Norton Commando (Late 60`s)

[dagling]

Anybody seen a Norton Commando for sale in Thailand? Don`t have to be in a perfect shape.

[elliss]

norton atlas or commando , never seen , a feather bed frame out here.

recently in chiang mai , i visited a shop selling new bonnies .

good old days . now it,s honda phantom for me .

:jap:

[JackSterling]

Yeah.. I ride a trick out Phantom as well.. took the name plate off and painted the tank all black.. put on a racing bar.. seems to go faster than most Honda dreams 125's maybe 90 top end

[chiang mai]

That picture brings back many pleasant memories, the only improvement at the time was to use the Norton "featherbed" frame and slot in a Triumph engine thus giving the world the Triton, a great bike.

[xen]

Brings back memories seeing that photo - don't see many anymore anywhere.

[ballpoint]

You could always get a brand new one...

[eezergood]

SOme guy was selling 2 a few weeks ago, will try to look for the link. Almost sure it was on here or b@ht sold

[Kwasaki]

That picture brings back many pleasant memories, the only improvement at the time was to use the Norton "featherbed" frame and slot in a Triumph engine thus giving the world the Triton, a great bike.

The Norton in the picture looks like the last of the 850cc models.

Here's a nice bit of history for those intrested.

After 1959 the 358cc Norton model 50 gained the famous Featherbed frame which improved the lighting and the production ended in 1963.

Featherbed frame was used in the Dominator 88 with 497cc and the 99 model with 596cc.

A few survive in original condition but many were converted into 'Tritons' with Triumph engines.

The Triumph Bonneville T120 engine was a 650 cc parallel-twin with twin carbs (whow), in standard configuration and especially when easily tuned for increased performance, they were popular in café racers such as Tribsas (BSA) and the Tritons.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Kwasaki

[chiang mai]

That picture brings back many pleasant memories, the only improvement at the time was to use the Norton "featherbed" frame and slot in a Triumph engine thus giving the world the Triton, a great bike.

The Norton in the picture looks like the last of the 850cc models.

Here's a nice bit of history for those intrested.

After 1959 the 358cc Norton model 50 gained the famous Featherbed frame which improved the lighting and the production ended in 1963.

Featherbed frame was used in the Dominator 88 with 497cc and the 99 model with 596cc.

A few survive in original condition but many were converted into 'Tritons' with Triumph engines.

The Triumph Bonneville T120 engine was a 650 cc parallel-twin with twin carbs (whow), in standard configuration and especially when easily tuned for increased performance, they were popular in café racers such as Tribsas (BSA) and the Tritons.

The T120 was magical but balancing the carbs was nightmarish, once you got it right however it sure could move. The last one I put together in the UK was in 1971, just finished it the night before I moved to the US and only got one ride for a lot of effort! Ironically I met a guy in Detroit the following year who had bought one solely based on their reputation and his only complaint was that the carbs were always out of balance - after much playing around we figured out that the jets had to be swapped out as a result of the more humid air in that part of the world (same problem with XKE's but that's another story).

[jackjones]

That picture brings back many pleasant memories, the only improvement at the time was to use the Norton "featherbed" frame and slot in a Triumph engine thus giving the world the Triton, a great bike.

The Norton in the picture looks like the last of the 850cc models.

Here's a nice bit of history for those intrested.

After 1959 the 358cc Norton model 50 gained the famous Featherbed frame which improved the lighting and the production ended in 1963.

Featherbed frame was used in the Dominator 88 with 497cc and the 99 model with 596cc.

A few survive in original condition but many were converted into 'Tritons' with Triumph engines.

The Triumph Bonneville T120 engine was a 650 cc parallel-twin with twin carbs (whow), in standard configuration and especially when easily tuned for increased performance, they were popular in café racers such as Tribsas (BSA) and the Tritons.

The T120 was magical but balancing the carbs was nightmarish, once you got it right however it sure could move. The last one I put together in the UK was in 1971, just finished it the night before I moved to the US and only got one ride for a lot of effort! Ironically I met a guy in Detroit the following year who had bought one solely based on their reputation and his only complaint was that the carbs were always out of balance - after much playing around we figured out that the jets had to be swapped out as a result of the more humid air in that part of the world (same problem with XKE's but that's another story).

[jackjones]

I think the bike in the photo is a 750 and was called the fastback. Very nice and I still hanker after one

[chiang mai]

I think the bike in the photo is a 750 and was called the fastback. Very nice and I still hanker after one

Indeed it is called fastback, I'd forgotten that part!

[BSJ]

It's a 750 Fastback, late in the run before they went to 850. I had the 750 Roadster which had a different seat and chrome back guard, but mine was the last of the twin leading shoe front brake set-ups. At the time I didn't think the disc brake would be of much benefit as Oz is a hot dry brown land....and i was living in the flatlands. Was I wrong?

[jackjones]

I think the roadster was the best looking one. I can remember being 18 years old and a lot of time was spent daydreaming about owning one. I think it was a yellow one I wanted. Sadly I've never even had a ride on one. I think they look good even today and would probably not embarass themselves looks or performance wise amongst modern retro Triumphs and kawasakis.