Malcolm's 1929 Model 19 Norton

Found on the web; Malcolm C. from Melbourne, Australia and his 1929 Norton Model 19. In the Liverpool Docks about to load on the Isle of Man ferry and at Peel Castle.

Peter's Model 19 Norton

Sent by Peter in Hungary

This is my Model 19 Norton. The motorcycle has been used for vintage racing and that's why quite a few parts are not original. I would like to rebuild it to original condition. I have the original Sturmey Archer gearbox but it has been damaged and is not complete

1926 Model 19 Norton

This 1926 Model 19 was offered for sale last autumn; quite a few bits and pieces missing or incorrect but an interesting project.

Kevin's 1929 Model19 Norton

Sent by Kevin 

This is my 1929 Model 19. It has engine number 42xxx and this engine left the factory part of a Model 24 on the 2nd May 1929 with frame number 37xxx. The number on this Norton's frame is 588 42xxx, so very likely the Model 24 engine ended up in the frame of Model 19 (or a Model 18 that was fitted with the taller frame, identified by the 588).

Paul's 1927 Model 19 Norton

Sent by Paul in Australia

"This Norton left the works on the 3 October 1927. It is a genuine model 19, with the 588 stamped on the frame, but unfortunately it does not have the original engine. The current engine has a later barrel, but it does have the genuine model 19 cylinder head which was recently refurbished. The bike left the works with 26 x 3.25 WO tyres. It currently has a 21" WM1 on the front and 19" WM2 on the rear. The bike left the works with a B and B carb which it doesn't now have, and  B and B twist grip throttle, which it does have. Front forks were DTT27s. Overall I am very pleased with the bike and very lucky.  Previous owners have been meticulous in their restoration and care. I have had all the chrome taken off as I love nickel."

Simon:" 26 x 3.25 tyres is 3.25 x 19 in today's speak!  WO is Wired-On as opposed to Beaded Edge.

DTT27 are Druid forks but not the ones on it now - which are standard HRT Druids.  DTT27 type was the TT Druid with side bracing struts - very few and far between even then.  The Model 19 as catalogued had standard HRT Druids but many were shipped out with Webbs.

The cylinder barrel may be 1930 but it has the push rod return spring bracket in place which makes it more likely to be a bit earlier.  However plenty of 1930 588 barrels had the push rod return spring boss in place but unmachined to take the bracket. The open valve gear Model 19 cylinder head looks the same as the Model 18 version  - but isn't.  It used deeper recesses for the cylinder head sleeve nuts and longer sleeve nuts.  Valve sizes etc were the same.  No one has yet come up with a reason for this although one suggestion was that, with  the tall barrel and lack of clearance under the top tube, it would aid head removal for the week-end decoke/valve grind with which everyone seemed obsessed pre-war!  This would hold good if the head studs themselves were a little shorter and I have no evidence that they were so remain unconvinced!

While chrome began to be publicised in 1924 it did not become widely used until 1930 and in 1927 Nickel would undoubtedly have been used by Nortons and everyone else for that matter.  Incidentally rocker standards and rockers would not have been plated originally.

c1932 Model 19 Norton

Found on the website of a Danish motorcycle club; it's a c1932 Model 19, note the Norton hubs and forks, replacing Enfield and Webb parts used in the years before. The exhaust pipe is still on the left hand side which better befits a 1931 machine. The Sturmey-Archer gearbox has been replaced by a postwar Norton box. 

Speedway side-car outfit

By Simon

Alastair Heptonstall has kindly given permission for this splendid photo of his grandfather to appear on the blog. He tells me that Eric Heptonstall lived in the Liverpool area and was quite succesful with the outfit in Amateur speedway races. I have not researched to what extent side-car events were held in the early days of speedway but I am fairly sure they did not catch on here as much as in Australia, for instance. I suspect that the photo dates from the early thirties bearing in mind that the sport did not hit our shores until 1928. The bike looks to be a 1926-ish Model 19 - note the steel strip bracing on the forks, quick action twist grip, larger capacity tank with alloy filler cap - and somewhat bald front tyre, perhaps no disadvantage for drifting round corners!

