Published by the Oregon Norton Enthusiasts

APRIL 2016

Mecum Auction Photo, Mike Roberts

Norton Bits IN THIS ISSUE

3-4567

11-131415

2

OFFICERSPresidentVice PresidentTreasurerSecretaryWeb ManagerNewsletter Editor

Mike TylerGeorge KrausSam JusticeBob FugateDave FriesenGeorge Kraus

CONTENTSThe Small printThe Riders SeatCalendar of EventsMeeting MinutesOur BikesBuy and SellThe Pillion

Mecum Auction Photo, Mike Roberts

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the April issue of the oNe (Oregon Norton Enthusiasts), Norton Bits! This month our featured “Our Bikes” article was submitted by Mike Roberts. Each month will feature a different members bike with a story about their one and only, or their entire collection. You can read his story along with photos on pages 11-13. We welcome your story for the next issue. It doesn’t have to be 3 pages long, one page along with a photo or two would be dandy.

The Norton Bits encourages any and all submissions of either articles or photos of Norton content for future issues. It’s your newsletter, and it will greatly improve with your participation. Submissions are due by the second Saturday of each month. I will try to publish the Norton Bits one week before the general meeting which is the first Saturday of each month.

Cheers, George Kraus Editor.

NORTON BITS is the official newsletter of the Oregon Norton Enthusiasts club (oNe). It will be published as needed throughout the year in PDF format and may be downloadable from the club’s website oregonnorton.org.

We welcome submissions of topical editorial material, and non-commercial buy-sell-trade Norton-related ads are free for members. Contact the editor for details, or better yet, just send your ad and we’ll let you know if there’s a problem.

ABOUT oNe Oregon Norton Enthusiasts was founded in 2010 and is a chapter of the International Norton Owners Association. Membership dues are $10 per year and are due annually in January.

Please send dues to: Sam Justice610 SW Alder StreetSuite 1000Portland, OR 97205

For the latest information check out our Facebook page for events and pictures. Oregon Norton Enthusiasts Monthly meetings are held at the Horse Brass Pub at 45th and SE Belmont on the first Saturday of each month at 11am.

oNe MEMBERSHIP LIST Although located in Oregon, oNe welcomes members from the Pacific Northwest and around the world.

Old BrittsNorton Access Forum

International Norton Owners Association (INOA)Northwest Norton Owners (NWNO)

LINKS

Fair Spares AmericaYahoo Group

Facebook

3

O

REGON NORTON

The Small Print APRIL 2016

Club Newsletter:The monthly Newsletters NORTON BITS is the official newsletter of the Oregon Norton Enthusiasts club (oNe). It will be published as needed throughout the year in PDF format and may be downloadable from the club’s website oregonnorton.org. The purpose of presenting the newsletter in PDF format is that it (a) archives them for future reading and reference, (b) they are in a higher resolution PDF file and therefore a better reading quality and (c) everyone should be able to open and read them. The newsletters are now posted on the club website and Yahoo group for future reference. Club Website:http://oregonnorton.orgThis is our club’s official website. It's our "shop window" and contains basic information about the club, events and affiliations. Dave Friesen is the website administrator. The Alfa Bits newsletter editor is George Kraus and monthly issues are uploaded and available on the website at OregonNorton.org. Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/OregonNortonEnthusiastsThis is our club’s social media page. Here, you'll find pictures, club event notices and other "what's happening now" news and snapshots. Dave Friesen and I are administrators of the Facebook page. Yahoo Email Group and Email Distribution list:https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/OregonNortonEnthusiasts/infoThis is our club’s email group.  A Yahoo group can be used more comprehensively than for just email, but it works well for our email exchanges. Email distribution list: OregonNortonEnthusiasts@yahoogroups.comThis is our club’s email list and the most common way of sharing information with club members. Everyone who has subscribed to the Yahoo group above is automatically entered into this email distribution list. I have also been blind-copying everyone on the club member master list just in case they have not yet subscribed to the Yahoo group. Blind-copying means that no one else can see your personal email address whenever I send an email.

If you haven't done so already, I would recommend that you join the Yahoo group, so that you don't miss out on emails from other club members who don't have your personal email address. One important thing to note is that we take our Internet security protocols very seriously. Doug Towsley, Dave Friesen and I are the administrators of the Yahoo email group.

Norton Videos: The club has a number of Norton videos in DVD and electronic format for loan. Please ask Sam, George or Mike for an inventory of the videos.

4

More Small Print APRIL 2016

5

The Riders Seat A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

From the Rider's seat:Mike Tyler

We had a good turnout and a cool selection of bikes at the March oNe 2016 club meeting.  George rode one of his customer's bikes, a beautiful Commando 850 Special MK3 that he restored a number of years ago.  

