norton struggled to reclaim its pre-wwii racing dominance as the single-cylinder machine faced fierce competition from the multi-cylinder italian machines and ajs from the uk. in the 1949 grand prix motorcycle racing season, the first year of the world championship, norton made only fifth place and ajs won. that was before the featherbed frame appeared, developed for norton by the mccandless brothers of belfast in january 1950, used in the legendary manx norton and raced by riders including geoff duke, john surtees and derek minter. very quickly the featherbed frame, a design that allowed the construction of a motorcycle with good mass-stiffness distribution, became a benchmark by which all other frames were judged.