Norton 76

... almost - there's a version in the National Motorcycle Museum at Bickenhill.

It's not just A version, it is THE version in the motorcycle museum. Only one was ever made. 

Would you believe I was lucky enough to spend half an hour cleaning it during the summer! The Birmingham branch of the VMCC were invited by the museum to start getting all the bikes ready for the - at that time - expected re-opening and I helped out.

Close up it's a lovely looking bike and just what the Commando should have gone on to, though Kenny Dreer's VR version (also in the museum and which I cleaned too) is also a nice looking and even further development of the Commando.

Here's the 76 in the museum.

... I understood that there were 2 or 3 variants of the prototype made.

It's sad to see that they're having to sell off some of the stock to survive. I suppose it's inevitable as their main business is the conference stuff which must have taken a nosedive this year.

Hi all,

There must have been at least 2 made as a friend of mine owns one and uses it on the road. I think he worked at Shenstone (?) as a young man with Doug Hele as his boss ( again ?) and was involved with its creation and was allowed to keep one. I have seen it myself, don’t think he’s a NOC member though. I could try and get more details if anyone is interested.

Regards,

Phil Norris

Philip:

Can you get your buddy with the one-off model to let it be submitted for scrutiny and the subsequent report by the Club experts???

Mike

Hi,

Yes, I’ll see what I can do, will be in the New Year now.

Regards,

 Phil 

Somewhere I have a picture I took of the bike at the 1983 rally. Shelve in Shropshire if memory serves right. I'll try to dig out the picture for reference.

Paul

I stand corrected if there are more than one. I was under the impression the 76 was built at Wolverhampton (nothing to do with Shenstone though?) as a one-off last ditch attempt to get the government at that time to invest in Norton and put it into production, but as we know, it didn't happen.

So it would be good to see what the other 76's look like too.

Taken at the Norton 83 rally.

Interesting to note the calipers are behind the legs on my pictures.

The one in Paul's pics from the '83 rally has a drum rear brake and appears to have lost its electric start. Also, it has a standard front brake master cylinder rather than the cable linked one under the tank on the bike tested by Peter Watson in the April 1977 issue of Bike magazine. Various other differences. And that seat hinge looks like it came off a kitchen cupboard.

Peter Watson's article says the bike was built for the Wolverhampton factory's Action Comittee in February '77 by a ten-strong team led by John Favill and Bernard Hooper.

The reg. of Bike's test machine is(was) SUE 374R; not currently known to DVLA, but that can happen if it's been parked in a museum for 40 years. The '83 rally bike, YFD 462X is reported as currently taxed with last change of logbook in June 2020, so it's kicking around somewhere.

Hi all,

Sorry it’s been a while, but I managed to see my friend the other day. He confirms he still has the other 76 and he is a NOC member and wrote a brief article on it in RH 243 sept. 2005, you can find it in the RH archives. I got some facts wrong originally, he was working for B. Hooper engineering at Halfpenny green at the time. He says two versions were developed, a sports bike and a touring bike. The sports version is the one in the museum with electric start and his the touring version without !!! Illogical. He is happy to speak about it , his name is David Beale and I could pass on his contact details if required, although it would be best if one person contacted him to get all the required info. rather than half a dozen asking the same questions. Perhaps he could write an updated more detailed article for the RH mag. if there is interest. Hope this sheds some light on it,

best regards,

Phil Norris

I had no idea there was another one. This touring version also seems to have higher handlebars and a fully enclosed rear chain drive. Very sensible.

Interesting that the indented Norton scroll on the timing case is also missing on this one. I read somewhere that as the 76 was never an officially sanctioned bike it could not use the proper Norton log, hence the different version on the fuel tank.

Be good to see an article on this in RH as it's the only one outside the museum.