Iconic: The Ron Wood ‘Lightweight’ Dell’Orto Norton
In the US right now, flat track is smokin’ hot. Indian has joined the fray and is giving Harley-Davidson serious competition. The Super Hooligan series, devised by Roland Sands and open to semi-production bikes, is picking up speed. And custom builders the world over are looking to flat trackers for inspiration.
If you’re one of those builders, you’ll find the biggest dose of inspiration right here. It’s the Ron Wood ‘lightweight’ Norton, owned by Jamie Waters, and the archetype of retro flat track style.
Iconic: The Ron Wood ‘Lightweight’ Dell’Orto Norton
Jamie, 41, has had petrol coursing through his veins since childhood. And even moving from rural Georgia to California, and then to New York City, hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm.
He’s a partner in the USA operation of apparel maker REV’IT!, and his passion for classic bikes includes racing them himself in the AHRMA series. (He’s also raced and demonstrated works machinery in the UK and New Zealand.)
But back to the bike, beautifully captured for us by photographer Douglas MacRae. Anyone with a passing interest in flat track history will have heard of the legendary red ‘big tube’ Nortons. Ron Wood built the first one around 1971 or 1972, and the second a few years later.
Iconic: The Ron Wood ‘Lightweight’ Dell’Orto Norton
Around the same time, he constructed the National-winning ‘lightweight’ bike we’re looking at here—which has a single-backbone, dual down tube frame designed to (you guessed it) reduce weight.
Jamie bought the lightweight from Ron directly, after they met at the Legend Of The Motorcycle show nearly ten years ago, where Jamie was showing his unrestored Ron Wood ‘big tube’ Norton.
“I consider the Ron Wood Nortons to be seminal machines from a golden age of American flat track, when a privateer could compete and win on the back of their own ingenuity and determination,” Jamie says.
“Ron Wood’s bikes were beautifully turned out then, and remain jaw-droppers today—40 or more years removed from their competitive peak.”
