Rotary powered motorcycles may have been consigned to the dustbin of history but for a while they really were thought of as the future. Most rotary engined bikes were built as standards or sport touring machines but Norton decided to take their rotary racing and actually achieved a fair amount of success with its F1 series, sponsored by cigarette brand John Player Special.
1990 Norton Rotary F1 (on ebay uk)
Before digging it this particular bike, lets take a moment and review rotary engines. In a rotary engine all the parts rotate in one direction while standard piston engine designs have the pistons violently changing direction. A rotary combustion engine has numerous advantages, including simplicity, smoothness, compactness, high revolutions per minute, and a high power-to-weight ratio.
A YouTube video explained the rotary engine is embedded below. An excellent history of the development of rotary motorcycle engines can also be found here.
Suzuki, Yamaha and numerous smaller manufacturers (including BSA and Norton) all developed rotary powered engines, but Norton was the only one who went the sportbike/racing route. Norton’s racing rotary had a 588cc, air-cooled engine mounted in an aluminium beam frame which resulted in a race-ready weight of 320lbs and an estimated 135hp. This setup achieved a high level of success for Norton in the TT series on the late 1980’s and early 1990’s..
NOTE: The norton engine design resurfuced 10 years later in the truly epic NVR588.
Given the success and the high level of interest in the Norton, its no surprise that the company decided to offer a street version known as the F1. The 1990 Norton F1 was actually based on the Commander model and while it looked like a full on race bike, it was really set up for the street with things like water cooler and street oriented suspension.
Even with the success of its racing rotary, Norton was struggling financially at the time and only about 128 F1 editions were built during the production run.
This particular F1 has only had 1473 miles put on it since new but the seller indicates it will a need full recommissioning so interested buyers should expect costs for fresh rubber and fork oil and possibly a fuel pump and/or brake lines, depending on how it was stored. Also the seller has only included two photos in the auction which is a bit of a concern.
Is this bike worth the 27,000 GBP asking price (thats about 40k USD)? Well we have had these on RSBFS a few times before but that was back in 2010 so current value of an Norton F1 is a bit of an unknown. A search of Bonhams auction history seems to indicate that the asking price for this one is a bit above historical averages but the Bonhams auction bikes had more mileage or were pre-production models.
Overall I think this one is priced a bit high but it certainly meets all the criteria of a true rare sport bike ((numbers produced, technology, condition and location). I think it will definitely appeal to collectors of late 1980’s/early 1990’s sportbikes, both for its technology and its namesake.
-Marty/Dallaslavowner
The Brits do come up with some very interesting motorcycles. These are some amazing bikes with a sound like no other. The Norton factory race bikes were pretty successful with I.O.M. wins and British racing championships. A good looking bike in the JPS black livery which led to them being referred to as “Black Death” (too cool) plus the gold JPS logo on them is soooo sexy. I want one, wish I could afford one.
‘Black Death