Living in the shadows
The other day, a friend called me to ask my thoughts on whether he should buy a swinging arm, pre-Featherbed Norton ES2. My immediate response was ‘yes’ though then I thought I’d better make some attempts to qualify that opinion. My conclusion comes from experiences with the model, and in addition it all came on the back of Richard Rosenthal extolling the virtues of the ‘Easy two’ in his YWA piece last month, while our columnist and long-term contributor Roy Poynting is an admirer and owner of the model too.
The longevity and sheer breadth of variety of ES2s intrigues me, while I’m fortunate enough to have experienced all of the post Second World War offerings, including having owned a 1949 Garden Gate model, which did exactly as one would expect, plus covering quite a few miles on the other variants too – namely swinging arm (in Malta), Featherbed (in Scotland) and even a Mk.II (so the rebadged AJS/Matchless basically), in the west country. I’ve also ridden a few others too, but those ones I actually covered a decent mileage on.
The beginning of the ES2 story (which starts around the 1927 TT really) is of particular interest, while the origins of the name always provoke website) or Extra Specification.