Dan shared more news about his engine rebuild of his P11 that he saved from a terrible fire and Doug setup an impromptu swap meet and made a few sales.  It was a nice turnout. 

Following the meeting, George led a ride over to his place for a small tech session where we drooled over his vehicles and incredible craftsmanship.  

We also had the opportunity to see Bruce Kerr's beautiful 1971 750 Commando close up. It was built in 1995 by Kenny Dreer of Vintage Rebuilds, Oregon City.  You may know of the strong Norton and Oregon connection with Kenny Dreer & the Norton America team having a pivotal role in redeveloping the Norton Commando, raising it from the ashes before the brand eventually repatriated back to Britain.

Bruce's has been owned his bike from 'new in 1995' and it was great to hear the history and customization that went into the bike.

Here's a short video of the event:http://youtu.be/9BlGAx837So

Thank you George for hosting the really enjoyable event! Thank you Bruce for bringing your bike and the beer!

Thank you to everyone's who has contributed to the Newsletters.  We really appreciate the interesting articles and stories. Please keep them coming!

This coming Saturday, we will have another "Garage Crawl" day. Geoff Carrigg will lead a ride following the club meeting for the initial stop at his place and then onto my place for another stop. 

Looking ahead, there are several events planned. Please refer to the event calendar in the newsletter for more information. 

Happy riding!Mike

Photo George Kraus

Norton Bits CALENDAR OF EVENTSEVERY MONTH:oNe (Oregon Norton Enthusiasts) club meeting at the

Horse Brass pub on the first Saturday at 11am. See Page 8 for more details

 2016 EVENTS CALENDAR:

 April 2016: 23rd OVM Piccolo Ride May 2016: 13-14th 2016 OPTOUR. This is the NWNO (North West Norton

Owners, WA) Opening Tour Event starting in Port Angeles & ending in Tokeland, WA for the evening.  Please contact Mike T for more details.

21st  OVM Ride. Corvallis, OR22nd OVM Show & Swap Meet. Corvallis, OR

June 2016: 13-19th Marymount motorcycle week, Tacoma WA. July 2016: 11-16th INOA (International Norton Owners Association) Rally.

Quincy, CA21-23rd AMCA Oregon Trail 3-Day Ride23rd OVM Ride to the Rendezvous at Antique Powerland30th LeMay Vintage Motorcycle Festival. Tacoma, WA

August 2016: 6th OVM Dennis Frye ride to Larch Mt 14th OVM Batwater Station Ride and picnic lunch on the

Columbia riverTBA:  OVM Oaks Park Picnic. Portland, OR

September 2016: 10th OVM Mid-Size Mid-Valley Motorcycle Rally, Salem area October 2016: TBA: Pacific Northwest Trailblazer motorcycle club (formerly

old timers banquet) November 2016:  December 2016: Boxing Day event

6

Norton Bits MARCH MEETING MINUTES

7

March MINUTES We conducted no club business.  There were 8 bikes parked out front and 18 members and guests attending.

CheersRespectfully submitted Bob Fugate Secretary

Photo Bob Fugate

Norton Bits MARCH MEETING TECH

8George’s shop, Photo George Kraus

Norton Bits APRIL MEETING

9

Don’t forget Saturday April 2nd, 11:00 am, is oNe’s general meeting held at the Horse

Brass Pub, 4534 SE Belmont St, Portland,OR 97215.

Horse Brass directions: click HERE.

George’s shop, Photo George Kraus

Norton Rally JULY 11—16, 2016

Our Bikes THE ALLURE OF NORTON MOTORCYCLES

The Allure of Norton Motorcycles By Mike Roberts

On May 13, 1998, I bought my first Norton, a 1973 Kenny Dreer Norton Commando Café Racer and I think I appreciate it more now than I did then. I sold it five years later (this is a story for another time) and have had sellers remorse ever since.

Norton’s have a certain mystique about them, that is to say, not your ordinary everyday Triumph or BSA, not that there is anything wrong with Triumphs and BSAs. It’s just that Norton’s conjure up images of fast, exotic Manx racers and racing pedigrees. Norton’s are “The Road Less Traveled” so to speak. To my knowledge, there are no Triumph clubs or BSA clubs in the northwest! Yes, Norton’s are special. Kudos to the person who creatively conceived oNe as the moniker for our club. After all, of all the vintage British Marques, Norton is the one.

When you search for Norton’s for sale, you will find they are pretty scarce compared to other British brands and when you do find one, they are expensive and getting more so by the day. This leads to my next point.

When I contemplated acquiring a vintage motorcycle, I rationalized that I am not spending my hard earned cash, but rather investing it in an asset that I can enjoy for a few years and more than likely sell at a profit when that time comes. Buying a motorcycle is like traveling. There are three elements to travel: 1) the planning and the anticipation, 2). then traveling and reaching your destination(s) and 3). the afterglow, the memories, story telling and photographs.

