This item is for a chromed 7/8" handlebar with the flat/slightly pulled back form that was similar to those fitted to later Featherbed roadgoing models.  They are also of the type commonly fitted to Vincent postwar models. 7/8" diameter and nice quality

As with Item 0971, I have loosely fitted a pair of these handlebars to my 1937 Inter project bike - just to give an indication of what they look like fitted to a steering head (sorry - I do not have a roadgoing Featherbed model in my collection to hold them up against!).

I believe similar flat style handlebars were fitted to the later Featherbed models in the late 1950's and early 1960's - and there is a picture from the 1962 Norton model range catalog showing what I think was a 650SS twin with flatter style bars.  They would also give earlier Featherbed Inters a slightly more sporting position than the more upright bar is often seen fitted.

Finally, these bars are also of the type originally fitted to Vincent Series B and C roadgoing models.  For comparison, I have also attached a photo of our family Vincent Comet as it was before restoration - here it is fitted with similar handlebars which are possibly original, and certainly date back to early '60's.

These handlebars are a nicely made from an established manufacturer and include black rubber plugs on either end 

1 BA x 7/8" CNC bar turned Stainless Steel Cheesehead Screws - per pair. Most common size for handlebar fittings and other smaller fittings such as electrical.

These cheesehead screws are CNC machined by ourselves in-house, and have the correct curved cheesehead as was seen fitted to many levers and controls on British bikes.  They are stainless steel and if we say so ourselves are very nice quality - not the normal mass produced screws.  Also, as you may have found for yourself - 1 BA screws in stainless steel seem almost unobtainable commercially in recent times.

They add the finishing touch to your latest restoration, or just spruce up your unrestored bike - as it is very common to see the screws on older bikes chewed and the screwdriver slot unusable (see the 4th photograph in this listing - an original rusty screw replaced by one of our nice new ones, that wont rust!).  The slots on these screws are just the right depth and allow a bit more purchase than cheap modern 1BA screws.

Please Note:  I have seen British bike levers/controls fitted with different screw threads sizes over the years - most commonly 1BA (e.g. our competition levers are fitted with 1 BA screws) and we sell both.  I think 2BA screws are more commonly found on electrical switch's.  This listing is for 1BA screws, where the outside diameter of the thread is 0.209"/5.30mm.  If you do not have an original screw for your controls and are not sure which to order  - then a 1BA thread will allow a No18/0.168"/4.28mm drill to just pass through it

FYI - if you wish to fit these with a suitable washer, we also sell 3/16" stainless spring washers, which are a perfect fit for these screws - Item 0100.

Final point - we also sell a 2 BA version of this same bar turned cheesehead screw - see Item 0335

2 BA x 7/8" CNC bar turned Stainless Steel Cheesehead Screws - per pair. Common size for handlebar fittings such as the smaller electrical switch's

These cheesehead screws are CNC machined by ourselves in-house, and have the correct curved cheesehead as was seen fitted to many levers and controls on British bikes.  They are stainless steel and if we say so ourselves are very nice quality - not the normal mass produced screws.  

They add the finishing touch to your latest restoration, or just spruce up your unrestored bike - as it is very common to see the screws on older bikes chewed and the screwdriver slot unusable.  The slots on these screws are just the right depth and allow a bit more purchsase than cheap modern 2 BA screws.

Please Note:  I have seen British bike levers/controls fitted with different screw threads sizes over the years - most commonly 1BA or 2BA (e.g. our competition levers are fitted with 1 BA screws) and we sell both. 

