The home of Vintage and Classic Motorcycles.....

Thanks to John Battle for these pictures of his 1954 Norton Big 4. It's a 600cc sidevalve single that was previously in a 'customised' form (2"over forks, forward controls and homemade seat with sissy-bar). It blew up when on a holiday, was stripped and then ignored for a few years. He got the bike in 1989 as a few boxes of bits and a frame from an old school friend. A large mortgage and then a family stopped him doing much to it apart from the occasional rummage around an autojumble and a lot of wishful thinking. A transfer to the night shift gave him a bit of extra funds so the Norton was finally treated to the parts she needed. Cosmetically its not standard. The rear wheel is the wrong size but both rims are Akront alloys so he is not going to the extra expense of replacing them for the sake of it. The mudguards are also wrong but they are stainless steel and again why replace for the sake of it?

He has only had it on the road for a couple of weeks and the weather has been dreadful so has not done many miles on her yet. Its his first basket case rebuild and the first bike of this age he has ridden so he's been taking it a bit steadily so far. It needs to be run in as well as its had a rebore.