When you buy a motorcycle, you 1). Begin the search or the chase. For me, this is a rush, 2). Then there is the catch, finding the bike that you have been obsessing about and negotiating the deal, and finally, 3). The afterglow. (Writing this story is “afterglow”). Bringing the bike home, parking it in your garage and admiring it with a glass of wine or a cold one. I think of it as “Motorcycle Art”, or “Metal Sculpture”

I swore off British motorcycles 12 years ago and sold my collection. At the time, it was difficult if not impossible to find qualified local British motorcycle mechanics and I became discouraged when repairs were needed because I am not exactly mechanically inclined. Things haven’t changed in the last 15 years. There are still no qualified vintage British bike mechanics with maybe one exception. If there was such a person in Portland, he could open a shop specializing in vintage motorcycle repairs and would, in my opinion, flourish.

Ah, but alas, I just could not stay away. I have but this one life to live and I want to live it with no regrets. The allure of the Norton was calling to me and so I began my search (the chase) and that is what this story is really about.

11

Continued next page

Photo Mike Roberts

“Four Wheels move the body but two wheels move the soul”.…………Unknown

Our Bikes THE ALLURE OF NORTON MOTORCYCLES

Last summer I came to the conclusion that a garage full of motorcycles would solve all of my problems so I sold my car and minivan. This enriched me with a pocket full of disposable income and at the same time produced an empty garage bay.

Carol and I had reserved a vacation rental in Scottsdale, Arizona for the month of January this year to escape the gray skies and constant drizzle in the Northwest. It just so happened that the Mecum/Mid America Motorcycle Auction was taking place in Las Vegas, just 300 miles from Scottsdale the very same month.

I made reservations at the South Point Hotel and Casino where the auction was and registered to bid. My mission was to bid on Norton’s and Café Racers. Little did I realize that I would come home with both wrapped up in one tidy package as well as another rare vintage moto that wasn’t even on my radar. The auction started Thursday evening and ended Saturday night. You arrive early enough so that you can browse the inventory before the bidding begins.

There were 646 motorcycles on the auction floor. It was a sight to behold. It’s sort of a motorcycle show and exhibit in addition to an auction. Immediately I spotted a vintage bike that I have lusted after for years. A very rare, fully restored 1967 Bultaco Metralla in #1 condition. It would be crossing the auction block later that evening and my resource book, The 2015/2016 Comprehensive Vintage Motorcycle Price Guide that I had purchased on amazon.com valued it at $8,000.

I found my seat and waited. When the bidding on the Bultaco got up to $7,000 I jumped in. Then the bidding went to $7,500 and stopped! Much to my surprise, I had the winning bid. I was thrilled! I could

write a whole story about the Bultaco but since this is a Norton story, it wouldn’t be appropriate.

There were 17 Nortons at the auction compared to 107 Triumphs and 39 BSAs. A factory Commando production racer (the Yellow Peril) sold for a staggering $45,000 whereas a Dunstall Yellow Peril replica went for $13,000. A restored Commando Roadster, not nearly the same caliber as a GEK restoration, hammered at $18,000. And then there was a stunning 1967 Norton Atlas Café racer I had my eye on that would be crossing the auction block on Friday.

At the auction, it’s best to get there early, find a good seat and put your name and ID number on it. The seat I picked was between a guy from Baltimore and a retired trucker from Texas. The former I found out after conversation was there to bid on BSA Triples to add to his collection of about 40 motorcycles back home. The latter must have cashed in his 401k because he later said he had a budget of $200,000. He said “I want to take some bikes back home with me and see what I can do with them” implying selling them at a profit.

As soon as the bidding began Thursday night the trucker was submitting the highest bid on practically every BSA that went across the auction block. He wasn’t very discriminating, paying too much for some and at the same time getting a lot of bargains. By mid afternoon on Friday, he had invested (notice I didn’t say “spent”) his entire budget on nearly 20 motorcycles, all of them BSAs and Triumphs.

The whole time I was eyeballing that Norton Atlas and waiting for it’s turn. In the meantime, it was very entertaining to watch the auction. As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot just by watching” and watch, I did. The energy in the room was electric. The auctioneers were fast, funny and loud. I had to seal my ears with earplugs and even at that, he came through loud and clear. When you pick up your ID lanyard, they give you poker chips that say “good for one free drink”. I guess they figure after a couple of drinks, you become less inhibited and more prone to bid up the price.

12 Continued next page

Photo Mike Roberts

There are two or three cocktail waitresses always working the floor taking drink orders. They are young, beautiful, well endowed and wearing what one might liken to a Playboy Bunny costume minus the Bunny ears. The uniforms are designed to enhance their cleavage, therefore making it distracting and hard not to stare.

