A Norton Twin

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org

Norton Dominator Model 7

I am still gathering more information about Douglas motorcycles and browsing through magazines at the Museum last Monday discover an article about one of the bikes we do have in the Museum. The article in Classic Motorcycle of September 1994 describes the Norton as a good all round motorcycle with excellent handling and acceleration. It would out drag a Triumph but fail on top speed. That was Triumphs domain.  As a recent report on the Model 7 it was very favourable, with cast iron head and barrel as the norm of the time. It did not have the featherbed frame a little too early but did have the teledraulic forks. It has a classic style and reported to be Norton’s best twin.

The Norton is squeezed in between a Sunbeam and a Velocette and stands out with its silver tank in a sea of black. Behind it is the Ariel Square Four a monster of the time. In the same magazine was a feature on Val Page one of motorcycle design leading lights and his designs pop up with the major motorcycle producers from the Golden Age of British Motorcycles.

As for getting out and about I’ve been out to my monthly 2CV club meeting on the Monday evening and the LE club on the Tuesday only Pete has been handing out fliers and has left a bundle at Chiswick Honda for them to hand out. There are many dealers out there that are supporting us by just having our fliers around. I was in the Museum this Sunday for a flying visit and as I was leaving spoke to a man who was keen on two strokes so I spent a little time with him talking about the attributes of the 1925 Scott Flying Squirrel 600cc two stroke water cooled twin and what made that design special for the time but also restricted future developments.

 I have always liked the idea of the Scott with the removable transfer ports and the ease at which you could tune the engine. Everything is so easy to get at.  It was a good design in its day but developments with two and four stroke engines over the years meant it was left behind in the race for performance and sales in the 50’s.