to 110mph at Montlhery.

1936: Plunger rear suspension appears on the works racers

August, 1937 : Jimmy Guthrie (famed racer of Norton s) is killed at Chemnitz in Germany from crashing when trying to snatch victory from a supercharged BMW. A statue was erected to his memory in his home town of Hawick and even in Nazi Germany, a memorial was placed at the spot where he crashed.

1938: The Manx Grand Prix racer was offered for sale. This model was basically an Inter with all the latest go-go faster goodies except the DOHC engine. It had the plunger frame, conical hubs, and a big finned head. The plunger frame was an option on the Inter models and a most hideous silencer was put onto the OHV machines for just the one year.

1940-1946: Over 100,000 Norton s are manufactured for military use during the war. These consisted of the two side valve machines, the 16H to 1937 specification with open valve gear and an air cleaner for overseas use; and the Big 4 for sidecar duty, this having a disengageable drive to the sidecar wheel.

1948: Norton starts taking an interest in the U.S. export market. Will enter a successful works team under Steve Lancefield then Francis Beart in the Daytona 200 race using American riders until OHC engines were banned in 1952, most likely in order to help along the chances of a particular manufacturer who was devoted to sidevalves.

1949: Norton dominates racing. Geoff Duke wins the Senior Manx Grand Prix on a Norton . The team of Duke, Oliver, and Artie Bell went to the Montlhery track in France and together took twenty-one world records in the 350cc and 500cc classes.

1950: The Featherbed frame, designed in Belfast by the McCandless brothers, is used on the works racers. Innovative and ahead of its time, it rendered all else obsolete and became the standard of comparison for all other frames for many years to come. The construction material was lightweight yet strong and durable Reynolds 531. The original version of this frame had the rear sub-frame bolted on.

1950: New frame is a success at the 1950 TT, taking its rider Duke to a record breaking Senior win and Bell to victory in the Junior. In both the Senior and Junior races, Norton bikes finished 1st, second, and third.

1952: Norton wins both Senior (Ulsterman Reg Armstrong riding - beating out a 4 cylinder Augusta ) and Junior TT races. Norton once again won both Senior and Junior TT races.

1952: Norton rider Geoff Duke is world champion in both the 350cc and 500cc classes and is awarded the OBE for his services to motorcycling.

1953: Ray Amm, a very hard and fearless rider from Rhodesia, is left standing as the number one Norton rider, and goes to TT double in that year. He is also the rider of the experimental 'flying fish' kneeler in the North West 200 but retired after just three laps. (He would later ride this machine to a one hour record of 133.71mph; this would also mark the last time it was to be held by a British machine.)

1960: Norton s still are tops in racing. The leading riders on British short circuits are Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Derek Minter, and they all are on Norton s.

1964: All models now have wider roadholder forks to allow for fitting of a wider tire on machines destined for the U.S. market.

1966: Development of the Commando begins! Norton Villiers decides that they needed to spruce things up and they'd start by replacing the ageing Featherbed framed machines. The 800cc OHC P10 prototype is reassessed for suitability but due to its vibration and poor performance potential it is rejected. The chain drive to the camshafts is almost as long as a final drive chain.

1967: The Commando is BORN! With just three months left before the Earls Court Show, the decision is made to go with Bernard Hooper's idea to hang a rubber mounted Atlas engine in a completely new frame with a massive single top tube. Hooper and Bob Trigg finish the design and produce a machine in time for the Show. The experimental P10 800cc twin with overhead camshaft has not shown much promise so the Atlas engine will be in use for a few more years yet. However, the Commando has so many changes from the Featherbed twins that it marks the beginning of a new era for Norton just as the twin engine marked a new era back in the 1940's. To remove vibration a whole new frame is devised with the engine and rear wheel as one unit separated from the rest of the machine and the rider by a rubber mounting system. The Commando debuts at Earls Court to a warm reception by the public. Its radical design with its engine, gearbox, swinging arm and rear wheel being mounted on a rubber bush arrangement that was patented as 'Isolastic'is truly a thing of beauty. The beauty pales however, when it is realized that although this system insulates the rider from vibration, the mounting rubbers must regularly be shimmed up in order for the machine's handling to be kept up to standard. A vernier adjustment system (an expensive yet convenient little thing) while also patented, will not be incorporated until the final years of Commando production. The Commando's triplex primary chain is now properly housed in an alloy casing rather than the pressed tin doo-dad that Norton has so long held dear. Its fuel tank and matching tail piece are made of fibreglass and the orange seat has forward projecting wings that overlap on to the fuel tank. A twin leading shoe front brake is standard on the Commando.

