c1930 Model ES2 Norton

Sent by Al

"I previously sent a shot of my grandfathers Norton at Hayling Island on this web site - my uncle just sent these pictures through to me of another Norton. I believe the first shot was taken in Southsea, the second obviously at Lands End; the mystery is who is the girl in the last shot - not my grandmother! I can claim to have an interest in Nortons running in my blood!"

The Norton is a 1929 or 1930 Model ES2 or CS1. TP5676 was issued from Apr. 1924 to Feb. 1931 and would have been issued by Portsmouth County Borough Council (currently Portsmouth).

1937 Model ES2 Norton - For sale

For sale at Dutch Lion Motorbikes: a nice 1937 ES2. Though front wheel, headlamp and the front mudguard seem to come from a BSA.

Martin's fun day out

By Martin

East Fortune, 28th April 1974; a fun day out on Drew Taylor's 1937 ES2 Norton fitted with a Francis Beart dope Manx piston (14 to 1 CR on methanol) and a Rudge Ulster front wheel...  The story (there's always a story!!) was that as we were warming the bike up in the paddock before the race, the plug oiled up and we needed a change of plugs before I could go out of the paddock to the start grid.  Now any normal racer would have a normal plug and a normal set up, but not Drew Taylor!!  The plug was (for sentimental or maybe good luck reasons) the actual plug used by Jock McCredie in the 1947 NW200...  I thought he must have won that race but I just checked and he wasn't even mentioned..!!?

The plug (a Lodge racing plug) had a large brass ball screwed on the top and the plug cap was a special Lodge racing cap to match the large brass connector.  We didn't have a spare plug with the same set up, so we not only had to change the plug, we also had to rob another bike's plug cap and change that as well.  I got to the paddock exit and the marshal initially refused to let me out onto the track, but relented and I shot round to join the back row of the grid, only to find the race was already under way and I was playing 'catch up' instead of 'follow me'!!  To cap it all, on the third lap I lost the nearside foot rest so rode the rest of the race trying not to put all my weight on the rear brake!! Look closely at the pic and you will see the missing footrest, or rather not see it!!

I think a few people took pics of me as a back marker because I was trying so hard I nearly chucked it up the track on several corners... You can also see the cement on that corner where oil spills had been 'treated', lethally slippy as a result.  You can also almost read my Bell full face helmet script which reads 'Ecurie Ossity'...

Tucker wins the 1929 200 mile sidecar race

By Roger

I have found the attached picture of Tucker immediately after the win in the 1929 200 mile race - the numbers are the same.  The engine is clearly an ES2 but the frame is earlier and the forks are certainly side spring braced Druids. A noticeable change is the loss of the tank lining or perhaps a new tank was put on for the publicity pictures!

Like other Brooklands riders of the period, George Tucker would have kept using his machines until they were no longer serviceable.  The mid to late 1920s were a period of severe shortages with a general strike in 1926 and the depression beginning to bite in 1929 - Pat was still using his 1925 TT machine in 1929 and possibly later.  Tucker's frame is likely to have been made around 1927 and the forks could even be the 1925 TT ones - the 1925 machines used the four speed cross over gearbox so it is not that one.  The rear brakes remained the V-block type until the end of the flat tankers at Brooklands presumably because they were lighter.

The frame would be a Model 19 to take the taller engine which also has the ES2 head with the angled exhaust port.  I suspect that Norton supplied the engine - or parts - for racing as Simon has told me that the Model 19 crank won't fit the ES2 cases and I don't think that Norton sold a bigger ES2.  Tucker probably would not have had the resources to make his crankshaft and that this would therefore have been done by the works as he was a tuner rather than an engineer much like Driscoll who had others do the engineering. George was a Norton main dealer in Bristol so he would have access to factory components even if he was not officially supported by the works by that time.  He did win a Grand Pix with Walter Moore in the chair in 1923/4.

The race report says that all three Nortons were 588cc which is what I would expect.  Tucker didn't use long (8 1/2") conrods in his 490cc engines (JdK: which makes the 490cc engines appear as 588cc models) as these were only used by the Spring/Driscoll team from what I have seen.  O'Donovan did try a long rod around 1926 but he used an 8" rod from the 588 as did Pat around the same time.

