Whats this Norton ?

[Jonny The Goat]

Have a lead on a barn find Norton. I am no expert. It's said to be a 40's bike. Is it a WD16 ? Engine looks like photos I see but were they rigid frames?
            Cheers, Jon

[mini-me]

looks like it was once a WD Norton

sprung rear end conversion like this were common mods all over the world where unwanted or surplus WD machines were sold off/scrapped /abandoned

personally I'd scrap it as it will have need kept going by all sorts of bodge methods.
where was it found?

take some better pics, engine/frame numbers etc and ask on here

http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3155626639&frmid=16&cmd=show

they are the best place to go for info on wd stuff.

be prepared for it to have fake engine and frame numbers, originals nearly always overstamped to suit local beaurocracy

[Jonny The Goat]

It came up with a few other things. I bought a 39 Rudge 250 engine cheap in a unknown frame, anyone have any ideas?. Will stick a photo of that on to see if anyone can ID it. There is also a old Triumph I may have if the price is right. Its a Tiger I think, its the bike in the old photo but now in lots of parts. 

[iansoady]

I think scrapping it is a bit harsh. It could make quite a reasonable bike if tidied up a bit (depending of course on the state of the internals).

[mini-me]

The guys on the link I gave have full records for WD machines, they will give you chapter and verse on it if it ha sthe correct engine/frame numbers.
They will also dismay you with the cost of returning it to WD spec.
They have wide experience of WD bikes being repatriated from far flung places, and they will tell you what a mess the internals are likely to be, and other horror stories. Concensus there is mostly similar to mine,
forks alone will fetch around 500£

If you like fat heavy slugs it'll make a sort of a bike.

Sell the Rudge engine to help finance it. Frame has a hint of Triumph about.

The T100 is a far better prospect and worth flogging the other two to get it sorted.

With old bikes these days it pays to be pragmatic.

[Jonny The Goat]

I will hold onto the Rudge engine for a bit, I have some other parts gearbox and a spring front end so would like to make up a lightweight special over the winter. Have nothing for the back of the frame yet, hoping I may find something at Kempton. That's why I would like to know what its from? It looks a bit like a Triumph but the castings and lug holes are to chunky I have been told. So if anyone has a idea what its from let me know. Cheers. 

[R]

Scrap the Norton ? !!

Those rear suspension conversions are becoming prized among enthusiasts,
as examples of working improvements to the breed.
Not many have survived either...

[john.k]

I was  given a 16H/wd Norton once,tried to sell it,wasted money on ads,no takers,so I did scrap it.Now I self flagellate every St Eustices day.Chanting...engine$1000, dolls head box.$1000,front forks $1000,frame $1000, wheels and drums$1000,and so on until I lapse in unconsciousness.An experience so searing,it has turned me into a crazy hoarder with his own TV spot.Unfortunately too late to hoard much cheap motorbike stuff.Regards John.[PS St E is the patron saint of those unfortunates who sell a Faberge Egg for 2/6 at a car boot sale,and find out what it was worth six months later on the Antiques Roadshow.

[mini-me]

I was once given five M20s circa 1964, left them for the scrap man.No regrets.
lots more since, although I do confess to the odd pang of Conscience when I remember the  half decent stuff I broke for spares or 'improved' back then
Triumphs by the bucket, Velos, Nortons, all sorts

much as I have been riding obselete bikes since I was 16, [ back then there was veteran vintage and junk, none of this 'classic', 'emerging classic' nonsense. I have never subscribed to this recent notion that every pile of junk needs to be saved and restored at great expense to its "former glory", hardly any old bikes had glory of any kind.
far better to break it up and keep a better project going.

I have seen far too many decent bikes, far better than the junk thats on offer these days going to the scrap yard to wax sentimental over some doggy mutilated sidevalve.

Thats just my opinion of course, yours is wrong

[Jonny The Goat]

First, can I check that when you say Scrap it you mean break it and sell the parts? I hope you do not mean stick it in the crusher and weigh it in Ether way I will not do that if I buy it. I know you can make more money that way but I can't bring myself to do it, someone else may who buys it from me but as long as I get a profit from the complete bike I would be happy. I may though as what normally happens just find a place in one of my garages, squeeze it in and keep it. Not telling the wife
 

[mini-me]

yes break it, the sum of the parts is probably greater than the whole
Or sell it as is and put the cash toward something decent like the T100, which will soak up a pile of cash as it is.

Its your bike to do as you like, but you need to stand back and take a hard look at it.
I can only speak with the accumulated predjudices of 51 years on old bikes.
Some bikes are just not worth the effort.
among them I class scabby
hacked about, recovered from some armpit country, ex wd 16H Nortons.
If you had found one in an as found 1945 condition that would be a different matter.
I can almost guarantee the inside of yours will be a real mess,seen too many of them.

However, the lesson is yours to learn.

Its a shame your pics are too small to pick out a lot of detail, can't expand they just pixillate

[mark2]

looks ok to me you might get it running and ride as is for some slow fun  , the front section with the rudge engine looks very triumph

[mini-me]

for slow fun I walk the dog, but you are right there is something very reminiscent of Triumph re that frame,can't put my finger on it.

It would be interesting to know exactly where these lot were found

[john.k]

Belarus,Ukraine,Bulgaria?I can tell you that in the sixties many old bike shops closed,and the stuff was taken to the tip,because the scrappies wouldnt take bike stuff,not enough weight.When I was a kid ,a man in the street made aluminium pullies for electric motors etc,using ally from bike crankcases.I got tons of Indian and Harley iron from him free,a complete1947 SV74 Harley,less cases and box,heaps of WLA and army Indian chief stuff.The price rose quickly in the early seventies,and I did allright.Back then you couldnt give away a M20 or 16H,side valve slugs.Regards John.

[mini-me]

those of us that were around bikes in the 1960s have a really hard time convincing anyone under 55 that not every old bike was cherished in order to keep it original or save it for posterity.

I have seen really good bikes ridden into scrap yards, had bikes given me, seen them buried .

The religious fervour applied to the worship of junk is very amusing to us oldies.
 
When fools come up to me and say, referring to one of my rare bikes. "thats worth a few bob" my reply is always, 30p a kilo, or what ever price mixed scrap is fetching today.

Prices of old bikes  these days are insane.