The single-cylinder Norton prototype code-numbered P92 (Project 92) was conceived in 1974 but never reached production, consisting of a BSA motor carried in a Triumph/BSA frame using Norton’s Isolastic engine mounts.
Yes, it was a parts bin special – but as Sammy Miller, owner today of one of the three such prototypes built which is on display in his eponymous Museum on England’s South Coast avers: “This was yet another missed opportunity by the numbskulls running what remained of the British motorcycle industry back then! Their engineers conceived and built this motorcycle four years before the SR500 Yamaha street bike appeared in 1978, which didn’t have a balance shaft, so shook like crazy, and Honda didn’t make the XR500 with a counter-balancer until 1979. Think of how many tens of thousands of such bikes the Japanese sold over the years – this was a huge open goal that Norton missed with this vibration-free Isolastic prototype.”
Mike Jackson, NVT’s European Marketing Director at the time, agrees. “I like to say that this was one of the very best British motorcycles never made!” he states. “Thanks to the Isolastics it was vibration-free and a joy to ride, and was quite torquey, though well capable of over 100mph. It was the nicest of the several Norton prototypes I rode back then – it handled well, looked quite smart, and we could have sold thousands of them all around the world, as Honda and Yamaha later unfortunately proved to be the case! The only problem was that in countries like France and Italy I was told it had to have electric start,