Simon: "There were a few 588 ES2 engines made/sold by Nortons.  It is only the differing main shaft diameters which means that standard 588 flywheels can't be used in ES2s."

Max's 1934 Model ES2 Norton

Sent by Max in Argentina

I am sending a three pictures of my 1934 ES2. The photo above was taken on a trip to Mar del Plata. Appropriately I used a 1934 Leica camera for the photograph.

1946 Model 18 Norton

Too young for this blog but one could argue this is a prewar technology throughout.  It's a 1946 Model 18, using the cradle frame of the prewar ES2 and still the Norton girder forks. Remarkably, the front brake sits on the right hand side of the machine on these models. Other differences are a cleaned-up gearbox cover and a smaller headlamp. Compare this ES2 to the 1946 16H that featured earlier on these pages.

The registration plate would have been issued by Middlesex C.C. (currently llford London NE).

From the OldClassicCar website.

R J D Burnie's Nortons

Pics sent by Steven, words by Simon

Steve: "This is my grandfather R J D Burnie (in the pictures) and most of these photos were taken at Pendine as this is where he was from... but he did also race at Oxwich, Brighton, Southport, Shelsley Walsh, Ulster and others... he was the chief accountant at Fort Dunlop and raced purely for fun. I have two scrap albums of his with newspaper cuttings from the thirties and fourties which is where I have managed to get most of my info from and then in '47 he get tranferred to Durban as internal auditor in a new Dunlop factory. Before leaving he was one of the most successful amatuer racers of his time..."

 Simon: "Some pics were obviously taken at Sand events and some seem to be road races but just where I do not know. It is not easy to be too sure about which models are which from the action photos. However, both bikes in the top photo are from 1928/9. The one on the right is an ES2 model and the one on the left may be an ES2 or a CS1 (they looked the same from the drive side!). I would think the photo was taken two or three years later - perhaps in the early thirties - as the front brake lever on the r/h bike has been changed to a later design.

The machine with telescopic forks and plunger rear suspension is a post war Manx Norton - as sold to the general public in the period up to the early fifties when the featherbed framed models came into the picture.

The machine with riding number 31 looks to be a just pre-war CS1 model - note full chain case over the primary chain and detachable front brake drum on left hand, while I think the other shots are all of the same machine (riding numbers 1,15,23 and 45) and this looks like a Model 30 (the 490 cc OHC racing model) from about 1933/4."

The V-twin is a New Imperial

c1935 ES2 Norton

These upswept exhaust pipes do look nice...

Phil's 1929 Model ES2 Norton

An email from Phil in the UK:

"I've recently bought a 1929 ES2. It's on the road now - MOT last week - but I'm very short on technical info. It has seized twice while riding, and the only tip I've had so far is to make sure that there is about 0.5 pint of oil in the crankcase!"

JdK: A previous owner made some modifications to the oiling system which Phil is now sorting out.

Mark's 1929 Model ES2 Norton

Seen at Brooklands, this 1929 ES2 is not completely correct; the original Sturmey Archer gearbox, Webb forks and Enfield front hub have long ago been ditched and replaced by (most likely) WD16H Norton parts. The magneto is a later Lucas, the carb a 1930s Amal 76. Still, it looks great and let's hope it never gets restored.

Mark cared about the environment, note the little container that collects the oil rom the breather, complete with a tap; he probably reused the oil!

Howard's 1929 ES2 Norton

Another photo from Howard in Australia: "I sold this bike's motor some time ago to a chap in the UK who had been trying to obtain one for many years. I had a complete 1929 ES2 "Special" (see the photo) and very foolishly took the original engine out and fitted a CS1 motor in its place thinking it was a better bike.....sold it and slowly realised how stupid I had been in doing that!"

Interesting picture; note the grey brakeplates; were these plated? The original Sturmey Archer gearbox has been replaced by a later Norton dollshead 'box.

Lovetts Motorcycle Catalogue for 1928

These are a few pages from a 1928 catalogue from a London motorcycle dealer, sent to me by John in Canada.

1928 ES2 Norton

For sale at eBay Motors UK; a 1928 ES2 Norton described by the seller as follows: "500cc OHV numbered ES 38199, no frame number, gearbox number CR7858. Everything is in good shape and really only needs repainting."

