John Tickle T5 Manx Norton

Ok, so it's surely no secret that I'm quite the fan of anything that John Tickle ever made, and I've previously covered much about him and the parts that he developed, but I recently acquired an original Sales Flyer that I thought would be worth sharing. Surprisingly, I had never seen this flyer before, and even more surprisingly is that while most of us know of the T5 Manx, he apparently also built and offered for sale a T3 and a T6 (350cc and 650cc respectively). I suppose you never stop learning new things.

Here's some photos of the sales flyer, showing the specs for each motor, pricing and also some nice photos of the chassis:

Under The Hammer - ex Alistair King Manx Norton

Well, it's that time again; The Bonham's Auction at Stafford, and the collection of machines for sale is certainly impressive. It looks to me as if there's a very well rounded representation of different marques that are up on the chopping block and after browsing every machine in the listing, my absolute favorite is of course this ex Alistair King 350 Manx Norton.

It's certainly no secret by now that I'm a Norton guy, and the Manx is of course the pinnacle of all Norton motorcycles and holds a very dominant presence in motorcycle racing history. It's also not much of a surprise that I'm an Alistair King fan, so upon seeing this fine machine, I'm blown away by the fact that it's up for sale, and simultaneously depressed in the fact that I have absolutely no way to afford it. But, Bonhams does a nice job in supplying photographs, so I thought I'd share one here. I won't bore you with the details, as you can surely read the listing for yourself. But, it's important to note that both Joe Potts and brake guru Joe Dunphy had both laid hands on this machine.

If you'd like have a look at the listing for this bike, click the link: Manx Norton

And here's the link for the listing of all machines that are going Under The Hammer: Complete Listing

Ray Petty

Ray Petty is quite famous in tight knit circles of vintage motorcycle enthusiasts, yet little information can be found online in regards to his many great achievements. I've recently come across a very special project, and although I'm not quite ready to divulge exactly what it is, I thought it would be nice to post some information about Ray and some of the things that he achieved as well as some of the great Norton motorcycles he built and tuned.

The following is a set of scans from an old motorcycle magazine. My apologies for the poor quality, but they're scans of photocopies. If you enlarge them, you should be able to read them:

Ray Petty Manx Norton photos:

Ray Petty PGT gearbox. PGT, stands for Premium Gear Transmission

The man himself, hard at work in his workshop, tuning Manx Norton engines