pixie

Thanks, maybe you had the 7E type box rather typical of Albion style , think I'll stick to 3-ish speeds , besides I've hardly used those ! Did once lap the flywheel after Preisthouse stump bashing . I gather from Armours that many fit the 2F type silencer and a Greeves TFS type pipe , now I need to change Villiers S24 swiss cheese carb for smaller Mikuni , maybe off GP100 Suzuki Pixie

I also used total loss system on my Norman and ran okay. Original contacts but external condensor with a 6volt Bosch coil and a Honda 50 battery between the yolks attatched behind a hindged numberplate , that was 5.5 ah and now I use Maplins rechargeable Ni-Cad. No switch , just pull off spade connector , less to breakdown. pixie

Oh makes me feel right at home . Thanks very much for those , perhaps I can see where I'm going wrong . Anyone used Mikuni carb on one of these , think maybe 22mm would do ? pixie

Well you might not understand if you buy out of the box stuff and my name is not dude ...Ca'va . a'bientot

Hi I wonder as a new member if there are any of you out there with experience of modding the pre 9E engines . I'm hoping to get back into trialling my Norman fitted with mildly modded 8E . If we start with the exhaust I made a tidy but confused system with the front pipe crossing over from left to right around the front downtube and over the top of the flywheel / gearbox to enter a transverse tubular pot of two chambers and very short with the tailpipe blowing down onto the rear chain . Neat yes , confusing the charge I suspect so No.1 on my list; any thoughts ? Would like to keep it high level really , considered just cut and shut of standard silencer from Armours . Next up is the S24 Villiers carb as these seem to go porous with time , so a Mikuni or a carb of MZ 125/150and rubber mounted onto original stub-fitting manifold . Porting is all standard as I've never seen inside a successful barrel , just 40thou skimmed of the top of the iron barrel . Ignition I am happy with after a tree-stump collided with the outside flywheel and sheared most of the 6 screws so drill and tap out to next size and remove the original coils . Now it runs original points with 6volt coil snug by that exhaust and a Honda 50 battery between the Armstrong forks and behind a hindged nunberplate . Gearbox was the only one available at the time 23 years ago ; a 12D 125 model and means unless I'm going for it down a mountain that bottom gear is it ! I think I just have a roadster 197 box in bits or maybe more , 2 gears would be nice if confusing to an old timer . Only 4-speeder 9E box I have is running my lathe ! Many thanks Pixie

As one of those who chose to leave the UK a few years ago with his bikes ( resting in the barn ). I'm happy to find this site and look forward to some interesting exchanges . I used to persaude a bitsa Norman around VMCC trials so I hope to carry on as we have a lot of country around us , albeit with gun-totting hunters around in Winter . The bike was 2T engined with Armstrong forks so I simply fitted what I had ; an 8E motor and went from there . A bit long so one night after failing to get around sections I unbolted the front downtube and with a rope pulled the wheels closer until I had a more Greeves-like wheelbase .voila it turned . Outside flywheel took a beating so coils went and kept original contacts to fire total loss 6volt system using Honda 50 battery between the forks , works all day and cheap . S24 carb and exhaust still problem as is my tuning but it is fun . Thanks for reading this , Pixie