The Featherbed was actually designed by Rex McCandless, an Irish fellow closely associated with Norton as was his brother, Cromie. The first were built in 1949, and were a development of an earlier Triumph engined version built by McCandless in '44. Ken Sprayson built Featherbeds later for Norton (probably works bikes and production Manx), as well as special 531 frames (which I think he did design) commissioned by John Surtees for the ill fated Ducati Desmo paralell twins originally ridden by Mike Hailwood.
Best regards, Wes Gadd Unionville,CT
Philcycles@aol.com wrote:
In a message dated 4/8/06 1:06:38 PM, greenjersey@ntlworld.com writes:
>I mentioned that I thought Royal Enfield made lightweight bikes and he
>said they were built at Reynolds (tubes) by a
>
>Ken Sprayson.
Ken Sprayson is a famous man in the motorcycle world. He came up wiht the Norton Featherbed frame, originally built from 531. Phil Brown Had a couple but not in San Rafael, Calif.