If there?s anything we love more than a classic racebike, it?s one with a good story behind it. And this gleaming Commando ?S? Roadster from NYC Norton comes with a very unusual history indeed.
NYC Norton is run by the affable and knowledgeable Kenny Cummings. He knows his way around a racetrack as well as old Brit iron, and he?s pretty much seen it all. But the manner in which this S-type arrived in his shop still caused his eyebrows to lift a notch.

?We often get enquiries from folks with old Nortons who don?t know what to do with them,? says Kenny. ?Either they had put a bike away, years ago, and forgot about it or they inherited one.?
?The first question is always, ?What would it cost to get it running"? The next is, ?What?s it worth, as is"??
A few years ago, Kenny received an email from a woman who identified herself as ?Tina.? She had a Norton she wanted to sell. ?I asked her to send photos, and I received some pictures from a woman with a different name?which looked as if they?d been taken with a flip phone in 1999. A bit suspect??
The bike was intact, as far as Kenny could tell, but was very grubby. It had most likely started life as a 1970 S-Type. Then he got a call from a ?Tina-Lina.?

?This was not a typical shop call. She spoke in whispery, hushed tones, and told me that the bike had belonged to her dear deceased husband. It had been languishing in her New Jersey backyard for many years, but she had the old registration and it seemed legit?a...