What's happening at Norton? Sale to TVS, massive investment, new bikes...

We’ve discussed it before, but is the main reason that Donington 961 prices may have shifted somewhat recently (last 12 months - in the UK) not likely because of Solihull 961 availability?

All but identical, so sharing the same key strengths (the aesthetics) but minus the well know technical issues (and lack of support) that were evident to the prospective buyer well before TVS bought the marque. Add a two year warranty and dealer access (albeit sparse) and you have the recipe for reduced Donington prices?

It would also be interesting to know just how many are selling their Donny models to purchase a Solihull bike, a few have popped up on FB. Increased volume would also put downward pressure on used prices you would think.

A well fettled Donny bike (sprinkled with Stu’s stardust) would be very attractive proposition for the right price - no doubt about it; if ya know what you’re looking at.
 
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A customer of mine sold his 2013 SF, owned from new, to buy a Solihull 961. His Solihull 961 has had a few issues, and when I last spoke to him he'd decided he was selling it as he'd lost the love for it.
 
Stu Bodycote said:
A customer of mine sold his 2013 SF, owned from new, to buy a Solihull 961. His Solihull 961 has had a few issues, and when I last spoke to him he'd decided he was selling it as he'd lost the love for it.
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Hi Stu , Any specifics as to the issues he had with the new 961 ?
 
Stu Bodycote said:
The first one that springs to memory is the oil leak from the rocker box...all the way to the back of the bike.
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Hi Stu , That sucks and not a good way to start ownership after all of the quality talk . Any other issues you can share with us ?
 
BritTwit said:
I understand the disappointment there, but isn't that fix just a new gasket?
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Hi BritTwit , Yes of course but you think that we shouldn't see issues like that from them now ? Maybe just a gasket maybe more , who knows ? I am not suggesting we chop their heads off , but after all of the quality talk and this one of the most straight forward joints in the engine ? My bike has been oil tight up until the cracked AOS . I am just saying that these engines can all be oil tight with many thousands of miles clocked and relatively low maintenance . This should be a selling feature for low cost of ownwrship etc...
 
TonyA said:
Hi BritTwit , Yes of course but you think that we shouldn't see issues like that from them now ? Maybe just a gasket maybe more , who knows ? I am not suggesting we chop their heads off , but after all of the quality talk and this one of the most straight forward joints in the engine ? My bike has been oil tight up until the cracked AOS . I am just saying that these engines can all be oil tight with many thousands of miles clocked and relatively low maintenance . This should be a selling feature for low cost of ownwrship etc...
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Tony,
I agree, and I don't know what Stu knows about other problems that may have turned off the owner.
I always take a company's PR about "Quality" with several grains of salt.
I've had valve cover leaks on a number of Hondas, Kawasakis, and Suzukis, but never sold any of them in disgust.
There has to be more to this story, because if the new 961 was substantially improved, but had only a leak in the cover, I would just ring up the factory and have them address it, then continue to enjoy the bike.
Just saying....
 
TonyA said:
Hi Stu , That sucks and not a good way to start ownership after all of the quality talk . Any other issues you can share with us ?
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His old bike had done 13000 miles....ridden to Italy and back, enjoyed regularly, and is now with its new and very happy owner.
The replacement, a brand new 961SP had an oil leak that reached as far back as the back tyre, and oil burning off the right hand header pipe. Clutch lever losing travel, rear brake losing effort. Those are three if the problems that I recall being told about within 2800 miles....there was others though, but I'd have have to ask him to clarify the details. He's now unfortunately lost the love for it, which is a real shame as he always had a positive mindset towards his 961s.
At Ardingly, it was only 961SP there, & was the only bike out of 19 961s on the stand to be dripping oil.
Same icon, different standard? 🤔🤣
 
Sounds disappointing for this guy, as it was for the guy who found contamination/particles in his oil.
If there are significant problems with the Solihull bikes the owners are keeping it pretty quiet. No mention anywhere that I’ve read other than these examples. Are they acceptible - of course not for a company that is trumpeting quality.

