By Steven D. Black
I used to think that Nortons were mythical motorcycles—that they existed only as a pretend brand name in Dan O’Neill’s Odd Bodkins cartoon strip, run in the San Francisco Chronicle. When I was in high school, I lived in Sonoma, which is in the valley just east of Petaluma. Back then Petaluma was crammed with chickens, chicken coops, and chicken processors, so it was especially funny to see a cartoon Norton break down and strand our heroes in the Chicken Capital of the World. These days the coops are gone or (rarely) renovated as workshops and outbuildings that have absolutely no function related to chicken husbandry. I was also stimulated by O’Neill’s concept of the Magic Cookie in the gas tank—such a Cookie could actually send a Norton to Mars, even if Nortons were mythical beasts.













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I love this post! I also used to hang around TT Motors back in the day. I can relate to Steve and his adventures with the JPN. The first bike I bought after getting my license in 1970 at age 16 was a Norton 750 Commando S. Huge fun! Thanks for sharing your memories, Steve!
Me too! The TT Motors part. John Galivan was something of a folk hero in the Bay Area, and we’re still in touch.
I remember riding my ’66 Velocette Endurance to TT Motors one day, when Paladin rocked up on his Triton. After gesticulating and pontificating, as was his wont, he said “A Velocette should never be dirty”, and commenced cleaning my bike! A rare honor, perhaps unique, and we became friends.
Such establishments no longer exist: there is exactly one licensed repair shop in the Bay Area willing and capable of working on a vintage motorcycle, although the owners are cagey and unfriendly in my experience, sadly. But, we have a superb community in Motopia (Bayview Industrial Park) in SF, which remains a spot of hope in a world of robots.
Nice little story … but ..
… there I was on the Beast of the East Coast as a mere kid …. BUILDING my first motorcycle from baskets of parts under the tutelage of an H-D since 1926 family not to mention more than a couple of 1%ers who helped with parts along the way .
Hmmmm … do it yerself … now thats accomplishing something !
As for the JPS Snortin Norton ( JPS being the proper abbreviation .. not JPN .. which is short for Japan ) … a nice collector bike no doubt ( I’m guessing its value has risen ) but still a Snortin Norton in the end … one of two Brit bikes known for their utter lack of quality and reliability
BTW PdO … head yerself back east especially to Brooklyn NY .. central Joisey … the wilds of VT and NH .. not to mention the backroads of Conn . and Mass … and you’ll find scores of shops just like this still operating … many under their original owners .. more than a few by surviving family members … not to mention a ton of wanna be hipsters actually doing something .
Coarse … that may have sumpin ta do with y’alls wretched excess over gentrification not to mention the overt enshitification by the digital world of the Bay Area … once a bastion or creativity … now a mere virtual corporate shell of itself
😎
A lovely story. Thank goodness the author survives to tell it.