Manx Norton Featherbed * BSA Gold Star "NorStar" Cold Start
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- čas přidán 21. 06. 2023
- Starting this spectacular 611 custom-built BSA Gold Star motor isn't really difficult. Took me three kicks because I'd opened the throttle a little the first two kicks. It likes the throttle closed for a one-kick cold start! Every Goldie has its own personality!
Note the 4LS front Fontana brake, the custom alloy fuel and oil tanks, custom goodies throughout! Might be the best British café racer on the planet! Man, does this beast pull strong!
Watch for it on BringATrailer.com soon!
The Norton Featherbed, the foundation of many a Cafe Racer..
Spectacular
What a gorgeous bike. Right up my street! ❤
That is fantastic - in 50+ years of British Bike experience, I don't think I've seen better. I hope you get lots of pleasure out of riding it and your achievement.
That is so nice. Didn't like the oil smoke at first start up. Valve guide seals? Volt meter is a welcome touch for Lucas, the king of darkness.
I’m 72yrs old, and remember that in the 60s the Manx and the Goldie were the bikes to have as a true Café racer, I couldn’t afford one of these so I was a Triton guy, the sound and performance of the Manx/Goldie is amazing, nearly every biker lusted after one, enjoy riding your Beautiful machine you lucky lad 🤘🏼
Beautiful.
started riding 1968. That was 109 motorcycles ago so far. All my machines for the street and road race tracks have been Japanese. I never had an English motorcycle. they are just not very common here in the United States where I live in Western Pennsylvania.
well, I was working one day, I passed a house that had a Norton atlas sitting on the side of the house. Of course I had to stop and ask if it was for sale possibly, that’s how I’ve got more than half of my motorcycles, by spotting them sitting in the back of someone’s house, or in their open garage, or even in the basement of a house that I would see while working for The utility company I just retired from recently after 40 years. The Norton atlas was not for sale, it was his daily driver. It turned out. The guy was at one time, the president of the Norton club in California. We got to chatting, he took me into his basement to show me some of his stuff. it was completely packed with BSA, Norton, Royal, infield engines, gas, tanks, wheels, frames, gauges. They were on shelves, they were hanging from the rafters in the basement of this big old house. It looked like he had at least 50 triumphs seats lined up like dominoes.. That was back in the 90s..
A buddy of mine had a Norton commando that he just picked up in a swap. He wanted to swap me for one of my moto guzzi’s at the time. I had to think about it for a while, when I called him about a week later, he had already traded it away.Call me, so I never even got to ride it.
I’m seeing the Royal Enfield’s starting to show up here in Western Pennsylvania. There are actually dealers for royal Enfield and triumph Westin an hour from my home all of a sudden.. I am less interested in the bikes i’ve been riding for decades that were big horsepower, and high speed machines mostly.
One of the Yamaha/suzuki shops I worked in part-time for years as a salesman during the busy season, there was a mechanic there that had a pretty perfect older tribe, 500 Daytona, twin, and a BSA 441 victory. he would occasionally ride them to work, and people would drool over them, many times, offering to buy them, and he wouldn’t sell. I asked him one day, you know better, why the hell would you ride one of these relics instead of something that you know, will always start and always get you there and never break down.
he said something that made sense to me
he said, what fun is that writing something you know is utterly dependable. Riding on Saturday for eight hours on my Daytona or my Victor, actually getting them to start, and getting them to run all day without breaking down, and making at home, is an accomplishment. You have to know your stuff to keep one of these things running. That is more satisfying. That’s what he said, and it sort of made sense… that would be challenging to have a hands on British Pike that requires a mechanic to do those little roadside adjustments from time to time ..
I appreciate this video. I always liked this particular model motorcycle. I’ve actually seen them in action at the race track from time to time, I was racing motorcycles for eight years, Japanese two strokes, mostly…
I wish I had kept some of my race machines so I could put them on my CZcams channel which is pretty much all about motorcycles and rides. One of my old race bikes would be very very very valuable today. It was a Kawasaki factory H1R., factory made 2 Stroke, Rd. racing machine, triple the sand, cast cases, cassette transmission with close ratio. Five speed, the cylinders had chrome bores, dry, clutch, four shoe front brake.. I put the engine in a Suzuki X6 hustler and turned it into a drag racer, and I sold the chassis to Eric Buell Who put a Kawasaki two stroke, 500 air cooled, motocross engine in it.. it was actually in the magazines here in the United States back in the day.. that machine was a horrible handler. The only the machine to have backed in was a Yamaha for racetrack use. Nothing has less value than last year‘s race bike, but today, I know that machine wouldn’t be worth more than $50,000 because I think they only made a handful of them… but who knew? Gold was only about $38 an ounce back then.