1969: The "S" Type version (the first variant) Commando debuts in March. It sports a high level left side exhaust system, a small 2½ gallon fuel tank and naked front forks without gaiters or shrouds. It has both exhaust pipes at a high level on the left side and despite its good performance is far too radical for Great Britain for its time. It doesn't sell very well. The extra performance of the 'S' Type may come from the slightly lower back pressure exhaust system. The only internal change of significance was the moving of the points from behind the engine to the end of the camshaft which meant a new timing cover to fit it in, with the rev counter drive moving inboard to come off a skew gear on the camshaft. Reverse cone silencers are also used for the first time, though the Fastback continues with the old Dominator cigar shaped silencers.

1971: The Street Scrambler and Hi Rider debut. The Street Scrambler had a rather short lifespan (about 5 months) with a small fuel tank and a very American style to it. The Hi Rider fared a little better with its ape hanger bars and a chopper seat mainly the U.S. market.

1971: The John Player sponsored racing team starts under the management of Frank Perris, once a racer for the Suzuki team. Peter Williams is the mainstay of the JP N racing effort and is partnered by various other well known riders over the next few years.

1976:  The last Commando rolls off the production line in Britain .  Despite having great commercial success with the model, Norton cannot survive the combination of the British recession, and the huge influx of new Japanese bikes into the market.

………. Kenny Dreer starts to revive Norton …………

1995: Vintage Rebuilds in Portland , Oregon gets started in the restoration business specializing in British and Italian motorcycles. Our first major magazine exposure was in the April ‘97 issue of AutoWeek Magazine. Thru west coast Vintage Motorcycle Shows, our bikes quickly received winning acclaim for “attention to detail”. Prices for our restoration were 25% to 50% higher than standard and we were fully booked.

1997: Vintage Rebuilds first custom built Norton featured in the April, '97 Cycle World. This bike was, in retrospect, the first of the “concept” new Nortons which were to come several years later. During this time period David Edwards, Editor-in-Chief of Cycle World, commissioned me to restore and customize his personal Norton Commando. The likeness of this bike appears on David's editorial page every month in CycleWorld magazine to this day.

 1998: The Vintage Rebuilds business had increased to include parts and accessory sales in addition to the restorations. We added more staff to accommodate the increase in business. “England Swings” another (center fold) feature article in the March '98 Cycle World magazine started to define our core business as specialists with Norton Commando motorcycles. This one article brought in over 25 restoration projects and also started the company on the path to the Norton VR880 Sprint Special. We were continually asked to upgrade the “weak knees” of the original design and bring the bike into the modern era.

1999: September '99, brings the “She's Back” cover article in CycleWorld with a full 9 page feature article including a “road test” of the ‘remanufactured' Norton VR880 Sprint Special. The bike was received with overwhelming market approval and more orders. The VR880 hit a vein. I knew it. The magazines knew it. The market knew it, and the lawyers for the then current Norton trademark holders, knew it as well. We received a “Cease and Desist Order” within 2 weeks of Cycle World magazine's release.  The fragile working settlement was negotiated with the trademark holders soon turned hostile after only 3 months. What ensued was a war that lasted for nearly three and half years.

2000: Vintage Rebuilds moves into the Gladstone Facility to “remanufacture” the VR880 Norton Sprint Specials. New engine, cylinder and gearbox castings are designed off of the originals with improvements to the new design to replace worn out original parts. Other new technologies are utilized in the “remanufacture” of the VR880.  We display the VR880's to the vintage car racing fraternity at the Monterey Historic Road races in Laguna Beach. Meet with Jay Leno and Tim Allen who orders a bike. Orders continue, but availability of “key” original parts necessary for the VR880 start to become scarce. Vintage Rebuilds has the attention of the world wide press, and the trademark attorneys, both at the same time, non stop for the foreseeable future.

 2001: With much prodding by my Sales Manager, I made the reluctant decision to go to the World Superbike Races at Laguna Seca for the 2001 event. My main concern was how the modern bike market would receive an essentially “hot rodded” old bike. I shouldn't have wasted any time worrying, we were one of the 10 most popular booths according to the show people. What I didn't know before the event, I know now, Norton needed to  be a new bike. There was indeed a waiting market. The response was overwhelming and the press didn't let up. It was on fire, so was the legal battle, and looming over the horizon was my partner's reluctance to build a new Norton . Having already designed and built my own engine castings, cylinders, fuel tanks, and had several world class vendors/components on the VR880, I made the decision to forge ahead with developing a new Norton.

