Author Topic: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle  (Read 10751 times)

Offline Manxmodder

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Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« on: February 10, 2014, 11:51:27 AM »
I have seen this stunning piece on display at the National Motorcycle Museum,several years ago, so I just thought I'd share a link to an image of it for the forum's interest.

Note the attention to detail with the oil can and the drip and puddle of oil beside it  :jaw:

http://web.bethere.co.uk/kielder/motorcycle04_photos/38_woodnorton.jpg
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Offline John Rudd

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2014, 01:53:59 PM »
I visited the NMCM some years back and what a place :clap:

They were shifting one or two bikes around the place and let me have a sit on one....Got some snaps somewhere of the event..... Got to be worth a look.

The place is well worth a visit if anyone is around that area.....highly recommended.. :thumbup:
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Offline millwright

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2014, 04:30:04 PM »
The Norton spent some time on show at Squires Coffee Bar in Sherburn in Elmet near Leeds.
More details can be found here,
 
 http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/12185/lot/520/

John

Offline micktoon

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2014, 05:13:10 PM »
Wow , that is some build !! , I would like to see more info on the build if I could, cheers for that link too John , it still did not go into too much detail of how say the chain etc was done, I bet that £22,000 would still not work out too much per hour in the end mind. A total work of art  :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

  Cheers Mick

Offline John Stevenson

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2014, 05:18:15 PM »
I wonder if the wooden one has the same knock / :wave:
John Stevenson

Offline millwright

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2014, 05:39:20 PM »
Mick,
The chain is wood all fabricated from individual pieces as per a proper bike  chain,
think it would be a challenge to carve from solid!!!
John

Offline Manxmodder

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2014, 01:15:50 AM »
Wow , that is some build !! , I would like to see more info on the build if I could, cheers for that link too John , it still did not go into too much detail of how say the chain etc was done, I bet that £22,000 would still not work out too much per hour in the end mind. A total work of art  :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

  Cheers Mick

Hi Mick,making the chain would be fairly straightforward but somewhat tedious if you disassembled a real metal chain and used the outer link and inner link components as templates to cut and shape the wooden ones.

 A far quicker and more consistent method would be to use a CNC mill to machine elongated profiles of the inner & outer links onto rectangular blocks of a dense timber(beech maybe)and then repeatedly slice of thin veneers from the profiled piece thus giving you a large number of links in a relatively short time.

I believe the rollers and through pins could be successfully machined from Ramin doweling with the pin ends being bonded to the outer plates,or even swaged to give an authentic riveted assembly as per original.

The thing that's easy to overlook when looking at the engine & gearbox of this wonderful wooden Norton sculpture is the fact that old school pattern makers made wooden replicas of all the cast components necessary to make the real thing in ally or magnesium,and did so on a daily basis.

If you have a bit of spare time to kill(an extra lifetime maybe :lol:) you may be tempted to make a life size wooden replica of the super sexy Honda 250cc six cylinder racer,It would certainly be different and worth a few shillings.

Here is a link to a 1/2 size scale model made by, industrial designer, Chuck Kraeuter  :drool:  :drool:.....OZ.
  http://www.bikeexif.com/model-motorcycle


 
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Offline micktoon

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2014, 06:04:30 PM »
Hi Oz , I have just had a chance to see the half size replica now ..............what can you say..............I thought it was going to say he had been on for six years or something 166days !!! :bugeye:  he must go at it  :dremel: , total quality work  :drool: :drool:
  Cheers Mick.

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2014, 04:26:02 AM »
I wonder if the wooden one has the same knock / :wave:

Or leaks as much oil.

Offline John Stevenson

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2014, 04:44:17 AM »
I was up the motor cycle museum a couple of months ago. This bike is in the foyer with others so admission isn't needed to see this if you are strapped for time or cash.

The museum is on the M5 / A45 island for the NEW and airport, and I mean on the island, the entry road for the car park is off the island.

One warning, there are 5 halls of bikes and one bike is a lot like another. I went about 18 months ago on my own as i was on a service call in the area. I wandered about,and I am really interested in bikes but after 20 minutes my brain went into overload / tilt and I couldn't take in what i was seeing and left very disappointed, not with the place but with myself.

Went back a couple of months later with a fried who wanted to visit and because we have someone to bounce views at each other we spent a good and enjoyable 2 to 3 hours there.

Last trip was with another friend who wanted to visit [ didn't realise I had two friends ? ] and although quite close to the last visit i still enjoyed it.

So the moral is, if you go, take a friend, don't be a Billy No Mates and go on your own, you won't enjoy it.
John Stevenson

Offline awemawson

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2014, 05:10:59 AM »
"Went back a couple of months later with a fried ......"

I'm surprised they let you in with cooked food   :ddb:
Andrew Mawson
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Offline mattinker

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2014, 07:43:38 AM »
I wonder if the wooden one has the same knock / :wave:

Or leaks as much oil.

It probably leaks resin instead!

Matthew

Offline Manxmodder

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Re: Wooden Manx Norton Motorcycle
« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2014, 01:48:38 PM »
In fairness to the breed neither the Manx Norton,the AJS 7R or the G50 leak oil if the engine is assembled with the correct level of diligence as would be applied by an experienced race engine builder.

I have had about 10years hands on involvement with the classic motorcycle racing scene and have seen many of these engines externally as dry as a bone,even after being thrashed at race pace over 4 laps of the Isle of Man TT course.

Poor attention to detail = leaky motors in my book.......OZ.
Helixes aren't always downward spirals,sometimes they're screwed up