Norton Commando
Norton Commando Background & History
The Norton Commando was considered in its day to be the premium British motorcycle, and for a while the fastest production motorcycle on the planet! The Commando was the product of decades of development and lessons learned as Norton fielded an impressive array of powerful twins. Norton started building motorcycles in 1902, building what almost everyone else was building at the time: big singles. It’s most famous of those is the Norton Manx which was one of the most successful road racing bikes from the 1930s through the 1950s. It was one of the most advanced engine designs of its era.
The 1968 Norton Commando Fastback was the first Commando introduced. Note the 'fastback' fiberglass rear fender, special seat and tank.
Norton Enters the Vertical Twin Race
Triumph introduced their first ‘modern’ vertical twin in the 1938 Triumph 5T Speed Twin, and most of the rest of the British motorcycle industry, those who could afford it anyway, rushed to bring their own twins to market. Norton’s entry was the 500cc 1949 Norton Model 7. Around this same time, Norton introduced the revolutionary ‘Featherbed Frame’ on the Norton. It slowly spread to most of the rest of Norton’s lineup and in 1953 they dropped the Model 7 500cc engine into the new Featherbed Frame and called it the Norton Dominator 88. In 1956 they bored and stroked it out to 600cc and created the Dominator 99. In 1962, Norton bored and stroked it again to 650cc, and christened it the Dominator 650SS which ran through the 1969 model year. The Featherbed Frame had become the standard of the industry for high performance handling.
This 1970 Norton Commando SS was the Street Scrambler edition, with high pipes running along the left side.
Vibration was Always a Problem
Norton’s 500cc twin, launched in 1949, had grown substantially in displacement, and they weren’t done yet, not by a long shot. Also in 1962 Norton’s engineers bored the 650SS engine out to 750cc and created yet another new bike, the Norton Atlas.
All other Norton twin-cylinder models had the cylinders oriented vertically. They were slanted forward in the Commando to give the engine a new, more modern look. The entire engine and the swing arm float on rubber mounts to insulate the rider from vibration. It really works!
Norton Commando's Isolastic Suspension Cures Vibration
Norton had been experiencing the same engine vibration issues as everyone else and now that their big twins were growing in displacement and power output, and revving higher than ever, vibration was really becoming a problem. The solution was not found inside the engine, but rather in yet another of Norton’s legendary, ground-breaking frames. The new frame didn’t have a formal name in itself, instead it incorporated a system that Norton called ‘Isolastic Suspension’, which essentially rubber-mounted the engine in common with the swing arm. This allowed the engine to vibrate within it’s rubber mounting without transferring the vibration to the frame, and thus the rider. By mounting the engine in common with the swing arm, it gave that vibration somewhere to go, out the rear wheel. It was brilliantly simple and it worked.
This 1971 Norton Commando Hi-Rider shows the factory chopper treatment that attracted few fans.
Norton Commando is World's Fastest Bike!
A whole new model was built around the new frame, the 1969 Norton Commando. The Commando was a big bike compared to a Triumph twin. But they were fast, handling incredibly well and best of all they were smooth. Upon its release in 1968 as a 1969 model, the Norton Commando was several months ahead of the impending release of the Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket 3 triples and the Honda CB750 Four. As such, for several months, the Commando was the fastest production motorcycle on the market.
This 1971 Norton Commando Production Racer has all the looks of a factory road racing bike, but its all stock Commando underneath.
A Norton Commando for Every Taste
Norton’s marketing strategy was brilliant. The Commando was now their only model, so they dressed them up differently to create several sub-models. All of these bikes were essentially mechanically the same, just with different bodywork. The first Norton Commando to be released was called the ‘Fastback’ and included a unique tank, seat and rear fender, in 1969. The Roadster was next, and this is more or less your standard Norton Commando, with a normal tank and seat and handsome chromed fenders. Norton also sold a “Production Racer” which was a standard Norton Commando but with a full fearing, large tank, and road racing bodywork, right down to number plates on the back fenders. The Norton Commando Interstate was the long distance cruiser, with larger fuel tank and softer seat. The wildest of the bunch though was the zany Norton Commando Hi-Rider. This was Norton’s attempt at a factory chopper, with his tall ‘ape-hanger’ handlebars, crazy banana seat and sissy bar. Few originals survive today because so many buyers swapped out the ungainly parts of standard Norton gear.
In 1973, the Norton Commando gained a front disc brake, and in 1975, it's final year of production, finally an electric starter. Also in 1973, the 750 engine was bored out to 829cc, to be called the Norton 850 Commando. The added displacement didn't do much for performance, it wasn't meant to. What it did was allow the engine to produce the same power but at a lower RPM, with less engine stress. It was the right move.
The 1972 Norton Commando Combat stressed the engine to get more power, and they paid a big price in blown engines. It lasted only one year. It turned out that the engine was in combat with itself.
Norton Commando Special Models Continue
In 1972, Norton released the Commando ‘Combat’ which stressed the 750cc engine to pull 65hp out of it at 6500 RPM. These engines started grenading on their owners (ie: catastrophic engine failure) that cost Norton millions that they couldn’t afford in warranty claims. The Combat was short-lived.
In 1974 Norton teamed up with cigarette maker John Player who was backing Norton’s racing efforts at the time, and created a new limited-edition bike to celebrate. The 1974-1975 John Player Norton was stunning to look at. But again it was a standard Norton Commando underneath, which is not a bad thing. These big Nortons were fast and handled brilliantly.
The John Playter Norton looked just like Norton's factory race bikes that were sponsored by British cigarette makers John Player. Very few were built. And again, they're all stock Commando underneath all that bodywork.
Trouble is Brewing at Home
While all of this was going on, beneath the surface Norton was struggling. They were never a high-volume manufacturer to begin with, but with the onslaught of cheap, high quality Japanese bikes times were tough for Norton. They’d been purchased by AMC (Associated Motor Cycles) in 1949, but AMC collapsed in 1966. Norton was purchased by Manganese Bronze Holdings who owned the Villiers Motorcycle Company, with the intentions of turning the company around with one bike: The Norton Commando. Unfortunately, the big sales numbers that they needed never materialized and a merger was negotiated with the only other British motorcycle manufacturer still standing: BSA. BSA owned Triumph and Triumph was doing well, by British standards, but BSA was on the verge of collapse. The new company was named Norton-Villiers-Triumph in 1972. Alas this wasn’t enough to save them either, and Norton bumped along producing fewer and fewer Norton Commandos unit 1975, it’s final year of production. The US DOT had passed a new law requiring all motorcycles sold in the US to be left-foot shifted, starting in 1976. At the time, all British bikes shifted on the right, as God intended. Triumph managed to retrofit their Bonneville twin, and they completely redesigned the Trident engine to comply. But Norton didn’t have the money, and the job was nearly impossible to do mechanically. So, 1975 was the last year for the Norton Commando.
This is a 1975 Norton 850 Commando in Roadster trim. This is the body style that most people are familiar with. In its final year, the big Norton finally got an electric starter.
A New, Modern Norton Commando
<A href='norton-motorcycles.html'>Norton</a> continued on, trying to field a new line of rotary-powered Norton Motorcycles, but again, the sales weren’t there. Norton has changed hands a few times since, and there is a new Norton Motorcycle Company making modern Norton Commandos. Again, they are produced in very low numbers and you rarely see them. But they are stunning!
While thoroughly modern, this 2014 Norton 961 Commando is still unmistakably a Norton Commando.
Norton Commando Year-by-Year
1974 Norton John Player Special
Norton Commando Books
More Norton Motorcycle Pages
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