Era of Domination

June 13, 2017 | By Mike Seate

It’s been nearly a couple of years since we started restoration work on a weatherbeaten, timeworn 1959 Norton Dominator and we’re proud to announce that she’s ready for the road. The job couldn’t have been possible without the remarkable skills and acumen of CRM staffer Nick Coumos who has been riding and building Norton twins since the late 1960s. Nick painstakingly rebuilt the 600cc motor, welding on broken cooling fins, rebuilding the battered top-end and basically making the Dommie roadworthy for the first time in decades. The bike came to us for a measly $600 at the Vintage Motorcycle Days Swap Meet a few years back when some impatient youth, unaware of what treasures he had, unloaded it in hopes of making a down payment on a new sportbike. There are very few of the original, 1950s Norton twins on the road in North America, as New Jersey’s Berliner Brothers didn’t import them in large numbers. With their lovely, understated monochrome finish and mid century design, the Dominator is, on our humble opinion, the best Norton twin ever made. Final build details are available in the current issue with a road test coming in August/September. Roar on!