Motorcycle Discussions > British Bikes

Norton 16H. Wrong gear lever?

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Tidyrob69:
Hi.
Would someone be able to identify if this gear lever is original. You have to lift your foot up and forward about 8 inches to change gear which doesn't seem right and is certainly uncomfortable. I've looked at photos of others and on some the nose of the gearlever droops towards the ground which makes sense.

cardan:

Are we looking at a 4-speed box? Norton used such a thing 1933-34-ish for its sportier models before going to the dolls head, but I think the 16H went straight from hand change to dolls head in 1935. What year is the bike?

We could muck round here, but Simon and John over at http://www.vintagenorton.com/ are experts and would no doubt know what is going on here. If you give them the engine, gearbox and frame number they can likely tell you how it all left the factory.

Do report back!

Leon

33d6:
That’s a very interesting foot change. It’s Sturmey Archers add on accessory positive stop foot change from the early 30’s period. It dates from when a positive stop foot change was an either/or option. The interesting thing isn’t that the change has what is now considered a long throw but that your bike has a foot change at all. For a short time until foot change became standard this was a rather exotic racing bike accessory.
Many bikes of the period had the rear brake on the right side and for a brief period you could have had both your fancy new foot change gear lever and the rear brake on the same side. It made for entertaining riding. This is why the British industry moved the rear brake to the left.
If I remember rightly there should be a limited adjustment option for the gear lever so you can have it sloping downwards but who knows what has been done over the lifetime of the bike.
Cheers,

R:
Yes, what year is your bike ?
That could be correct for an early 30's bike.
But for a later bike, someone has fitted an earlier box and mechanism.

The footrest is on a splined fitting, so can be adjusted, within limits.
Whether more forwards and upwards or downwards and more within
reach of the gearlever and is still comfortable is another matter.

R:
And, if that gearbox is correct for your year, and that footrest location is comfortable, you could probably have a local engineering co fabricate you up a new gearlever, with more of a downward slant. Its only a flat sheet of steel with some cuts and bends in it, then polished and chromed.
The later WD 16H levers on ebay sourced from India are now well over $100, so you probably could do just as well with locally made, although chroming will add to that.

Or, the existing one could be cut and rewelded shorter with a more downwards slant. Although the weld might look a bit ugly, unless polished and rechromed. Or welded in stainless.

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