They would need serious money to become anything other than a very small scale manufacturer that would always be at risk. IIRC John Bloor put £150 million into Truimph before they started making money.

Also Triumph also started by producing motorcycles that normal motorcyclists wanted (Kawasaki engine format homages) rather than esoteric modern day classics, that cost a fortune and are bought by some old duffer who saw one on the island in 1947 be raced by Arthur Sprogget and has dreamt of one ever since. It was a reasonable amount of time before the retro side was introduced and plugged, by then they’d already established themselves. They also make most of their bikes in Thailand iirc

It’s a shame, but Norton has been back more times than Eminem. The brand could do with a revamp like Triumph had, although as TJ said, that’s a fair wedge of a gamble to get back on track. Triumph also has the cache of the Steve McQueen links and they embraced the recent boom custom cafe/bobber/brat culture that’s big with IT managers and beard growers.

Had they done something more like what Triumph has done with the Bonneville, a progressive update to the classic design, Norton may have turned more heads with their modern bikes. Unfortunately, they seemed to be expensive oddities rather than good everyday bikes

They Commando just seems too far removed from the original style

£15,000 as well, A Bonnie is £9500

Fugly ballooned rear end on that commando.

Quite like this one though.

kilo
…rather than esoteric modern day classics, that cost a fortune and are bought by some old duffer who saw one on the island in 1947 be raced by Arthur Sprogget and has dreamt of one ever since….

As one of the old duffers, my memory of Nortons are not good. Their twins were absolute shite. Great looking for a 5 mile trip to the cafe, but would vibrate the blood out off your knuckles on anything over that (I had an Atlas). Their singles were good, but that was old man in a raincoat territory.

I thought the Commandos were an improvement, but they didn’t have the precision of the Featherbeds, and they were fragile (I exploded a couple of engines). Then there was the incinerations of riders when the petrol tank burst in crashes (I knew of 2).

Sadly the 850 would have been a good fix, but by then there were far superior bikes available from the Germans and Japanese, and people like me had learned to distrust Norton.

About all I can say in their favour was that they polished up nicely.

If neo-Norton had done a road going version of a Manx at a reasonable price (ie not stratospheric, but not necessarily cheap), I’d have been all over it. My Manx was the last Norton that was any good.

The Norton V4 was hardly some retro classic homage thing – a lot of engineering went into that bike (and that engineering / testing was supported by other companies in the UK so it wasn’t just knocking out something unproven that the stylist drew up). I worked with a couple of their guys and I’m sad to see them go.

mick_r
The Norton V4 was hardly some retro classic homage thing – a lot of engineering went into that bike (and that engineering / testing was supported by other companies in the UK so it wasn’t just knocking out something unproven that the stylist drew up)….

But it was unproven as far as its target market was concerned, ie people with the money for a luxury purchase and nostalgia for the brand. The trouble being their last memories of the brand.

It may have been better to aim at a lower price point and target younger people with no experience of Norton.

I can understand the nostalgia comments about the Commando etc, but not really the V4. I’ll admit I’m an outsider to the motorbike scene, but it seemed to be aimed at the modern day TT fan / middle aged and affluent born again biker (not a Bert Scroggins fan from 60 years ago).

But I do agree it was just a huge chunk of cash compared to other established and very capable bikes. I think the younger and cheaper end of the market was never a viable option without an unachievable increase in production volumes. So I guess that all leads to where they are today….

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/30/taken-for-a-ride-how-norton-motorcycles-collapsed-amid-acrimony-and-scandal

Makes for grim reading.

Demands for a deeper look

The racing arm did alright for a while. But there was no chance expensive, quirky, unreliable, rotary engine bikes would outsell Fireblades!

Member
If you cant sell your product you go bust. Thats business really.

Selling them – and taking customers money – wasn’t their issue: building and delivering them was.

Plenty rumours going around, and many customers and staff alike who were taken in by the charm and gravitas of Stuart Garner who feel a bit stupid, with hindsight.

Search Twitter for @notnorton_moto, and be prepared to need a few mugs of tea to read it all…

I still get served merch ads on Instagram – 60% off!

I’m assuming the 49% is a non-refundable deposit

The latest news yesterday was an owner went to pick up his (paid for, and delivered befoehand) £44k bike from the factory. It had gone back for a warranty repair on the paintwork.
What he found was a frame and engine, with a few ancillaries.Everything else had disappeared. The rumour was that the bits had been put onto an incomplete bike to be able to sell a new bike with the bits off his bike.

It doesn’t get any better I’m afraid……
https://www.superbike.co.uk/article/norton-was-it-a-fraud-from-the-start

I didn’t realise he’s wrecked Spondon as well.  What a sad end to a British Engineering firm.