I greatly relished learning about the last days of innovation at Norton, when one after another novel idea was proposed and tried as a means of remaining competitive against the new Gilera fours from Italy. A desmodromic engine was built, and a horizontal single with a radically lower C-of-G like that of the great Guzzi singles. A rotary valve four-stroke was also built and tested. And let’s not forget ‘the Kneeler’ – a version of Norton’s great DOHC single whose theme was radical reduction of frontal area (as