Ernie's 1925 Model 19 Norton

Another contribution by Martin: " I have scanned another tasty Norton. It was photographed many years ago at the Racing and Sporting Motorcycle Show at the Horticultural Halls in London, around 1972. There was a display of machines from the Richards and Wallington collection, and this one was particularly attractive. Roy Richards was later to set up the National Motorcycle Museum which subsequentloy burnt down in the famous fire, so not sure if this fine machine survived. It is the 588cc racing flat tanker raced by legendary Norton man Ernie Searle in the North West 200 race where up to 600cc engines were allowed. It dates from 1925 I think. Some suggest that Ernie gave his name to the ES2, as ES is supposed to stand for Ernie Searle, but others think it stands for Enclosed Springs as the pushrod return springs are enclosed in little tubes, but who knows for sure this long afterwards.

The registration number NU5168 is a Derbyshire issue from between March 1923 and July 1926, so 5168 looks right for late 1924 or early 1925. A small detail: it has the later type (c1927) of Webb damper spinners whereas in 1925 it should just have nuts to change the damping load on the front fork lower links."

...JdK; Titch Allen in his Norton Story suggested that the 'E' stands for 'extra cost' , the 'S' for sports and the '2' for second sports model when the Model 18 was the first.

Howard's 1929 Model 19 Norton

An email from Howard in Australia; "Just in case you know of anyone who has a couple of parts that I need for this 1929 Model 19.......I would be very interested in acquiring them. I need a rear hub or wheel and if possible a good cylinder for a 1929 Model 19. Yes I know these are the hard parts to get. The rest of the bike I can live with as is. Although it has a sidevalve motor in it at the moment it is actually a Model 19, I do have the correct engine for it with a sick cylinder. The sidevalve parts will be available in due course. As mentioned....just in case!"

1931 Model 19 Norton outfit

Clearly a 1931 model; it has the magdyno behind the engine but the front- and rear hubs are still Horton and Enfield respectively. No cradle frame and as it is hitched to a sidecar it's likely to be a Model 19. The black-out mask suggests a wartime photo.

1927 M19 Norton outfit

Another contribution by Howard; snapshots and not too much detail but still very nice photo's.

It's a circa 1927 Model 19 outfit. The lining on the tank at first glance suggests a Big Four sidevalve model but the pushrods are clearly visible. The square oiltank indicates that it was built before 1928 while the large 7" front brake suggest 1926-1927.

The petrol tank looks like a long range tank such as fitted to LPD1 in the picture below. Lots of other extra's: the front fork is a braced Webb and I can see a speedometer.

Roger's comments: "The tank on the sidecar outfit is one that was an optional extra for 1927 and was based on the tank that Stanley Woods used to win the 1926 TT. The strap for the steering damper can be made out in one picture. That would date the outfit to 1927 as the tanks proved fragile and were replaced by a saddle tank the following year. The registration is a Reading one and the records had survived but subsequently destroyed. That's a shame as it seems to be a lot earlier than 1927 as it started in 1903."

Tim's 1930 Model 19 Norton

Tim (see this Blog and this Blog) has finished another Norton project:

"Hereby a few shots of my 1930 Model 19, just finished yesterday and started second kick. Messed about with the carb and the tick-over and on retard it is unbelievably low due to new valve guides and a good carb slide. The engine is mechanically quiet as I have had the cams and followers built up and re profiled back to standard. Not too sure about the seat height, I think it could be set a bit lower. Still needs some work on the filler cap for the petrol tank, and the fuel pipe needs plating. I will wait a month before I ride it as we still have all the salt on the roads they put on for the winter. It looks like the magneto chain cover is a earlier one by the raised Norton letters on the casting will have to find the correct one."

