1928 Norton 490 CS 1

Norton's 490 CS 1 arrives in 1928 as a sporting middleweight in a lineup built around dependable singles, aimed at riders who wanted genuine pace without stepping up to the bigger CS1 variants Norton would later make famous. This is a bike built for long-distance road work and the kind of spirited riding that rewards a rider who understands how to manage a big single properly. The claimed top speed puts it well ahead of most everyday traffic of the period, and that performance came through careful attention to breathing and valve gear rather than brute displacement alone. Expect a machine that wants to be ridden with some mechanical sympathy, rewarding smooth throttle work and confident cornering over outright muscling. The 1928 model carried over without significant mechanical changes from the prior year — buyers comparing it to a 1927 example should focus on mileage, service history, and condition rather than spec differences. Today the 1928 Norton 490 CS 1 tends to attract riders and collectors already familiar with vintage British singles, often people stepping sideways from similar-era Nortons or AJS and Sunbeam models rather than newcomers to pre-war motorcycling. Condition and provenance matter more than rarity claims here.