This listing is for 2BA screws, where the outside diameter of the thread is 0.185"/4.68mm.  This size is more common to find on smaller electrical switchs - like the horn button or cutout switch, headlight rim securing screw etc.  If you do not have an original screw for your controls and are not sure which to order  - then a 2BA thread will allow a No22/4mm drill to just slide through

These clutch and brake lever sets are of the competition type fitted to Norton Internationals and early SOHC Manx's up to the late 1940's. Easily identifiable by their very long blades, all parts are faithfully replicated as close to the originals as possible, with the exception of the fittings being in stainless steel. They will add the finishing touch to your Norton restoration. Being very different in construction from the standard length none ballend lever sets fitted to most bikes of the era, these levers have always been uncommon and due to their rarity are now almost impossible to find. Background: These lever sets are as listed on Plate K of the 1948 Norton Spare Parts List (see my online catalog), and were fitted to SOHC racing Nortons (early Manx's) and also to Norton International's in the 1930's. The main visual difference between these and standard (none ballend) levers of the period was that these are much longer and have a very distinctive blade shape. The other easily noticeable difference is that the length of each individual lever blade is different, with the brake lever being approximately 0.5" longer than the clutch lever, which helps to give them a very particular appearance. I have seen quite a few originals with minor variations on this design, but the overall visual look is similar on all, and faithfully replicated in the examples you see here.

-------- Specification:--------

In addition to the visual differences already described, there are other subtle differences to the standard type levers, the net result being that almost no parts are interchangeable: ---- Handlebar castings: These have a steeper rake than the standard castings, and are particular to this type of lever. In addition, the clamp piece itself is manufactured as part of the casting, rather than a separate pressed steel component. I have had boxed patterns made to produce this casting, then had them cast in bronze, Followed by CNC machining, then finally each one has been polished and chromed – a lengthy process (please note - although great effort is made to final polish these before chroming - as they are sand castings, there may be the occasional tiny blemish still visible - these in no way detract from the final overall appearance - and as always, I offer full guarantee if not totally satisfied)

----- Pivot Bolt: Rather than just employing a plain threaded bolt, these levers were fitted with a 3- part shouldered bolt\nut. The main bolt has a distinctive head shape and slight shoulder. Like all the fittings I have had these CNC manufactured in stainless steel and they look very nice. The main nut is distinctive and heavily shouldered. The shoulder feeds into the lever and through the casting, acting as a pivot point. Finally, these are retained in place with a reduced head locknut, again in stainless. The only variation from original, is that I also employ thin stainless washers, as without these the chrome lever blades get easily scratched by the bolt\nut heads.

----- Cable Barrel: These levers came fitted with a special cable barrel, particular to this type of lever, which mean that rather than fitting the normal brake clutch\brake cable with large barrel nipple, a smaller pear shape nipple is fitted and this is fed into the gap of the lever blade, then the barrel is pushed into the lever blade and finally the cable is tightened, pulling the pear into the barrel. I was very fortunate that a good friend of mine (and avid collector of original rarities) kindly lent me an original barrel which I have had faithfully replicated in stainless steel. These barrels were held in place with a circlip, which comes supplied. As background, I believe the reason this elaborate system was employed, was because the lever blades were originally made in a thinner gauge of steel. I have seen an early (1930’s) example which had the normal slit in the blade for a standard brake cable\barrel to pass through. Frankly this looked very thin and flimsy around the area of the slit. I guess they must have realised this design was unsafe, and therefore the barrel was employed, without the slit in the blade.

--- Lever Blades: As already mentioned, these replicate the distinctive appearance of originals and the blanks are laser cut from the same thinner gauge steel of originals. Large press tools were manufactured first to bend the blade blanks, then provide the correct curve of the blades. Finally the blades have been polished, copper plated and then chromed. --- Each set of blades comes fully assembled and adjusted, ready to be fitted to your bike and are supplied in separate plastic bags to avoid them getting scratched. They are assembled with Copaslip (stainless threads) and grease to lubricate, and this also protects the chrome parts in storage. Finally, as a safety feature each set comes fitted with rubber ballends, which I strongly advise are fitted. These are actually BSA Bantam gearchange rubbers and were a period mod – so themselves look very indicative of the period when fitted.

