Comments on: Banquer 920 – Norton Featherbed with Yamaha Virago Engine and Shaft Drive

By: Harold

Harold — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:07:33 +0000

The Featherbed frame is NOT a type of frame, it’s a brand, and was manufactured ONLY by Norton during it’s production run, from the early 1950′s to 1968, when they built the first Commando rubber mount frame and forward tilting engine. It was named that because of it’s solid yet comfortable handling and was the company race frame, and every Manx,Dominator, or Atlas, as well as some other engines, were all in them. The Norton and Matchless scramblers used 2 non-featherbed frames for light weight and off-road use. But the frame, which came as a wideline or slimline for different engines, is fairly valuable, especially the Manx Slimline, and cutting out the downtubes makes it worthless, except on that bike. There are 1 or 2 guys making reproduction Featherbeds, 1 for sure in England, and the price is resonable. Every conceiveable engine has been swapped into them, including a Harley WA Army flathead 45.

By: roger de vries

roger de vries — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:01:29 +0000

hey joe! i’m interested in wot mod you did to the starter.mine already has a 4-brush setup but has eaten the teeth of the flywheel & idler gear. i really, really dig tr1′s.would not ride anyfing else if i could only get a permanent starting fix. Great bike

By: DnA

DnA — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:30:21 +0000

Banquer did an absolutely brilliant job here. It took guts to fit a Virago engine into a Featherbed frame. The Virago 920 engine is a torque monster hidden in a boring 80s frame. I remember riding a friends 920 and was blown away by its sheer power. This beautiful example has me thinking about doing a custom 920 of my own.

By: turbodog

turbodog — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:31:29 +0000

The XV motor is a nice starting point for all sorts of interesting customs. I’m currently doing one as a “Seca” and another as a full resto-mod (GSXR, CBR suspension parts, whweels, brakes, megasquirt, etc).

http://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pgKu6NuuQpZvVyiNXwmbFaF82XleGFZVrhuNAbJFu2CXJ1hvFksq1aMlQJO5z_Zg_tWGGs2PhhLDBmoUSw0e-JQ/smwasis.JPG

http://z3yrqa.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pZterBwW0wzdMqmBttn9uhQN4zpiFBo_4hkNwip50rq9rhqmdm3riE6JGIQbkqmj5iECx4fujBvs1UuXPsuZcPn4PuvgKccMk/naked%20left%20side.jpg

By: Bob Fletcher

Bob Fletcher — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:29:26 +0000

Well the banquer just showed up at my door.An I’m in love.Gonna need some fiddling to
make a rider out of it but I’m sure up to it.Three “experts” have seen it and don’t have
it figured out.Now I’m having trouble telling the truth.18 on the rear,flat slide’s,cams and
some real exhaust over the winter.What about YORTON