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Norton Commando
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Norton Commando
The Norton Commando is a British Norton-Villiers motorcycle with an OHV pre-unit parallel-twin engine, produced by the Norton Motorcycle company from 1967 until 1977. Initially having a nominal 750 cc displacement, actually 745 cc (45.5 cu in), in 1973 it became an 850 cc, actually 828 cc (50.5 cu in). It had a hemi-type head, similar to all OHV Norton engines since the early 1920s.
During its ten years of production, the Commando was popular all over the world. In the United Kingdom it won the Motor Cycle News "Machine of the Year" award for five successive years from 1968 to 1972. Around 60,000 Commandos were made in total.
Associated Motor Cycles (AMC), Norton's parent company, had become bankrupt in 1966 and had been purchased by Manganese Bronze Holdings, who already owned Villiers Engineering, forming Norton-Villiers. Chairman Dennis Poore saw the need to produce a new flagship motorcycle to replace the aging 750 cc Atlas, the engine design of which could be traced back to Bert Hopwood's 1947 497 cc (30.3 cu in) Norton Model 7 twin. Poore set a deadline for the machine to be ready for the 1967 Earls Court motorcycle show.
Former Velocette engineer Charles Udall had joined AMC in 1961 and had designed an 800 cc (49 cu in) DOHC twin and a prototype built using a shortened featherbed frame. This was known internally as P10 (project 10). Poore set up a design team to develop the P10 headed by former Rolls-Royce engineer Dr. Stefan Bauer. However the P10 was complex, leaked oil and would be expensive to manufacture; the design team started to redesign the engine, giving the revised engine a new code of Z26.
Vibration is an inherent problem of vertical twins. Bauer believed the classic Norton featherbed frame enhanced the problem and was not designed in compliance with good engineering principles. Bauer designed a new frame around a single 2.25 in (57 mm) top tube to increase stiffness and rubber mounted the engine to isolate the engine vibrations from the rider.
By the summer of 1967 it was evident that the new engine would not be developed enough for the September Earls Court show. In parallel to the new engine, the existing Atlas engine had been developed and was now putting out more power than the Z26. A decision was made to abandon the new engine and get an Atlas engined new model using Bauer's frame ready for the show. Poore wanted the new machine to look significantly different, so the engine was canted forward (Nortons traditionally had upright cylinders) and consultants Wolff Ohlins were commissioned to design new bodywork. Wolff Ohlins designed a one-piece seat and tail unit which blended into the tank, all in fibreglass.
Rubber mounting the engine had caused problems under acceleration, the rear mounts distorting causing the chain to jump off the engine sprocket. This was overcome by Norton-Villiers Chief Engineer Bernard Hooper and his assistant Bob Trigg by mounting the swinging arm on the engine/gearbox plates rather than the frame, allowing the engine, gearbox and swinging arm to move as one.
Production of the machine was initially complex and located across different parts of England, with the engines produced in Wolverhampton, frames in Birmingham, while components and final assembly was at Burrage Grove, Plumstead London. In late 1968 Plumstead works was subject to a Greater London Council compulsory purchase order, and closed in July 1969. With assistance of a Government subsidy, the assembly line was moved to North Way, Andover; with the Test Department in an aircraft hangar on Thruxton Airfield. Engine and gearbox assembly was still in Wolverhampton, in the former Villiers factory, where a second production line produced about 80 complete machines each week. Components and completed engines and gearboxes were also shipped overnight, from Wolverhampton to the Andover assembly line.
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Norton Commando
The Norton Commando is a British Norton-Villiers motorcycle with an OHV pre-unit parallel-twin engine, produced by the Norton Motorcycle company from 1967 until 1977. Initially having a nominal 750 cc displacement, actually 745 cc (45.5 cu in), in 1973 it became an 850 cc, actually 828 cc (50.5 cu in). It had a hemi-type head, similar to all OHV Norton engines since the early 1920s.
During its ten years of production, the Commando was popular all over the world. In the United Kingdom it won the Motor Cycle News "Machine of the Year" award for five successive years from 1968 to 1972. Around 60,000 Commandos were made in total.
Associated Motor Cycles (AMC), Norton's parent company, had become bankrupt in 1966 and had been purchased by Manganese Bronze Holdings, who already owned Villiers Engineering, forming Norton-Villiers. Chairman Dennis Poore saw the need to produce a new flagship motorcycle to replace the aging 750 cc Atlas, the engine design of which could be traced back to Bert Hopwood's 1947 497 cc (30.3 cu in) Norton Model 7 twin. Poore set a deadline for the machine to be ready for the 1967 Earls Court motorcycle show.
Former Velocette engineer Charles Udall had joined AMC in 1961 and had designed an 800 cc (49 cu in) DOHC twin and a prototype built using a shortened featherbed frame. This was known internally as P10 (project 10). Poore set up a design team to develop the P10 headed by former Rolls-Royce engineer Dr. Stefan Bauer. However the P10 was complex, leaked oil and would be expensive to manufacture; the design team started to redesign the engine, giving the revised engine a new code of Z26.
Vibration is an inherent problem of vertical twins. Bauer believed the classic Norton featherbed frame enhanced the problem and was not designed in compliance with good engineering principles. Bauer designed a new frame around a single 2.25 in (57 mm) top tube to increase stiffness and rubber mounted the engine to isolate the engine vibrations from the rider.
By the summer of 1967 it was evident that the new engine would not be developed enough for the September Earls Court show. In parallel to the new engine, the existing Atlas engine had been developed and was now putting out more power than the Z26. A decision was made to abandon the new engine and get an Atlas engined new model using Bauer's frame ready for the show. Poore wanted the new machine to look significantly different, so the engine was canted forward (Nortons traditionally had upright cylinders) and consultants Wolff Ohlins were commissioned to design new bodywork. Wolff Ohlins designed a one-piece seat and tail unit which blended into the tank, all in fibreglass.
Rubber mounting the engine had caused problems under acceleration, the rear mounts distorting causing the chain to jump off the engine sprocket. This was overcome by Norton-Villiers Chief Engineer Bernard Hooper and his assistant Bob Trigg by mounting the swinging arm on the engine/gearbox plates rather than the frame, allowing the engine, gearbox and swinging arm to move as one.
Production of the machine was initially complex and located across different parts of England, with the engines produced in Wolverhampton, frames in Birmingham, while components and final assembly was at Burrage Grove, Plumstead London. In late 1968 Plumstead works was subject to a Greater London Council compulsory purchase order, and closed in July 1969. With assistance of a Government subsidy, the assembly line was moved to North Way, Andover; with the Test Department in an aircraft hangar on Thruxton Airfield. Engine and gearbox assembly was still in Wolverhampton, in the former Villiers factory, where a second production line produced about 80 complete machines each week. Components and completed engines and gearboxes were also shipped overnight, from Wolverhampton to the Andover assembly line.
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