When I saw a Norton Classic propped outside a house just down the street, I crossed the road to avoid it. But curiosity got the better of me when a for sale sign was placed on its saddle. I could have it for a long weekend of testing if I was willing to let him have my prime CBX550 for the same. This was a low miler, only 9000 miles on the clock.
Ran beautifully. I thought the Honda was smooth, but the Wankel engine re-defined the meaning of that word. Acceleration was impressive, I kept running out of gears as the bike screamed up to 9000rpm when the rev-limiter cut in. The gearbox was slick but there was a touch of chain whipping at very low revs. The gearbox locks up when you come to a standstill, needs to be knocked into neutral first. If I forgot that I found a bit of clutch drag whilst waiting at junctions, but nothing that using the front brake doesn't sort.
The air-cooled twin rotor engine does run very hot, despite the huge cooling fins. It needs a bit of motion to keep the temperature down - really needs a fan to force the air through it instead of using the induction air flow, but this is a minor point. An awful lot of clever engineering went into the motor, keeping it both simple, reliable and light. British engineers can do wonders, but a lot of them are removed from the reality of marketing their products - the Wankel was a loser before it began, really.
The styling’s as restrained as the chassis engineering, but the latter works well on the road. With all of the bulk of the engine lowly placed, the bike has a centre of gravity that inspires security. It's very safe in the wet despite having a ridiculous 32 inch seat height and wide saddle. Wholly lacking is the feeling of being one with the machine, which was so much a part of British motorcycling in the sixties. An astonishing omission for a bike with Norton on the petrol tank.
Having started with a light engine the chassis further annoys in weighing an incredible 500Ibs (though it never feels that heavy). If the Wankel engine had any chance of making it in the world, its lack of vibration should have allowed it to be the main frame member, ending up weighing 250 to 300Ibs. This would have transformed the effect of the available 80 horses on the acceleration, although to be fair, the bike performs better than any British twin of the sixties or seventies.
Top speed turned out to be 130mph on the clock. The engine didn't seem to have run out of power, if the rev-limiter was disabled it could probably have kept going and going until the whole thing exploded. The Classic can be considered as either a 600 or 1200, depending on how the rotors are measured, and according to which way it’s rated it turns out to be good or mediocre.
The bike had a way with it. It seemed to float across the countryside with a total relentlessness and, once I'd adjusted to the riding position, in good comfort. Fuel averaged out at 45mpg, which included a bit of speed testing and cruising at 90 to 100mph for many hours. The owner reckoned he could achieve 60mpg under mild riding. The engine uses an oil injection system which blew the lube at around 300 miles per pint. You have to use special Wankel oil, not whatever comes to hand, unless you revel in mechanical disasters.
The one area that I didn't like was the braking. Triple discs that reacted to water by refusing to work for a worrying couple of seconds, then tried to skid the tyres off the road. One good thing about wet weather riding was that Norton had fitted decent mudguards which kept most of the muck off the machine and rider. Typical of bikes made in merry old England (new Triumphs aside!).
Apart from being a bit slow turning in town traffic, the Classic took everything that I could throw at it. Top speed could easily be used as a cruising speed - if you had massive arm muscles - the bike feeling rock solid on smooth motorways. It could be a bit finicky on very bumpy roads, but the twitchiness never developed into a strong weave or wobble. Country roads were taken with ease, as good as the much lighter CBX but with more violent acceleration.
When I came back to the Honda I thought that the engine was about to explode. After the smooth, sophistication of the Norton, the four cylinder CBX felt rough and vibratory with a horrible gearchange, like some old abortion of a British thumper. It took at least a week before the noise and vibration faded into the background again. You never know real joy until you’ve experienced it for the first time.
The Classic made me feel full of despair rather than joy one time. In the middle of the Cotswolds the engine suddenly switched itself off. Dead motor, we freewheeled to a halt in the middle of the countryside. Wonderful scenery but not so great if you have to push a great big motorcycle for miles. I was beginning to curse myself for a fool. The motor seemed locked up solid, refusing to go into neutral or even move. All | could do was wait for it to cool down, leap up and down on the seat to get the gearchange to bounce down to neutral. I was much relieved when it came back to life, even more so when the rattling clutch quietened down. The major downside of Wankel ownership is that you never know when the rotor seals are going to go down.
Despite some misgivings I was quite keen to swap the bike for the Honda. I was even willing to top the deal up with a few hundred quid. I agreed that the CBX was worth a grand, but was totally gobsmacked when the Norton’s owner reckoned his Classic was worth five thousand notes.
I could buy a very nice CBR600 for that kind of dosh, or a new 600 Bandit plus lots of change. No way the Norton represents good value, but its relative rarity and the fact that it’s British, means they fetch that, and even more, on the market. So I didn’t buy this one but can recommend them if you're willing to spend the dosh. They add a whole new angle to the motorcycle experience.
Clive Knight