A very optimistic view on a restoration! It's a nice project and most of it seems to be there (except for the TT Webbs and the Binks carb) but it's not a bargain at a fixed price of £11000. Still one should consider that 1930s side valve Nortons are priced between 8000-10000 euro nowadays and in that perspective it's not excessive.

Click here to go to Ebay Motors UK. 

An envelope

Another contribution from Martin in the USA:

"This is the back of an envelope I purchased several years ago. It was mailed from Tallinn, Estonia (a country in north-eastern Europe) on October 31, 1935. It was sent to the RCA Victor Company, Inc in Camden, New Jersey, USA.

Has anyone ever heard of Mr. Freybach? Maybe a racer or "local hero"? According to Google Translate, "masinate kauplus" means "machinery shop". Maybe he was a dealer or motorcycle tuner of note? Whoever he was, he went to the expense of having his envelopes personalized." 

The motorcycle appears to be a modified 1931 ES2; the magneto is behind the engine but it still has the Royal Enfield rear hub and the exhaust pipe on the left hand site.

1928 CS1 / ES2 folder

This folder is in French; I don't speak French but it's not too difficult to understand that the two Nortons depicted were very successfull in the 1927 season

Note that both bikes have front mudguards held by flat strips as favoured on the factory racers while the rear mudguards are held by tubular stays. Were they actually built like this or is this an example of an artist at work?
(Contributed by Wim from Belgium)

Norton in Australia

The photo above was sent to me by an Australian, Leon, and depicts his approx. 1926 M18 Norton project. Leon casually informed me that he has five (!) 1920s Nortons, four of them flat-tank models and one of them that most coveted Norton, the M25.

It amazes me how many of these fine machines pop up in Australia. Only last sunday I was sent the photo below by another Australian; a very desirable Norton engine, a 1929 ES2 motor, note the dry sump lubrication. Holidays in Australia this summer!

1929 ES2 Norton

Two truly excellent pictures taken from the Vintagebike website (http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/). They show a mr Bullock and his friends in 1937.

The Norton is a 1929 ES2 model. The ES2 shared the cycle parts with the cammy CS1 but this one clearly has a pushrod motor. The pushrod springs appear to be enclosed, identifying the bike as an ES2. The oilpump on the timing chest, though barely visible, looks to be a Best & Lloyd "Mark IV" fitted to the 1929 models. The early ES2 models were quite special and very fast, with engines that clearly differed from the M18s.

Great bike! Nice swimwear and what's the guy with the cigarette in the lower pic doing with his right hand?

1927 ES2 racer

From Simon's archives: This reputedly is an ex-works 1927 ES2 racer (except that Norton did not use the ''ES2" type number as early as June 1927) that was restored by the late Wilf Green - a Yorkshire character if ever there was one.

The first OHC CS1 racers designed by Walter Moore were put into competition in 1927. Norton was being cautious to have an OHV version of the racer available as a backup.

1930 ES2 Norton

Cees Kloosterhof from Medemblik in the Netherlands, in the pics, was a keen motorcyclist. One of his bikes must have been a brand new ES2 Norton as the bike looks factory fresh.

It's a 1930 ES2, identified by the three stay frame, the B&L oilpump on the timing cover, alloy chain case, forward mounted dynamo and Enfield 8" front hub. Exceptionally, the forks are Druids with enclosed central spring. These forks -the ES type- were standard wear for vintage CJs and JEs and it is Simon's guess that this bike is fitted with the next size up as those for the 350s would have been a bit light for a 500. Not many people fitted the ES Druids and Norton probably fitted them on request. In the light of front forks you may enjoy the anecdote from Simon below;

"A close friend of mine - who toppled off the perch some years ago, aged 90 plus - bought a new ES2 in 1931 and wrote to Nortons complaining at the poor (compared to Webbs) damper adjustment facilities on their own forks. He got a polite note back saying they were excellent and - more or less- stop bothering us and p*ss off! He did - he sold the Norton which he said was heavy and sluggish and bought a 1931 ex TT OK Supreme JAP which was miles faster than the over the counter 1933 International belonging to a friend of his.....they used to have burn-ups on the then new Watford by-pass - the 30s equivalent of the 60s Rockers! Enough sentimental drivel - cheers S"

(The pics were taken from the october 2009 issue of the Dutch VMC journal)