Must be a rare one then!

Hello, new to the site and having had a look at some of the pictures I notice there is a load of Tritons, Norvins, Tribsas and so called! "bitsas" (not my phrase btw) but not that many Featherbeds with the original engine in?
Any other "Dommis" here?

Hi Cab and welcome, I missed your first post on Sunday. I take it from the title of this you have a 'Dommie cafe racer? If so get some more posts in and show us what you've got (I think you need 7 before you can put pictures up).

In answer to you question, not seen any on here, but I suspect the reason is twofold, firstly (apparently) the Dommie engine was considered sh*te by the original cafe race boys. I got this response when I asked my Dad years ago when I first got into bikes, he was a big cafe race fan, built loads of bikes in the 50's and 60's (wish he'd kept a few!) and I couldn't understand why they swapped the engines. The logic was the Featherbed frame was a marvel of engineering, and when coupled with a good Triumph or BSA motor you had a machine that went like stink and handled a dream. The Dominator series engine had a bad rep for being underpowered and unreliable and the other makers frames couldn't compete with the Norton, hence the engine swaps.(just my understanding, I don't know how well founded that reputation was and I don't want to start an argument, if you have a Dommie then you can judge far better than me)

Secondly a good condition Norton Dominator is worth far more to an enthusiast than a cafe racer 'special', so if they do still have the '99 lump in they have mainly been restored back to original.

As an aside, have you ever wondered what happened to all the Norton engines and Triumph/BSA frames? If a Norton framed/Triumph engined bike is a Triton (engine first, frames second) would that make a Triumph framed/Nortin engine bike a 'Norumph'?

pauliexjr, I'd wondered where all the Norumphs where for a long time. Thing is, as a Triumph man (I've had eight), I'd always wanted a Triton as long ago as the seventies but only just in the last year got round to doing something about it. I was at Stafford show and was  pointed in the direction of a Dommi which had been "caffed" in the early 60s but was needing some attention..............ok total strip and rebuild, which I thought would be a good start as a Triton. Then I found out that I'd only be it's third owner in 55 years and as the engine, gearbox and frame where all original it seemed a bit of a shame to split them up...............for now anyway. I can always go the Triton route at a later date if needs be or even a Commando engine as I quite like the Norton engine looks and design with less leak points. Mine has the 99 lump in which compared to my Speedtriple is really slow, as in stone age slow but as for all Norton Dommies being underpowered just don't tell that to any 650ss owners lol

Hi cab
Can’t wait for the pics mate, can’t beat a Norton
I thought that bastardizing a brit would de-value the long term investment of an original bike but it wont if your careful and use parts from the same period it will defiantly bump the value up real ball ache to do but it still can be done.
it aint about speed for me it’s the spirit of the cafe racer , but my BSA A50R will still chug along in the mid 80s downhill   but got some mods in mind for this winter that should make a difference, collecting parts ATM for another period cafe but want it to be special so that’s a long way away from a build thread only having a Manx framed  pre unit A10 engine & gearbox and one hub  ,also looking for a c11 ,c12,c15 if you know of anything complete if possible but condition is unimportant  
cheers miffa

Miffa, thanks , loads of pictures, I'll post them up when the seven days have lapsed. Well we've tried to do it in the spirit of which it was originally "caffed" in the 60s. Anyway rather than call it a Dommi we've come up with a better name for it: "Dominatrix" as it's demanded more, more, more in time and money as the build went on. The Norbsa sounds interesting!

As I said Cab, wasn't a dig, I've never ridden a Dommie so could only go by what I was told by the old man (who was probably biased as he loved Triumphs too!) Love the name and the rationale behind it  

I agree with Miffa, proper period cafes are rare and sought after. I saw a beautifuli (and original) A10 Rocket Gold Star cafe in a shop in the Scottish Borders some years back when I was looking for bits for my T140 build. It had pukka period bits including a beautiful chromed Goldie tank and clip-ons. Christ knows what it was worth, but the old boy who ran the shop was adamant it wasn't for sale.

That was 5-6 years back, now for the life of me I can't find the bloody shop or even remember which village it was in!

pauliexjr wrote:

That was 5-6 years back, now for the life of me I can't find the bloody shop or even remember which village it was in!

that will be the booze mate  

if we only knew what would turn out to be the classics of the future ,have you seen the prices for escort mk1s latley

[quote="miffa"]

pauliexjr wrote:

if we only knew what would turn out to be the classics of the future ,have you seen the prices for escort mk1s latley

And how! I had a 1600 Mexico back in the late '70s, a sort of dark orange colour never thought too much of it as it wasn't a patch on my mate's RS. Seeing what a good one is fetching now, I could clear my damned mortgage with that sort of cash!

I had a MK1 too for 6 years, just the deluxe (slow 1100 model with nothing deluxe about it at all) but did a bit of messing with it, 1600 Xflow engine, disc conversion to the front from a van model, it was ok and yes I wish I'd kept it in a shed instead of selling it for £40.00 back in around 84 I think.

Well this is what it looked like before I bought it:
https://s1340.photobucket.com/user/cab058/media/DommiatStafford2012a_zpsa7abe167.jpg.html

And this is what it looks like now: https://s1340.photobucket.com/user/cab058/media/Inplace3_zps1e2e53fe.jpg.html

Wow Cab, that is a bonnie looking thing! Mucho respect for that one.

Seeing the before picture reminds me of the Norton Atlas my Dad had. We lived near a disused airfield in Essex and I used to 'borrow' it when the old man wasn't around and take it up and down the runway, it was a barsteward to start and it often kicked back on the downswing, I'd nearly always wind up with a sore leg for my troubles.

I guess the old boy twigged the fact I was taking it out as he started leaving it with little or no fuel, I only found this out the day it died on me during one of my practice rides and I had to push the damn thing for almost two miles to get it back to the house!

absolutley stunning cab you must be well chuffed   ...........so whats next ? or is it enjoy time



my mk1 escort was a 1300 two door G REG i think ended up giving it to the scrap yard it rotted away moved right up in the world then red capri mk1

Thank you, yes I'm pleased with the way it's turned out, a complete nut and bolter, but what a price. For a bike that's valued at £8,500 it cost £10,500 to do (including the initial cost of £2,750 for the machine)  and that's doing all the assembly work ourselves and having a lot of special bits made FOC. There is no other project on the go for the aforementioned reason, cost, so it'll be a case of enjoying this for the rest of the summer.

Well, well, my piece o' shite Dommi won best café racer!

http://oxford.branches.nortonownersclub.org/files/2013/09/Mark-Savage-Best-in-Show-with-bike.jpg

And should have won furthest travelled too...