Update Aug 2021: We are expecting the next batch of these to be ready for sale @October 2021.  Price is indicative at this stage.  Some are already reserved - but we still have some available.  We recommend you email us at sales@racingvincent.co.uk if you wish to reserve a set as numbers are limited, we may ask for a small deposit to secure.

These clutch and brake lever sets are of the competition type fitted to Norton Internationals and early SOHC Manx's up to the late 1940's.

Easily identifiable by their very long blades, all parts are faithfully replicated as close to the originals as possible, with the exception of the fittings being in stainless steel. They will add the finishing touch to your Norton restoration. Being very different in construction from the standard length none ballend lever sets fitted to most bikes of the era, these levers have always been uncommon and due to their rarity are now almost impossible to find.

Background: These lever sets are as listed on Plate K of the 1948 Norton Spare Parts List (see my online catalog), and were fitted to SOHC racing Nortons (early Manx's) and also to Norton International's in the 1930's. The main visual difference between these and standard (none ballend) levers of the period was that these are much longer and have a very distinctive blade shape. The other easily noticeable difference is that the length of each individual lever blade is different, with the brake lever being approximately 0.5" longer than the clutch lever, which helps to give them a very particular appearance. I have seen quite a few originals with minor variations on this design, but the overall visual look is similar on all, and faithfully replicated in the examples you see here.

-------- Specification:--------

In addition to the visual differences already described, there are other subtle differences to the standard type levers, the net result being that almost no parts are interchangeable:

---- Handlebar castings: These have a steeper rake than the standard castings, and are particular to this type of lever. In addition, the clamp piece itself is manufactured as part of the casting, rather than a separate pressed steel component. I have had boxed patterns made to produce this casting, then had them cast in bronze, Followed by CNC machining, then finally each one has been polished and chromed – a lengthy process. (please note - although great effort is made to final polish these before chroming - as they are sand castings, there may be the occasional tiny blemish still visible - these in no way detract from the final overall appearance - and as always, I offer full guarantee if not totally satisfied)

----- Pivot Bolt: Rather than just employing a plain threaded bolt, these levers were fitted with a 3- part shouldered bolt\nut. The main bolt has a distinctive head shape and slight shoulder. Like all the fittings I have had these CNC manufactured in stainless steel and they look very nice. The main nut is distinctive and heavily shouldered. The shoulder feeds into the lever and through the casting, acting as a pivot point. Finally, these are retained in place with a reduced head locknut, again in stainless. The only variation from original, is that I also employ thin stainless washers, as without these the chrome lever blades get easily scratched by the bolt\nut heads.

----- Cable Barrel: These levers came fitted with a special cable barrel, particular to this type of lever, which mean that rather than fitting the normal brake clutch\brake cable with large barrel nipple, a smaller pear shape nipple is fitted and this is fed into the gap of the lever blade, then the barrel is pushed into the lever blade and finally the cable is tightened, pulling the pear into the barrel. I was very fortunate that a good friend of mine (and avid collector of original rarities) kindly lent me an original barrel which I have had faithfully replicated in stainless steel. These barrels were held in place with a circlip, which comes supplied. As background, I believe the reason this elaborate system was employed, was because the lever blades were originally made in a thinner gauge of steel. I have seen an early (1930’s) example which had the normal slit in the blade for a standard brake cable\barrel to pass through. Frankly this looked very thin and flimsy around the area of the slit. I guess they must have realised this design was unsafe, and therefore the barrel was employed, without the slit in the blade.

--- Lever Blades: As already mentioned, these replicate the distinctive appearance of originals and the blanks are laser cut from the same thinner gauge steel of originals. Large press tools were manufactured first to bend the blade blanks, then provide the correct curve of the blades. Finally the blades have been polished, copper plated and chromed.

--- Each set of blades comes fully assembled and adjusted, ready to be fitted to your bike and are supplied in separate plastic bags to avoid them getting scratched. They are assembled with Copaslip (stainless threads) and grease to lubricate, and this also protects the chrome parts in storage. Finally, as a safety feature each set comes fitted with rubber ballends, which I strongly advise are fitted. These are actually BSA Bantam gearchange rubbers and were a period mod – so themselves look very indicative of the period when fitted.

