Quote:
Originally Posted by Yorkie
I can actually get literally every single part for my Norton's in 48 hours from brand new cylinder heads, seats, fenders, gears, you name it. There is a company in the UK, Andover Norton, who manufacture everything and the parts availability is truly amazing. That and the online knowledge through owner forums sure makes ownership of these cantankerous beasts easier than a lot of more modern bikes. Early Kawasaki triples and Z1s have a similar aftermarket.
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That is awesomely good news. I wonder why Ton Up Division struggled so. Is this a recent development? Or has it always been this way?
I had the great good pleasure of living just about two hours north of Kenny Dreer. I remember when he started his Norton restoration business. At first, he could get everything. After awhile, the supply dried up and he was forced to start re-popping parts. He eventually had enough tooling and capability to produce every single part he needed, in fact enough to build the entire motorcycle. So he did, and began selling them as new.
Then some crotchety old Brits, apparently still holding all manufacturing rights, rang him up - threatened to sue if he didn't knock it off. Interestingly, after a somewhat confrontational beginning, they hired him as production manager and began building new Nortons of essentially his design. I'm not sure at what point and how Stuart Garner weaseled his way in, but you know the rest.
Anyway, I spent what time I could drooling over Kenny's stuff. At that time, there was nothing available for Nortons unless it came out of his shop. I'm happy to hear that has changed. Maybe I need to rethink whether or not I can actually ever own a Norton... one of my top couple of "dream" machines, for sure.