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Depending on the intention of the buyer, just owning a 1935 designed
motorcycle or owning an ex-military motorcycle, the first action should
be to inform yourself.
Since September 2025 the best source to scrutinize a machine is using
the only book made specifically on the subject, see the book Military
Nortons 1936-1945 WD-16H and Big4 given on the
compulsory reading page.
Two
other helpful but very basic articles were written in the past by Chris Orchard
and published in the Classic Motor Cycle Magazine in 1986/87 in the
"Basic First-time Buyers Guide" series. Part 4 and part 8 of the
series describe the 16H and BIG4 respectively.
The
military 16H was a very close descendant of the civilian 1936 bike. It
differed only in small details.
It is therefore very easy to have a civilian bike presented as a military
bike and/or a military bike presented as a pre-war civilian one. Most
present 16H's on the market are ex-military by origin, resulting from the huge amount built
over a 10 year period.
Detailed differences found between civil and military bikes are given on
the civil versus military pages, see
16H
and
Big 4
When reading sales advertisements, be suspicious about what is offered,
assuming that you want to buy a genuine bike! Newer frames
with older engines or the other way around do however not mean it is not
genuine, as long as the engines and frames are according to the 1936
specification or the variations there off.
Frame parts and accessories did change considerably. Many variations and
combinations thereof can be seen in contemporary pictures. It helps to
have proper contemporary parts mounted to a bike when you buy it as it relieves the search
for them.
If you are looking for a genuine, prewar, civilian 16H, the most
easy give away is the saddle spring mounting. Starting with model
year 1937, all civilian bikes had side
mounted saddle springs. So whatever "1937" or later motorcycles being
offered as civilian, but sporting the vertical saddle spring studs is an
ex- military bike by definition. Another give away is the left-hand
pillion or sidestand lug on the lower chain stay, only fitted to
military frames.
If there is only one lug and the lug is more beefy/voluminous than on
the right hand side, it is a military frame as this lug was strengthened
to absorb the higher loading of the sidestand.
If there are 2 lugs on the left-hand lower chain stay, it is by
definition a military frame.
Whatever
you buy, be observant, don't let the seller make your decision.
Treat every "fabricated" story of its "wartime use" as yeah, yeah,
whatever you say, see "individual
motorcycle history" page.
It is a
gamble even when you know the previous owner (which is not necessarily the
previous "owner" that restored it). Remember that military/WD 16H's
were made between 1936 and 1945. Anything before 1936 is impossible as the
Army did not order them yet (excluding the single items bought/used by the
Army for evaluation purposes). Anything after 1945 is extremely unlikely
as it is totally out of scope of post war military thinking and illogical
in view of the surplus of transports available at the time.
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