This bike is a beast!!It has much power and very little weight. Two important parameters for a fast bike.Amal GP 1.3/8” carburetor and 596cc ohc – no further words are necessary.This racing bike is equipped with a Smiths 8,000 rpm rev-counter, Robinson front brake and a BTH KD1 racing magneto. It won many o races in Swiss and in Austria and was the main attraction of each racing event.
source.image: classic-motorcycle.com
The featherbed Norton Manx won the Senior and Junior TT at the Isle of Man in 1950. The featherbed Norton Manx that Steve Tonkin’s street-legal Norton Manx is based on was one of the greatest racing motorcycles of all time. It can trace its heritage back to 1927, when Norton engineer Walter Moore designed the SOHC engine that took Alec Bennett to victory in that year’s Isle of Man TT.
The first DOHC version made its debut in 1937, and between 1931 and 1954 Norton won all but two of the Senior TT races, and often filled the top three places. In 1950, Norton’s racer got a new frame designed by Rex McCandless. A double downtube steel cradle with a swingarm rear suspension, its superior handling characteristics influenced frame design for decades to come. Asked what it was like riding the new Norton, works rider Harold Daniell replied that it was so comfortable it was “just like riding on a feather bed.”
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The name stuck, and the Featherbed frame became synonymous with superb handling. The featherbed Norton Manx (the Manx name was adopted in 1947) were offered for sale in 1951, but with less than 100 made each season, they only went to riders of proven ability. The DOHC 350cc Model 40 and 500cc Model 30 were hand-built by a team of less than 10 men in the racing shop of the Bracebridge Street, Birmingham, factory. The 596cc Manx engines have been used often for the sidecar. This engine has much torque to get good performance with the additional weight of the sidecar. Only a small number of the 596cc ohc engines has been produced.
