History of Norton Motorcycles
1935 Norton TT Team
James Lansdowne Norton, was a remarkable man. He was born in Birmingham in 1869 and raised in a strictly religious middle class family. He was apprenticed to a toolmaker when he left school and was soon involved in making bicycle chains. Work was interrupted when he suffered a severe bout of rheumatic fever when he was 19. The attack was so bad that the doctor advised that a sea trip would be the best form of convalescence, and in 1888, he went to New York and back on one of the new Trans Atlantic liners.
The trip helped but he suffered ill health all his life which prematurely aged him and led him to be nicknamed “Pa” whilst still a TT competitor. His next milestone came in 1898, when he set up the Norton Manufacturing Company in Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham.
One of his friends was Charles Riley Garrard, a wealthy entrepreneur, who decided that the new craze was a potential money-spinner. At that time, the French were pioneers, and in 1902, Garrard concluded a deal to import Clement engines which he would build into bicycles and market as the Clement-Garrard.
Norton was soon building frames for Garrard and in November 1902 advertised the first Norton, called the Energette. It was claimed to be the “ideal doctors bike” and suitable for business, touring and racing.
In addition to building frames for Garrard, and his own Energette, Norton had been expanding the components side of the business. It was obvious that Norton had decided to diversify. The name Energette was dropped in November 1903 and this was the first hint that a larger machine was on its way.
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The History of BSA Motorcycles
BSA was founded in 1861, originally in the gun trade. They produced their first motorcycle in 1903 and their first motor car in 1907. They purchased Daimler in 1910.
World War 1 saw the company return to manufacturing arms and it greatly expanded its operations. They produced rifles, guns, shells, motorcycles and other vehicles for the war effort. After the war, BSA bought assets in Airco, however, they did not go into aviation.
By World War II, BSA had 67 factories. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. During the war it produced over a million Lee-Enfield rifles, Sten sub machine guns and half a million Browning machine guns. Wartime demands included motorcycle production. 126,000 BSA M20 motorcycles were supplied to the armed forces.
BSA continued to expand the range of metal goods it produced. The BSA Group bought Triumph Motorcycles in 1951, making them the largest producer of motorcycles in the world. The cycle and motor cycle interests of Ariel, Sunbeam and New Hudson were also acquired.
The Group continued to expand throughout the 1950s but by 1965 competition from Japan and Europe was eroding BSA’s market share.
Reorganisation in 1971 concentrated motorcycle production at Meriden, with production of components and engines at BSA’s Small Heath. At the same time there were redundancies and the selling of assets and Barclays Bank arranged financial backing to the tune of 10 million.
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