Month: August 2010

First Imported Norton in the USA since 1976!

Hey Steve

Hope all is going well. I continue to enjoy your Motorcycle Photo of the Day.

Thought you and your viewers might be interested in these shots of the first new Norton Commando to hit North American shores since 1976. 2010 Commando 961 Sport. I was at the Unveiling Event in Newmarket, Ontario (Toronto) on August 11th. Came out of the crate, fired up and driven around the block by President of Norton Canada Peter Howes (in the black Norton shirt). Looks and sounds like a Norton – 2010 style. As an old Norton aficionado I can’t wait to ride one and see what it feels like. Production bikes (limited quantity, basically small scale hand made) will arrive in Canada www.nortoncanada.ca and the U.S. (U.S. Distributor is Matt Capri in Long Beach, CA www.southbaynorton.com) by next Spring. 3 Commando models – Sport, Café Racer and SE. U.S. More info at www.nortonmotorcycles.com

P.S. Work continues at Norton headquarters in Donnington Park, UK on a new 700 cc rotary engine race bike which should be racing in the 1200 cc Superbike class soon. Watch it go. Norton would appear to be back – in style!  

Reader Ride. One Hell Of a Nice KZ400 Cafe Racer.

Jeff from Billet Proof Customs sends in some pics of this trick Build. Lots of great touches.  Do yourself a favor and go check out the rest of his build over on his website.  The attention to detail is outstanding!

Jeff Writes in:

Hey man,
Cool blog, cool pics. I am an automotive artist as well as a custom bike
builder, please feel free to check out my Kawi kz400 Cafe Racer on my
website. www.billetproofcustoms.com


Thanks man,
Jeff

Thanks You Jeff! Really great ride!

Reader Ride.. Beautiful converted Flat/Street Tracker

Ted Gail Sends in this beauty.   He Writes:

I stumbled across your page and thought you might like this bike.
It is my old race bike from 30 years ago. I had always wanted to make a street bike out of one of a flat tracker because they look so cool. I knew I needed a 4 stroke with an electric start and my first attempt was a KLR 650 engine and it just wasn’t going to fit in that frame. Then after much measuring I decided a 450WR would be perfect, good power (at least as much as the F11M it originally had) with a wide ratio gearbox and an electric start.
It is a Cycle Factory frame, Ceriani road race forks, Kosman wheels, 2007 Yamaha 450 WR engine, Champion Glass with a Greg Flowers paint job.

Hope you like it,
Ted Gail

Great Stuff Ted! Thanks!

DEVIANTE! An S4RS built into a dirt bike by Terra Mostro

Terra Mostro builds bikes like these with 695 Monsters. this guy wanted a bit more power so he had them build this thing. I imagine he succeeded!

Stock specs on and SR4S:
Horsepower: 117.0 @ 9750 rpm
Torque: 68.2 lb.-ft. @ 7500 rpm
Corrected 1/4-mile: 10.71 sec. @ 126.57 mph 0-60 mph 3.12 sec.
Top-gear roll-on: 3.32 sec.

Only one in existence and it’s for sale over on Adventure Rider for just shy of $20K. And probably worth it!

Reader Ride! One Bitchen V-Rod!

All the way from the UK!!Reader Ron Fairbrother from England Sends in this terrific take on a boring old V-Rod

Ron Writes in:

Hi
Love following your site and thought it was time to send you the phots of the project I’ve just finished.  Stock Vrod frame, engine and swingarm.  The rest is my design, creation etc.
Pretty much everything has been redesigned.  Maybe this is how HD should have built the Vrod eh?????  I think so .
Kind regards

Hey Harley!  Take a look at this why don’t you!!

An In-process build pic.