A Streetfighter For The World

As featured on the #1 custom bike website www.bikeexif.com/nyc-norton/ In early 2014 we got a call from an overseas number on the shop phone.  On the other end of the call was a pleasant voice with an unidentifiable accent who introduced himself as "Joe".  He was calling from his home in a small country nestled in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.  He had just purchased a pristine Norton Commando in the States and asked if we could add some performance and reliability mods to it before ultimately shipping it across the seas to him.  Sounded easy enough.  This was the humble beginning of a relationship that has circled the Earth many times.  Having already in his stable a bone-stock Commando, as well as other vintage bikes of various marques, Joe wanted this Commando to have a bit more "oomph".  This is our specialty and we were very happy to [...]

2024-02-25T17:56:31-05:00October 7th, 2015|builds, commando, nycNorton, street|

Racing 2014

For years our closest race on the AHRMA calendar was Grattan, MI, clocking in at 750 miles from NYC.  So when the announcement came in last year that we would be racing in New Jersey we couldn't believe what we heard.  The notion of being able to load up and get to a track in 2 hours (125 miles), spend a weekend chasing the racing jones, and make it home to our own beds by Sunday evening was such an alien concept.  Because the track is centrally located to NYC, Philly, Baltimore, DC, the organizers have worked hard to target the eastern seaboard motorcycle world (not just racers) and make it a cornerstone event smack-dab in the middle of our racing season, picking up where Mid Ohio left off.  There are vendors, a swap meet, bike shows, bands, etc. and each year it grows in stature.  Plus, the Thunderbolt track [...]

2024-02-25T17:56:32-05:00December 31st, 2014|commando, G50, nycNorton, racing|

Racing 2014

The American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association, or AHRMA, has lumped a lot of their racing weekends into back-to-back events.  There are mixed feelings about this as 50% believe it's impossible to take that much time off from work, and the other 50% like the fact they can get more bang for their travel buck.  For our East Coast-based racing operation, the back-to-backs weekends of Willow Springs and Sonoma Raceway in Southern and Northern California, respectively, made for easy planning and logistics.  So the Sprinter was loaded with a Seeley 750, A Norton Atlas, and a Seeley G50, topped off with diesel, and away we went.   Willow Springs Raceway, Rosemond, CA, April 25, 2014 We'd all heard so much about how Willow is a locals track, it's fast, it's hot, it's cold, and it's windy, then it's really windy, all of which became perfectly clear very quickly.  We arrived Thursday [...]

2024-02-25T17:56:33-05:00December 29th, 2014|commando, G50, nycNorton, racing|

Racing Update

For many years, we've been carrying our racing bikes to the track in a small but very efficient 1999 T4 Volkswagen Eurovan.  It served us well and was absorbed into the NYC Norton business as a lithe big-city bike hauler.  But the transmissions in these vans are notoriously fragile, and the need to carry more bikes and sometimes tow a trailer was upon us.  After much laboring, bean-counting, talking to car dealers, accountants, and shrinks, the business took the plunge and we bought a new Sprinter to carry bikes  - race bikes and customer bikes - with reliability.  Our maiden voyage would be the beloved Midwest excursion to Road America in Wisconsin, with the week off spent up in Northern Michigan with friends at the wonderful cottage in belonging to John and Jan Ellis, then off to Grattan the following weekend. There had been many test fittings of bikes in [...]

2024-02-25T17:56:35-05:00June 5th, 2013|nycNorton, racing|

Shop Snaps

During the Iron and Air interview, photographer Jason Goodrich snapped some really nice shots that weren't in the magazine, but certainly deserve to be seen.  These shots were taken in our old space just before we relocated across the room, increasing from 400 sq ft to 2100 sq ft, as explained in our  "Moving On Up" blog entry.  Jason's shots give it a nice, cozy feel, but we were splitting our seams.  Rest assured we will have Jason over again to better illustrate the loft setup we've moved into.  More to come on that. Seeley Tank on the bench:   NRE in the shop freight elevator, alternate shot to magazine image   Seeley Norton 1007cc final drive/rearset detail   Seeley G50 looking on   KC Racing leathers

2024-02-25T17:56:35-05:00March 16th, 2013|nycNorton, press|
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