1967 Norton 650SS daily rider :)

Post up pics of you and your bike. A place for members to get all arty farty, creative and, er, post up snaps.
adventure steele
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Re: A tale of two motorcycles 1967 Norton 650SS and T100 Bonneville

Post by adventure steele »

To say I'm happy is an understatement I honestly didn't know when I'd be back on the Norton 650ss. I picked up a nasty neck injury that has taken forever to get right.

Tonight for the first time in an absolute age I've managed to get out on the 650SS. I've had to do a few things differently to usual like bump starting Al la Geoff Duke style after a few failed kickstart attempts due to the pain. The sheer joy of putting some miles on a classic British bike again utterly priceless.

I was surprisingly comfortable as always once underway. Hopefully if things go to plan with the rd250lc sale I might be doing the same on a Norton flat tanker. Bit sore now but being able to ride her again is such a relief I'll be putting a video up later in the week from the ride.

For those that don't know I did the restoration on her myself paint engine everything and have ran her for the past 3 years through every winter an shes never missed a beat an she certainly doesn't hang around.

For anyone thats interested my other videos are on under nortonrider on YouTube.

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Hugh
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Re: A tale of two motorcycles 1967 Norton 650SS and T100 Bonneville

Post by Hugh »

Greetings,

I am really interested in your photos and videos, please keep them coming.

May I ask if you have the old 'log books' and was your SS ever owned by a chap called Keith Wilson from Sale around the 1975/78 era? If so I may know your bike from back then through the North West Norton Owners Club.

My Commando rebuild is coming along slowly but surely. I can't believe that the parts I took off the original frame don't want to jump straight back on to the new frame, British manufacturing tolerances :lol:

TTFN

Hugh.
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adventure steele
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Re: A tale of two motorcycles 1967 Norton 650SS and T100 Bonneville

Post by adventure steele »

Hi Hugh good to hear from you I actually got her from the original owner who had her from new called John be used it all the time to so I've continued the tradition :) so I'm the 2nd owner of her still in touch with him and send lots of pictures.

Should have the video coming from the ride tomorrow:)
adventure steele
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Re: A tale of two motorcycles 1967 Norton 650SS and T100 Bonneville

Post by adventure steele »

Hi everyone hope we are all well :) as a few will have seen on some of the pics earlier in the week I had my first spin out on my daily rider Norton 650ss as I'm recovering from a neck injury. 😊 felt so great to get out! I had to do a few things differently bump starting her with a push rather than kick starting as it hurts my neck to much at the moment. So in true British spirit of adapting an overcoming I got out on her.

I'm still so relieved that I managed to put some miles back on her as I was going stir crazy not riding my baby felt like I'd lost a part of myself an felt amazing being back on her.

Anyway I hope you all enjoy the 2 min video as much as I did filming it for you all.



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Re: A tale of two motorcycles 1967 Norton 650SS and V-Strom 650 XT

Post by adventure steele »

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Re: A tale of two motorcycles 1967 Norton 650SS and V-Strom 650 XT

Post by adventure steele »

What an absolute crazy year. Been out on the daily rider Norton 650SS it's so great to be riding again on a Norton after so long with the shoulder /neck injury managed to film a bit in between downpours got well and truly drenched haha! Was nice to see the classic community spirit is still alive when a fellow Commando owner came over to ask if I was OK while filming that's what it's all about community, team work and looking out for each other.

The Bonnie ended up making way for a 1927 Norton flat tanker.

The 1967 Norton 650SS still delivering the goods as a daily rider an keeping up her long record of reliability. 4 Hard winters of riding an she still looks great.

Hope you all enjoy the piccies ^_^ as usual totally reliable and first kick starting.

Got some footage coming over the next few days with some good audio finally as I've got a Rode mic setup now which is working well.

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Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: 1967 Norton 650SS daily rider :)

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Nice to see that Norton being used.

I don't know why anyone would buy one of those 'new' Nortons...you could get an original Norton for a fraction of the price, get someone who knows what they are doing to go though it for you and have something decent and reliable rather than that stupid lash-up. You can upgrade 'classic' Nortons with electronic ignition, AP brakes and so on so they can live very well in the modern world.

I saw an amazing Dunstall Commando up for sale the other day...
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Re: 1967 Norton 650SS daily rider :)

Post by adventure steele »

Indeed Richard I hate the fact they've moved away from the 360 degree firing order for me it's such an intrinsic part of any Norton. The great thing to especially with the Commando is parts availability between Andover Norvil and RGM + NYC Norton well truly covered.

I'm actually gonna do a series of videos about that fact. I think the new Norton could really do something good with a modern version of the 16h for an adv bike.

The reviews on the new Commando did amuse me saying they arnt fast an vibe etc can tell some of the reviewers have never ridden the original even though my 68 Commando wasn't right hence me rebuilding it 100 miles in still one of the smoothest and fastest feeling bikes going! 0-60 in 4.5 secs or so on the 750 Commandos is no slouch. An the original amc gearboxes are better than my 2018 gs lol
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Re: 1967 Norton 650SS daily rider :)

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

The AJS Motorcycles website has an interesting section on the Commando and its development (the AJS Stormer motocross racer and the Commando were developed in parallel by NVT and both built in Andover). The Stormer frame was based on the Commando's (only smaller and lighter). The Commando was supposed to have an all-new engine (with a cam-chain long enough to connect the old Norton factory in Wolverhampton with the new one in Andover). What really seemed to do for the Commando is that bits of it were built all over the country (and abroad...the frames came from Italy), and the various factories didn't seem to communicate with each other.
As High can tell you, this meant various components might not even fit! plus some of the tooling dated back to pre-WWII and was worn out.
But, you can build a Commando now that has all the issues addressed, it looks and sounds authentic, because it is. Even the electric start can be made to work.
Alongside a Meriden Triumph twin of the same age, the old Commandos look much more substantially built. They did a lot with the basic platform...although many variants now seem to be forgotten: factory custom, police bike, street scrambler, tourer, roadster, cafe/production racer. There are probably pictures of most of those together with the inevitable 'glamour girl' in Hugh's collection, if you ask him nicely.
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Re: 1967 Norton 650SS daily rider :)

Post by Billy Bananahead »

Lovely looking bike the Norton you've got there Mr Steele. I would have bought a Norton or a Triumph 650 Bonnie but my money couldn't stretch to it so i've just bought this BSA 650 A10. It's nice in the picture but needs some attention underneath it all. Turning into a money pit. It's 62 years old and i'm only the 3rd owner.
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