RIDER'S CHOICE...NOW IT'S YOUR TURN

Riders Choice Awards - nominations are now open
Are you tired of awards handed out by industry insiders? We are.
Motorcycle Bloggers International (an association of, you guessed it,
riders who blog about motorcycling) decided it was time that the riding
public have a chance to express their opinions. So we created the
Riders Choice awards. This is your opportunity to nominate and
vote for your choices for the best and worst in the motorcycling
world for 2006.There are various categories for events, actions
by a person or group and new products. Some examples:
A rider’s dream - The dream ride, tour or event that given enough
time and money you most want to experience.* Object of lust - The
production motorcycle of any model year that is desired above all
others.* Thumbs up - The person or organization who during 2006,
made the most significant contribution to motorcycling.* Best new
in 2006 every day motorcycle - The production motorcycle most
suited to commuting that was first delivered to dealers in 2006.
* What were they thinking? - The new in 2006 concept or
production motorcycle, related product or other idea that is the
worst idea of 2006.Head on over to www.mbiweb.org to see all
the categories, view nominations already entered and submit
your nominations. Join us in letting the industry know what we,
the riders, think. While you are there, sign up for an email
reminder notice that will be sent when voting for the awards
begins in February. Help us make this awards program a success.
Nominate and vote.

Z-MAN'S NORTON ATLAS, PART DUO

An Atlast With Attitude...

More years ago than most of us care to admit to, Steve Zedaker was a teenager in love with motorcycles, coming of age when British motorcycle fever gripped the United States. He fell in love with British Iron, an affair that has outlasted the bikes that became part of his soul.
PHOTOS HERE
His first bike, a Honda Super Hawk, gave way to a BSA 441 Victor, which was sold to buy a 1972 Triumph. But he fell in love with the Norton Atlas which he never owned or rode, and it remained his dream.

The Atlas, which bridged the vibrating Dominator and the much smoother and far more popular Commando, was his idea of a motorcycle.

“The Commando looked too sleek and modern” he says, “and British bikes are not sleek and modern”

Now older and more successful, he was able to return to his motorcycling days. While his every day ride is a BMW 1200, he has reached back, restoring the Triumph, which led a peripatetic existence since it was disassembled in the eighties and transported around the country in boxes.
It is back together now, joined by a ’66 BSA Lightning and the venerable first Honda. And one ride short of his crowing glory, last year he added his long sought-after Norton Atlas.

“It wasn’t a rat bike, but it was a good restoration project,” say Oliver Giorigi of the 1965 Norton Atlas he bought in 1992. Oliver restores bikes as a form of relaxation and he spent eleven months relaxing over his Norton.

And a little less than a year after he rolled it into his garage, his modified Atlas took its first ride, completely rebuilt, with changes that make it ineligible for true vintage competitions; a showpiece that he could not show.

First, he bored out the Atlas 650 to the more ballsy Commando 750 specs, with higher compression, larger cams, finished up by porting the heads. He replace the gears with originals, but replaced the stock Amal carbs with twin Mikuni’s. He changed out to a Joe Hunt Fairbanks-Morse magneto, Buchanan stainless steel spokes, and Akront polished aluminum rims, the latter to reduce the un-sprung weight.

He replaced everything but the engine and transmission casings, including the wiring harness, which he wrapped in period-correct cotton tape.

But the most radical change was to the stock Norton mechanical clutch, which he found had too much friction for long rides. His solution was simple: He changed it.

Using a Norton wet clutch conversion kit, a Triumph master brake cylinder for a slave cylinder, a Triumph switch gear converted to Norton electrics, he converted the clutch from mechanical to hydraulic, probably one of a kind on any Norton. And it works.

“It’s got balls, lots of balls” Steve said after he bought it and rode it briefly last year. “It was really fun to ride”

He’ll have it on the road this year. The Beemer will probably spend a lot of time in the garages when local rides are on the agenda.