V4SS quality disaster

I agree, but hopefully they will end up with sorted bikes eventually. Does anybody know how many they sold?
Owners are never going to get the full cost of rectifying these bikes are they? Engine faults, frame faults, electrical faults??? - surely the only feasible option is to offer a sum of cash which is highly unlikely to be near what was paid. And even if the bike was fixed what value would they have? Only as a nicely styled freak with some historic significance to a museum maybe as a stablemate to a Hesketh but not as a useable superbike.
 
I spoke with one Norton engineer who left the company because he thought someone would get killed on the V4!!!
I really don't know how anybody would buy one now ? The reputation is ruined . It's really not an exaggeration to say this.
 
One benefit of identifying all those defects is...
Things can only get better for Norton from here forward.
 
Looks like the V4 SS is a quality disaster with potentially 20 safety critical concerns.


If you own one then fixing it is your responsibility.
Some of those faults are trivial, but some are not.
 
Destined to remain as garage Queens. It's not like there ever appeared to be much evidence of owners actually riding them. It may well be the bikes are simply not fixable or to do so, you'll only have a couple of tyres from the original remaining! Hardly surprisingly and I wouldn't be alone here in wondering from the moment the V4 was announced that if they can't get an air cooled pushrod engine right, they'll have no chance with a hyperbike!
 
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Destined to remain as garage Queens. It's not like there ever appeared to be much evidence of owners actually riding them. It may well be the bikes are simply not fixable or to do so the you're only have a couple of tyres from the original remaining! Hardly surprisingly and I wouldn't be alone here in wondering from the moment the V4 was announced that if they can't get an air cooled pushrod engine right they have no chance with a hyperbike!
I thought the V4 mill was built to order for Norton by Ricardo, unlike the 961's modest beginnings.
If that were so, I would expect that at least the V4 motor would be relatively defect free.
 
I thought the V4 mill was built to order for Norton by Ricardo, unlike the 961's modest beginnings.
If that were so, I would expect that at least the V4 motor would be relatively defect free.
Yes, but you get what you pay for.... You can't go from zero to competing with other hyperbike manufacturers who have been doing this for way longer. Outsourcing the design was necessary since there's no way the factory had the expertise or resources to design and build such an advanced engine. But that doesn't mean you're going to get a fully sorted 200hp+ engine in return. It's just not that simple.
 
But...... If you could pick one up at a good price it might be a nice little project? Get any frame and swing welding sorted - nice simple suspension setup, drop in a suitable engine (reliable and spares available) and a bit of wiring. Nice Sunday pub bike! (Drop a 961 engine in?:D)
 
So TVS can identify the faults then rectify them and say how good are we and here is your new and improved V4SS? with all problems solved.
That's marketing 101. Denigrate the previous owner (well he was bad) to the benefit of the new. Especially when the previous owner becomes insolvent/bankrupt.
 
So TVS can identify the faults then rectify them and say how good are we and here is your new and improved V4SS?
But at a price, they are saying they have no liability and are just going to identify the issues, if they provide a fix it will come with an invoice if you want it applied to your bike, you then have to claim that off the receivers.

The spin SG has been putting about that once the SG Norton is fully wound up there would be enough to pay all creditors is looking more like another of his fantasies.
 
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So TVS can identify the faults then rectify them and say how good are we and here is your new and improved V4SS? with all problems solved.
That's marketing 101. Denigrate the previous owner (well he was bad) to the benefit of the new. Especially when the previous owner becomes insolvent/bankrupt.
Yup. A PR exercise for sure. And a good one I think, for TVS Norton at least. Main victims of it are SG (well deserved) and the owners of the bikes (very much NOT deserved).
 
He who bought a bike of a factory with the worst track record and reputation for honesty in customer relations in the industry, worldwide, and a new, untested, highly complex "Superbike" to boot, was bound to be either outrageously optimistic or semi-autistic, or member of a certain English club to believe this was going to be a tested, working, fit-for-purpose motorcycle.

Those who kept their ears open knew about the simple 961 never living up to modern standards of reliability even after a decade of fumbling the beasts together in Donington, one by one, on workbenches.

The stories were kept from the eyes of the general public in faithful complicity between MCN, said club, and Garner, but were known to all interested in Norton.

I feel sorry for the victims but, frankly, a bit less naivety and a bit more research was advantageous. Then again, most, if not all of them probably fell for the "this motorcycle is a great investment" story.
Which motorcycles rarely were, unles one had at least two decades if not longer to wait for the value to reach and, eventually, surpass the original purchase price. Ask any "Norton Classic" investor!
 
There are several problems other than what is on the list. The issues can all be fixed or overcome by re-design - but who will now approve and warranty them. Any bike for sale is worthless without the faults resolved and and no doubt recorded as such on the DVSA database. You would need to pay someone to take one off your hands at the moment.

These bikes are scrap cash in value, or a garage ornament. How skinner stands proudly beside his utter failure is yet to be seen, how TVS still see fit to employ him to assist and be involved with the next generation of bikes is beyond me, it will not instil confidence in many.
 
But at a price, they are saying they have no liability and are just going to identify the issues, if they provide a fix it will come with an invoice if you want it applied to your bike, you then have to claim that off the receivers.

The spin SG has been putting about that once the SG Norton is fully wound up there would be enough to pay all creditors is looking more like another of his fantasies.
Thing is, it is not, he has the money now it seems.
 
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