Finally, on Friday afternoon the Norton Atlas Café racer came up on the auction block. I had seen one identical to it on the Seattle craigslist last fall priced at $15,000, which I thought was over-priced. I assumed that the seller had no takers and decided to bring it to auction. It would later prove that I was wrong in that assumption.

When the Norton came up on the auction block, my heart started racing and my blood pressure must have skyrocketed. By the time the bidding started, I had already decided that I wouldn’t go over $12,000 for the café racer. I jumped in as the bidding began and held my hand up at every bid and much to my amazement, the bike hammered

at $9,500! I couldn’t believe it. Everyone around me offered congratulations.

First there was the chase and now the catch! A few minutes later I left my seat to admire my new Norton. A British gentleman about my age approached me and asked if it was mine. I replied “yes”. He then proceeded to tell me that he and just sold one exactly like it in Seattle. I asked him if was the same one on Craigslist. He said “yes” and went on to tell me that he had consigned it with a dealer who did, in fact, get his asking price.

Mike Seate, editor and publisher of Café Racer Magazine and producer of the TV series, Café Racer was there. He had brought two bikes to the auction that were featured on his TV show. A couple of hours later, I came back to my Norton for another look and Mike was checking it over. He asked if it was mine and I told him that it was. He complimented me on my good taste in motorcycles and was impressed at the hammer price.

There was still one day left at the auction but I didn’t see anything else with in my budget that I liked so I left for Scottsdale the next morning. I had the bikes shipped home while I was still in Arizona and had a neighbor meet the trucker to unload them. When I got home two weeks later, it was like Christmas finding two new toys in my garage.

The day after the last oNe meeting, I started reading this months issue of Café Racer Magazine. Well, there was a feature article about the auction, written by Mike Seate. He wrote, “Much of the metal rolling through this cash and carry cauldron would make a used bike dealer drool. Some of it, like the aforementioned Norton Atlas Café Racer that went for $9,500, sell for unbelievably reasonable prices. I congratulated the new owner (that would be me), and realized ruefully, that with it’s concourse clean condition, giant four leading shoe front brake, tuned motor, painted alloy body work and Road Holder forks, the bike is easily worth twice as much”. I put the magazine down and smiled blissfully, enjoying the afterglow.

I put the magazine down and smiled blissfully, enjoying the afterglow.

Our Bikes THE ALLURE OF NORTON MOTORCYCLES

13

Photo Mike Roberts

14

Wanted: • Ron Cook is looking for a right-hand switchgear housing for

a 71 commando. Need not be pristine.  Switches not critical. • Ron is also looking for a left-hand side frame cover for a

1971 Norton commando. Fiberglass or steel.ronoldbean@gmail.com CNW.

• Dave Friesen is looking for an 850 pre-MKIII Oil Pump.davefriesen@mac.com

• Mike Tyler is (always) looking for any old school cool Norton/Triumph//BSA/Vincent signs and other interesting vintage motorcycle memorabilia for his "man cave" garage.mike.tyler@nike.com, 503-206-1620

For Sale: • Sam Justice, Norton Parts for sale

sjustice6587@qwestoffice.net I have a number of Dominator and Atlas parts for sale. Aside from several pairs of handlebars which belong to the club, the parts are mine and left overs from the restoration of the 1958 model 88 and the Atlas.Sams Parts

• Engine cylinders for Atlas• Engine casing for Atlas and for model 99• Cylinder heads for Atlas and one model 88 head• Engine plates for Atlas• Slightly used standard 750 pistons• Seats for featherbed frame (probably slimline) (in need of

restoration)• Seat cover for late model Atlas (with hump, new)

• Gasoline tank for slimline featherbed frame (export style, dented and rusty)

• Pre-Commando clutch parts• After market generic front fender from Walridge, new

Monobloc and Concentric carb parts• various clutch and throttle cables• single leading shoe front brake (original to pre-Commando

bikes)oNe Parts

• various handlebars for Norton bikes• Pictures available on request.

…………………………………………

1975 Mk III Norton Commando • George Kraus is selling a 1975 Mk III Commando on

eBay for a friend. This original bike was recently brought back to running order after prolonged storage to make it safe to ride. Any parts replaced, were all sourced from Andover Norton. Only genuine Norton factory parts were used if available. The wiring is as it left the factory and there is no evidence of any modifications made to the bike, it appears to be a very nice unmolested original example. http://tinyurl.com/hbx74fv. Sale ends Monday February 29th. or contact Greg at 503-703-8067.

Buy and Sell ADVERTISE YOUR STUFF HERE

Please note: you can have your free ad on these pages. Send in your ad today! We welcome submissions of topical editorial material, and non commercial buy-sell-trade Norton-related ads are free for members. Contact the editor for details, or better yet, just send your ad and we’ll let you know if there’s a problem. If you sold your item please let me know.

SOLD $14,205.00

The Pillion

15