AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Alan, what is your considered opinion about the Chinese A.J.S. ? As an owner you are more qualified than most of us to give advice based on your experience. And does The Beloved approve ?
Best regards.

And while your at it Alan, what about three wheels!

quote:
I guess from these comments that anyone that buys a new Norton will get the same comments form the Norton owners club. It has nothing in common with the original bike other than the name.

Saw a headline that made me buy the motor cycle news - "Norton to compete this years TT on brand new bike" or some such.
Once i started to read the artical (on pages 4&5, headline on front page) I found the engine was from Aprilia - the v4 1000cc - the frame is being made by Spondon, the suspension Ohlins, brakes Brembo etc etc. The artical went on to say it was being assembled by Norton at Donnington and was at great pains to point out that parts such as the throttle bodies were actually being made there too!
How on earth is that a Norton? Aprilia engined Spondon chassis surely makes it an Aprilia derived special, certainly not a Norton race bike!
Thank heavens they seem to be resisting the temptation to call it a "Manx"

what country made the bike or what its called is not the issue.

quote:
4 pages on and the same old arguments! 2 wheels is good, 4 wheels bad!!


Good heavens, paraphrasing George Orwell now!

There you go ,you see, was it George Orwell, or was it Eric Blair?

Personally don't have a problem where in the Far East the new AJS are made....just as long as they are well made. None of the big four Japanese manufacturers make commuters in Japan,they are all outsourced to India,China etc. The Honda CG 125 is a very good design which can trace it's roots back more than thirty years. As for the Norton racing thread,back in the day many of the original British racing machines used bought in engines ,gearboxes etc (JAP, Sturmey Archer et al)so utilising the Aprilia V4 engine makes good sense.Spondon have close links to the new Norton set-up ,having had major design input to the frames for the current range of road machines.....if it allows a recognised British manufacturer to re-enter the sporting world,then well and good.Remember,Aprilia used a Rotax V twin in their first range of 4 stroke 'bikes. Motorcycle manufacturers are following the car trade in out-sourcing design and develpoment work (Mercedes--McLaren, BMW--Alpina......Triumph---Cosworth) it is vitally important that we invest in the engineering R&D side....this is the only way we can compete.......all strength to John Bloor at Hinkley...even though he has factories producing components (and some 'bikes) in Thailand. Shirt-r,after doing your proper test (Direct Access or other) a restricted, second-hand Triumph Bonneville might fit the bill...style wise Then as you progress,get it de-restricted.....they have excellent residuals

quote:
There you go ,you see, was it George Orwell, or was it Eric Blair?


Orwell surely, from Animal Farm "4 legs good, 2 legs bad"

Regarding Norton's TT entry, yes I know many manufacturers used engines such as JAP back in the day, and Aprilia used Rotax in there 2 stroke bikes as well, the RS 125 and 250 which competed in GP. My gripe was more about the news paper headline then the watered down facts. Spondon do a lot of race development for race teams such as Moto 2 and Moto 3 and deserve much credit for there desing and success, but I still have issue with an Aprilia engined, Spondon chassis bike being called a Norton. We call a triumph/norton a triton, a triumph/bsa a tribsa, perhaps this should be called a "Sportonilla"

first Nortons used Peugeot engines.....


and an anagram of chinese AJS is china Jesse......oooh get herEdited by - itma on 21 Apr 2012 6:04:10 PM

Sorry David, George Orwell's real name was Eric Blair.