Spare $39500 (USD) for a Norton Cafe, Anyone?

wrench · Jul 21, 2008

Re: No offense meant

Jeandr said:
Don't take it personal Wrench, I just found the term "proper bike" in a Commando forum to mean "get a Norton instead of a chrome boat".

If I had ~$40,000 to put on a bike, it would probably be a Vincent, which I would probably dearly regret because I don't know anything about them. To stay on topic, my next choice which would be a lot better logicaly, it would be a Norton rebuilt as a café by Colorado Norton Works, I least I know what I am getting into and his workmanship is second to none.

Kenny Dreer went a long ways in his adventure, lack of capital was indeed a killer, but maybe, just maybe his market research was a bit shallow, there is no way he would have sold enough bikes to recover developpement costs (at least that is what I think). Mainstream buyers want V-twins and every manufacturer makes them close enough to an HD you have to get up close to see what they really are. Modern old bikes would never sell as many copies, I think Kenny should have done like CNW and build a few bikes a year like he used to do.

Also I find nothing wrong in modifying a classic to make it to my taste nor do I find anything wrong in making one just like it left the showroom floor, what I find objectionable is thinking that throwing money at an old bike will make it as good as a modern one. I will post pictures soon of a Norton with an 80° crank, the guy spent a lot of money on it to make it smooth and he bitches about it too, I see it as a waste to think it will be as smooth, as cheap or as reliable as a UJM. My reply may have been tainted by this very person and his Norton, so my apologies if I have ruffled your feathers.

Jean

Well said Jean, and sorry, I've been away and just climbed back on the site tonight. I was actually one of the (many) folks who was a closet cheerleader for Kenny Dreer's project, as it struck me both as a bit wonderfully naive and elegant at the same time. Love and passion for a machine will take you there, and I was applauding, in my lowly view, an underdog, is all. I do think your estimation of his undertaking is seasoned and logical, and Matt at CNW does seem to have just such a reasoned approach.

If I had a spare $40,000 I might buy a Vincent as well. Hope I didn't come off as "ruffled"; it was all in good sport and I was just enjoying the subject matter.

Your point of people tossing huge sums of money into something to make it something it decidedly is not is right on, me thinks. Happens all the time.

As an aside, and very off Norton topic here, it is interesting to me right now to see the Ducati Bevels (I'm restoring a GT at the moment along with the Commando) are going for serious (for me) money. Sports are now selling in the mid-twenties to mid thirties rather routinely. Granted, it has to do with rarity, but it is an interesting education for this former farm boy.

Cheers and be well.

wrench

MichaelB · Feb 26, 2009

Ron L said:
For some reason, I don't think I would enjoy a $40K CNW or even Dreer 880 as much as I do my old Nortons.

Ron, there is a lot to that statement.
Every time I turned a wrench on my Dreer, I felt like I was encroaching into Kenny's world.
Kind of weird I know, but that's how I felt.

ML · Feb 26, 2009

Lets not lose sight of the fact the Poms have purchased all of the Dreer designs and tooling and are setting up a new factory to produce new Commandos.

Well, there's something to look forward too!

Mick

Cookie · Feb 26, 2009

I'd certainly be happy to see someone have another go at continuing the name. I'd wonder about the market for a bike at that kind of money though.
Like GP I think that electric start conversion is great stuff. A properly rebuilt Norton with enough upgrades for relibilty, and an electric start would be right up my alley if it didn't cost the earth.
On nearly every good day I ride an electric start classic of one sort or another, and I know I would have lost last winter's riding if I had to rely on a kick start.
In my day a Norton was compeditive with a Honda in price, and to me you have to be somewhere in the ball park to sell many bikes.

BillT · Feb 27, 2009

If the new Norton project is to be successful, they will need to build a bike that can be serviced anywhere, go 6000 miles between services, and be no more than, say 50% more than the new Bonneville, Ducati Sportclassic, or Moto Guzzi V7.

Many of the buyers of these retro bikes barely know how to refuel them, much less perform standard maintenance. Of course, with ECUs, O-ring chains (shaft on the Guzzi), synthetic oil and fuel injection, there's very little needed to do on these 'classics'

Build quality has to be first-rate, and the bike fully sorted before the first customer gets his.

Being a Norton, performance should be at least on a par with the Ducati, which has about 90 peak HP, compared to 65 or so for the Bonnie, 50 or so for the Guzzi

Cookie · Feb 27, 2009

How does the price of a new Ducati that would be comparable compare?
I'm too cheap to evn buy one of those, maybe it's my government salary, much less spend half as much more.

debby · Feb 27, 2009

List price on a new Ducati Sport Classic is around $12K USD here in the US, depending on which model you choose. But you can buy clean, low mileage, used ones for half that. A lot of Ducati owners buy new ones every year or two. You can let them take the depreciation hit and have a like new bike for thousands less. That's how I got my GT1000. It's a very good motorcycle, BTW. I like to think it's sort of what Norton would have produced had they remained in business all these years.

I would imagine the new Norton, if it ever makes it into production, will be considerably more than that. You'd have to have a lot of money to spend and really want one to justify it. Same is true for the new CNW cafe special I guess.

If I had that kind of money to spend, I'd probably go shopping for a Ducati bevelhead, just because I like them. Not logical I know, but nothing about motorcycles is!

Debby

Cookie · Feb 27, 2009

So if I'm not wrong you could get three Dukes and take your change in a used Honda for that? Before the crash I was looking at a Blackbird for three grand.
Somehow this looks like a heard sell to me these days.

Spare $39500 (USD) for a Norton Cafe, Anyone?

wrench

MichaelB

"Sons of Arthritus"

ML

Cookie

BillT

Cookie

debby

Cookie

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