RealClassic NORTON MODEL 50
I have always had a soft spot for Norton pushrod singles. Many, many years ago, in 1974 actually, my slightly dodgy, on and off friend Mike the Boat promised me that if I could get his old red Norton ES2 going I could have it. Slightly surprisingly, given my sketchy mechanical experience, I did get it going, at which point Mike immediately rescinded the promise and reclaimed it for himself. The Blighter! Since then I have had one or two short term Model 50s and ES2s. When I read Editor Westworth's test of his own, scruffy but very original Model 50 in RC153 (it was on the cover) I started to hanker after the Norton single experience once more. In fact I hankered so much that I contacted Frank some time later and said that I loved that bike and I wondered if he might consider selling it? The answer was a resounding no. He was so smitten he thought it very unlikely he would ever sell such an original and delightful machine.
So, some months later I found myself down in Cornwall astride the Norton, the obligatory £100 having changed hands, being given a briefing from Frank about the proximity of the closest café from which to call the RAC if and when the old banger stopped banging. He was a bit concerned when I explained that I had brought no trailer but proposed to ride the bike home 140 miles from Cornwall to Somerset where I live. It's a Norton, what could possibly go wrong?
And as a matter of fact the bike did not miss a beat all the way. It did however lose an enormous amount of oil from various orifices and managed to give the back tyre a generous lathering.
Two things I noticed immediately. I absolutely loved riding the thing but… it was fantastically slow. Not
