The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

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

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With the arrival of spring, the motorcycles for sale listings are exploding and everyone is pulling out the interesting bikes. I saw this one today, the Banquer 920, built by Gwen Banquer. You may remember his name from the Banquer Superior, a Brough Superior look alike with Harley Davidson power. The Banquer 920 is a combination of a Norton featherbed frame with a Yamaha … [Read more...]

Gunnar Sorensen Master Builder

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Gunnar Sorensen builds motorcycles, ... and cars, and boats, and 1/4 scale engines and ... most anything he really wants to. Gunnar has an amazing skill set, his work speaks for itself. He, like many who are entranced by the technical world, is not limited to one segment, but instead works his magic on a wide variety of vehicles and machines. The Great Dane is a 3 year … [Read more...]

Norton 880 Monoshock Cafe Racer

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When Paul Zuniga first saw some Photoshop images in 2001 of a new Norton that Kenny Dreer was planning to build and bring to market, he knew he had to have one. Unfortunately, we now know, those bikes never made it. The prototypes gradually evolved from the original concept, a bike was built and shown around to various journalists, but they ran out of funds before it could be … [Read more...]

Belt Drive Norton Featherbed Cafe Racer

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Canadian Jean Des Rosiers knows his way around Nortons and thought we would like to see his slightly different take on a Norton cafe racer, he added some of his own ideas and the result is this very nice looking Norton 850. Besides all of the other detail work, he added some features you can't get from a catalog or swap meet, Jean designed and fabricated both the primary and … [Read more...]

Southsiders Triton – CP Project One

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Vincent Prat thought we might be interested in seeing a French interpretation of the venerable Triton and pointed out the CP Project One, done with Frank Charriaut and builder Daniel Delfour, a rather sleek machine with an interesting look and a few ideas I'm not so sure of, like the lack of a front brake and the extra long fork tubes, but, no matter, the whole bike looks … [Read more...]

Super Rat Trident Café Racer

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For Carl Bjorklund of Bellingham, Wash., the 1970 Triumph Trident basket case leaning in the corner would replace his Norton café racer . . . some day. In August 2009, a nudge from friend Young Pon got the wheels rolling. “I knew my next café racer was going to be a Trident,” Bjorklund said. “That basket and frame had been sitting for years. Young just said ‘yeah, … [Read more...]