Roadholder 370 - October 2018

27 I went to the Norvil open day in July, hosted by Les and Sue Emery and family. I saw some nice bikes and met some interesting people. I parked my little red Dommie 99 in an orderly line on its side stand. I must admit that I normally like to get it on the centre stand for safety, but on this occasion I left it on the side stand as there was a good solid surface underneath, plus the fact that I am feeling my age. Anyway, after two or three hours I decided to go home and prepare for the football match (England versus Croatia). As I rode down to the bottom of my drive, when I got home, while I was sitting astride my Dommie, I reached down to pull the side stand down, and the leg and spring came away from the clamp* that fastens it to the bottom tube of the frame. This could have happened when I was at the open day at Norvil, there could have been a 'domino' effect or a 'Dommie-no' effect. I couldn’t believe it. I thought "don’t panic Keith, you've got time to go back and see Les at Norvil, and he will fix you up with a new clamp", so off I went in the car. I spotted Sue in the car park and she kindly steered me through to the see Les, who was still at the counter - bless him. I told him what happened and without any delay he turned around at 90° and put his hands in one of the 'pigeon holes' at the back of the counter and pulled out part number 06.7929A and said "this is it and I must say a much better replacement. It has a bit more meat on it!" I thanked him for his service. I thought OK, this shouldn't take long so I left it to watch England lose to Croatia, (what a surprise!). Monday morning came so let's have a look at the bike. As you all know, the side stand clamp is fixed on the bottom frame tube, but you can't slide it along because at the front end it won't slide past the bolt that fastens the engine to the engine mounting plate and it won't go past the small plate that is welded to the tube that the centre stand meets up to. I removed the footrest, rear brake lever, outer and inner primary chain cases, clutch assembly, alternator rotor, engine sprocket, primary chain, rear chain, brake pedal. When I eventually got it all together, I had to cut a piece out of the primary outer case about 5 or 6mm deep and about 40mm along the bottom edge of the outer primary case to fit over the new clamp because it is a much meatier than the original. *The 'clamp' I refer to is listed in the Norvil catalogue on page 66 as 'Lugs 06 7929A' which is correct. I would welcome any comments, good or bad. a dommie-no effect Keith Parker working life, about eight years ago. Ted loved flying and, as a young man, wanted to join the RAF and train as a fighter pilot. Sadly, he failed the medical and had to settle for a normal job in the City. These were what Ted described as his 'Nat Muck' years. He couldn't remember much about the work but he was very knowledgeable about the various City pubs! Ted didn't like what he regarded as modern flash pubs. He wanted wooden floors, a large barmaid, no TV and they had to stock Manns Brown Ale. Ted only used cars as a necessary tool and was perfectly happy to drive round in his ancient Toyota Starlet that had 135,000 on the clock. However, it was bikes that Ted absolutely loved. He owned a heavily modified Moto Guzzi Daytona RS with his daily bike being a Suzuki SV650. The real star to Ted was his 1974 Norton Commando 850 Interstate (GAP 47N). His large ginger cat was named after his favourite bike - 'Norton'. The Norton is again something he would never sell. In the early 1980s, with no garage to use, he broke it down into bits and it was stored in his dad's loft. Ted was clearly going to rebuild it one day, as he purchased many replacement parts. These were also in the loft just waiting for the rebuilding project to start. His friends are hoping to rebuild the Norton as a mark of respect to Ted. For his funeral, he had a motorbike hearse with 10 of his bike friends forming a Guard of Honour from his house to the chapel. Six of them then carried him on his final journey into the chapel. Ted would have loved it!