What did you think of Norton Day?

I had a brief chat with the owner. He explained that it's standard 828cc Commando with 270 (90) crank balanced at 38 degrees. He said it's very smooth beteen 60 - 70mph. He tried other balance factors before settling for 38 degrees. He built the bike circa 12 years ago and it has been very reliable.It sounded good on start-up and not obviously 'non-360'.

A nice day with good weather, rather a shame about the lowish turnout. The venue was good but possibly a bit of a 'put-off' being in the middle of the city with (possibly percieved) limited non-bike parking. More pictures will be in a future Roadholder. Please feel free to send me your pictures and comments.

Mark W.

Roadholder Editor.

I was surprised how few people turned up. I'm not sure what the current membership is but I'd say that there was less than 50 bikes there.

The museum was good but other than the opportunity to chat with other owners there didn't seem to be anything going on.No officials from the club seemed to be welcoming people. It's not like there were too many people to talk to!

Ian

This sort of event doesn't suit everyone as you have to spend most of the time talking but that was the reason I enjoyed the morning there, catching up with previous acquaintances and a couple of new ones. The city centre venue coupled with several other motorcycling events on Sunday probably made for a lowish turnout. I was choosing from 4 events including the East Yorks branch which had a stand at the Driffield Steam rally.

I was in two minds about whether or not to come. It's a long way (4hrs + on the motorway) for just a few hours there. I'm not a huge one for showing my bike anyway, I'd rather be riding it, so decided against it in the end. Last years Norton Festival was an excellent weekend and I suspect this years Norton Day was a victim of last years success, just being a day it was unlikely to live up to last years event (that was part of my thinking anyway) However I do apreciate theres a lot of work in organising a complete weekend!

If the event had been closer to home, and with in reasonable range to ride there and back I probably would have come along, but living on the south coast most things are a long way away! Maybe next year I'll try and make a weekend of it if it's a long way off and have a days riding each way to get there.

I plodded up from the South Coast and was glad I bothered to do so. Instead Icould had wandered off to the Sammy Miller auto-jumble but fancied a change of event. I was a bit surprised at the low turn-out.....less than the Cafe Race Day held near Abingdon, last year, which had an equally diverse collection of bikes and possible pub lunch. The Transport Museum had a pleasant Cafe plus free entry to the Museum.

What was fairly obvious was the lack of trucked and trailered Nortons which is possibly another reason for the low numbers. Perhaps this is a sign of the times. The Irish Rally was swamped with camper vans and trailers and lots of members have recently been enquiring about getting their Nortons to Italy by any means other than riding. I can not blame them having go drenched myself attending numerous events held over the last 6 years.

Huge thanks to all who helped make my visit worthwhile. A few photos are attached below.

The turnout was less than I expected but I get to so few of these days it was my target to do something. The organisation is always appreciated and thanks go to those who made it possible. It's always a bonus to win something (not the reason I went!) getting the same award asKent in 2013with just a colour change. Someone suggested pink next time as the ladies choice. Thanks again to all involved and it was good to meet some new and old faces. Apologies to the Reading guys who might have followed me down the wrong ring road exit after leaving the museum. Good to see our editor on the mend....

Previously K Glassborow wrote:

The turnout was less than I expected but I get to so few of these days it was my target to do something. The organisation is always appreciated and thanks go to those who made it possible. It's always a bonus to win something (not the reason I went!) getting the same award asKent in 2013with just a colour change. Someone suggested pink next time as the ladies choice. Thanks again to all involved and it was good to meet some new and old faces. Apologies to the Reading guys who might have followed me down the wrong ring road exit after leaving the museum. Good to see our editor on the mend....

Hi Keith, We were following (loosly) our satnavs looking for fuel. Honest, we were not lost.

Had a good day, meeting up with a lot of people not seen for a while. Yes numbers a little low but I think this is probably down to it only being the one day.

It was worth trying this format again after the previous years to see how it went and what people thought.

Thanks to all the guys putting in the hard work for organising and running the event.

Tony

Previously Phil Hannam wrote:

I plodded up from the South Coast and was glad I bothered to do so. Instead Icould had wandered off to the Sammy Miller auto-jumble but fancied a change of event. I was a bit surprised at the low turn-out.....less than the Cafe Race Day held near Abingdon, last year, which had an equally diverse collection of bikes and possible pub lunch. The Transport Museum had a pleasant Cafe plus free entry to the Museum.