Update Aug 2021: We are expecting the next batch of these to be ready for sale @October 2021.  Price is indicative at this stage.  Some are already reserved - but we still have some available.  We recommend you email us at sales@racingvincent.co.uk if you wish to reserve a set as numbers are limited, we may ask for a small deposit to secure.

This barrel was fitted to those competition clutch or brake levers that did not have a slot in the blade for the cable to feed through.

This was because most of the distinctive long bladed competition levers were made of a thinner gauge than stnadard levers and cutting a slot would have weakened them.

These barrels are copied from a very rare original item and are now almost impossible to find. They are identical to the original other than being CNC machined in Stainless Steel. These are as fitted to our competition clutch\/brake lever sets - and were normally standard fitment on SOHC and competition bikes.

This item consists of one cable barrel and one circlip (i.e. two would be required per motorcycle - one for clutch and one for brake)

Please note dimensions (as more than one type of competition type levers exist) - these barrels are designed to fit into a 0.375" lever hole and the distance between the shoulder and the split pin hole is 0.475".  They are designed to feed in a pear shaped cable bullet into the cable slot.

This Item listing is for the very distinctive conical shaped, knurled, gearbox clutch cable adjustment bolt and locknut - both CNC manufactured as faithful replica of the original Norton Item. 

This knurled cable adjuster and locknut was fitted to both the upright type Norton gearbox, as well as the early to mid 1950's  laydown gearbox that followed, on all models.

Apart from looking quite unusual - with its wide knurled head, and conical shape - it was extremely useful for adjusting your clutch lever while sat on the bike, you could just reach down with your right hand, loosen off the lower locknut, which had the same width knurl, then either wind out or wind in the long thread of the cable adjuster until the clutch lever had the correct level of free play, then tighten the locknut up again to the cover of the gearbox.  In addition, the locknut on its lower part also had a hex milled onto it - providing a nut for an open ended spanner, as well as the knurl - if you wanted to ensure it did not come loose again once adjusted.

Because the original Norton adjuster bolt was made of brass, and because over a period of time this adjuster tended to get abused by owners - i.e. once it got stiff due to lack of grease, it was not uncommon for owners to try and turn it with a pair of pliers!, it is now very unusual to find a Norton that still has the knurl in good condition - normally they are all chewed, and sometimes the knurl is entirely smooth.  This alleviates the whole purpose of the design - as with a lovely crisp knurl, the adjuster is a delight to use.

Our items are CNC manufactured in brass to the exact dimensions of the original Norton design.  The shaft of the adjuster bolt is the same length and internal cable diameter of the original - it even has the counterbore at the bottom of the cable bore.  The taper on the lower part of the knurled adjuster is the same dimensions as original - and as you can see from one of accompanyning photographs - even the knurled locknuts have the same internal taper to the top of the locknut - designed so that the locknut would screw right up to the taper on the adjuster bolt, to give as much cable adjustment as possible.  Finally the locknuts have the correct Whitworth spanner size milled onto them, including the original chamfer underneath to stop them fouling and scratching the gearbox cover.

We also send these away to our UK based plater once machined, to ensure they are plated with the correct nickel plated finish.  Although bright in the photograph, these will dull-off with time once on the bike.

Not cheap because of the amount of effort to produce them - but they are correct and period for your Norton restoration, and as well as being useful - being placed in a prominent position, they also look very pretty!

As a final point - as you can see in the final photograph, we assemble the locknut onto the threaded adjuster with (Castrol) high melting point grease before placing in a sealable bag so the operation is smooth.  It is worth remembering when fitting these - that the gearbox cover (either upright or laydown gearbox) should have its thread fully cleaned of any dirt before fitting, to ensure smooth continued operation.

