We bought it a couple of years ago as a budget project (to build a road-legal track hack for under £1,000) – and this is how it ended up. It’s all together and running, starts off the button, and all the right gears are in the ‘box, and even select in the right order. Bonus.

The paintjob is, shall we say, basic. It’s a rattle-can job done by Art Ed Andy, and he never quite got round lacquering the tank, which is looking decidedly worse than the rest of the bike (which is good going).

It’s got a one-off underseat exhaust made by JHS (it’s insanely loud!), a GSX-R tail unit, track rearsets, R1 headlights, and uprated rear shocks (god knows what they’re off), and new Renthals. The master cylinder is off an old GSX-R750. Ignoring the general wrongness of it – there’s not really anything actually wrong with it, bar a decent bit of clutch rattle when it’s not engaged, and a flat spot in the mid-range. The tyres have only done about 40 miles too…

All-in-all it’s a fun little bike. You could slap a numberplate and rear light on it for a MOT and tear up the neighbourhood, or you could take the headlights off and trackday it to death. Either way, for £500, you can’t have much more fun (or very high expectations). The inch of dust covering it is completely free of charge, and offers instant weight-loss opportunities for the new owner.

So – fancy it? Contact Moby if you do. The price is £500, and there are a couple of original spares to go with it.

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So with a heavy heart I’m selling a couple of bikes. First out the door is my lovely Sherco 2.5 trials bike. She’s a 2002 model, and really is in very tidy condition. Clearly it’s not immaculate, but I’d hazard a guess that the previous owners have been about as capable at trials riding as I am, and it certainly doesn’t look like it’s ever been campaigned up and down rocky outcrops with all the sympathy of a serial killer.

It starts first or second kick, has had regular changes of gear oil, and I’ve just drained and renewed the fork oil too. All the gears are in the ‘box, it rides beautifully, and will climb things I would never dare consider. The tyres are good, and there’s no badgered, bent or buggered bits to bodge around.

I’m looking for a very reasonable £1,000ono, so drop me a line at ‘Moby‘ if you fancy taking it off my hands… (More pics available on request.)

Moby

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In the case of the new Norton Commando, it seems, almost double. The last month has seen the exciting new Norton Commando 961 SE being delivered to a very few lucky customers, those with £15,995 to hand. It’s a welcome return to the fold, after so many promises over the years that the brand would return.

Anyone remember the Norton Nemesis V8? It looks laughable now, but at the time like it belonged in Star Trek. And, the engine was being designed by an engine guru from the car world, Al Melling. We now know that most of the hype and blurb didn’t come from Melling, but another bike publication that even had the temerity to push one of the models down a hill, in a lame-arse effort to show how close it was to reality. Sadly, the Nemesis will go down in time as one of the great disappointments relating to the Norton marque.

The new Norton manufacturers have already done far better, by actually putting their fine-looking Commando in to production. The first one was delivered only a couple of weeks ago but already, there’s one up for sale. Really want a 961 SE? Well, one fella has already put his new purchase up on eBay, for the princely sum of £26,000. An enterprising move, but despite the recent financial disasters there are still plenty of people out there with lots of it. The kind of people who can’t stand waiting-lists. You may think he’s mad, but if it sells he can go back on the list and wait, having essentially paid for two-thirds of the replacement, for nowt. Fair play!

BJ

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