Norton Motorcycles Service Repair Manuals and Replacement Parts Catalog

Norton Motorcycles (UK) Ltd is a British motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1898 by James Lansdowne Norton in Birmingham as a manufacturer of "fittings and components for two-wheeled vehicles." In 1902, Norton began manufacturing motorcycles. In 1912, the company went into complete bankruptcy and Robert Shelley bought its debts. In 1953, the company went bankrupt again and was bought by the Associated Motorcycles (AMC). At the end of 2008, Stuart Garner, a businessman from the UK, bought the rights to the Norton brand and resumed production in the Midlands (Donington Park), where the new Norton motorcycle line was launched.

Norton was incorporated in 1898 by James Lansdowne Norton at Birmingham, Bradford Street, 320. In 1902, Norton began building motorcycles with Belgian Clement engines. In 1907, Norton began to equip his motorcycles with French Peugeot engines. On such a motorcycle, Rem Fowler won the first Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (Isle of Man TT) race in the two-cylinder class in 1907, which marked the beginning of sports traditions that continued until 1960. This, the most prestigious race of those times, Norton won 10 times before the Second World War, and then every year from 1947 to 1954.

Norton's first proprietary engines were installed in 1908 on the Norton Big Four. It was a single-cylinder engine with a mechanical drive of valves; it and the Norton Big Four continued to be produced with minor changes until the end of the 1950s.

The first Norton logo was simple enough - the name Norton was spelled in capital letters. The new logo, which appeared on the cover of the catalog in 1914, was developed by James Lansdowne Norton together with his daughter Ethel. It became known as “Kinky N,” and was actually used by the company on motorcycles in 1915. In 1912, sales declined. Firm R.T. Shelley & Co., a major lender, intervened and saved Norton from bankruptcy. Soon after, Norton Motors Ltd was established as part of a joint management of James Norton and Bob Shelley. Norton died in April 1925 at the age of 56, but he saw the factory team win the Tourist Trophy in 1924.

Walter Moore's new chief designer in 1927 created the Norton CS1 with an overhead camshaft (OHC) engine. After leaving NSU in 1930, Arthur Carroll developed a completely new engine that became the basis for all subsequent OHC and DOHC engines. Of the 9 Isle of Man TT races between 1931 and 1939 in high school (500 cm³), Norton won 7 races.

Until 1934, Norton bought gearboxes and clutches from Sturmey-Archer. In 1934, Norton bought the rights to this design and began to produce its own gearboxes.

During the war, Norton motorcycles served in the allied forces - more than 100 thousand cars were produced in those years.