Sunday, April 30, 2023

Early Norton Model 18

There's been a bit of a hiatus in posting on this blog but back again with this interesting image of an ohv vintage Norton. 

The bike is a bit of a conundrum to me and I don't have George Cohen's bible 'Flat Tank Norton' to hand to refer to, as far as I know the first ohv Norton appeared in 1922 but they all had drum brakes. This machine has stirrup brakes which theoretically dates it as 1921 or earlier? Perhaps this machine was a prototype or a special order for a chap who didn't trust the new fangled drum brakes in the catalogue? Maybe a Norton expert out there can shed some further light?

Early Norton Model 18