Oddball Norton Commandos
(Page 3 of 6)
January/February 2008
By Robert Smith
But the days of the Street Scrambler were over almost as soon as they began, especially at the “heavy” end of the spectrum. Not for the first time, a British bike maker had misjudged the U.S. market, especially in fashion conscious California where most of the SS models were sent. To salvage sales, dealers removed the dated scrambler parts, converting SS’s to Roadsters. By this time all Commandos were identical from the steering yokes down, different models identified by gas tank, seat, handlebars, exhaust and side panel changes. Swapping parts to make a different model version was easy.
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Nortons three
In motorcycling, 15 minutes of fame are equivalent to one season in the sales brochure. The R, S and SS models lasted barely all of that. But each made a valuable contribution to the Norton Commando’s unlikely and remarkable eight-year production run.
Taking advantage of a rare opportunity to view all three models, I met Tony Duffett, Jim Bush and Dave Guthrie, owners, respectively, of R, S and SS Commandos at Wendell’s coffee shop in Fort Langley, British Columbia. Parked next to each other, the family resemblance appears strongest between the S and SS, both exhibiting a North American styling influence. The R styling harks back to Nortons of the early Sixties, the mufflers being identical to the Atlas built during that decade.
Tony Duffett found his R model as a basket case, advertised in a local Buy & Sell paper. His initial survey of the machine concluded that it must be a 1969 Roadster. Ah, but there was no such thing, retorted Vancouver Norton expert “Redline” Dave Sundquist when Tony reported his find, adding that it had to be either an R or S model as the Roadster wasn’t introduced until 1970. “Dave said if I didn’t buy it, he would,” adds Tony.
The restoration went fairly smoothly, though Tony did have trouble with the rider’s perch. “The bike was pretty complete when I got it. The most difficult part was sourcing the correct seat.” The outrageous gas tank paint is as close a match as possible to the original “Fireflake” red.
Jim Bush’s 1969 S model was rescued from an abandoned chopper project. The most difficult parts to find, says Jim, were a usable centerstand, the correct silver metalflake tail light housing with Lucas reflectors, and the plastic trim caps for the front fork pinch bolts: The last items are still AWOL.
Jim’s fastidiousness for originality extended to retaining the less-than-adequate, frame-mounted, tubular center stand and the direct-drive rear hub. (Later Commandos have three rubber shock absorbing pads in the hub.) Jim admits to a small number of deviations from stock: the aforementioned trim caps; flexible plastic rocker oil feed replacing the crack-prone stock steel lines; vernier-adjustable Isolastic mounts; improved rear muffler mounting; extra gusseting on the frame seat loop; and a 3.25in front tire in place of the now unavailable 3in type.
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