I subscribed to your channel. I like your kind of video content..
Goldie exhausts too ... nice!
Speaking as a 77 year old Rocker when l see a bike like this it brings back a lot of memories of the early sixties Cafe Racer society.... Good thing you swopped out the GP carb for a Concentric...it would never have started so easily or tick over so sweetly. Great work..
Brian ~ Thanks! Actually I have the original GP carb on my 1954 Gold Star Clubman and it's a one-kick starter AND it ticks over like my Velocette MSS! How? I have a trick! I drill a tiny (maybe 1/64th") hole near the bottom edge of the intake side of the slide. It takes a lot experimenting to get it right but worth it, as now it idles easily. A well-tuned GP carb is a nice instrument and looks the "pukka" part! ~ Dave
@@HumberNorton I think the problem with the people that put down the GP carb is that they just can not be bothered to sort them out, or they heard they were a problem from a man in the pub, I never had any problem with the GP carb on my Velocette. Chris B.
I am a 76-year-old ex biker and drooling. Beautiful machine.
26 years old enfiels rider here, your era of motorcycling was timeless and very special
i'm 79 and had a norton atlas and a 500 cc royal enfield about 58 years ago/ wonderful life.
Gary ~ And you STILL have a wonderful life, rich with wonderful memories which you might take for granted, but so many people would trade theirs for in a heartbeat. Remember the torquey throb of that Atlas and its surge in top gear. I'm only a decade your junior...and I still own one of the oldest Atlases extant, an early '62 model I restored 45 years ago...close your eyes and feel it. I'm lucky to still be riding mine, but one day I'll simply only be able to recall that surge...and lucky for it. Cheers!
~ Dave
Nice build. Though I'm not sure if it is possible to fit a centre stand to a Manx frame. Nor can I see any of the frame fittings for oiling primary chain. Can't tell what the wheels come from.
Anyway I'd say a Manx styled wideline featherbed framed, Goldie powered bike built in fashion of the late fifties and the sixties.
IN 60'S had a Goldie and was offered a Manx minus engine for £100. Couldn't afford it. SAD 😢😢
👍
Really nice job. Saw this for sale. Bit above my paygrade now. Is that a Newby Belt drive?
It is! Available for half the price of building it!
Looks like Rossmoor...
Truly excellent cafe racer - just a pity you didn't retain the Manx clip-ons. High bars spoil the purity.
Actually those ARE clip-on handlebars! And you can slide then up or down the fork tubes to wherever you prefer. Having rather short arms, I'm more comfortable with where they are, but to lower them ala Manx-style, slacken four pinch-bolts and slide 'em down!
Nah - I would call them clip-on converters - more for older guys who gave up the gym some time ago but not their bikes. Those are even higher than the straight bars on a Vincent Black Shadow. I was talking about 15 degree drop-angled proper race bars. I used to live a couple of miles away from world-famous Manx Norton builder Reg Dearden's race shop in the UK when I was a kid back in the 60's. I'm afraid I feel that anything other than a race clip on for such a bike is like cutting a square out of the roof or putting higher seats in a Ferrari to make it easier to get in and out. That is a truly lovely bike - all credit to you for a superb build - but I can't get over the old man bars!
Clip-ons and older 'Rockers' don't mix very well...not unless one has a chiropractor on hand...
As a seven stone weakling I used to kick my Goldie over on the centre stand until the middle web snapped when I parked it up one day.
A Norbsa...
He kicked it over so many times it was no longer a cold start. Very sharp bike.
"So many times?" It started on the THIRD kick and usually on the first when you keep the throttle shut! Let's see how many other Gold Stars start on "so many" kicks! But thanks for the compliment.
The "kicking over " ... was to ensure the clutch was free !
Beautiful bike ... BUT ... NOTHING on it is "MANX" ... EVEN THE PETROL AND OIL TANK ARE MODERN "CLOSE REPLICAS " !
Known as NORBSA !!!!! 🙄