Moving on up…

For 6 years Kenny (and ultimately NYC Norton) worked out of about 400 square feet of space within a larger 4200 sq ft space lovingly known as Spannerland.  For those who don't know the back story, Spannerland, located in a corner of a massive industrial building just outside the Holland Tunnel, was created in 2006 as sort-of co-op shared by a group of NYC based racers who needed more space than they could each realistically afford in pricy Manhattan.  Spannerland treated everyone well - on any Sunday it could be a quiet cavern of classic bikes, or a buzzing workshop of machines fabricating parts to get folks to their next race.  But as things happen, racers settle down and move away, interests change, etc.  Towards the end of 2012 a lease renewal went into effect, and NYC Norton moved out of the small carved-out space occupied for the last 6 [...]

2024-02-25T17:56:36-05:00March 16th, 2013|nycNorton|
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Racing Update

The 2012 season was winding down, but we had a sudden burst of greatness enter our lives with the new Seeley G50 arrival (click here for G50 details) so it was important to get some seat time on the bike before heading into Barber.  We packed up the G50 and Atlas and headed south to West Virginia - Summit Point, to be exact - where we would race with WERA for a day.  At 4.5 hours of driving, Summit Point is our closest track to NYC that offers vintage racing (2 miles further than New Hampshire Motor Speedway, according to Google, but much quicker to get to), so this was a walk in the park for our one-day adventure.  We got to the track Friday night, set up the canopy, and awoke Saturday morning to a perfect fall day.  We filled the bikes with oil and gas and away we [...]

2012-11-25T14:02:49-05:00November 24th, 2012|nycNorton, racing|
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Racing Update

After playing around over in the UK, and now having missed 3 AHRMA National rounds (Roebling, Talladga, and Willow Springs) it was time to get busy here at home.  The Road America/Grattan back-to-back weekends are favorites on the NYC Norton calendar, and a fitting first outing in the US.  Plus, master NYC Norton spannerman Jon Thorndike was making his racing debut at Road America on his properly maintained Norton Atlas.  So we loaded up the Teutonic transporter and set the controls for the center of cheese country.  The weekend was predicted to be Hot and Hazy, Fast and Crazy.  And it was.  As we arrived and set up our pit,  someone had the foresight to snap a nice shot of the bikes before they got all race weary.  #17 Seeley Commando sporting new livery with silver and gold pinstripes.  Thorny's bike with a new fairing, but yet to have its [...]

2012-09-15T20:31:32-04:00September 15th, 2012|nycNorton, racing|
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Clearances

The NRE 750 motor has some unusual spacing dimensions, so careful alignment is in order.  Shims and custom spacers are used to get everything in its proper place.  It all starts with getting the motor and gearbox aligned in the chassis.  Then, the clutch must align with the crank pulley.  Spacer there, moving it outboard a bit for true belt run.  Then onto gearbox-to-rear sprocket alignment.   A very handy laser alignment tool aids in locating the rear hub to its proper place for a perfect chain-run to the countershaft sprocket.  Easy and accurate, but after all this, chain-to-tire clearance can be an issue, especially when running 130mm-width tires.   We had the clearance necessary without much ado.  If not, the next solution would have been to move the countershaft sprocket outboard, or perhaps an even more radical solution; moving the drive-side engine plate outboard by spacing between the motor [...]

2012-04-11T15:55:10-04:00March 3rd, 2012|builds, nycNorton, racing|
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