The NEW Norton Motorcycles from England

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I'm ambivalent about the new Nortons. Certainly, I don't see myself buying any new bike in my remaining lifespan. But who knows? And if I did, I imagine the Norton would be the frontrunner.

Still, if I were gonna invest that much, I'd let CNW rebuild me an old one. Or get one or more of the old ones that fire my imagination.

Leno's gonna kick at some point and then I wanna have some cash for the estate sale.... :twisted:


(SORRY Jay - don't really mean it. Live long and prosper, man.)
 
Looking at Richard's photos, frankly I'm amazed by the lack of activity and that the "factory" appears to be largely empty when it ought to be a hive of activity building 961's they sold over year ago! Also that they appear to have an accessory display area on part of the factory floor! One of Richard's photos shows a "Norton" child's chair http://www.preciouslittleone.com/produc ... ity-apple/ and what appear to be boxes of other Norton baby stuff in the background http://www.pramworld.co.uk/category/626 ... Pushchairs?



If that was my factory, I don't think I'd want anyone with a camera anywhere within a 100 yards of the place?
 
Other than the CNC machine (can be bought 2nd hand for about £20K which they got from selling the first bike or so) I see nothing more than an assembly shop of bought in components. Considering they bought a ready made design that they only modified I don't see much to impress.
 
L.A.B. said:
Looking at Richard's photos, frankly I'm amazed by the lack of activity and that the "factory" appears to be largely empty when it ought to be a hive of activity building 961's they sold over year ago! Also that they appear to have an accessory display area on part of the factory floor! One of Richard's photos shows a "Norton" child's chair http://www.preciouslittleone.com/produc ... ity-apple/ and what appear to be boxes of other Norton baby stuff in the background http://www.pramworld.co.uk/category/626 ... Pushchairs?



If that was my factory, I don't think I'd want anyone with a camera anywhere within a 100 yards of the place?
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Are you inferring that they are selling licensed kid crap? That second link is highly misleading. The site just stole a Norton logo. Norton has nothing to do with the prams.

As for the other chair, someone working there just stashed it in a corner. :?

I would not expect a "hive of activity". If you look you can see that they are set up to produce only a handful of parts at a time. This is not an assembly line operation. Nor for a startup would you want one. Just imagine the setup setup time for each part on the multiple CNC machines. They are operating exactly how I expect them to.

I'm not sure what some of you expect. :roll:
 
I like the new bikes and personally wish them well. They seem like the continuation of Kenny Dreer's concept for future bikes.

As far as the cost, I don't see them particularly out of line. The Ducati 1200S Multistrada in this month's Cycle World is $19,995.00. I'd take the Norton in an instant over the Multi S. More exclusive, more traditional styling cues, etc.

As far as the factory goes, I'd be interested in what day those photo's were taken. Looks like a Saturday when most of the staff was off. Other than that, looks like a typical arrangement for what are essentially hand-built bikes.

I'm not in the market for a new bike (haven't bought one since 1987), but if I was looking for a retro-classic with some performance, I'd be seriously looking at the Norton.
 
swooshdave said:
The site just stole a Norton logo. Norton has nothing to do with the prams.
Click to expand...

You're sure about that are you?: http://babyadvice.hellobabydirect.co.uk ... ighchairs/


The NEW Norton Motorcycles from England


"Norton of course have a racing Pedigree, and now they license their name to a range of prestige baby products.

Norton a racing pedigree for your baby.

Of course Norton are famous for their motorcycle racing prowess, recently they have spread their wings a little and license the name to Klever Kids for these baby products we have selected
"

Here's a quote from the FINANCIAL TIMES' website"

"....Garner is a self-made man who, in the best tradition, left school at 16 with no qualifications. His sole ambition was to become a gamekeeper and he found himself a job rearing pheasants on the estate at Foremarke Hall in Derbyshire, once the ancestral home of the Burdett family but now the preparatory school for nearby Repton. According to Garner, too much time drinking and riding motorcycles saw him sacked after three years, leading him to start up a business selling fireworks out of the back of an old British Telecom van. With the help of a small investment from his civil engineer father, and lots of time, Garner gradually grew the business for more than a decade, only to hit the jackpot with the arrival of the new millennium.