When asking about the history of the Norton I got this story from Tim:
 
"A good story behind this bike; it's "Buyer Beware". I brought this bike from a friend who had purchased it from a well known Vintage Motor Cycle Club member who had supposedly restored it. My friend paid good money for this bike and when he got it home he could not start it. I had a look at it at the time and we found lots wrong with it. There was a crack in the back wheel drum and the kickstart had dropped off with all the kicking my mate had done. The gearbox kickstart boss was cracked, so we never got it going. My mate never touched it again for about 8 years and then he offered it to me. As I have a 1929 Model 18, I had a spare gearbox and had a batch of brake drums made and had one in stock. I bought the bike paying good money for it knowing I would find lots wrong.
 
Sure enough it had the wrong piston, a shot big end, worn cams and followers, main bearings shot and an inlet valve completely worn out, but the part of the guide inside the port was not even there, so the valve was only running in about 1/2" of guide. One of the engine pushrods was made from a solid 3/8" bar, ground down at each end to fit. The gearbox was of the pre-1926 fine pitch with a pre-1926 clutch fitted. The forks felt good and looked like they had been re bushed, untill I pulled them apart and found 2 or 3 pieces of steel tape measure rule wrapped round each spindle.
 
Thankfully the engine and frame are the correct numbers (the frame is marked 588, indicating a Model 19). I completely rebuild it, fitting new mudguards and exhaust system and repainted the complete bike. Luckily I can do all the work myself and had the bits in stock so that made it worth while.
 
So beware when buying old bikes off old bodgers as they forget what they have done in the past and want top dollar for them; unfortunately, if you want a Vintage bike you just have to pay as not too many of them are around.

John's 1929 Model 19 Norton

John from Canada sent these photo's of a very nice M19 Norton: "This is my 1929 Model 19 Norton, owned previously by both my father and grandfather before him. The black and white pic shows my grandfather on the bike in circa 1946. The lower pic was taken when it arrived in Canada in 1984, in the middle of the winter.

The Norton has not been in running order for a while, looking at about 15 years at least. I am trying to find out as much history of this model along with any photos and manuals that give precise care instructions before I even think of starting; cleaning the years of dust is my first step."

The engine has enclosed pushrod tubes and an aluminium rocker cover and would have been produced very late in the 1929 season. Further, note the position of the oilpump on the timing chest (as opposed to on the magneto chain cover), typical for the 1929-1930 models. Looking at the CONTENTS list on the right, not that many Model 19s are around these days.

Dan O'Donovan and Bert Denly

Dan and Bert in a sidecar racer;  it looks like a 588cc Model 19 and the lack of friction dampers on the Druids may date it as a 1923 machine. Note the skid under the sidecar body that was used at Brooklands to prevent a catastrophe if the sidecar wheel failed.

Martin's comments: "The front and rear wheel rims are Westwood section beaded edge rims while the sidecar wheel is a flat center beaded edge rim, all of which date from perhaps 1923-1924, but the MkII Druid forks may be 1925 or later (see below). They have also fitted a wire device taped across the front tyre called a "Carlton Tyre Saver" which skims the tread as you ride and knocks flints out before they cause a puncture. The sidecar body looks to be skinned in doped canvas and flimsy is too strong a word for it! Denly must have been a brave chap to ride in such a thing..."

Roger in his book also discussed this loop of wire fitted to the front forks with insulating tape. During one of his runs, Bert's back tyre picked up a coil spring from a roller blind which embedded itself in the tread and as the wheel went round the spring lashed Bert's backside. After that incident, these "nail catchers" were fitted to all of his Nortons. The characteristic Denly nail catcher can even be used to identify Bert's bikes, like this one.

...and more comments from Roger: "The sidecars' rims were of the flat beaded edge type right the way up to 1932. Bert used the Westwood section until he joined AJS in 1929 but Pat changed to well based rims in 1927 (see the pictures in Doctor Bayley's book "The Vintage Years at Brooklands"). The picture could have been taken before 1924 which is when silencers were made mandatory at the Brooklands track (the Norton is running the standard length open pipe) and Bert didn't join the team until 1923. I am not sure about the Druids but George Cohen states that the Mk II's were introduced in 1922. The sidecar in the picture may be constructed from strip of wood which can just be made out.  Bert would lay face down and feet forward in the chair for the duration of an outer circuit race.