Norton Competition Handlebar (2nd Type), or ES2 Touring Type (if reversed) - 7/8" diameter

Product no.: 0971 A11M/211_2

In stock

£34.00
Recommended Retail Price, plus delivery


This item is for a chromed 7/8" handlebar with a TT/competition style profile very similar to the original braced TT profile (which we have made specially - Items 562-565.  They are 7/8" diameter and unbraced - as fitted to postwar Manx and competition Nortons. 

The profile of these handlebars is very similar to that of our in-house manufactured type (Items 562, 563, 564, 565) - which we have manufactured to the profile of a genuine set of pre-war Manx handlebars I have (and then in the case of 562 and 563, we also fit the original type girder fork brace).  Those handlebars are very expensive to have commisioned in small batch's (and at time of writing this update in Dec 2020 are all out of stock).

Therefore I have also spent some considerable time looking for commercially available handlebars with a profile similar to the original TT type profile - until I found these, which I believe are very close.  Like many commercial handlebars - they are listed as a 'Touring' type, i.e. they were originally meant to be fitted raised up from the fork crown - and they look very similar to the pre-war Norton type fitted to OHV/SV models in this manner.  However, unlike most other Touring bars - when reversed into the downward sweeping 'Competition/TT' type - they look very similar to the original profile, with a nice bacwards and downwards sweep.

They do not have quite the sharp kink that our braced TT type have (just inboard of where the clutch/brake levers would be fitted), but otherwise are very similar.  One of the accompanyning photographs shows a pair of these handlebars alongside a pair of our 561/562 Pre-War M30/M40 (Racing Inter/Early Manx) type, for comparison.

In the accompanying pictures I have loosely mounted them in 'competition' position first on my 1937 Inter project (semi rough assembled) to give an indication of what they would look like.  I must add that in 'unbraced' form, they are more correct for telescopic forked models, or the type of Norton girder that cannot accomodate a brace.  Then the final pictures show the same bars reversed into 'Touring' position - again to allow you to help judge if you think this profile is good for you.

The line drawing is taken from the definitive 1948 Norton Spare Parts List, and shows both touring and competition SOHC Manx profile handlebars for 1948 (although the picture does not show it, the profile for road bikes and competition types would have been reversed) - as you can see, the profile is almost identical to our own manufactured handlebars (0564 and 0565), but is actually also very similar to these handlebars. 

Finally, I found that in the Touring (upturned) position, the profile was very reminiscent of the handlebars that were fitted to my old 1955 Norton ES2 swinging arm model (which I think may have been fitted with its original bars - we had owned it since the mid 1960's), and the last picture shows a 1954 Norton ES2 colour drawing taken from the Norton 1954 Model Range catalog, where you can see they seem quite close to the type shown there.

These handlebars are a nicely made from an established manufacturer and include black rubber plugs on either end - and being commercially available (made in larger numbers), are therefore cheaper than our in-house custom made equivelant (Item 0564)

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