Les' Manx Horton 350 - Geoff Duke Tribute
Approx. 10 yrs ago I came across a damaged Manx Norton gas tank that was 'thrown down the road' during a road race at the Ulster Grand Prix (UGP) in N. Ireland. As a result the tank was retired from racing and subsequently gifted to me by the rider. So now I had a tank which needed a bike to go under it, what to do?
As a real Manx was out of the question I settled on using a 1975 Honda XL350 basket case as the donor bike and as luck would have it one came my way in 2014 for $400.
For the next 5-6 yrs I collected, scrounged, manufactured and purchased good used and a few new bike parts that would collectively realize my interpretation of a Tribute to "Geoff Dukes 1952 IOMTT 350 Manx Norton".
The bike being a Honda based Norton was aptly named 'Tim Horton' and; as Geoff had raced it in 1952 and I was born in 1952 it seemed only fitting that the race number be 52.
While I was traveling in India, I managed to find a computer whiz that could recreate and print all of my custom decals ($12) ie Geoff Duke's signature, Manx Horton, Avon, 16H Manx TT Replica etc.
External reservoir rear shocks were also sourced in India ($25), Suzuki GSXR rear sets from Stoney Plain, Ab motorcycle wreckers, clips ons and various bits and pieces were mfg'd/welded by CVMG NORAL member George Gillan, Avon tires were sourced from FortNine and installed by Kenco, Sooke BC, a replica Manx Megaphone was sourced from a speed shop in England, tail light lens is from a 1967 Triumph 650 which was grafted onto the Honda tail light assembly, a custom swept back exhaust header was mfg'd by Robi Bada Victoria, BC, forks from a mid '70s Honda CB360T were mated to a custom machined triple tree to suit the XL head stock, dual instrumentation from a 1977 Honda CB400 SuperSport were grafted to fit, a 'Steering Damper' knob from my lawn mower fit perfectly, a kitchen sink chrome drain pipe provided the perfect 'Push Rod' tube, alum hyd oil line from a CF104 Starfighter I worked on provide oil lubrication to the overhead valves along with 2 external 'Hair Springs' again from my lawn mower.
Used aftermarket turn signals were sourced from a wreckers, chain guard was from my 2018 Suzuki V-Strom DL650, Mikuni carb complete with Bell mouth Velocity stack was sourced from my old '70s Artic Cat 2 stroke snowmobile (rebuilt by Kenco, Sooke BC), original dirt bike seat was re shaped (to reveal a dummy oil tank dipstick) and reupholstered by Volker's Upholstery, Edmonton to resemble the original Manx racing seat. Finally, the important bits were painted, decals installed and clear lacquered by my brother who lives in Ireland.
All in all, most everything was either custom made, or heavily modified to meet my needs, which in itself created numerous problems when trying to identify parts from the carb rebuild to forks seals, finding the correct cable lengths and end fittings, to 6 Volt bulbs (Sourced from England as I had to convert most of the electrics from 12V to 6V AC/DC) etc.
The project was only finished in 2023, however on initial start up the entire neighborhood came out to see what all the racket was about, the straight thru racing exhaust system proved way too loud for them LOL so I had to install a baffle to quieten it down (just a bit).
First major ride was the 2023 DGR, Victoria to raise funds for Men's Prostate Cancer research and the bike ran like a top and was very well received, so mission accomplished. :)
