Phil Dansby, aka Captain Commando's First Bike Story

MY FIRST TWO WHEELER
By Captain Commando

I grew up in a small town in Southern New Mexico during the 50’s and 60’s. It was a wonderful place to live, the town was small enough that most of us went to school together from Kindergarten and graduated High School together.

There were some older kids around and some of them even had scooters or motorcycles. I remember Vespa’s, Allstates, Lambredas, Mustangs, and Cushman scooters. There were also a couple of BMW’s, BSA’s, and even a few Triumph’s. The one motorcycle police man in town had a red Harley Davidson iron head Sportster.

Dealers, however were always far away in the larger towns. That was until Kenny Simms opened a Cushman dealership on 8th Street. Well, we would ride our bicycles to “Simms Cushman Sales” whenever we could just to look at the wonderful, to us, machines.

Finally in 1959, after much begging, my dad agreed to buy me a Cushman motor scooter. I was fifteen and a half at the time and couldn’t get a license until I was sixteen. In those days there were the Eagle, Super Eagle, and the Highlander each powered by the same 325cc flat head Briggs & Stratton motor. The Eagle and Super Eagle had a tank shifter two speed transmission with a clutch pedal on left floor board and a rear wheel brake on the right. The throttle was on the right handlebar and the front wheel brake was on the left. The motor put out about 8bhp.

By now several of my other friends were getting Cushmans and even a couple had Allstate 175’s sold by Sears and Roebuck which had just opened in town.

Kenny Sims also raced “Micro Midget Racers” powered by a hoped up Cushman motor. It wasn’t long before I stared saving up money for the “Hop Up” goodies that Kinney used. I was determined to have the fastest Cushman in town. Over the next two years I had the motor ported and relieved, only someone familiar with flat head engines would know what that means. I also had a larger than stock Ford intake valve with BSA valve springs. Then I found a Delorto carb which I mounted on a straight intake manifold with velocity stack. From there I fabricated a new exhaust pipe with no muffler. Now I was really moving. These mods with a one tooth larger transmission sprocket made this scooter fly. On a good day, downhill and with a tail wind it might hit 60mph.

I should have mentioned earlier that these bikes don’t go around corners well. They had small round “balloon” tires with very little traction except in a straight line. I went through three sets of crash bars, straighten some several times before they finally broke, before finally selling my bike after my Mom finally put her food down.
While my Mom said I would eventually grow out of motorcycles the Cushman set me on a long adventure of two wheel fun which I still enjoy today.

Phil Dansby, aka Captain Commando

The Motorcycle That Inspired My Life

By Phil Dansby

It was while growing up New Mexico in the early 60’s that my interest in motorcycles was first kindled. I don’t remember any specific event that inspired my lifelong involvement with motorized two-wheeled vehicles, but surely something did. In those days variety was limited: there were Allstates, sold by Sears and Roebuck, some Vespas, a Cushman scooter or two, and occasional old BMW with an even older guy riding it. The police had only one other motorcycle, an iron barrel Sportster ridden by our only police officer, and the officer had to purchase it himself.

While serving in Uncle Sam’s Navy in the late 60’s I subscribed to the two important industry magazines of the time, Cycle and Cycle World. I feel pretty certain that it was the “Norton Girl” in the Commando ads that first caught my eye, but after that it was the beautiful lines of the motorcycle itself that held my attention. The Superbike of its age, the Norton had at least 100 cc’s displacement advantage over the competition as well as a long and storied racing history.

For the next four years I hungrily consumed any information that I could find regarding Nortons. However, even after my discharge in 1970, it would be a few more years before I actually got my hands on one.

It was late December 1973 and the first 850cc models were almost sold out, but two remained on the showroom floor at Doc Storm’s dealership. I still didn’t have the money, but I was certain that I had waited long enough for the motorcycle of my dreams. Soon the deal was done, and I picked up my ‘73 MKII Roadster just before Christmas which I still have today. Little did I know at the time what a significant role that motorcycle and my association with all things Norton, British and later Italian motorcycles would play in my life.

During the following three decades my job required that I relocate about every two years. No matter where I was sent it wasn’t long before I was able to connect with other Norton owners and British bike enthusiasts.

I did everything on my Norton in those early years. I rode it to work, toured Colorado and many other states, all the while keeping it mostly stock. During this early period of Norton ownership I was making it a point to go to as many USNOA (what is now the INOA) national rallies as possible. I would eventually attend sixteen nationals spanning the country from California to the mountains of Virginia. Each time I met many memorable people, some of whom are my best friends today. It was while attending the nationals through the years that I began to think about starting a local club. I’d been impressed to find so many people from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area at these events, so I started collecting names and phone numbers. I petitioned the INOA for a chapter membership and in early 1980 and started getting some of these guys together at my home in Irving. The next thing we knew we had a club. We realized that we didn’t have enough Nortons to maintain a purely Norton club so we decided to include all British and European marques as well. The NTNOA (North Texas Norton Owners Club) was born.

In 1990 I noticed the Norton was burning a little oil out the left cylinder. It was time for a top end job! Of course, as these things usually go, it wasn’t long before I was loading up a bare frame and heading to the powder coat shop. It was then that things began to happen. When it was time for the reassembly I started looking around at all the Norton parts I had collected over the previous 17 years of ownership. Lo and behold, I had accumulated some pretty neat parts. During the rebuild I used most of what I had hidden away and later that year finished the highly modified Red and Black bike you see today. Two years later in 1992 I took it to the Norton National in Tennessee along with my freshly completed Silver and Black Commode. The Red Norton took First Place in the modified class well as the “Jim Balliro” award for technical excellence, named after the author of the Commando Technical Digest. The Silver and Black one also took First Place in the café class. Interestingly enough, ten years later at the INOA rally in Utah the same bikes did a repeat, again winning best modified and best café exactly as they had ten years earlier.

Over the years both Norton have opened many doors and helped me make friends wherever I’ve gone. They have been featured in Cycle World and Classic Bike magazines, two of the most prominent publications in the field of motorcycles. In addition to my travels throughout the United States, my Norton has inspired me to make two visits to the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, England, and a trip to the Isle of Man in 2007. All this is a direct result of having purchased the bike of my dreams so many years ago.

Time has passed and now my prized Norton is almost 49 years old. I’m that much older as well. Why is it that time passes so quickly, and why can’t I get a rebuild and some new parts for myself? But there’s no question I am a much richer man for having owned my Nortons! During our years together it has taken me down a road where I’ve made many friends, and it has enabled me to meet many famous racers, collectors, and enthusiasts who all share a love for Norton’s and all things British. Two wives, one daughter and one granddaughter all know about Dad’s Nortons. We have shared a lifetime together and because of it I am forever enriched.

Yesterday I went for a ride on one of my Nortons, and the memories of so many good times and places came rushing through my mind. It has been my friend for the last 49 years of my life; a trusted companion as the years and miles roll by.