Page 89 - Motorcycle Trader (February 2020)

N O R TO N

N O M A D
NO M A D ’ S L A ND
NOMAD’S LAND

Not competitive enough to worry Triumph
and almost too polished to get dirty, the

Nomad is now among the most desirable

production Nortons of the late 1950s

WORDS & PHOTOS IAN FALLOON
riumph pretty much British manufacturers. Husqvarna
kickstarted the scrambler was barely known, Bultaco was just
phenomenon when it built an getting started and the Japanese
Toff-road TR5 Trophy for Bud didn’t figure until the 1960s. The
Ekins to use in the 1955 Catalina secret to the early scramblers’
Grand Prix. Ekins won that race success was that, while looking
convincingly, completing 10 laps like serious off-road motorcycles,
of the 16-kilometre circuit some 10 they were basically modified street
minutes quicker than the previous bikes. The off-road capability wasn’t
record. This success established great, but the scrambler looked the
Triumph’s reputation in off-road part and as far as the manufacturers
racing and initiated the American were concerned they didn’t require
love affair with the scrambler. Over much R&D. Triumph’s success
the next decade, the TR6 Trophy didn’t go unnoticed at Norton. Still
‘street scrambler’ would become one operating at that time out of the
of Triumph’s most popular models. antiquated Bracebridge Street works
The off-road market at the time in Birmingham, it decided to get in
was almost entirely owned by on the act.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER 87