Pictures of your Norton 961

Stephen_Spencer · Jan 18, 2024

Stephen_Spencer said:
Hey Tony,

Yes, I thought the same but it is not rubberised but a really stiff hard fibrous gasket. Or it has hardened significantly through heat transfer/ageing.

A closer look when cooled and my failure is exactly (by way of type and location) as that shown in this thread by P-Roger’s last year. Split to the RH side of the rocker cover - a second breach forming just in front - forward edge seems displaced outward of the Rocker Cover (although I don’t think it is - more likely a manufacturing/fitting irregularity).

I’ll order a new gasket from Norton and maybe a spare one from Ollie - fit whichever one arrives first. I’ll let you know who wins the delivery/price comparrison! Lots of good info in the attached thread - gotta love this forum!

Off the road until then! No big deal - this is why we have other bikes right?

Thread '2018 961 rocker gasket repair? advice?'
https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/2018-961-rocker-gasket-repair-advice.35622/

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Quick follow up. Gaskets ordered from Ollie Thiele.

- Very efficient, emails answered same day; parts dispatched the day of payment. Arrived to my door in Aus (via UPS courier) inside of a week.
- Express post is (very) expensive, so I ordered a full set.
- Quality looks very good. Better than OEM? Claimed so on the website.
- For the rocker cover gasket on the 961, Ollie recommends dry assembly - no sealant/glue. Not sure why.

Looks like failure in this spot is relatively common; worth ordering a spare. Snail mail from Ollie is pretty cheap. Worth planning ahead like I did(nt)!

special parts

THIEL-Motorsport Heilbronn

www.thiel-motorsport.de

StuartSF2015 · Jan 19, 2024

Oh, those shipping costs! I wonder if UPS use a Fujitsu computer system?

TonyA · Jan 19, 2024

Stephen_Spencer said:
Quick follow up. Gaskets ordered from Ollie Thiele.

- Very efficient, emails answered same day; parts dispatched the day of payment. Arrived to my door in Aus (via UPS courier) inside of a week.
- Express post is (very) expensive, so I ordered a full set.
- Quality looks very good. Better than OEM? Claimed so on the website.
- For the rocker cover gasket on the 961, Ollie recommends dry assembly - no sealant/glue. Not sure why.

Looks like failure in this spot is relatively common; worth ordering a spare. Snail mail from Ollie is pretty cheap. Worth planning ahead like I did(nt)!

special parts

THIEL-Motorsport Heilbronn

www.thiel-motorsport.de

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High shipping cost ! Maybe should have bought 2 rocker cover gaskets ?

Stephen_Spencer · Jan 19, 2024

TonyA said:
High shipping cost ! Maybe should have bought 2 rocker cover gaskets ?

Came to the same obvious conclusion just after placing the order. I was just about to pen an email increasing the order when I got notification it had been processed. Not often you curse a small business for being too efficient

!

Stephen_Spencer · Jan 23, 2024

Well, you don‘t see that every day! Came across this ‘legend(?) at a far flung bikers spot whilst out killing bugs at the weekend! Should’ve parked the Norton next door!

Our hero pulled in wearing t-shirt and shorts, with Chinese safety boots - no gloves (of course). Bolted on the back, you’ll see a colour matched unicycle and mount! I mean, why wouldn’t ya!

Had a quick chat and he told me that you can now buy unicycles that have brakes! “Useful on the hills” he went on to explain. As you can see, he’s definitely got safety front of mind!!

CR961 · Jan 24, 2024

I like his style. And bike(s). His choice purely. The way it should be.
With the opposite way of thinking, it is only a matter of time before motorcycling as a pursuit will be questioned. Too many wrong things with it.
I had a unicycle once as a boy. Didn´t end well.

TonyA · Jan 24, 2024

CR961 said:
With the opposite way of thinking, it is only a matter of time before motorcycling as a pursuit will be questioned. Too many wrong things with it.

I hope that day never comes .

lcrken · Jan 24, 2024

I managed to survive my 82nd birthday ride today. Being an old guy, my first stop was the pharmacy to pick up some meds.

Then a ride down to the coast, to stop by my old place of employment at Pt. Mugu. When I first went to work there it was home to the Naval Air Station and the Naval Air Missile Test Center. It morphed through a couple of other names while I was there, and is now a part of the Naval Base Ventura County.

Couldn't resist a picture at the Missile Park.

From there, I rode South on Hwy 1, turning off on Decker Canyon Road to return home through a very twisty canyon with lots of elevation changes. It's work on a bike as heavy as the 961 with a long wheelbase, and today it still had wet spots and dirt and gravel in places from the recent rain, but it was still fun.

And the obligatory picture with the ocean, at Mugu Rock.

Back at the home shop.

