Starting next week, the mercury, if one has to believe the weather forecast, is going to dive well below the 0° Celcius. Not unusual of course as we’re half in december. Today it already wasn’t warm neither, but I wanted to take the Norton out anyway.
When it is cold, there is one positive thing about having to kick-start a Norton; it warms the body.
After the Norton started and warmed up a bit, I went to Sèvres. At the trafic lights, I was joined by a scooterrider who told me that riding a Norton is a real joy and he once rented a Norton too in India. I didn’t even know that they have/had Nortons in India, that’s quite far out. He also asked if mine was running fine. Sure, most of the time, I just didn’t tell him that it took 10 minutes to start her
At the same time, an other biker followed me in the direction of Chaville and stopped next to me at the next trafic lights, also looking at the Norton and asked from what year my Norton was. Mine is from ’73. As the Commando is one of the last models made by Norton, someone who knows a bit Norton Commando’s could actually see it, because there are some differences between the MKI, MKII and MKIII models.
I didn’t go far though, I don’t like the cold, so I headed back home for a hot cup of coffee. Starting from now, I’m afraid that the Norton will have to wait for a while for better weather.