In 2009, I decided to find a classic British motorcycle to restore. I had spent the last four years flying airplanes in Northern Canada and was just given the opportunity to move back to my home city of Vancouver at the age of 24. I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands and no hobbies to occupy myself. My dad had restored a 1960 Austin Healey my whole childhood and I thought that maybe he’d be interested in restoring a motorcycle with me as a nice father and son thing. He’d had a Triumph Bonneville and a BSA Lightning in the late 1960s so it was obvious that this would be a British bike. I liked the Bonnevilles and BSAs, but nothing was sexier to me than a Norton Commando… So where would I find one?
I joined a British Motorcycle Owners’ Club (BMOC) to help navigate this community. My dad came with me which was good, because I stood out as the youngest person by 40 years. Before my first meeting even started I found the club president had a love for Nortons and he even joked about selling me one. I hounded him again after the meeting and he agreed to sell it to me for $2500. Everything was going according to plan!
This 1974 Norton Commando 850 had 11,000 miles on it and had been inert since 1979 where it suffered an accident; the frame was bent and it didn’t have the original tank. It came with a picture of two Nortons in the Rocky Mountains – the story goes that two friends bought them new and rode from Toronto to Vancouver with all of their belongings. This was a romantic story indeed. I was so overwhelmed when I brought my Commando home that I could only sit and stare at it, imagining what it would have been like to ride this bike in the 1970s, and what had happened to the original owner who had crashed it 30 years ago.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 2021-Ausgabe von The Classic MotorCycle.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 2021-Ausgabe von The Classic MotorCycle.
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Runs should be fun
The club run is an integral part of the old motorcycle scene. During 2020, a variation on the usual theme emerged, enabling people to ride in the company of like-minded souls.
Hybrid chicken
BSA Bantams come in many forms, and the ability to interchange parts between different models permits an almost endless number of variants.
Green WITH ENVY
Life aboard a 1950s 350cc British single is perhaps as good and as uncomplicated as it can get.
Worth the wait
Captivated by sight of one as a small boy, finally our man has the chance to try an NSU Max.And a ‘Spezial’ one at that…
The Motorcycle: DESIGN, ART AND DESIRE
The concluding part of a two-part feature, in which the history of motorcycle evolution is examined and a new book’s author interviewed.
Cream rises
There were several ‘star performers’ at Bonhams’ winter sale, as the choice machines achieved huge sums.
The Giant of Provence
With so few events to report from, it’s time to look back over a spectacular French event and look forward to its hopeful resumption.
Store cupboard special
A big box of presents? Must be Christmas! More deliveries keep the project on track.
By 1929, CJP Dodson was a bona fide top level road racer, pretty much unbeatable on the sand, too.
The diminutive Charlie Dodson was the last man to win a TT, the 1928 Senior, on a ‘flat-tank’ machine, then the next year became the first (and only) winner of a TT on a saddle tank Sunbeam, as well as recording the last ever success in the Island for the Marston maker.
Cassandra the Canadian Commando
After landing a new job and with time on his hands, a young man in Vancouver decided to restore a British motorcycle considerably older than him.
