• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Pics from the Norton National

72r60/7

13278
Pics from the mid week Norton National held near where I live a week or so ago. I was welcomed as a local after asking to look around.

Attendance was 300 +-

Charlie


IMG_5798.jpg

IMG_5801.jpg

IMG_5817.jpg
 
Norton National

IMG_5821.jpg

IMG_5822.jpg

IMG_5837.jpg

Sorry about orientation. Life's too short to try to fix crazy, since you can't fix crazy anyway.

Charlie
 
Apples to Oranges (at first but the same later).

Interesting, though, to think what the MOA would be like if you eliminated everything BMW made in the last 40-50 yrs

I'm pretty sure there are all kinds (that rode too) in attendance. All seemed to be having a good time. I personally talked with some nice folks.

What I saw was average light midday, plus a bike show etc.
Most were out riding the rather nice roads round here.

Sure are a lot of Colonialist still around !

Charlie
 
I went to the USNOA Rally in Tennessee in 1981 or '82. What a great time with a great group of riders. Highlight of the rally (for me) was when T.C. Christenson, who had made the trip from Wisconsin, unloaded The Hogslayer on a long local driveway, suited up, fired up, and just let 'er rip. Wow! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvopCDu0CIE

The other memorable event was the Bent Valve Award which went to the rattiest Norton to have been ridden to the rally. That year it went to a couple of good ole boys who looked scary but who were in fact the friendliest of a really friendly group of folks. I'm not sure how their bike kept running but it did - tin foil for fuses and epoxied nuts holding on the exhaust headers.

Considering how long ago it was and how vivid the memories are for me, I must have had a good time!
 
There was a Norton Rally in the midwest many years ago and if I recall the story correctly, a group of Norton riders from the West Coast set out for the rally accompanied by a couple of riders on Gold Wings. As I was told the story, all of the Nortons made it to the Rally without incident, but one of the Gold Wings had a brakdown. Not what one would expect but, stranger things have happened.

In 1974, I put 5,000 trouble free miles on my 1973 Norton 850 Commando during a cross-country trip. It did break down on the way home but upon tear down that winter it was discovered to have been the result of improper assembly at the factory. Not uncommon at the time, unfortunately, and a small/medium part of the reason for the demise of the British motorcycle industry.
 
I attended a Norton rally at Stoney Run county park in Illinois back in the early 80's and remember it as a very good time. Nice people, lots of food and fun field events. The sponsoring dealer was selling raffle tickets for a customised Norton but had to substitute a Triumph at closing ceremonies when not many tickets were sold, but everyone seemed OK with it. Was anyone else on this forum there as well?

Didn't know there were still any Norton events anywhere, haven't seen one on the road for quite a while.
 
Twin or Single ? I don't know, but my buddy, a very early MOA member talked to the owner of this bike. He bought it new in '68 and kept it till now.
DSCN4127.jpg

Maybe someone will start a thread of BMW Owners who have kept their bikes for a pretty good while. Not a contest for oldest, but just for fun.

Charlie
 
I attended a Norton rally at Stoney Run county park in Illinois back in the early 80's and remember it as a very good time. Nice people, lots of food and fun field events. The sponsoring dealer was selling raffle tickets for a customised Norton but had to substitute a Triumph at closing ceremonies when not many tickets were sold, but everyone seemed OK with it. Was anyone else on this forum there as well?

Didn't know there were still any Norton events anywhere, haven't seen one on the road for quite a while.
Yes, they're still very active.

The Rally you attended would have been under the United States Norton Owners Association (USNOA - founded in the late 1970s), in 1992 they merged with the Canadian Norton Owners Association to form the International Norton Owners Association (INOA). There are 36 local chapters and affiliates across the US and Canada.

The INOA Rally is held every July and there are typically several Nortons ridden considerable distances to attend (not the same ratios as for Airheads, but then again, all improvements to Nortons from 1975 on have been owner community based while Airheads benefited from continued development until 1995 and direct factory support afterwards.
 
Here's part of a ride report from one of the attendees who rode his Norton from Mass to the Rally in Virginia and back:
... As in the previous nine rallies I have ridden to on this motorcycle, no mechanical issues with the 43-year-old bike.
 
It did break down on the way home but upon tear down that winter it was discovered to have been the result of improper assembly at the factory. Not uncommon at the time, unfortunately, and a small/medium part of the reason for the demise of the British motorcycle industry.

Hi, I'm the original owner of a 75 850 Commando.

In 1977 I rode it from Ontario to BC and back. It died in Brandon Manitoba on the return trip.

The stellite cap wasn't brazed onto the cam follower properly, and it came off, breaking the timing gears and breaking a valve. The owner of a local garage put me up for a week and a bit, I pumped gas by day, worked on the bike when parts came in from Firth's in Toronto by Greyhound bus.

I was a total stranger to that man, however when I pushed the bike up to the gas station and explained my plight, he left me to take the bike apart, telling me where he lived, to lock up the garage on my way out, and not be later than 7PM if I wanted his wife to save me dinner.

Random acts of kindness from strangers, he's motivated me to always try to pay it forward..............Rod.
 
Hi, I'm the original owner of a 75 850 Commando.

In 1977 I rode it from Ontario to BC and back. It died in Brandon Manitoba on the return trip.

The stellite cap wasn't brazed onto the cam follower properly, and it came off, breaking the timing gears and breaking a valve. The owner of a local garage put me up for a week and a bit, I pumped gas by day, worked on the bike when parts came in from Firth's in Toronto by Greyhound bus.

I was a total stranger to that man, however when I pushed the bike up to the gas station and explained my plight, he left me to take the bike apart, telling me where he lived, to lock up the garage on my way out, and not be later than 7PM if I wanted his wife to save me dinner.

Random acts of kindness from strangers, he's motivated me to always try to pay it forward..............Rod.
Yes, the extremely poor workmanship (some intentional) rally messed up a lot of us riders of British motorcyces in the early-mid 70's unfortunately.

I lost a jacket in Brandon a few years prior to that.

My breakdown like you was also going east on the return leg of my trip, but in Quebec City. Made the terrible mistake made by other young travellers of mixing my food/lodging/gas money with my beer money. Grand Bend, ON in 1974 was an easy place to drink too much and play too hard. ;-)
 
Great story(s). My kind of motorcyclist, enthusiast and old timers. Keep em going and I'll just sit in the corner and listen.
Thanks,
Charlie
 
Back
Top