What was fairly obvious was the lack of trucked and trailered Nortons which is possibly another reason for the low numbers. Perhaps this is a sign of the times. The Irish Rally was swamped with camper vans and trailers and lots of members have recently been enquiring about getting their Nortons to Italy by any means other than riding. I can not blame them having go drenched myself attending numerous events held over the last 6 years.

Huge thanks to all who helped make my visit worthwhile. A few photos are attached below.

Thanks for the photos, Phil.

More info needed on the bike that Norton never made..the big Vee twin in one of your pics.

Sorry I could not make it this year.

I thought the Venue was great! - Bang in the centre of the country, with easy access by Motorways and good roads. I'm aware that some people had difficulty finding it but most folk simply had to follow the ring road signs to the Motor Museum and then use the hastily erected local signs that Ian Loram (and I) put up?

The comments regarding there 'not being much going on' - I find strange? - the City Centre location meant there was plently of cafe's, restaurants and shops nearby in addition to the truly excellent Motor Museum which is one of the best in Britain.

My guess is that more people would have turned up if we had publicised it more thoroughly? Dom Loram did an excellent job on our new Facebook page but not all members are ' perhaps au-fait' with social media and perhaps a general Members Email with a map of how to get there may have been more effective?

Dom and Nipper along with all the other NOC team who showed up and helped deserve our thanks for putting on what should have been a really great event. I hope they'll consider using the venue again if it's available?

Peter

Previously mark_woodward wrote:

I had a brief chat with the owner. He explained that it's standard 828cc Commando with 270 (90) crank balanced at 38 degrees. He said it's very smooth beteen 60 - 70mph. He tried other balance factors before settling for 38 degrees. He built the bike circa 12 years ago and it has been very reliable.It sounded good on start-up and not obviously 'non-360'.

A nice day with good weather, rather a shame about the lowish turnout. The venue was good but possibly a bit of a 'put-off' being in the middle of the city with (possibly percieved) limited non-bike parking. More pictures will be in a future Roadholder. Please feel free to send me your pictures and comments.

Mark W.

Roadholder Editor.

Hello Mark..... I was thinking about balance factors...... should not balance factors be in % instead of degrees ????

Cheers, Colin

Hi Colin, as Mr. Mainwaring in Dad's Army used to say; "I wondered which of you would be first to spot that"!

Mark W.

Thanks to all the organisers for your hard work.

Previously andy_sochanik wrote:

Previously Phil Hannam wrote:

I plodded up from the South Coast and was glad I bothered to do so. Instead Icould had wandered off to the Sammy Miller auto-jumble but fancied a change of event. I was a bit surprised at the low turn-out.....less than the Cafe Race Day held near Abingdon, last year, which had an equally diverse collection of bikes and possible pub lunch. The Transport Museum had a pleasant Cafe plus free entry to the Museum.

What was fairly obvious was the lack of trucked and trailered Nortons which is possibly another reason for the low numbers. Perhaps this is a sign of the times. The Irish Rally was swamped with camper vans and trailers and lots of members have recently been enquiring about getting their Nortons to Italy by any means other than riding. I can not blame them having go drenched myself attending numerous events held over the last 6 years.

Huge thanks to all who helped make my visit worthwhile. A few photos are attached below.

Thanks for the photos, Phil.

More info needed on the bike that Norton never made..the big Vee twin in one of your pics.

Sorry I could not make it this year.

I wrote a long artical about the ES4 for RH which appeared about 3 years ago.

Tony H

For the benefit of anyone who has lost their old copies of Roadholder, I have grafted together the three parts of Tony's story about the ES4 so that it can be viewed on this site.

Webmaster

Previously webmaster wrote:

For the benefit of anyone who has lost their old copies of Roadholder, I have grafted together the three parts of Tony's story about the ES4 so that it can be viewed on this site.

Webmaster

Thanks for that. The bike now sports Norton RH forks and Robinson brake. The the rear wheel is also changed so I can up the gearing to a lofty 3.6:1 which it pulls very easy.

The motor has external drains from the rocker boxes and the 5 speed box is now 4 speeds, 3 speeds would do I think but it saves changing gear all the time.

Cheers Tony