Founded in 1898 the first Norton motorcycles were not built built until 1902 and used proprietary engines until 1907, when designed by company founder James Lansdowne Norton the long-stroke side valve single cylinder 633cc motor was introduced and became known as the ‘Big 4’ model. Smaller capacity versions followed, but it was the 490cc engine introduced in 1911 that become the main production motor for the following 50 years with many revisions along the way.
This stunning 16H was purchased by the last owner from Verralls Motorcycles in 2009. A non running but complete example not much prior history is known. An RF60 buff log book with the bike dated 1948 shows it was owned by one gentleman from then until 1960 and was attached to a sidecar. The new owner – an engineer himself, set about a comprehensive restoration resulting in the absolute stunning example. Now a solo motorcycle it retains its original DD4850 registration number and is great running order. Soon celebrating its 101st birthday this is a truly pioneering motorcycle in fantastic condition all round.