Norton matchless motorcycles

That was the G12, with the basic road-going model having valanced fenders and a reliable 7. It was also designed to incorporate a Lucas alternator, though still with six-volt electrics. A new frame with twin downtubes now welded to the full cradle was developed, which did help in reducing the vibration inherent in a vertical twin using a degree crankshaft, although the single-tube frame was also used. The motorcycle seen here, which was built from bits and pieces, has a G12 engine in a single downtube frame.

And with 5. The basic G12 had inch wheels, while this CS was running inchers. Distance between the axles was a little more than 55 inches. Brakes were single-leading-shoe drums, an eight-incher on the front, seven on the back.

One interesting bit of history is that the Matchless marque was originally sold in the U. He did quite well selling singles to win desert races, though the twins were not as popular. In , AMC acquired financially troubled Norton, although Norton production and sales remained quite separate, the U. And AMC summarily fired Cooper, after 14 years of good work.

However, AMC filed for bankruptcy in Cooper must have laughed , resulting in Matchless being merged more closely with Norton, and Berliner having to deal with Matchless as well. In early , J. Matchless Corp. Not surprisingly, interest in the G12 waned considerably. The last Matchless ad I could find in a U. At the time British bureaucrats, knowing nothing about motorcycles, thought they could save the industry by merging Matchless, AJS and Norton into the company of an affluent entrepreneur and racecar driver, Dennis Poore.

Poore was already looking after the Villiers engineering firm, which made most of the British two-stroke motorcycle engines. It arrived frustratingly late but when it finally got there it was a beautiful bike with a red tank and lots of chrome. It was a joy to ride while I lived in Paris and later when I toured many parts of western Europe circling down through Italy to Grease and later across the Mediterranean coast to Spain then back to the Atlantic coast of France and finally to Paris once again.

They must have had a few more left over than was realised as over seven thousand Atlas hybrids were produced at Plumstead between late and late The main reason for this was the number of variants produced from basically two types of machines i. Also nearly all the machines hid behind designation numbers and letters instead of names as was the habit of AMC.

Most classic motorcycle enthusiasts could probably describe a Norton Atlas quite well, but ask them to describe a Norton G. Let us attempt to unravel a few small mysteries that surround these machines, but first a bit of history, so please pay attention as I will be asking questions later.

Between and , Norton produced a small number of U. These used 77 type frames, the cc Nomad approx. In , Matchless produced the G. By the G. It was also down on power output in comparison with the Triumph Bonneville TC scrambler.

It was therefore decided to increase the capacity of the engine to cc. AMC produced touring models as the forerunners to the intended scramblers. These were designated the G.

However they proved to be even more fragile than the cc version when ridden hard, so any thoughts of the scrambler variant were put aside. Frustrating to say the least for AMC who knew there was a huge market in the U. Meanwhile at Bracebridge Street, the Atlas was proving itself after some minor teething troubles, such as the engines blowing up just as its namesake, the Atlas Agaena rocket had done in the U.

However this was soon corrected and the engine was now fast proving to be reliable, as was the rocket. Back at AMC things were getting worse. Their top of the range road model the G. This was certainly not in keeping with the very handsome and sporty lines of the machine.

So we now had this strange situation whereby the beautifully engineered AMC cc and cc engines were proving to be unreliable when worked hard, and yet their subsidiary company, Norton Motors' cc Atlas engines, although a little crude were now reliable and were also producing more power.

How embarrassing. So what happened next? Nortons desperately needed a new factory and what is more they had the money to purchase one which they had already inspected.

They just required the confirmation to proceed from their parent company. AMC did not give this. Instead they ordered Norton to send them the 'factory money', closed Bracebridge Street down and moved production of all models to Plumstead.

It would be a little naive to think that the two main points in this series of events, i. However it must be remembered that AMC were now fighting for survival. They already had a proven frame for scrambling, the Featherbed would break below the headstock but no reliable engine to power it, then all these Atlas engines and 'Roadholder' forks and wheels mysteriously appeared at Plumstead.

