Norton Commando

Tag: Norton Commando

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Neale Bayly Rides: Neale’s Gonzo History Tou...

Posted by Neale Bayly | Jun 1, 2023 | Ride Life | 0 |

Legendary Bikes: Peter Egan’s 1974 Norton Co...

Posted by Road Dirt Crew | Aug 28, 2020 | Legendary Bikes | 15 |

Neale Bayly Rides: Neale’s Gonzo History Tour

by Neale Bayly | Jun 1, 2023 | Ride Life | 0 |

We lived to ride and rode to live. We partied through the night, raging at parties till dawn. At the zenith of our insanity, Wibbly rode a Norton 850 Commando, and I was welded to the seat of a battle-weary 1978 Laverda 1200 Mirage, hopped up with Jota cams, bars, and pegs. Three trashcan-sized pistons sucked 105-octane gas and damp, rain-saturated air through filter-less Dellorto carburetors with the sophistication of a cement mixer, before hurling the exploded remains through a chrome Harris 3-into-1 exhaust.

Legendary Bikes: Peter Egan’s 1974 Norton Commando

by Road Dirt Crew | Aug 28, 2020 | Legendary Bikes | 15 |

Peter Egan has been called America’s Favorite Automotive Writer. A Wisconsin native, Egan held unprecedented dual editorial positions with both Cycle World and Road & Track magazines for nearly three decades before semi-retiring from his monthly columns in 2013.
In that time, he rode and reviewed hundreds of motorcycles, but none remained as close to his heart as the Norton Commando. In fact, it was “Dateline: Missoula,” a story about an ill-fated, cross-continent trip on a Commando which was his first published article for Cycle World back in December 1977. Egan wrote, “So it seems I owe my journalism career to that Norton as well. If I’d bought a Honda, god knows what I’d be doing now. Possibly something useful to humanity. That or sleeping under a bridge.”