TALES FROM THE SHED
So there I was, foot poised over the tremulous kickstart of the Best Norton Ever (possibly), wondering many things, most of them to do with whether the bike would start. Or whether it wouldn’t. I mean… it held really elderly fuel in its tank and a battery which was at least a decade old and which had been flat for at least that long, so why should it actually start? I’m not sure whether I would in similar circumstances, were I actually a motorcycle.
It fired up straight away. Just like that. I was so surprised that I forgot to immediately accidentally stall it by opening the throttle too far too fast. It sounded great.
If rather rattly. It didn’t blow out clouds of smoke, and whipping off the oil tank filler cap revealed that Norton’s excellent gear oil pump was doing its stuff, and so I…
…it died. And it would not start again. Steadfast it was in its resolution not to start. I wondered if it had all been a dream. Oh well. Back to that investigation performance we all know and enjoy so much. Sparks and fuel, that’s all it needs. This is like a mantra; I recite it to myself in a comfort blanket kind of way as I hoist the recalcitrant Norton skywards on the impossibly useful hydraulic workbench. If I’m ever asked which is the most useful tool in The Shed, it surely is this bench. I believe I would have
