Norton Commando
British motorcycle that won the Motor Cycle News "Machine of the Year" award five years running, 1968 to 1972.
Last updated
Piero at Dutch Wikipedia · via Wikipedia: Norton Commando · CC BY-SA 3.0
The model was popular worldwide during its ten-year production run.[1] The Norton Commando, a motorcycle manufactured in the United Kingdom, had total production of approximately 60,000 units.[1]
How it changed
The Commando was developed under chairman Dennis Poore, who set a deadline for the 1967 Earls Court show.[2] The engine was canted forward and consultants Wolff Ohlins designed new fibreglass bodywork.[3][4] Bernard Hooper and Bob Trigg solved acceleration problems by mounting the swinging arm on the engine plates.[5] For the 1973 model year, the engine's displacement was enlarged to 828 cc and it was sold as an 850.[6]
What the maker and period sources say
The "Testing Commando Frame" account states that the isolastic system tamed the vibration problem of big twin bikes.[7] The same source notes that the press described the Commando as the "Aston-Martin of motor cycles" and the design team received the 1969 Ferodo award.[7] These service notes also state that Atlas pistons fit the 750 Commando and that 750 and 850 barrels share the same stud positions.[8] The service notes were written by T. R. Stevens, who was Quality Engineer at Norton Villiers Andover from 1970-74.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Norton Commando" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shaw, "Norton Commando, A Short History"; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Norton Commando" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Norton Commando" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Norton Commando" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Norton Commando" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Norton Commando" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "1973 Norton Commando", Classic-British-Motorcycles.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Testing Commando Frame", Working at AMC. facts only, no text reused. workingatamc.london
- Internet Archive scan: "Norton Commando 750cc Service Notes" (undated). facts only; machine OCR of the scan. archive.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Norton Commando (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Norton Commando (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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