Solihull is back in business?

Too bad Jay Leno never bought a 961 for his Garage.
He routinely has parts manufactured for other classic collector vehicles he owns in his Garage.
Like cast iron straight six cylinder heads for his Duesenberg.
Think someone should introduce him to the 961.
Preferably one that already has issues, now that shouldn't be too difficult. :cool:
 
Fast Eddie said:
I’m not so sure.
Further down the line, when they get into whatever EV platforms they’re imagining, then you might be right.

But their current ONLY new bike is the V4 and their medium term success, depends on that.

How many 17 year olds can afford a V4?!

Seems to me that the demographic for the V4 has huge overlap with that of the 961.
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Not so sure, when you read the monthly sales figures of superbikes they are way down the table, they don't sell in large numbers. Retros, dual sports, sports tourers sell more, so again it seems that their crap plan was drafted with no research or understanding of what is wanted. Racing forget it, Garner found out you just can't turn up with a 1200.
As for spare parts, some might be aware of recent demands by the EU dimwits, who are expecting manufacturers to be responsible through the life of the vehicle for its safety and end of life disposal. The manufacturers came back only providing it is fitted with manufacturer approved parts. Seems the EU are currently chewing this one over.
At the moment it seems that Norton is a money pit for TVS, and I doubt they will tolerate it for long. Norton spouted some crap about producing 7000 bikes a year from their modern fsctory, any manufacturer would struggle to sell that many annually of something like the V4.
TVS seem to think that because they sell bikes in countries where owners have little money and little choice they can take that method globally, they going to find out it does not work that way and when they go up against the big boys, they are going to struggle.
It seems they have a management team who are clueless leading a sales team have no understanding of motorcycles.
I think they are going to rush this V4 to market to head off trademark challenges, they need to use it or lose it, and at the moment it looks like losing it.
 
BritTwit said:
Too bad Jay Leno never bought a 961 for his Garage.
He routinely has parts manufactured for other classic collector vehicles he owns in his Garage.
Like cast iron straight six cylinder heads for his Duesenberg.
Think someone should introduce him to the 961.
Preferably one that already has issues, now that shouldn't be too difficult. :cool:
Click to expand...
Why, what some may not know is that the CEO Dr Robert owns one for gods sake, surely he will need parts. If he can't see the issues owners are raising is he really the person to take Norton forward.
If he can't make decisions, then he is just a puppet of TVS, a name on paper that looks good, they don't need names on paper, they need people that can actually make decisions and do something constructive.
 
BritTwit said:
Too bad Jay Leno never bought a 961 for his Garage.
He routinely has parts manufactured for other classic collector vehicles he owns in his Garage.
Like cast iron straight six cylinder heads for his Duesenberg.
Think someone should introduce him to the 961.
Preferably one that already has issues, now that shouldn't be too difficult. :cool:
Click to expand...
I reached out to him via email once to compare his vintage Norton commando and dominator to my 961 Commando and Dominator. Never got a response back. No surprise lol
 
Voodooo said:
I reached out to him via email once to compare his vintage Norton commando and dominator to my 961 Commando and Dominator. Never got a response back. No surprise lol
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Too bad.
That would have made a great episode on Leno Garage.
They could have had Gary Busey on the episode to ride and crash each bike in turn. :D
 
I just noticed they have a new "Lifestyle" section on their website. No content, but a picture of a 961 and a matt black helmet.
 
EstuaryBoy said:
Strange they choose the 961 if they're virtually disowning it?
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Until they have product to sell, they have to keep the Norton faithful interested.
Don't think the factory wants to make any references to the old V4 with 35 faults.
The new redesigned V4 is still vaporware, and 961 is the only actual product sold in some volume to Norton fans.
I'm sure that once the new V4 is out the door, references to the 961 will recede into the distant background.
 
Wow! That looks really encouraging.

And how good is to see that line up of 961’s ?!

I’m sure they’ll sell those V4s. £44k is a bit outside my budget though sadly. Hopefully a naked version would be considerably less? And / or hopefully the Superlight has a re birth?

Talking of which, not a single mention of the 650’s in that clip…
 

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