The Norton Atlas has always been one of my forever dream bikes. This story started quite a long time ago, with the aborted purchase attempt at my first one.
After regrettably selling my Commando, I had gone about a year and a half without a bike. I had always lusted over owning a featherbed Norton special, built up as a period-correct café racer. One day my dear friend and longtime motorbike mentor, Bib, called me to say that he’d like to sell me an Atlas special that he had owned for some 20 years.
Some of you may know of Bib. Bill ‘Bib’ Bibbiani had cemented himself passionately in the Norton community as a rider, collector, and builder of iconic British iron, serving as the fearless leader of the famed Southern California Norton Owners Club.…