NEW NORTON ATLAS MOTORCYCLE

The Nomad looks good.
84 HP - not bad for a light machine.
Anyone know whether the tank is steel or plastic?
 
The Nomad looks good.
84 HP - not bad for a light machine.
Anyone know whether the tank is steel or plastic?
Composite. I saw a photo of the spec sheet but can't find it. Motor said to be made by Kymco, Korea.
 
NEW NORTON ATLAS MOTORCYCLE
NEW NORTON ATLAS MOTORCYCLE
 
From Norton Motorcycle official FB page....

Norton Atlas revealed with two new models, 250 of each model to be released for the UK market this Saturday Motorcycle Live The Atlas 'nomad' priced at £9,995 and the Atlas 'ranger' priced at £11,995. UK deliveries set to commence in May 2019 with European bikes set to release later in 2019, followed by USA, Australia late 2019.
 
WHAT ?!?

You sure?

Where dya here that from?

I may suddenly have lost interest...
Composite or Kymco? Composite from the brochure photo above.... Kymco has been mentioned several times on FB posts as 'matter of fact' responses to 'where made?' questions but not seen anything official.
 
It’s the Kymco bit that got me.

Lots of modern bikes have composite tanks, I wouldn’t think too hard about that.

Not so keen on my ‘British Bike’ having a Korean engine though. It kinda goes from being something special, and definitely of interest, to ‘just another one of many’ of which there are plenty. And cheap.

I’m not putting forward an argument against the use of a foreign engine per se here BTW... just explaining its effect on me... which is: It pretty much switches me off.
 
From Norton Motorcycle official FB page....

Norton Atlas revealed with two new models, 250 of each model to be released for the UK market this Saturday Motorcycle Live The Atlas 'nomad' priced at £9,995 and the Atlas 'ranger' priced at £11,995. UK deliveries set to commence in May 2019 with European bikes set to release later in 2019, followed by USA, Australia late 2019.

Just remember that the factory ain’t built yet! So best to be flexible about that May delivery me thinks...
 
Just remember that the factory ain’t built yet! So best to be flexible about that May delivery me thinks...
Norton say initial launch is for 250 bikes.... so May might be do-able.... SG then says the new factory will allow them to step up to 2,000 bikes a year.

The early days we were lead to believe (well, I was) it was going to be half of the V4. The latest mcn article quotes SG as declaring the 650 isn't a spin-off of the V4 but was conceived at the same time as the V4, then adds that the only part of the V4 that is used on the 650 is the cylinder head.... but doesn't say what the rest of the engine is.... Kawasaki???
 
I don’t do face-ache Mark... what is the general response of people to the Kymco engine topic on face-ache ?
 
As I say, the references to Kymco are hear-say, but 'not surprised' and 'great engines/sensible costs' have been typical responses.

The feedback on FB re: this new model has been a mixed bag of praise and wishing Norton every success to the usual dross like '82hp for £10k, is this a sick joke' and everything else inbetween. I take much that I read on FB with a pinch of salt until I see an official announcement. The no-no for me is the seat height :)
 
I think Nigel, you may want to swallow your British pride for this one. The V4 was derived from the Aprilia engine, the twin from the V4. That combined with Korea's machining and dependability (let's face it....Hyundai is not exciting, but you never see one on a tow truck) is a pretty fine match. I'm finally a bit intrigued. What would hold me back still is lack of dealerships in the US. That and low production means low supply of parts. Hopefully that will all change in the future.
 
Is it just me or do the pics above just make the 961 look dated
The same thought crossed my mind, and i've just bought a 961. At least in my case the owner is a bit dated too so i won't be stressing.
 
Those decals on the side covers look shite. Would of been nice for it to have a badge or something or at least the name in "Norton Font". :(
 
Hi Guys,

Glad you like the bike!

Just to clarify (and I have no idea where these things start!) but we have never even spoken to anyone in Korea or KYMCO! The engine was designed in its entirety by my team here at Norton. The engine is licensed to Zongshen and parts for the motor are from a global supply chain, which is nature of the beast in 2018 when you are chasing quality. Engines are assembled here at Norton, just like EVERY engine we have ever made, 961, V4 and 650. Its a super engine and was conceived at the same time as the V4 but the engineering started in earnest a little later.

The V4 also bears almost no resemblance to the Aprilia, we used that in racing but from an engineering point of view they are both V4's and that's where the similarity ends. The V4 was a ground up design using latest engineering practices and again done by our team here at Norton.

HTH

Simon
 
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