Most motorcycle factories believe in
evolution in design. Bringing out some-
thing completely different is risky — if the
public doesn’t like it, management has
to explain the flop to angry shareholders.
Yet despite the risks, every once in a while
something unique and unexpected sees
the light of day. The English Norton facto-
ry made its name building sport and sport
touring bikes, but in 1971 Norton did the
unexpected: the company introduced the
Hi-rider, a factory custom inspired by the
chopper craze and designed to appeal to
the American cruiser rider.
According to British journalist and
author Mick Duckworth, in the late Sixties
Dennis Poore (the controversial owner
of Norton, whose Manganese Bronze
Holdings company purchased Norton in
1966) took a trip to the United States,
where he observed the budding chop-
per scene. Returning to the Norton fac-
tory, he instructed engineer Bob Trigg
and the design team to design a Norton
that looked like a chopper. U.S. sales
were very important to Norton, and Mr.
Poore apparently thought that a Norton
that looked like a chopped Harley-
Davidson Sportster would help sales.
Most observers thought that
people who wanted a chopped
Sportster were very unlikely to
accept a substitute made in
England, but they weren’t
in charge. So the fac-tory staff designed a chopper-style motor-
cycle around the Norton Commando.
The marketing department named it the
Hi-rider, and it appeared on salesroom
floors in 1971.
At this time, the Norton factory had
been building its Commando, with
several variations, for three years. The
Commando was popular with riders who
were interested in sport touring, road rac-
ing and fast riding on a twisty road. The
bike had first appeared at the London,
England, Earls Court show in September- It combined the factory’s venerable
but powerful 745cc parallel twin engine,
tipped forwards in the frame and fed by
twin Amal Concentric carburetors, with
a new frame designed to both isolate
the rider from vibration and pro-
vide rock steady handling through
any kind of turn. The frame was
complemented by Norton’s highly
regarded Roadholder front fork.
Story by Margie Siegal
Photos by Nick CedarT
“The Hi-rider is an important
part of motorcycle and Norton
history, whether you like the
styling or not.” — Chuck Bohn,proud Hi-rider owner