A good day so far

Ken

BritTwit · Jan 24, 2024

lcrken said:
I managed to survive my 82nd birthday ride today. Being an old guy, my first stop was the pharmacy to pick up some meds.

View attachment 112273

Then a ride down to the coast, to stop by my old place of employment at Pt. Mugu. When I first went to work there it was home to the Naval Air Station and the Naval Air Missile Test Center. It morphed through a couple of other names while I was there, and is now a part of the Naval Base Ventura County.

View attachment 112274

Couldn't resist a picture at the Missile Park.

View attachment 112275

From there, I rode South on Hwy 1, turning off on Decker Canyon Road to return home through a very twisty canyon with lots of elevation changes. It's work on a bike as heavy as the 961 with a long wheelbase, and today it still had wet spots and dirt and gravel in places from the recent rain, but it was still fun.

And the obligatory picture with the ocean, at Mugu Rock.

View attachment 112276

Back at the home shop.

View attachment 112277

A good day so far

Ken

Beautiful.
I hope I'll have an 82nd B'day ride like that someday.
Cheers Ken.

CR961 · Jan 25, 2024

BritTwit said:
Beautiful.
I hope I'll have an 82nd B'day ride like that someday.
Cheers Ken.

Excellent. Congratulations! You have good medication (red and norton-y). How long was the trip?
Did the base know you were coming?

TonyA · Jan 25, 2024

lcrken said:
I managed to survive my 82nd birthday ride today. Being an old guy, my first stop was the pharmacy to pick up some meds.

View attachment 112273

Then a ride down to the coast, to stop by my old place of employment at Pt. Mugu. When I first went to work there it was home to the Naval Air Station and the Naval Air Missile Test Center. It morphed through a couple of other names while I was there, and is now a part of the Naval Base Ventura County.

View attachment 112274

Couldn't resist a picture at the Missile Park.

View attachment 112275

From there, I rode South on Hwy 1, turning off on Decker Canyon Road to return home through a very twisty canyon with lots of elevation changes. It's work on a bike as heavy as the 961 with a long wheelbase, and today it still had wet spots and dirt and gravel in places from the recent rain, but it was still fun.

And the obligatory picture with the ocean, at Mugu Rock.

View attachment 112276

Back at the home shop.

View attachment 112277

A good day so far

Ken

Hi Ken , Great pics and story. If the 961 was truckish on that canyon road , a bagger must be horrifying !

lcrken · Jan 25, 2024

TonyA said:
Hi Ken , Great pics and story. If the 961 was truckish on that canyon road , a bagger must be horrifying !

But great for serious sport bikes. I encountered one group of them coming the other direction who were serious knee draggers., going waaay faster than me.

Ken

CR961 said:
Excellent. Congratulations! You have good medication (red and norton-y). How long was the trip?
Did the base know you were coming?

Nope. The area where I took the picture by the building was pretty deserted. It used to be the main security entrance, where new employees got their badges, and visitors got temporary permits, but that was moved later to what is now the main gate. I was able to reach it via frontage roads where there was almost no traffic. The base does have some restrictions about taking pictures of the facilities, but I don't think I violated any of them. My last day working there was 3 January 1996. I took an early retirement then, and worked as a government contractor with SAIC until my final retirement in December 2004. It's been fun and games ever since.

Ken

StuartSF2015 · Jan 25, 2024

lcrken said:
But great for serious sport bikes. I encountered one group of them coming the other direction who were serious knee draggers., going waaay faster than me.

Ken

Nope. The area where I took the picture by the building was pretty deserted. It used to be the main security entrance, where new employees got their badges, and visitors got temporary permits, but that was moved later to what is now the main gate. I was able to reach it via frontage roads where there was almost no traffic. The base does have some restrictions about taking pictures of the facilities, but I don't think I violated any of them. My last day working there was 3 January 1996. I took an early retirement then, and worked as a government contractor with SAIC until my final retirement in December 2004. It's been fun and games ever since.

Ken

Ah, retirement and freedom, I can’t wait. I think I’ll start acting like it now.

StuartSF2015 · Jan 26, 2024

Ambulance arrived today.
Time for the old girl to get some NHS (Norton Health Service) Motorvated and Briteworx love.

Boss302 · Jan 27, 2024

lcrken said:
I managed to survive my 82nd birthday ride today. Being an old guy, my first stop was the pharmacy to pick up some meds.

View attachment 112273

Then a ride down to the coast, to stop by my old place of employment at Pt. Mugu. When I first went to work there it was home to the Naval Air Station and the Naval Air Missile Test Center. It morphed through a couple of other names while I was there, and is now a part of the Naval Base Ventura County.

View attachment 112274

Couldn't resist a picture at the Missile Park.