For those that are uncomfortable in making up their own clutch cables to include this adjuster - please email us at sales@racingvincent.co.uk, as we are considering having a batch of clutch cables made, with these adjusters fitted, from a top UK cable manufacturer.

This Item listing is for the very distinctive conical shaped, knurled, gearbox clutch cable adjustment bolt and locknut - both parts are CNC manufactured as faithful replica of the original Norton Item. 

However, if you have held one of these threaded adjusters you will know they are quite heavy for what they are.  I am not entirely sure if they were also standard fitment on the M30/M40 and Manx models (although the large knurled adjuster would definitely had been very useful) - but I am sure that if they were fitted, you would have wanted to do something about the excess weight of the adjuster - so I decided to make an additional batch of these - where we have bored 6 additional lightening holdes radially around the conical part of the adjuster - when held in the hand alongside an original un-lightened version, the weight saving is significent.

So although I cannot say these lightened versions were an original Norton fitment, they are the type of mod the likes of many tuners might have done in period - and they certainly look very pretty on your racing or Sports model!

We also sell the 'normal' road version of this clutch cable adjuster (Item 0902) - and the information below is takien from that listing:

This knurled cable adjuster and locknut was fitted to both the upright type Norton gearbox, as well as the early to mid 1950's  laydown gearbox that followed, on all models.

Apart from looking quite unusual - with its wide knurled head, and conical shape - it was extremely useful for adjusting your clutch lever while sat on the bike, you could just reach down with your right hand, loosen off the lower locknut, which had the same width knurl, then either wind out or wind in the long thread of the cable adjuster until the clutch lever had the correct level of free play, then tighten the locknut up again to the cover of the gearbox.  In addition, the locknut on its lower part also had a hex milled onto it - providing a nut for an open ended spanner, as well as the knurl - if you wanted to ensure it did not come loose again once adjusted.

Because the original Norton adjuster bolt was made of brass, and because over a period of time this adjuster tended to get abused by owners - i.e. once it got still due to lack of grease, it was not uncommon for owners to try and turn it with a pair of pliers!, it is now very unusual to find a Norton that still has the knurl in good condition - normally they are all chewed, and sometimes the knurl is entirely smooth.  This alleviates the whole purpose of the design - as with a lovely crisp knurl, the adjuster is a delight to use.

Our items are CNC manufactured in brass to the exact dimensions of the original Norton design.  The shaft of the adjuster bolt is the same length and internal cable diameter of the original - it even has the counterbore at the bottom of the cable bore.  The taper on the lower part of the knurled adjuster is the same dimensions as original - and as you can see from one of accompanyning photographs - the knurled locknuts have teh same internal taper to the top of the locknut - designed so that the locknut would screw right up to the taper on the adjuster bolt, to give as much cable adjustment as possible.  Finally the locknuts also have the correct Whitworth spanner size milled onto them, including the original chamfer underneath to stop them fouling and scratching the gearbox cover.

We also send these away to our UK based plater once machined, to ensure they are plated with the correct nickel plated finish.  Although bright in the photograph, these will dull-off with time once on the bike.

Not cheap because of the amount of effort to produce them - but they are correct and period for your Norton restoration, and as well as being very useful - being placed in a prominent position, they also look very pretty!  And obviously - for this 'lightened' version, we have to perform an additional milling operation to bore the 6 radial holes, all central to the adjuster, so the holes look correctly positioned when viewed from the top.

As a final point - as you can see in the final photograph, we assemble the locknut onto the threaded adjuster with (Castrol) high melting point grease before placing in a sealable bag so the operation is smooth.  It is worth remembering when fitting these - that the gearbox cover (either upright or laydown gearbox) should have its thread fully cleaned of any dirt before fitting, to ensure smooth continued operation.

For those that are uncomfortable in making up their own clutch cables to include this adjuster - please email us at sales@racingvincent.co.uk, as we are considering having a batch of clutch cables made, with these adjusters fitted, from a top UK cable manufacturer.