Fireworks International is now one of Britain's biggest players in the pyrotechnics game and has enabled Garner to establish Klever Kids (a nursery products manufacturer), buy a 50 per cent stake in the long-established Derbyshire engineering firm Spondon and set up a 3,500-acre game reserve near Botswana, where he breeds sables for supply to both private and government owned animal parks."
Click to expand...



swooshdave said:
I'm not sure what some of you expect.
Click to expand...

I would expect them to be doing their utmost to supply the 200 bikes they happily accepted the money for, a year ago.
 
History is littered with failed attempts trying to resurrect defunct motorcycle manufactures' names. I'll keep my powder dry. I'll check them out after four, five years time. If the new Norton is to remain a boutique motorcycle manufacture, then they may do quite well.
 
This is slightly off topic, but..... Did you see the restored Crocker in Cycle World's latest issue? Now there's a bike that stirs the soul. Mine, anyway.
 
swooshdave said:
Then why did you act so surprised to see the baby stuff in the picture?
Click to expand...

More an exclamation of disappointment rather than "surprise",-I think? :(
 
L.A.B. said:
swooshdave said:
Then why did you act so surprised to see the baby stuff in the picture?
Click to expand...

More an exclamation of disappointment rather than "surprise",-I think? :(
Click to expand...

I'd be more concerned if the prams were taking up the space on the motorcycle lifts. Tucked into the corner? No really an issue.

Let's put it this way, we'll count all the people on this forum who are attempting to build new Nortons from scratch.

Now let's count all the members who think they know how to. :roll:
 
swooshdave said:
Let's put it this way, we'll count all the people on this forum who are attempting to build new Nortons from scratch.

Now let's count all the members who think they know how to.
Click to expand...

Probably none, as I doubt Mr Garner is a member here-unfortunately?

If I appear to be somewhat over-critical, then it is from genuine concern rather than anything else, as I want to see the company succeed, however, as a certain Mr Dreer found to his cost, there's a great deal of difference between building a few motorcycles, and actually manufacturing motorcycles!

The whole Garner operation appears rather too laid back, and they've missed every published production deadline by several months, and judging by the rate of current production it could still take them months to build all 200 of the first batch, so I really do think they need to get a move on!
 
Garner is in a pretty good situation right now. Doesn't look like he laid out much for his "plant". Has a deposit on every bike he's building. Every bike is guaranteed sold, at a profit I presume. Any manufacture would love that situation. What's to move Garner from his comfort zone?
 
JimC said:
Garner is in a pretty good situation right now. Doesn't look like he laid out much for his "plant". Has a deposit on every bike he's building. Every bike is guaranteed sold, at a profit I presume. Any manufacture would love that situation. What's to move Garner from his comfort zone?
Click to expand...
My workshop is bursting with tackle to make "Just some dampers" as anyone got pictures of there "Massive!" C.N.C macine centres,grinders etc...From the pictures here on the post...Well it looks "unlike " a motorcycle factory....Mayby there are Made some where outside the uk,and just put together in the "shed" ...If anyone as more info...please let me know, Perhaps they come in big lumps from...dare i say...Fo Man choo
 
According to Mr Garner: The engines are built by "MCT in Oxfordshire", the frames are "made in Coventry", and components come from "places such as Sweden, Italy and Japan, but about 80% of the bike comprises of parts made in this country".
 
I don't believe Garner turns wrenches.

..as usual, I could be wrong...

I want them to succeed, and I want them to donate a bike to the PBTF fundraiser, which I intend to win on a $1 raffle ticket.
 
I'm a little bit confused about what peoples expectations are of a low volume motorcycle production facility.

From a lot of comments on the forum it seems that some people expect to see lines machines turning out components at one end with exhaust pipes being bent up and welded in the middle, a little bloke with a pin board making looms tucked away in a corner and another bloke assembling engines in the other corner.

I'm sorry to disappoint you but the way the Commando's are being put together is common to all low volume manufacturing I've ever come across and makes absolute sense. I'm sure there are a lot of areas where Norton can be criticised, but subcontracting the manufacture of components and sub assemblies really isn't one of them. What matters is where the design authority lies.
 
I for one was a little surprised to see that I own more machine tools than Norton does....
 
I'd say Garner Norton is little more than an assembler and marketer. That's not all bad if they can control quality of the vendor bits and pieces. That's where the rub comes in when you outsource.
 
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