What’s the best none Norton Norton ?

Fast Eddie said:

I like the look of them. Been tempted several times but not followed through. Maybe I shudda !

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robs ss said:

I suspect you're chasing an elusive spirit - maybe nothing or, No-One-Thing will fullfill your dream.

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Reggie said:

Don't go there.

I had a 1200 4valve Griso and it ate it's cams, a known fault on the early 4 valves, which was later resolved on the post 2012 bike I think? But the whole thing was built to a price, fuel light came on at about 110 miles due to the 17.2 litre tank capacity, the headlight was poor, the seat rubbed on the tank and took some paint off, the spokes were going rusty on my 4 year old model and the engine ran lean and so I had to download a re-map.

But the final straw was the "click" no start problem, which happened intermittently and occasionally blew a fuse on the starting system. I was doing a night shift 35 miles from where I live and was an additional 3 hours late off due to a late call ( I was a Paramedic), so 15 hours at work. I came to start the Griso, and twice it popped the starter system fuse. I was then out of spare fuses. Luckily it started on the next attempt, but that was it for me........it went, as also it had started eating its cam lobes.

But it did look quirky and the engine was nice once it had been re-mapped.

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Reggie said:

Don't go there.

I had a 1200 4valve Griso and it ate it's cams, a known fault on the early 4 valves, which was later resolved on the post 2012 bike I think? But the whole thing was built to a price, fuel light came on at about 110 miles due to the 17.2 litre tank capacity, the headlight was poor, the seat rubbed on the tank and took some paint off, the spokes were going rusty on my 4 year old model and the engine ran lean and so I had to download a re-map.

But the final straw was the "click" no start problem, which happened intermittently and occasionally blew a fuse on the starting system. I was doing a night shift 35 miles from where I live and was an additional 3 hours late off due to a late call ( I was a Paramedic), so 15 hours at work. I came to start the Griso, and twice it popped the starter system fuse. I was then out of spare fuses. Luckily it started on the next attempt, but that was it for me........it went, as also it had started eating its cam lobes.

But it did look quirky and the engine was nice once it had been re-mapped.

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Fast Eddie said:

I’m wondering how many of the faults were due to the brown seat though...

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Craig said:

Not sure which year you had Reggie but the issues you mention with 4V 1200 Griso was splashed over the interweb from almost their beginning , why I stuck with more trad 2V 1100 , while not as much top end , still more go than I have felt a need , wind blast over 150kph and no centre stand are my most serious gripes , actually only ones , mine is ‘07 and have had zero issues other than regular maintenance which is simple .... just a great back road bomber !

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Craig said:

Yes Claudio ! Certainly when viewing the Griso ghetto once the tappets have been modified to roller type , even the the 1200 gets a lot of praise , for this simple old man , I like the ease of maintaining the 2V , actually much less involved then the Norton , the shaft took a little while to adapt to , but as I said , they are a really nice bike to have in your shed ! I feel bad for you Reggie , could have been a so much better experience .....

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Fast Eddie said:

Well, you asked, so here goes. Although, to be honest, having two yourself, I thought you’d get ‘it’ more than most!

For me, the joy of the 961 was its character. Every ride was an ‘event’. A real visceral, sense tingling experience. Or, in another word: FUN !

By comparison almost every modern bike (in my personal opinion at least) feels stale by comparison unless your doing 170mph+, irrespective of how good they actually are (and there’s no argument there, they are all awesomely good).

Also, many modern bikes offer utterly unnecessary performance that is inaccessible to 99% of riders 99% of the time. Having to constantly try and tame this ridiculous performance, constantly be in fear of unwittingly riding at twice the legal limit, or having to ride the thing outside of its designed ‘zone’ just isn’t fun riding in my book.

So, my original quest was for a bike that compared favourably with the Norton for ‘character’ and ‘fun’ and yet also offered more performance and reliability at the same time, but not necessary 200mph plus license, life or liberty taking performance !

I thought I’d found a good balance with the Monster 1200S. Compared to your average in line 4 it seemed very characterful. But I hardly rode it. I rode my Brit bikes instead. My conclusion is that however good it was, it just didn’t make each ride into the kind of character filled ‘event’ that I was looking for.

I‘m not arguing against sports bikes per se, those that want one should buy one as they’ve NEVER been so damned good, and probably won’t be for ever either. But for those that don’t, for those that want Norton 961 character without buying a Norton 961, what are the best options.

That‘s the question as best as I can describe it.

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Fast Eddie said:

Starting this to take the ‘traffic’ off of other threads.

Ok, to get us started:

Indian FTR: Too heavy? Handling ??

Kawasaki Z900 retro thingy: Seriously? I mean they were called ‘UJMs’ back in the day, in part due to their bland capableness.

Thaiumph Speed Twin: ...

And...

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GRM 450 said:

Ducati Desert Sled ?
In my eyes the best looking of the newer Scramblers.
Light (ish) sensible engine with torque.
Expensive for what it is , but, a nice thing to ride.

2021 Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled Review

With retro desert-racer looks and off-road capability, the Ducati Desert Sled is more than just another city poseur.

www.cycleworld.com

My mate bought one a few years ago,

graeme

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GRM 450 said:

Ducati Desert Sled ?
In my eyes the best looking of the newer Scramblers.
Light (ish) sensible engine with torque.
Expensive for what it is , but, a nice thing to ride.

2021 Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled Review

With retro desert-racer looks and off-road capability, the Ducati Desert Sled is more than just another city poseur.

www.cycleworld.com

My mate bought one a few years ago,

graeme

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GRM 450 said:

Ducati Desert Sled ?
In my eyes the best looking of the newer Scramblers.
Light (ish) sensible engine with torque.
Expensive for what it is , but, a nice thing to ride.

2021 Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled Review

With retro desert-racer looks and off-road capability, the Ducati Desert Sled is more than just another city poseur.

www.cycleworld.com

My mate bought one a few years ago,

graeme

Click to expand...

Stephen_Spencer said:

I like the look too, but would’nt stray too far off the tarmac with it! The rider of this bike did on our last big adventure ride - bike was written off, rider went to hospital ! Not a serious dirt toy, but awesome fun I suspect on both road and open trail.

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