In November a batch of Norton hybrids were leaving the Plumstead factory en-route to the American distributor, Berliner. When they arrived at their destination they would be the first delivery of the new Norton Atlas Scramblers and were the most powerful production desert-racers ever to be produced at that time.

The prototype had already been thoroughly tested on the rough at Hawkstone Park by Chris Horsfield. This was the start of a four-year production run for the Atlas powered G. All these machines used a new frame similar to the G. The robust swinging-arm was of the Matchless type, but also redesigned to accept a Norton rear wheel. The arm pivoted on a hardened steel hollow spindle, the outside diameter of which ran in phosphor-bronze 'oilite' bushes pressed into large lugs on each side of the front of the fork.

This spindle was supported by its centre portion in a sturdy single cast lug which was pinned and brazed to the vertical tube forming the rear section of the main frame, the spindle being locked in position by way of a cotter.

The front forks used stanchions which were 2" longer than the Featherbed version and had special 'Teledraulic' type two-way damping and external springs hidden by steel cover tubes in preference to rubber gaiters, along with standard Roadholder alloy sliders. The forward engine mounting lugs were positioned to accept the latest twin carburettor version of the Atlas engine. The left side crankcase half was machined to take the AMC cast alloy primary chaincase and the gearbox shell was of the A.

Note to restorers: apart from colour options offered by the distributor, this purple-red was the stock finish and only two prototypes were in silver. The petrol tank used Norton transfers on the sides and had a single black coach-line outlined in white.

A straight through exhaust system with slightly upswept ends and no silencers was employed. Contemporary photographs of a silver prototype sometimes showed the machine with the large AMC silencers. The factory used that same machine to test components for the intended touring model. The mudguards were in chrome and had a centre rib, which were similar to those used on the G.

This first batch also used non-folding footrests and the Lucas K2FC competition magneto. Subsequent batches had folding footrests and a standard K2F magneto. The reason for the change of magneto apart from cost was that it was very difficult to undo the pickup holder screws due to the close proximity of the gearbox.

The machines came complete with a 12 volt lighting system. As all subsequent G. It was not long before Mike Patrick the desert-racing star was notching up wins on one of these lb. The Matchless version was finished in chromatic Candy Apple Red and the petrol tank was silver coach-lined with pinstripe and used the round plastic badges, the engine numbers commencing at with the last batches starting to use rubber gaiters on the forks.

All these first machines went to Berliner, the main distributor in the USA. There must have been quite a hectic rush at the factory to get the scramblers built because there were a few 'oversights' on the first batches. These studs were shortened on all subsequent Atlas engines.

Another problem was in the adjusting of the magneto chain or taking off the magneto. Once again because of the close proximity of the gearbox to the engine, the nut on the bottom magneto fixing stud was inaccessible. Approximately N. Closely based on its predecessor, the Atlas Scrambler, the N. The frame was still the bolt-on rear G12 type. A slimmer seat was fitted, which necessitated moving the oil tank inwards a little. The petrol tank was altered, and instead of the Norton transfer used on the Atlas Scramblers, now had the round plastic badge.

The standard colour was Candy Apple Red, a different red to that used on the Atlas Scramblers, although a blue and a green were available. The mudguards were smaller than on its predecessor and the exhaust system was now fitted with standard Norton silencers. This model was fitted with Norton brakes whereas some of the other hybrids had the Matchless components. The Matchless alloy primary chaincase must have been an improvement over the dreadful pressed tin Norton affair.

Shipped back to the factory at Plumstead for evaluation, this resulted in the first production Model P11 in March The G85 frame had to have a few structural modifications carried out to accept the Atlas engine, and the forks were strengthened. The wheels were not changed. A number of the cycle parts were constructed from alloy, including a central oil tank, the mudguards and the front wheel rim.

This all helped to reduce the overall weight of the machine. The ignition was coil capacitor and the carburettors were Amal Concentrics.