My favourite 961 .....

Great looking 961.......colour, styling, everything!!! Much better looking than the current green option.

Hmmmm. Not bad but I never liked the Fastback to start with. On the subject of styling why is it that there seems to be an obsession with "race" style machines. Some years ago I wrote to the new Norton company urging them to make a 961 with conventional British touring styling suggesting they would sell more of them than the old cafÃ? racer style withclip on and rearsets. When will the penny drop with modern designers that making everything so skimpy and,in particular mudguards, you are actually losing style and eye appeal. Of course the Norton company could not be bothered to reply to me...(Charming!) But I ask members, given the choice of a beautifulCLASSIC styled bike,designed with low centre of gravity with large handsome mudguards, flat, lowbut comfy seat, in glorious coloured paint schemesOR these freaky, bums in the air, head down, back aching racing style machines which are being produced now....which one would you want?....I'm pretty sure I know which style would be favourite....OR am I wrong?....Let us know and then if it is the classic stylelet Norton Know too....please.*....Les

* Although I know they will ignore you!

Previously les_howard wrote:

Hmmmm. Not bad but I never liked the Fastback to start with. On the subject of styling why is it that there seems to be an obsession with "race" style machines. Some years ago I wrote to the new Norton company urging them to make a 961 with conventional British touring styling suggesting they would sell more of them than the old cafÃ? racer style withclip on and rearsets. When will the penny drop with modern designers that making everything so skimpy and,in particular mudguards, you are actually losing style and eye appeal. Of course the Norton company could not be bothered to reply to me...(Charming!) But I ask members, given the choice of a beautifulCLASSIC styled bike,designed with low centre of gravity with large handsome mudguards, flat, lowbut comfy seat, in glorious coloured paint schemesOR these freaky, bums in the air, head down, back aching racing style machines which are being produced now....which one would you want?....I'm pretty sure I know which style would be favourite....OR am I wrong?....Let us know and then if it is the classic stylelet Norton Know too....please.*....Les

* Although I know they will ignore you!

Les, you just described a 961 Sport duel seat (less the mudgards) Norton must have taken notice after all. If thats not comfy enough for you Triumph will have something for you but don't hold your breath too long awaiting a reply from Triumph either. Terry

Totally agree with Les about the mudguards. On the Sport model, the front one looks very pretty but in wet weather allows the tyres to direct water everywhere that you don't really need it. The rear combined unit gives any rider a free hairwash and helps to dump lots of dirt into the swinging arm and air filter region.

At least in Charles' version, of the fastback, the set-up is a little more practicable.

You want to talk mudguards?

Pic of my S7, now THAT is a set of mudguards lol....

Previously terry_woods wrote:

Previoyusly les_howard wrote:

Hmmmm. Not bad but I never liked the Fastback to start with. On the subject of styling why is it that there seems to be an obsession with "race" style machines. Some years ago I wrote to the new Norton company urging them to make a 961 with conventional British touring styling suggesting they would sell more of them than the old cafÃ? racer style withclip on and rearsets. When will the penny drop with modern designers that making everything so skimpy and,in particular mudguards, you are actually losing style and eye appeal. Of course the Norton company could not be bothered to reply to me...(Charming!) But I ask members, given the choice of a beautifulCLASSIC styled bike,designed with low centre of gravity with large handsome mudguards, flat, lowbut comfy seat, in glorious coloured paint schemesOR these freaky, bums in the air, head down, back aching racing style machines which are being produced now....which one would you want?....I'm pretty sure I know which style would be favourite....OR am I wrong?....Let us know and then if it is the classic stylelet Norton Know too....please.*....Les

* Although I know they will ignore you!

Les, you just described a 961 Sport duel seat (less the mudgards) Norton must have taken notice after all. If thats not comfy enough for you Triumph will have something for you but don't hold your breath too long awaiting a reply from Triumph either. Terry

On the sunject of Triumph..they DO respond..My 955 sprint has the usual ethanol bubbling to the fuel tank..When I wrote in complaint of tbeir chouce of material they responded stating,"There us no proven evudence of ethanol being the cause,there could however be otber factors"

About as useful as no reply I suppose?

Alongside my 1970 Fastback I also own a Triumph Street Triple. It is a mental machine and I had to lift the bars 25mm so I didn't end up forced forward over the bars all the time. The mudguards, or lack of them is a joke. There must be a compromise, some middle ground. My Fastback looks ok to me with the mudguards it's got IMHO

Previously steven_waight wrote:

You want to talk mudguards?

Pic of my S7, now THAT is a set of mudguards lol....

Always liked the look of the S7 which was obviously influenced by the WD Harley Davidson and speaking of Harleys, the best looking one for me is the one with the biggest mudguards the Electra Glide or Road King....beautiful...It could be an age related thing but back 40 or more years ago I rebuilt a dismantled 500cc AJS single, every part was solid, but I threw away the front and rear mudguards out for scrap and fittedblade type aluminium ones just to make it look more sporty....To this day I cringe & shudderwith guilt when I think what I did to this handsome machine

...Best bike for mudguards in my collection is a 1955 Ariel VB 600 similar to this one below.

I have got to say though the Manx Norton on the string of moving pictures heading this home page above is utter shear beauty.

My Norton Model 7 has a nice looking front guard too. It comes way down very near to the ground at the rear and is enhanced by a hefty stay/come prop stand which I would never use as such for fear ofscratching the paint onit. If a bike has too short a mudguard I always fit a large rubber mud flap to the bottom of it using a strip of aluminium to spread it out for better protection. Besides the massive improvement in keeping the bikes engine and underframe clean and untarnished, in my eyes, it can often improve the look and visual balance of the bikes front end....Les

I love my S7 Deluxe, even though at 65 years old its a bit of a money pit. Its actually just gone across to the chairman of the SOFowners club for a full engine and gearbox rebuild which should see me out. The rest of the bike is done, but the engine was worn.

It was actually copied from the BMW Wehrmacht R75 of WW2 by Irling Poppe for BSA I believe. But he brought his car design background to the engine, hence the car type layout and the reason the same engine appeared in the Hillman Imp.

Not fast, evenin 1950, but I like the look, huge balloon tyres etc. Smooth, comfortable, a bit different.The owners club and parts backup are superb, the best Ive ever seen for parts especially.

Handles like a supermarket trolley at speed though....

Previously les_howard wrote:

Always liked the look of the S7 which was obviously influenced by the WD Harley Davidson and speaking of Harleys, the best looking one for me is the one with the biggest mudguards the Electra Glide or Road King....beautiful...

Would you believe I have an oldRoad King too? I think we have very similar tastes in motorcycles.... Weighs best part of 800lbs though but I ride it to Germany every year and if I ever have to go anywhere long distance, its the RK I take as its smooth, comfortable and 100% reliable!

Steven, are you sure about the Erling Poppe/Hillman Imp connection? The Imp engine was a development of the Coventry Climax fire pump engine, designed by Harry Mundy (Alvis, ERA, Morris, BRM) and Walter Hassan (Bentley, ERA, Jaguar). No similarity with the Sunbeam engine as far as I'm aware.

Howard, youre right, the one I saw must have been a special!

Previously charles_newall wrote:

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The "Fastback" looks absolutely superb!

Previously charles_scouller wrote:

Previously charles_newall wrote:

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The "Fastback" looks absolutely superb!

Hiya Charles

Does this mean that you are getting tempted ???

Hi Terry - I think the answer is probably yes!