The Story

Norman did not initiate the change to road bikes, it just happened. Departing from motorcycle racing may not have been a wise move but at that time there was no interest in racing machines, the market had dryed up. The BMW conversions started before VG won all his championships and during a sour experience with the MOD. A friend had crashed his K100RS, one of the first K100's in the UK, and eventually Norman began converting beemers. These were more appreciated in Germany where most of them went. The conversion work was considered of good enough quality by TUV to be given their TUV approval. Though the BMWs worked fine they were the wrong bike to work on - Ducati would have been a better choice but Norman never had the luxury of choice.

BMW showed enlightenment too with their Telelever which came to market a year or two after Norman's/BMW conversions. BMW themselves tested more than one of Norman's customer bikes thoroughly and they understood the gains that a wish-bone could bring to structural stiffness. It was a step in the right direction though they stopped half way and kept the tellies. (this was before the K1200) They also missed several other opportunities that the HOSSACK system could offer, namely, lower over-all weight, lower steer axis inertia, lower ride friction, lower manufacturing cost (the HOSSACK up-right does not have high precision parts) some additional geometry/ride options and the one sided option to match their rear end.