Chronicles of Alan: Motorcycle Days 5

After a while at the Post Office, I again got the urge to have a Motorcycle, a friend had lent me a Norton 650 SS to use while he was away on extended leave. On Weekends when working shifts especially , the trains were very irregular , and this made a huge difference. to time wasted for transport.

I have always been partial to Norton's Great Handling Bikes and , to me Great Lookers.

After the 650SS ,Norton brought out a 750 Atlas which had much worse engine vibration. A new Frame Design came out with Isolastic Engine Mounts , called the Commando , basically the Isolastic System allowed the Motor and Gearbox to still vibrate , but insulated it from the Frame,

The rider felt a mild, not unpleasant,vibration.

I saw an advert for a Commando Fastback on the East of Johannesburg , borrowed Mike's ( My youngest Brother's Kawasaki Z900) and off I went to look at this ! ( much excitement)
I arrived there , the owner had 3 Nortons, 1948 ,500 single, 52, 500 single and a 60 Dominator twin 600. He only had room for 4 Bikes and had found another 40's single , The newest one, the 71 Commando had to go R800.00 . I wanted it, left a Deposit .
Had someone drop me off one night

On the Day South Africa announced a Blanket 80kph Speed Limit , Purgatory.

Just BTW , the biggest Con ever pulled on Humanity , there never was a shortage of fuel!
The Fastback Model had upswept pipes by 71 , The Tank and tailpiece were fibreglass and it was a Metalflake Silver colour which I thought was custom until researching this , the small photo at the top is the exact colour , an optional extra!

Norton 650 SS

A friend of mine had a bad fall on a BSA 650 Spitfire , a very unusual Model with the A65 Unit Construction Motor.
I purchased it from him and fixed it up

it was the hot version of the BSA Lightning , with bigger carbs , and was supposed to be capable of 200kph ,

top speed , there was a 750 cc conversion available for it, but I never bothered , also Fibreglass tank etc for weight reduction. A very nice machine.

The Honda 900F hit our shores and very soon became the Bike to beat in the 1 litre Production Racing Class .

One thorn in their side , pulling up at a

Red Light next to @awgbibb on an old ( well tuned) Norton 750 it would absolutely annihilate them up to 80mph .

They could not believe their eyes ! That big twin just had so much bottom end torque, it was like a big scrambler, no slipping of clutch , no getting the revs right, just drop the clutch and wind the throttle and leave just about anything behind.
I bought another pranged Commando with a Combat Motor in it, and in the next installment

I will tell you why it should have been called Hand-Grenade or C4 rather than Combat.

Hope you enjoy an old guys rambling on about his life experiences?
Till we meet again on Steemit, My Friends.