Out on the race track, or the wilds of a trials course and on the open road - in fact wherever a motorcycle was needed you'd find a Norton single. Tim Britton travelled to Yorkshire and found an ES2 fulfilling its design brief.

It could almost be the Fifties, couldn't it?

As the fifties dawned and all seemed well in the world of British motorcycles that venerable old manufacturer, and purveyor of single cylinder machines to the discerning public - Norton - continued into the post war period with a range of singles with names and model designations familiar to the pre-war generation. Not that they were blind to the future as the twin cylinder Dominator had just been introduced, but the Commando wasn't even a twinkle in the designer's eye.

However the performance junkie could only lust after the ohc Manx racing models newly fitted with the legendary Featherbed frame - an all tube frame that didn't rely on brazed lugs to join it together - that would see them gain a new lease of life. If any company used racing success to the best advertising advantage then it had to be Norton. And their period adverts portrayed the Manx while suggesting that the road models, though fitted with a rigid or at best a plunger frame like the one on this 1951 ES2 Norton, benefited from the lessons learned in racing.
Perhaps, at first glance and given its used look, you might just think that this is an unrestored survivor from the Fifties that has been locked away for years? I know I did at Harrogate show earlier this year when I spoke to the owner, Tony Leedal, and complimented him on his decision not to restore a piece of history. I also showed my complete and utter ignorance of Norton singles by asking "is it all original?" A question such as that would be forgivable had one of my earliest classics not been a late Forties Norton single. Tony kindly said that I wasn't the only person to ask such a question then told me "...no it wasn't an all original survivor..." and it had in fact been restored some years ago.
I suppose that this sort of thing is going to crop up more and more given how long the classic scene has been going. If you look at it this way; a Fifties bike, restored in the Seventiess when it was a mere 20 years old, by the time 2003 comes on the scene it's been untouched for longer than 30 years. This would be OK if it had been cosseted and stored in a humidity controlled environment but few ever were after restoration. What happened was they were used occasionally and put into the garage afterwards - yeah, right, the garage has a sealing gasket around the doors and windows with dry air only circulating inside, er no! Rather the garage would be your typical 'side of the house' type with the lawnmower and garden chairs in which is all well and good but, they're not noted for being environment controlled so the decay process starts all over again. Which is what happened to this one after its restoration.
Originally it had survived until the Sixties as a reasonably sound bike and Tony went on to say "It had been the victim of the chopper craze at the back end of the Sixties, and was in an interesting condition. A friend of mine bought it and announced that as I was a motor engineer 'we' were going to restore it. It was early days in the restoration scene, but we got it back to something like original condition. The front wheel is from another single in the range, the 500T trials Norton, and there are other bits and pieces wrong for the year," he says. Tony also said to the owner that if he ever needed to sell it would he get in touch with him first. "it's the sort of thing you say at the time then forget about, probably because you know it's never going to happen," he laughs.
Except that in this case it did. Around the mid Nineties Tony got the call. "Well, I couldn't really justify it," he says, "but my wife, Penny, came up with sufficient funds and she bought it." Some time after it had been restored the cylinder head was taken off for some sort of work that Tony can't remember now, what he does remember is that it didn't need any head work after all. "So, in the way of things it was left in the corner of a garage and sort of forgotten about. I wouldn't say I'd lost touch with the owner, but I hadn't heard from him for a while until he rang and offered the bike to me."
Tony tells me that "anyone who is familiar with Norton singles will spot that there are plenty of non standard components, not only the 500T front wheel, but the front mudguard is from a Model 7. I'm not all that bothered about total originality as the bike goes well and I'm not frightened to get it dirty. I suppose you could call it an original 'bitsa' as the engine and frame numbers match up to what they should be." Because the cylinder head had been off for some time before Tony got the bike he decided that it might be a good idea to check the engine over. "I put a new big end in because I had one on the shelf in the workshop and when I put it all back together I used the barrel and head from the late Fifties AMC Norton. I've got the original head and barrel to go on when the time comes," he says. More evidence of the restoration scene in the early days of the classic movement is that Tony and his mate fitted a concentric carburettor during the initial rebuild. "Well, that got changed when I bought it," he laughs. Not that the TT carburettor he replaced it with was a standard fitting on the ES2, nor an option either I reckon. "There was one in the box of bits that came with it and I felt it was more a period fitting than the Concentric and the bike seems to run ok with it on."
Even before the Roadholder forks/Featherbed frame combination came on the scene, Norton had a good reputation in the handling department and by the time this ES2 left the factory the Roadholders had been a standard fitment for some years.

Though designed for relaxed commuting, Britton found the saddle just a tad on the low side for maximum comfort.

So motorcyclists were very familiar with them, less familiar was the concept of rear suspension and manufacturers were gradually introducing the idea into public awareness. Norton weren't the only ones to use a plunger system but, in common with all of the others, if it isn't in tip top condition then it can give the rider an unusual sensation while cornering. Having said that, Tony's ES2 is quite good, though I don't think he'll threaten dire retribution if I say that it isn't in the Featherbed category, certainly it's a long way better than some plunger systems I've... er... experienced. Some of the worst ones, that probably haven't seen a grease gun since the year dot, have positively terrified me. But not on this Eezey 2, it just tracked round the bends with no trace of a weave.

Mind you I wasn't exactly breaking any speed records for the performance of this mild single, even with a racing carburettor fitted, is no match for the Manx no matter what Norton's advertising might have suggested. Plodder is the term that springs to mind and I don't mean that in a derogatory way and, just as the owner does, I found it perfectly adequate for the roads I was riding on.
Mind you the carb caused me some problems at first as Tony has it set so that it completely shuts off when the throttle is closed. This lack of any tickover caused me to stall a few times until I adjusted my thinking to compensate. Luckily the magneto is a good sparker and the ES2 fired up first or second kick each time.
One thing I am anxious to make clear is that though the bike has a grubby, used appearance it isn't neglected, far from it. Tony is a great believer in regular and preventative maintenance and this shows when using controls that don't bind or jerk but operate smoothly allowing clean acceleration and a light clutch action.
Speaking of which, during the course of a bit of posing for the photographer a clutch gets a fair bit of unnatural abuse and some can get a bit hot and bothered. This one, a wet multiplate affair, manages to survive, and keep working as it should, so gear selection was positive and quiet throughout the test.