THERE ARE SEVERAL EXCELLENTLY SENSIBLE ideas which we should all apply to ourselves, rather than exclusively to others. First: never buy a bike for a lot of lolly without riding it. Second: never declare in public that if your favourite manufacturer ever launches the bike they keep announcing, then you’ll buy one, definitely. This is excellent advice, yet I ignore it far too often. Let me tell you a story of one of the bikes which has stood out the most in a long life of riding them.
This is a tale about a machine that was a very long time coming, and which, when it eventually arrived, I bought without even riding one. Why? Insanity must be close to the top of the list, but also because I really wanted the company – Norton, as you must have spotted by now – to succeed, and reasoned that a new, faintly modern machine that looked so delicious could only be brilliant. Correct? Well, not entirely. Let me remind you of one Kenny Dreer, an American who plainly knows his Nortons.
Kenny Dreer developed the original Norton Commando into his own special version of it, improving hugely on the original Brit-built machines. He set up a company, Vintage Rebuilds of Portland, Oregon, and sold several VR Commandos. Very distinctive machines they were, too, and although I am not usually much of a fan of customised Nortons, I could have made an exception in this case; a VR 880 Commando would look just excellent in The Shed. But that was a dream, and was destined to remain exactly that – a dream.
Having gone a long way with his American reinterpretation of the Plumstead original, Kenny Dreer set about designing and building his own, new Commando. Which sounds easy, if you say it quickly, but is not. All credit to him, then, for achieving his goal. The sadness here is that although he succeeded in building several prototype machines, he ran out of money. The investment required to put a motorcycle into production was simply unavailable in the USA. The bike was most certainly a looker, and a goer, too. Those who rode it, loved it.
Kenny Dreer’s American misfortune had a completely unexpected result. British businessman Stuart Garner acquired the bike, the name of the bike, and all rights to build the bike. Right here in the UK. When I heard this, I was astounded. The new company rapidly established a modern factory building at Donington Park, announced that it would develop the Commando for production, and would start deliveries
