Why Norton Dominators make lousy farm bikes
It’s late 1960s again and I was on a Teaching Studentship doing an Arts degree at Monash University in suburban Melbourne (colloquially called ‘the Farm’ – so called because there were still cows grazing on campus). Meanwhile my motorcycling mate Simon was attempting an Engineering degree at the University of Melbourne (colloquially called ‘the Shop’ because it was located in the city.)
Their cultures were very different. Established in 1853 ‘the Shop’ was politically conservative and aspired to academic achievement, while Monash, which had only been open a few years, was contemporary modern and had a reputation for being politically radical. To use a motorcycling metaphor, if ‘the Shop’ was like a traditional British parallel twin road bike, then ‘the Farm’ was a modern rorty Japanese dirt bike. At the time of this story, Farrer Hall, the second oldest residential college at Monash was under construction. The building site was on the top of a man-made dirt hill which provided the option of doing a bit of Motocross riding on the way home from Uni.
One Friday afternoon rather than heading into the city to gaze upon the Shop’s ‘dreaming spires’, I invited Simon to come out to Monash on his 1956 Norton Dominator 99, having decided that Simon should share doing the same sort of dirt-bike style riding that I’d been practising on my Velocette MSS 500 cc single. There was this reasonably steep dirt track up to the flat top of the Farrer Hall hill when at terminal velocity I would soar into the air on the comparatively light single-cylinder Velo while pulling the handlebars up and pushing down on the foot-pegs to ensure that the rear wheel hit the ground first. Simon was following me closely up the hill. I had just landed safely, when I heard an almighty ‘CRASH’ sound directly behind me. Confronted with the crumpled heap of Simon and Domi the emerging teacher in me conjectured that ‘the rear wheel must land first’ message somehow got lost in translation between the Arts student and the Engineer-in-training.
Here is Simon’s own account of his maiden flight: “Rob had suggested we traverse the grassy fields and hill to Farrer Hall on the way to his home, so off he went with me in hot pursuit. Reaching the steep hill, youthful exuberance encouraged me to gun the Domi in second gear intent on catching him before the top. As it turned out, a practice run would have been invaluable. Instead, the Domi launched mightily into the air, effectively out of control. I don’t remember the landing or much else until waking up in the ambulance, Rob cradling my head, and me chundering uncontrollably.”
What had happened was the front wheel had landed first and so the perfect parabolic flight-path of the Dominator ended with the famous Norton ‘Road-holder’ forks being fully compressed under the combined weight of the 408 lb road bike plus rider before decompressing and flinging Simon up and over the handlebars, his right thumb hyperextending as it deflected from the throttle grip, this being the last point of contact between body and bike. Simon had landed on his helmet-protected head and was knocked unconscious. I ran to the construction site office and rang for an ambulance, rang Simon’s parents to let them know what had happened, and after arranging for the bikes to be looked after, I accompanied him in the ambulance to Prince Henry’s hospital where he was admitted through Casualty for observation and his broken wrist treated.
At first I blamed only myself for this misadventure, for enticing Simon to ride a road bike like a dirt bike and not emphasising “the rear wheel must touch-down first” rule sufficiently; while
Simon blamed himself for his lack of experience in low-level flying. However after a bit more thought, I have now concluded that there was also an issue of motorcycle design.
The Dominator 99 was fitted with the famous Norton “Featherbed” frame. It was originally designed to accommodate the single cylinder Manx racing engine, but in Dominator trim it was housing a 600cc parallel twin with iron barrels, a much heavier motor. You only have to look at old footage of a Manx leaping over Ballaugh Bridge on the Isle of Man TT circuit to know that these bikes could jump and land correctly, but the rider’s racing crouch places his/her weight directly over the rear wheel, whereas the more upright seating on the Dominator places the rider’s weight further forward. What’s more, note in the photo that heavy lump of an engine is located in a fairly forward position in the frame.
If this is so, it explains why when Simon was on his first solo flight the front wheel came crashing down first, the impact of which sent him flying! He never got into dirt riding after that, instead concentrating on road riding on terra firma. To sum it all up, the Norton Dominator 99 was a great bike which handled superbly on the open road, but it made a lousy choice of bike to ride on ‘the farm’.