78 I AUGUST 2019 More old bikes online: Real-Classic.co.uk
bike,and the twistgrip wasniceand li ghtto
operate.
Theclutch andfour-speed gearbox(one
up,three down)wereapleasuretouse.I
doubt bettercould befound on anysimilar
or even moremodernmachines.The clutch
wassolight thatIwas convinceditwas
goingto slip,but it didn’t.There wasnodrag
or sticking of the plates. Andyes,there was
oil in the primarycase –mineral 20/50, same
as in the engine–and no leaks from the
pressed steel casings,either,althoughIhad
appliedasmear of silicone sealanttoeither
faceofthe rubber sealing band.
Neutralwasneveraproblemtofind.I
fitted aclamp-onsidestand (afiddly job,
done beforebuilding up the primaryside)
and thiswaseasy toflick outwhile astride or
stood next to the machine.The centrestand
on theAtlas is easierto use than manyfitted
to old Brits,but offers little in thewayof
help whenremovin gthe so-called quickly
detachablerear wheel.IdoubtRoyalEnfield
and BSA lost anysleepover the NortonQD
design!
Thestandardbrakes –eight-inchat
the front, seven-inchat the back–are
acceptable,but with full poweravailable
fromafully run-in engine they’d struggle
to stop this beast fromover 100mph in the
blink of an eye. They’resufficien tfor‘classic’
road speeds,and owners have the option of
fitting Norton’s2ls frontbrake which willfit
straightinwhere the standardsls item lives.
My overall impression is thatthe Atlas is
aslightly morecompactmachine than the
RE Interceptor,and notsobrutal in its power
delivery. Thetwin carbEnfield 750givesa
biggerkick in the pants! No doubt the later
Commandocould give an Interceptorarun
forits money,but theInterceptor andAtlas
would have been headto headrivals in their
time.When theywereboth new in 1963,
therewas barely anydifferencebetween the
twomachinesint heir topspeed–both were
clockedat 119mphaverage afterseveral runs.
TheAtlas wasslightlyquickerover astanding
quartermileat14.5s (Interceptor 14.8s), but
the onlyreal differencecame in the0to60
figures.Despiteits punchypower delivery,
the Enfield’s gearboxmightlet it down here–
it took 6.6 secondsto get to 60mph while the
Atlaswas far faster,just 5.1 seconds.
TheNortonAtlas isatop notchriding
bike,which will definitely makeyousmile
when it’s on theroad...but perhaps not so
much fun in theworkshop.Ify ou want abig
paralleltwin withreal muscle,the Norton
Atlas hasto be on the list ofcontenders.Lifelong Britbikeenthusiast
Paul runsPerformance
Classicsand offers restoration
services for all manner of old
motorcycles.Rebuilds,tuning
andwheel-buildingareall
done in-house.01550 777608
/07909 740160/phenshaw@
btinternet.comJob done.One handsome Nortontwin, read
ytoroll