It takes an especially hardy breed of classic motorcyclist to brave the February weather and venture forth on an entirely frivolous quest. Meet the first batch of Norton Challengers, then...

The RealClassic Norton Challenge is simple. Grab any motorcycle; ideally old but it doesn't have to be a Norton. Ride your bike to somewhere with 'Norton' in its name. Take a photo of your bike next to the Norton sign. Send it to us, and wait for your moment of glory on this site or in the pages of the monthly magazine. Our editor, Frank Westworth, got the ball rolling in January 2009 by giving his classic motorcycling an interesting theme for the year. Each month he'll be riding to somewhere in the UK, bagging as many places with 'Norton' in their name as he can along the way. And you, gentle reader, can do exactly the same. In fact, quite a few of you have been at it already…

MadMike gave his Norton Model 50 an outing and visited Featherbed Lane at Withybrook in Warwickshire, then onto Norton Lea near to Stratford On Avon, at Norton Lindsey.

Our favourite from this selection is Norton Juxta Twycross; 'a tiny village in Leicestershire. As the name says Norton is close to or alongside (JUXTA) Twycross. It is also close to Twycross Zoo. Total mileage today in the interests of the Norton Challenge was 130 Norton miles, and it was b****y cold!'

Meanwhile, Bruce Pollard rode his Norton Big Four to Featherbed Lane in Shrewsbury. Erm, chaps, you don't HAVE to ride a Norton you know. Any bike will do. But John Peall couldn't resist taking another Norton, his 1975 Mk3 Commando, to Church Norton in West Sussex.

BMW Ks on eBay.co.uk

Then (at last!) someone dragged a different type of machine out on the Norton Challenge; here's Nigel Dods' BMW at Kings Norton Station. 'Notice the risks I take for RealClassic,' says Nigel. 'If you look carefully I am parked on double yellow lines but there again we are BIKERS!'

A fair selection of different models joined Rod the Busaflyer to visit Bishop Norton; the man himself with Julie on a Royal Enfield Super Meteor, LJ with an M21, Sloperman with his BSA Sloper and chair, Steve and his Sunbeam S8, Aboxontheside on his A10 Gold Flash, Tony on his BMW Boxer, Ron on his bitsa 350 Matchless and Glyn on his Moto Guzzi. Hurrah: not a Norton (motorcycle) among them!

Then we tip our hats to Martin Peacock, Charlie Webster and Ian Soady, all of whom have been hither and yon, stacking up Nortons like they might all be bagged before summer gets here. Crikey, guys; leave some for later…

The outright leader of the pack so far is, however, Rob Norton who got off to a flying start in January and who we think might already have reached double figures. Here's Rob, as the sun goes down at Bredon Norton.

And what of Frank W's first Norton? Well, here's the proof that he did indeed set off in early February to a place called Norton, and here it is marked on the map.

As you'll see from the photo, however, this particular Norton turned out to be a stretch of scenic country lane without a hint of a Norton sign anywhere. Drat, double drat, and that's a good excuse for another ride then…

----------------

Join The Challenge: you can do it on your own or you can do it with a chum. You can do it on an old bike, big bike, little bike or even a new bike. Just quit sitting at your desk all day and get some miles under your wheels. Stop at anywhere called Norton, take a photo of your bike next to the sign, and send it to rchq @ realclassic.net

Then wait - your Norton could appear here or in the magazine!

----------

More Norton Challengers appear in the March 09 issue of RealClassic (RC59), on sale from March 16th.