A project 4 years in the making from neglected (left under a tree for 25+ years) to road ready.
This was my first British motorcycle and has it ever been a learning experience. I could not have completed the project without the advice, expertise and help from friends, namely Steve Smith, Doug Stafford and Al Lusk and Brian Slark.
Now that it is up and runing, I ask myself was it worth it? 4 years of struggling to offset 25 years of neglect? The answer is absolutely. This bike has more power than you think, if you have ever ridden one you know what I speak of. It is after all "The Unapproachable Norton"!
Why did I title this "resto-furbishment"? Because throughout the project the goal was not to restore this bike but to replace only what was required and to recondition/re-use the original parts wherever possible. To this end the only items that are non-original to this bike (other than usual wear items like tires,tubes,chains etc) are the rear rim, the front and rear master cylinders and the air cleaner. Every thing else has been simply (or not depending on which component!) been taken apart, cleaned, polished/painted and reassembled. The bike as acquired only had 1867 miles on it but as the pictures will show it was in a sorry state. What started out as a "just get it running" project inevitably became a to-the-frame disassembly and rebuild. But for a matching numbers, low mile original MKII the effort was well worth the time, blood, sweat, tears, cursing and yes, a few dollars here and there!
