The 650 Nortons were the only bikes at the NEC that really grabbed me. Eveything else was a bit meh. Like the new Hyper til i sat on it. The seat is awful. The V4R looks really special but its not a road bike. KTM Adventure 790 in the R version, new Desert Sled and the Yamaha Tenere 700 were the only other bikes that i liked. Ducati need to build a Superlight with an air cooled 1000cc motor.
I took their dominator for a test ride recently, beautiful looking machine, handled well but underpowered and vibrated like hell, but the 650 & 1200 are a completely new design engine wise, if you put the Norton V4 next to the Ducati V4 the Ducati looks like it just fell out of a Christmas cracker, the detailing and finish on the Norton is superb, jewel like!, I’ll probably have a 650 ranger but I’m going to give it 12 months because the engine is as yet unproven, I’m probably being a bit over cautious but I’ll feel more confident buying once this all new engine has been in service a while, hats off to Stuart Garner, the company has had a bit of a difficult birth but now appears to be going from strength to strength with a stunning new model range.
I'm off to the show on Sunday and am really interested in seeing the 650 Nortons . I like the look of the CCM's but am thinking the Norton might be a better option.
The 650 engine is the V4 motor with two cylinders left off...to an extent. Should be very under stressed in 650 format.
lol I ordered a V4 at the show too ... in 2016 ..yes 2016!! V4SS's are the first 200 being made until June, the RR's after that maybe 2020
Funny you should say that, I was talking to their salesman when I took the Dominator out, he pretty much said that about the Dominator variants, bought as investments mainly, the commandos get ridden (a bit), but I guess the Atlas range will remedy that, at 10k they are “real world” priced and should get used.
Fair enough, I guess that’s their target market, seems to contradict everything I like about motorcycles, but nothing wrong with collecting ornaments! I think they’re only making 250 of each of the Atlas variants. I have always hoped that Norton would turn into a British variant of MV, Aprilia or even Ducati. Not necessarily from a busisness perspective, but just make great premium motorcycles that are fairly accessible and durable.
I think it’s 250 atlas’s per year for the UK market, as I understand it they intend the atlas to be their volume bike.
The only trouble with a niche market is that dealers are few and far between and think they can hold you to ransom unless you are prepared to travel the length and breadth of the country.( so maybe I just adding to my woes ducati MV and now Norton )
I hope if they are looking to sell more bikes they start getting some more service opportunities. 103 miles to Castle Donington and can't see any information on the Soho dealer.
Mr McGuiness says he’s looking for a podium in 2019 , if I remember correctly Josh Brookes was 3 minutes off the winning time last year, now Josh is a great rider, but he’s not as good as McGuiness at the TT, so with a 6 lap race McGuiness would have had to have been 30 seconds a lap quicker than Brookes to have won last year, that’s a lot!, but with a bit of luck and McGuiness’s talent a podium isn’t out of the question IMO, really hope he does it!