View attachment 112275

From there, I rode South on Hwy 1, turning off on Decker Canyon Road to return home through a very twisty canyon with lots of elevation changes. It's work on a bike as heavy as the 961 with a long wheelbase, and today it still had wet spots and dirt and gravel in places from the recent rain, but it was still fun.

And the obligatory picture with the ocean, at Mugu Rock.

View attachment 112276

Back at the home shop.

View attachment 112277

A good day so far

Ken

Happy birthday
Do you ever make it down to Neptunes Net near Leo Carillo beach, Mulholland area?
My father was an E.E. and tested missiles around Mugu in WW11.
I've always loved rides on highway 1.
John

Stephen_Spencer · Feb 3, 2024

Fantastic ride today - 190 Km of great bikin’ roads in perfect weather. The Norton did’nt miss a beat as usual! Racking up that mileage.

Odd bedfellows indeed these two! From absolute opposites of the technology spectrum and it doesn’t matter a damn - bikin‘s bikin‘, whatever your preference! Of course I give him shit about his ‘plastic fantastic’ V my ‘British steel’, but then you‘d expect that right. “…..might wanna park that in the shade mate, don’t wannit ta melt!” - you know, the usual!

He had the last laugh of course. The Norton and its shiny tank had been getting a lot of attention, but not all of it good! Got back to the bikes after fat-boy-breakfast to find some bird had taken a big dump in the middle of my pristine tank!! Oh how he laughed!

Not a word of a lie - bird‘s still sat in the tree above the bike eyeballing me! Seems everyone has an opinion on the Norton 961 (whether they’ve ridden it or not)!

The ‘beak’ of it!!

TonyA · Feb 4, 2024

Stephen_Spencer said:
Fantastic ride today - 190 Km of great bikin’ roads in perfect weather. The Norton did’nt miss a beat as usual! Racking up that mileage.

Odd bedfellows indeed these two! From absolute opposites of the technology spectrum and it doesn’t matter a damn - bikin‘s bikin‘, whatever your preference! Of course I give him shit about his ‘plastic fantastic’ V my ‘British steel’, but then you‘d expect that right. “…..might wanna park that in the shade mate, don’t wannit ta melt!” - you know, the usual!

He had the last laugh of course. The Norton and its shiny tank had been getting a lot of attention, but not all of it good! Got back to the bikes after fat-boy-breakfast to find some bird had taken a big dump in the middle of my pristine tank!! Oh how he laughed!

Not a word of a lie - bird‘s still sat in the tree above the bike eyeballing me! Seems everyone has an opinion on the Norton 961 (whether they’ve ridden it or not)! The ‘beak’ of it!!

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View attachment 112463

Hi Steve , You have got your bike looking real nice .

lcrken · Feb 4, 2024

Boss302 said:
Happy birthday
Do you ever make it down to Neptunes Net near Leo Carillo beach, Mulholland area?
My father was an E.E. and tested missiles around Mugu in WW11.
I've always loved rides on highway 1.
John

Hi John,

I've been to Neptune's Net many times. We used to run down there for lunch a few times a year, back when I worked at Pt. Mugu. Although I retired from Pt. Mugu in 1996, and worked as a government contractor until 2004, I did stop in at the Net now and then during that period, but not very often. Since my final retirement in 2004, I've continued to stop in for lunch now and then, usually when riding with friends in the nearby canyons. I quit for a while, when they started charging for parking, but eventually came back. I think their parking fees only apply on the weekends, and maybe only in Summer. They don't mention them on their website any more, so I'm not sure what their policy is. I only go there on weekdays anyhow. They get pretty crowded on the weekends. The food is ok, but nothing special, and a bit pricey, but the view of the ocean is great.

Ken

Stephen_Spencer · Feb 14, 2024

Not my bike, but Stu’s (parts) being polished by Harry Overton in the UK. Beautiful job as ever!

Interesting approach to painting the Norton logos in black - for anyone interested in doing this, as I am. Appears to be: tape off as close as possible; spray; remove paint from unwanted areas using a cotton bud (soaked in a solvent of some kind).

Not looking to remove engine casing to do this myself, so I may need to adopt the artists paintbrush approach - AKA the awkward angle technique!

I remember Richard7 had a technique to age the logos once painted, that gave a great vintage appearance. Can’t find it, ‘‘twas a long time ago - if anybody remembers that would be great.

StuartSF2015 · Feb 18, 2024

Stephen,
I did them originally about 8 years ago with the awkward brush technique, It did help having a bike lift and workshop stool. They lasted quite well. The bike is currently having oodles of Motovated and Britworx love lavished on it and I am exited to get back out on it. I’ll post a piccy when I get my sticky mits back on it.

🏍

Pictures of your Norton 961

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