A night a Donington Hall

bpjthornton · Nov 14, 2017

MxMartin said:
Hi All, just a quick introduction as a new member of this forum, and fingers crossed a new owner of a 961 Commando 'Cafe' 50th

I attended the Donington Hall event and by sheer coincidence you can see me (sporting my recently grown grey beard) in Ben's 2nd photo above lol. Another coincidence is that my first bike was a 1968 750 Commando which I acquired in 1974 but alas proceeded to write it off in 1976

Look forward to bumping into some of you as time goes by.

Hey there, good news! So you bought the bike! When Clive and I spoke to you, your weren't sure. Don't think theres a better time to buy a 961, great value at the moment.

MxMartin · Nov 14, 2017

bpjthornton said:
Hey there, good news! So you bought the bike! When Clive and I spoke to you, your weren't sure. Don't think theres a better time to buy a 961, great value at the moment.

My heart was set on one but I had a hard time convincing my wife, as probably we all do! Thanks to you and Clive pointing out all the nice add-ons that are being included my wife finally said "Do you want one? Ok if you want one you can have one!" . I couldn't get my order over to Clem fast enough

Fast Eddie · Nov 14, 2017

MxMartin said:
My heart was set on one but I had a hard time convincing my wife, as probably we all do! Thanks to you and Clive pointing out all the nice add-ons that are being included my wife finally said "Do you want one? Ok if you want one you can have one!" . I couldn't get my order over to Clem fast enough

Well done! What colour combo did you go for? And did you add / tweak the spec any? Do you know what number you have? And last question, did Clem mention lead times at all?

MxMartin · Nov 14, 2017

Fast Eddie said:
Well done! What colour combo did you go for? And did you add / tweak the spec any? Do you know what number you have? And last question, did Clem mention lead times at all?

Thanks Eddie... I read that you are close or committed to getting one too! I have gone for the Cafe (yes my 61 year old back has been put to the test this Summer on a Hinckley 'Cafe' so all is good) and my guess is that the Silver(s) or Black will be the popular choice so I have opted for the English White (my Thruxton R is black) with short silencers and the decat once she is run in. To be completely honest my budget doesn't stretch as far as adding options but will probably add black barrels as they seem to weather quite well.... the bike otherwise is as near to being perfect as I could wish. I put 'no preferred number' on the form (guessing that 1 and 50 are likely to have already been set aside) but speaking to Clem yesterday he said that he would record #2 against my order. Stuart (as per invite letter), Clem and Olivia all appear confident of the stated 6-12 week delivery, we can only hope!

Fast Eddie · Nov 15, 2017

Yes, I have already put a deposit down too, indeed, mine is number 50!

Sounds like a classy choice there sir. Does the white have any pinstriping, or is it plain?

To my eye, some of the schemes have too much pinstriping going on. And I don’t like how they only pinstripe the main seat unit and don’t include the solo cover.

Mines going to be solid black, and as there is already large anivsersary motif on the seat hump, I have asked Clem for NO pinstriping on the seat or airbox, just the simple thin gold on the tank.

I went for short pipes and de-cat as well, the only thing I added on top of yours is a carbon chain guard instead of chrome, I’m a sucker for carbon!

I also like the look of the black barrels, but in the end opted for plain alloy as the rest of mine is gonna be quite black already.

Do keep us posted into delivery and beyond.

Clive · Nov 15, 2017

Hi all my fingers have just about thawed out now! Great to meet you at Donington Hall and I think I'm almost as excited as you must be with your new purchases. I found that delivery dates are a little bit loose so just enjoy the anticipation. Don't start mithering about replacing any bits - Skinner assured me that they use genuine Bosch sensors and coil packs and of course the bike has the latest crankcase breather. You may want to think about a tracker fitted by the factory - around £300. And I would plan to get the first 350 miles done in one go as the 3500rpm limit is awful - can't even get to 70mph. Of course there are the anniversary events next year to look forward to.....

Regards CliveAM

Britfan60 · Nov 15, 2017

MxMartin said:
Hi All, just a quick introduction as a new member of this forum, and fingers crossed a new owner of a 961 Commando 'Cafe' 50th

I attended the Donington Hall event and by sheer coincidence you can see me (sporting my recently grown grey beard) in Ben's 2nd photo above lol. Another coincidence is that my first bike was a 1968 750 Commando which I acquired in 1974 but alas proceeded to write it off in 1976

Look forward to bumping into some of you as time goes by.

I'm counting about 4 grey beards in there, but pleased to meet you. Good luck on your purchase.

richard-7 · Nov 15, 2017

Clive said:
Hi all my fingers have just about thawed out now! Great to meet you at Donington Hall and I think I'm almost as excited as you must be with your new purchases. I found that delivery dates are a little bit loose so just enjoy the anticipation. Don't start mithering about replacing any bits - Skinner assured me that they use genuine Bosch sensors and coil packs and of course the bike has the latest crankcase breather. You may want to think about a tracker fitted by the factory - around £300. And I would plan to get the first 350 miles done in one go as the 3500rpm limit is awful - can't even get to 70mph. Of course there are the anniversary events next year to look forward to.....

Regards CliveAM

So what you’re saying is;
Norton is listening. - good.!

Clive · Nov 16, 2017

I assume you refer to the sensors/ coil pack. Apparently they used to use Bosch, then dabbled with an alternative supply before returning to Bosch. Skinner rightly says that he does not want to compromise quality by cutting corners on items like this. A refreshing difference to production lines being controlled by the bean counters. There is nothing more frustrating for a development engineer to have a carefully selected material or component being swapped for production with an inferior but cheaper item.

I have to say that It was the first time I had spoken to Skinner and was most impressed with his commitment to the quality of the product and its continued development, and I had not realised what a significant part he played in the design of the Commando. If you have any doubts about Norton's commitment to their product engineering then get to talk to him.

MxMartin · Nov 16, 2017

Clive said:
Hi all my fingers have just about thawed out now!...... And I would plan to get the first 350 miles done in one go as the 3500rpm limit is awful - can't even get to 70mph.

I did wonder if anyone would be daft... err I mean enthusiastic enough to take their bike

.... and after 350 miles? I just went thru same endurance with the ThruxR, 300m/4krpm, 600m/5k (+1st service), 800m/6k, 1000m/7k... at least at each stage you are 'rewarded' with an extra 1krpm so wasn't all bad!

Britfan60 · Nov 16, 2017

I'd be willing to bet that Richard7 and Dad have been influential in this dept, with their visit to the factory and their public posts on this forum. I also might be willing to guess if they had consistently uses superior parts from the get to and had a fair amount of stock available, their would still be a fair amount of dealerships here in the US. It just turned out to be a bunch of finger pointing. Hopefully its not too late to catch on again.