Cold Start of NorStar ~ Fabulous BSA custom 611cc motor in a Norton Featherbed chassis!

Starting this spectacular 611cc custom-built BSA Gold Star motor isn't really difficult. Took me three kicks because I'd opened the throttle a little the first two kicks. It likes the throttle closed for a one-kick cold start! Every Goldie has its own personality!
Note the 4LS front Fontana brake, the custom alloy fuel and oil tanks, custom goodies throughout! Might be the best British café racer on the planet! Man, does this beast pull strong!
Watch for it on BringATrailer.com soon!

[@dodgeboy9052]

I thought that was a Gold Star engine ... I remember that when throttling off sometimes you'd get a whistle from the Exhaust ...we never worked out what caused the whistle... brings back memories of the 60s,,, Nottingham to Matlock Bath... cheers .

[@HumberNorton]

That "whistle" sound you recall was what was known in the industry and hobby as the "twitter." It was a function of the cam overlap and the shape of the silencer and baffles within. And indeed, the stock Gold Star silencer has been referred to as the "twitter pipe" ever since.

[@dodgeboy9052]

@@HumberNorton I have one remaining picture of my Norton 500cc Dominator .. re-worked after being done by a car ... Palocramatic Blue Manx style tank ... we didn't know one day we'd make history worth telling ... cheers ... the smell of Castrol R

[@rover100bunson]

perfection

[@shanehnorman]

Gold Star or Manx-powered, the best-looking motorcycle ever for me.

[@rogerswyer5357]

It is so right! and that front brake, cannot tell you how jealous I am, well done.

[@clivewalker5465]

Pure PERFECTION .

[@fabpeter9764]

Lovely machine! A personal point and only a matter of opinion, I would lift the headlight slightly to give it more "visual balance."

[@HumberNorton]

I absolutely AGREE! I'm sensitive to the placement of headlamps on motorcycles as well (I see so many photographed with the light looking up and the clouds, or forlornly looking at the ground), and actually raised this before I photographed it, but the video was taken prior. However, some "café crowd" guys love that edgy "hunkered down" look the bike has. And I can see that too....

[@fabpeter9764]

@@HumberNorton Dave, it's a thing of absolute beauty and I should'nt be such a nitpicker. OCD can be a terrible thing!! Ha ha.

[@highdownmartin]

There was a Norvin in classic mechanics once: the bottom of the tank was parallel to the frame rakk I’ll lane. Looked awful, but would only have needed an inch or so of adjustment to fix. Quite agree with headlight shell, clocks the highest point and a dip down but not a big gap.

[@gerretw]

One of my friends had a 441 BSA single lung - that could do a nasty kick back on a start up. My 650 Norton was a beast to kick start. Slightest hesitation and you were dead meat. You had to go all in to bring it to life.

[@jagitmax]

My 74 850 interstate starts perfectly every time, easy. Get someone to show you the correct way. I also have bsa 441, bsa super rocket '58, and '59, they all start easy.

[@gerretw]

@@jagitmax I dunno - maybe your's were tuned better? With the Beser, you had to let the compression off the get it in position to kick. The owner told me he had his leg smashed into the handlebar on a kickback. I didn't have any trouble starting my Norton, but the guy I sold it to couldn't, so I started it for him so he could take it home.

[@gerry343]

Lovely bike (don't like the cut away primary cover).

[@irvhh143]

By Jove, this is just the sort of cross-pollination that could have saved the British bike industry. 🥴