New Norton Commando 961

At last I've seen one on the road!

I went strawberry picking yesterday & a guy turned up on one at the farm. I had a chat with him about it. He liked it a lot but it has developed an oil leak. He showed it to me, somewhere above the gearbox. He's waiting to hear what the factory are going to do about it. The owner agreed with me that it is still pretty much a prototype bike so first owners are effectively test riders. It was in the classic Norton silver colours. Very nice to see one being ridden.

Ian

There is nothing like riding one, but short of that, standing next to one beats the heck out of photos and video. So what was your impression of how the bike looked in "the flesh"? Quality of finish, paint, castings, etc.

Russ

It all looked very good. Certainly has an air of quality to it. This one had wire wheel with black anodised rims. Only thing I wasn't that impressed with is that the fuel tank isn't metal. The owner said it was fibreglass, but I'd hope it was made of something a bit more hi tech. Especially with all the ethanol assosciated problems for those of us with fibreglass tanks. Didn't look like it held much fuel either.

Ian

Nortoniggy said:

It all looked very good. Certainly has an air of quality to it. This one had wire wheel with black anodised rims. Only thing I wasn't that impressed with is that the fuel tank isn't metal. The owner said it was fibreglass, but I'd hope it was made of something a bit more hi tech. Especially with all the ethanol assosciated problems for those of us with fibreglass tanks. Didn't look like it held much fuel either.

Ian

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The Norton America prototypes had plastic fuel tanks with a "fiberglass/plastic" cover. This is common nowadays.

Nortoniggy said:

It all looked very good. Certainly has an air of quality to it. This one had wire wheel with black anodised rims. Only thing I wasn't that impressed with is that the fuel tank isn't metal. The owner said it was fibreglass, but I'd hope it was made of something a bit more hi tech. Especially with all the ethanol assosciated problems for those of us with fibreglass tanks. Didn't look like it held much fuel either.

Ian

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hmmm, not good to hear about the non-metal tank, it may well be plastic rather than fiberglass on a modern bike but plastic tanks have also had BIG problems with ethanol, a major issue in the Ducati world, also a problem on the Harley XR1200 and others...in both cases the tanks swell and many have been replaced under warranty, sometimes several times. FWIW Triumph switched back to steel from plastic a few years back, which the other makers would too, would not consider a plastic tanked bike European bike until the ethanol issues are resolved. Many of the faulty euro bike tanks are made by Acerbis from what I've read, don't know if Asian bikes have had the same problems.

Hi all,
I was at Norton Day last weekend & there was a lad on a New 961.
It had a non standard exhaust system on it that I belive was fitted at the factory at a later date.
He was well impressed with it & the exhaust note did sound very nice. The engine sounded like an old Norton with the rattling of the pushrods.
Maybe it will be in the NOC 2012 Calendar.
cheers all

The tanks are plastic and don't hold much .
And mine still leaks in a few places.
As a lifetime norton fan I'm very loath to say any bad about it
But put it this way it's days in my garage are numbered
As mr Rambow has nearly finished my caf'e racer
( now that's a proper Norton ) I had one of his cnw nortons
For 5 years and it put a smile on my face every day even in
Winter and in the uk it's shitty weather from oct to April
And in summer the rain is warmer !! . As i write this it's a bank
Holiday and it's pissing it down .......