Four-stroke, parallel twin-cylinder, two
valves per cylinder operated by pushrods
Capacity
647 cc / 39.5 cu in
Cooling System
Air cooled
Starting
Kick
Max Power
36.5 kW / 49 hp
Transmission
4 Speed
Final
Drive
Chain
Frame
Full duplex cradle, 'Featherbed' type
Front Suspension
Telescopic forks with coil springs
Rear Suspension
Swinging arm with adjustable, three position
hydraulically damped Girling units
Front Brakes
Drum, Ø203 mm / Ø8.0 in
Rear Brakes
Drum, Ø178 mm / Ø7.0 in
Top Speed
192 km/h / 119.5mph
Norton launched its first 650cc twin, the US-market
Manxman, in 1960. Available in Europe the following year, the Dominator 650 was
built in standard, De Luxe and SS variants, all of which, plus the 500SS,
featured a new cylinder head with down-draught inlet ports. With 49bhp on tap,
plentiful low-down torque and exemplary handling courtesy of its race-proven
Featherbed frame, the 650SS was one of the outstanding sports motorcycles of the
1960s, being more than a match for Triumph's Bonneville in terms of all-round
performance. Indeed, in February 1962 Motor Cycling achieved a best one-way
speed of 119.5mph at MIRA with a 650SS, more than 10mph up on that of the
Bonneville tested the previous summer.
Often, post-war British motorcycle factories were
unedifying experiences. Squalid working conditions, management of appalling
mediocrity, obsessively militant trade unions and chronic under-funding led to a
reliance on existing designs and tooling which was suicidal. Yet, out of this
mire, true motorcycling gems sometimes appeared.
Norton’s Bracebridge Street works in Birmingham was a near perfect example of
how not to build motorcycles - but still the factory managed to produce one of
the best big bikes of its era.
Luck had a huge part to play in the launch of the Dominator. First, the factory
owned the coveted “Featherbed” duplex frame. This design had been gifted to the
factory by the McCandless brothers and had kept Norton’s Grand Prix aspirations
alive ten years after Norton’s race bikes should have been obsolete.
Not only did the “Featherbed” set the standard of handling for the whole of the
motorcycling world but its great benefit to Norton, and many other
manufacturers, was that the duplex design allowed almost any engine to be housed
within the widely splayed frame tubes.
The Dominator also had a very reasonable engine. Designer Bert Hopwood was an
obsessive self-publicist but had worked alongside both Val Page and Edward
Turner at Ariel in the 1930s when all three became interested in the concept of
neat, cheap to produce, parallel twins. Page penned the elegant Ariel KH, Turner
the legendary Speed Twin and Hopwood the Dominator. Naturally, he claimed the
Dominator to be far superior to the other two!
The resultant bike was a nice motorcycle by any standards. It handled extremely
well, had a sweet, reliable engine which provided a genuine 90mph performance
and possessed the best brakes of any contemporary British bike. Only in terms of
a leak prone primary chain-case was the Dommi inferior to Triumph’s
world-beating range.
Finished in Norton’s classic polychromatic grey colour scheme, the Dominator
also looked every part as elegant as its Triumph contemporary and was far more
elegant than either Ariels or BMWs of the day.
But it wasn’t oil leaks which constantly forced the Dommi into second place in
the sales race. The Triumph factory was modern, well equipped and profitable. By
contrast, the Norton works was a model of inefficiency and squalor and suffered
from chronic under-funding. At best, the Bracebridge Street works could produce
only 200 bikes a week - and that was a rare occurrence.
That Hopwood’s first design proved to be right is shown in the way that the
basic motor was bored and stroked first to 600cc and then to 750cc with the
Atlas and eventually, although much modified, all the way to the 828cc Commando.
Today, the Dominator still does not fetch such a premium price as its Triumph
rivals which makes it one of best buys in the classic bike market.