Bill Becker's pristine Norton Commando Mk III

It’s hard to improve on the Norton Commando. But Bill Becker, creator of the lovely Aermacchi Sprint we featured a little while ago, has taken the iconic British motorcycle to a new level. Bill bought the Commando on eBay as a project bike with a rebuilt motor and powder coated frame. Everything else was in a state of disassembly and arrived in three boxes. “That was OK with me,” says Bill. “My intent was to build a cafe racer based on a 1970s superbike platform, but with contemporary improvements—with a ‘naked’ look fashioned after period-racers.” The details were to be...