Early Years
Norton was founded in Birmingham in 1898 by James Norton.. Within four years they
had begun manufacturing motorcycles with bought-in engines. In 1908 Norton built
there own engine and was added to the motorbikes. This was the beginning of the
single cylinder engine for Norton Motorcycles.. They were one of the best names
of the British motorcycle industry, producing machines ran for years in the motorcycle
races of its time. The Norton, in 1907, won the twin-cylinder class in the first
Isle of Man TT race its first year and won the senior race every year between
1947 to 1954.
War Time
1937 - 1945 saw the British Military using Nortons Motorcycles. Over 100,000,
which was over 25%, of all Military bikes at the time were Norton. The two they
mainly used were the Norton WD16H which was for the solo rider and the WD Big
Four which was supplied with a side-car. Following the war Norton could not maintain
its racing dominance as the single cylinder was to slow against the new multi-cylinder
engine. 1949 became the turning point for Nortons racing team. They produced the
Featherbed frame that lead the market and 1949 saw there first win in 5 years.
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Hard Times
Even with the racing successes Norton was in financial difficulty and in 1953,
Norton was sold to Associated Motorcycles (AMC). AMC also owned the brands AJS,
Matchless and James. In 1962 the Birmingham factory was closed and production
was moved to Southeast London.
The 1960's brought competition from Japan and had driven the whole British motorcycle
industry into a precipitous decline and in 1966 AMC folded and was reformed as
Norton-Villiers. In 1969 the Commando was introduced with its styling and innovative
isolastic frame it made a lovely bike.
Norton-Villiers-Triumph
The problems faced by Norton never stopped and in 1972 they fell into decline
again. By this time the British motorcycle manufacturing (BSA) was also in trouble
and the British Motorcycle was in trouble. It was given government help in 1973
under some conditions. Both Norton and the BSA would have to merge, this was now
named Norton-Villiers-Triumph (NVT). In 1974 saw the release of the Roadster,
Mark 2 Hi Rider and the JPN Replica even tho the company had mounting losses.
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