2002: I was currently engaged with an engineering firm in Spokane, WA. We proceeded to design a new engine that would look and feel like the old Norton twin, but with all new thought and design to cure the ills of a much outdated motor. The initial design parameters included, 80's HP/ 60's ft lbs of torque, less parts, and ease of assembly. Make it new, but keep it simple. During that period, I read about, and finally engaged, Soligen Technologies, a rapid modeling facility in So Cal. They had the ability to read CAD files and turn computer generated solid models into a one-time mold which produced the aluminum part ready for machining. From the idea phase in November of '01 we had an entire lower end built by March of '02. I engaged a famous frame maker and by summer of '02 the lower end was in the frame with suspension attached. With a little financial assistance later in that summer, I was able to further my involvement with Soligen and both a cylinder and a cylinder head were rapid model prototyped. All the ancillary components were also being made at the same time.

With all the engine and bike development going on there was still a legal war ensuing over the trademarks. We learned of Joseph Siefert in Germany who held the EU Norton trademarks in total and could be approached, but in a gingerly way. I knew of an associate who had dealings with Joe and asked for his assistance in making a connection. Joe was extremely tentative, wary of anyone or anything not “German”. I must have made a good impression, he was very impressed with the “new” Norton , as he's a passionate motorcyclist, and would not even consider relinquishing the trademark ownership if the product did not measure up.

2003: Just after the New Year we were back at it hard. With all the finished components in house to build the first concept motor, Floyd Holschu (a 74 year old retired machinist who made parts for us), Brett Hoyt , (employee) and myself fired off the first new Norton Commando motor (in 26 years!) at 5 am in the morning. All systems were go. With the motor running, we rigged up some fuel carrying devices and put it on the road later that morning. This thing ran hard. It was the Norton I was looking for. For the next several months we implemented a testing regimen and  started to collect data from the running motor and gearbox assembly. Now that the motor was running, we knew immediately we had to move aggressively forward with the continuation of the design. We built this motor as a design test just to see if it would run, and it did quite well for” right out of the box”. In order to make the motor a simple assembly I worked with the Spokane engineers to unitize the motor and include a counter balance shaft to help quell the 360 degree vibes.

About the same time as the motor fired, we closed on the Joe Siefert deal and we owned the Norton trademarks in total in the EU. A showdown was eminent with the Canadians (Aquilini's), it was coming down to who blinks first. They did, and now Norton Motorsports owns the world wide trademarks. This marked the first time in 26 years that the Norton name has been under one roof.

2004:  With entirely new motor castings in CAD, and revised engine components ordered, the first “Beta” motor saw life in January of '04. All of this could not have happened without the inclusion of several key new hires, Paul Gaudio (Director of Product Development) being one of them. We stayed on course with 24/7 testing, gathering as much data as possible in an effort to accelerate development even faster. The press continued to monitor our progress, it seemed almost daily, all in an effort to see who could break the story the first on the New Norton . During the 26 year Norton hiatus, there were several attempts by various non-motorcycle types to “resurrect” the Norton name, but all eventually failed. We were seen as different, true to the heritage, loyal to what the market was looking for. We were the “real deal” and continue that hard line today.

With Paul in full engagement mode, we went from Beta cases to Gamma cases in less than 6 months. With full running models, these were essentially what the production based motorcycles were going to look like. With all the testing that proceeded the Gamma models, it's still all in the details. Like any other project of this magnitude, the market expects “Japanese” type quality out of the gate. I have been saying to my team for years now, “We get less than one chance to do this right” so make every move count.

2005: Knowing that the “devil is in the details”, I engaged an engine development firm in January ‘05 and we have been honing the edges in preparation for production tooling.  Along with that, we have also engaged several outside services. These are firms that have experience essential for production including engine and chassis engineering validation, Engineering PE's to validate critical designs before tooling is ordered, all this in order to do it right the first time. The bike is 80% and gaining ground rapidly every day. All this from doing our homework right from the start. We continue to seek the best vendors to work with, people much like us, who have a passion for what they do, believe in the quality of what they produce. We live by the words Price-Delivery-Quality, and we design parts and assemblies using the philosophy of Faster-Cheaper-Better. We always strive for excellence in what we do and the market will accept nothing less.

http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com