Idiosyncratic steering

Beware maladjusted steering bearings.

Are the fork spindles snug and is side play set correctly? It took me ages to work out exactly how the different threads work and I'm not all that sure I remember now. It should feel stable. Maybe more so than a bike with new fangled swinging arm at the back.

Also the steering head with its side cotter confused me to start with but adjusting it properly also helped ( naturally).

A girder-forked post-vintage Norton shouldn't steer oddly and over a smooth surface shouldn't actually be much different from teles. As David indicates, with their low saddle height and decent geometry, they actually steer very well. Certainly better than most Commandos and much less chance of a handlebar flutter

I had a similar worry about the steering when I rode my 1939 ex WD 16H for the first time. But it was easily solved by changing the front tyre - the one fitted was for use with a sidecar. What about your front tyre?

Previously john_carter wrote:

Had an inaugural run round the block having resurrected the 1936 Model 18 bought as a non runner last year so a happy day. I'd planned for a longer run but the steering felt, well, interesting but highly unpredictable. I'd expected girder forks to feel different but this didn't feel right. Having never ridden with girders before I have no comparison. Any tips on checking the setup? Thanks.

Out of curiosity, is your steering damper properly set up? My BSA steered very oddly one day until I realized I had tightened up the steering damper by mistake. Loosening it again cleared up the mystery of the wonky steering.

The only girder forks I have experience of were on my 1931 Sunbeam and I was very impressed by the steering (and indeed suppleness over small bumps in the road). These were Webb type as on Nortons.

I'd agree about damper and steering head bearings.

I think you'll find those pressures are far too low for modern tyres. You need to be more like 25 / 28. The "book" values are for those hard old tyres when the bike was new.

I do assume you have newish tyres fitted of course!

As Ian says, the tyre pressure advice is no longer valid. Although modern 'classic' tyres use old-fashioned tread patterns and a 100% aspect ratio, the construction is as per modern tyres with much softer sidewalls. I run my 16H around the pressures that Ian states or a little higher with a passenger.

One other thing to perhaps check is that the steering damper attachment plate is not twisted or bent and is sitting centrally. If it's biased in any way, it will give odd symptoms.

I don't usually have any steering damper applied - just enough of a turn to stop the knob from rattling around (and just a hint of friction on the fork side-damper).

Just to back up what others have said, I have a couple of bikes with this set up and run about 25PSI in the front and 30PSI in the back. My 1934 Inter which will be very similar to your bike is very fussy. If I haven't checked for a while and it's dropped a few pounds I know about it by the time I've got to the end of the road!

Put some air in the tyres and try again

Good luck, they're great fun and handle amazingly well once they are right.

Andy

Keep at it John. These post-vintage Nortons are a joy once they're reasonably well set up and quite happy on any single-carriageway road with plenty in hand.

I bought new old stock fork friction damper discs from Russel Motors not all that long ago. Have fun!