Are they still likely to happen though, I guess so unfortunately. My riding mates KTM 890 will have a head leak fixed at first service, his BMW went back twice for an electronic issue and he wrote his Ducati V4S off before a replacement dash arrived from Italy.

None of that means anything to a guy that bought a new 961 after 10 years of Donny ownership to again have problems - he‘s obviously a big 961 fan! Why he didn’t just get it fixed under warranty and crack on, only he can answer I guess.

Afternote - another one popped up on FB yesterday that’s been back to Norton for several issues incl clutch housing bolts missing after service. Seems they still need to tighten up on QC - disappointing.
 
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Just to back up what’s been mentioned by others, I also have my finger on the pulse , figures are up to end of June this year , I didn’t bother putting up a pic of the 961CR as there was only 3 .
This image below is for Norton 961SP. If anyone here knows of any lawful impediment to these numbers then you should declare it now , speak now or forever hold your piece

And the Norton 961 classic is just 16 on the road & another 10 not licensed .
IMG_9840.jpeg
 
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BLIGHTYBRIT/SF said:
Just to back up what’s been mentioned by others, I also have my finger on the pulse , figures are up to end of June this year , I didn’t bother putting up a pic of the 961CR as there was only 3 .
This image below is for Norton 961SP. If anyone here knows of any lawful impediment to these numbers then you should declare it now , speak now or forever hold your piece

And the Norton 961 classic is just 16 on the road & another 10 not licensed . View attachment 111141
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84? Does that include self-licensed test mules and dealer bikes?
 
OK, so at least it´s slowly rising. Hopefully the fleet will eventually be large enough for them to hold some parts stock for some time and to actually get them to anyone who asks. That´s all we request.
We didn´t really expect 700, or 7000, did we.
As for the Classic, the number flying around the whole time was 29 in total.
 
CR961 said:
OK, so at least it´s slowly rising. Hopefully the fleet will eventually be large enough for them to hold some parts stock for some time and to actually get them to anyone who asks. That´s all we request.
We didn´t really expect 700, or 7000, did we.
As for the Classic, the number flying around the whole time was 29 in total.
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I didnt expect 70 so that's a good number if they actually get sales running!
 
BLIGHTYBRIT/SF said:
Just to back up what’s been mentioned by others, I also have my finger on the pulse , figures are up to end of June this year , I didn’t bother putting up a pic of the 961CR as there was only 3 .
This image below is for Norton 961SP. If anyone here knows of any lawful impediment to these numbers then you should declare it now , speak now or forever hold your piece

And the Norton 961 classic is just 16 on the road & another 10 not licensed . View attachment 111141
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I’m always a bit suspect of these figures - don’t pretend for a minute to fully understand them.

This site draws data from multiple sources and collates them. Why for example are figures for older models like the original ’Sport’ and CR still showing registration and SORN into 2023? Are these 2nd hand sales or incorrectly recorded models at initial registration?

IMG_9296.jpegIMG_9297.jpeg
What's happening at Norton? Sale to TVS, massive investment, new bikes...
 
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Stephen_Spencer said:
I’m always a bit suspect of these figures - don’t pretend for a minute to fully understand them.

This site draws data from multiple sources and collates them. Why for example are figures for older models like the original ’Sport’ and CR still showing registration and SORN into 2023? Are these 2nd hand sales or incorrectly recorded models at initial registration?

View attachment 111142View attachment 111143
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Well if it was a stock graph it would be a winner!
 
City Garage said:
Well if it was a stock graph it would be a winner!
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My guess they’ll continue to build to order, unless they’ve got a good measure of what people are ordering most commonly and have already started building bike stock levels; that might account for the 700 build target for 2023 and activity that the spares dude was referring to. No doubt the anniversary models/NEC will have impact on sales.

Looks possible that the more recent ‘Sport’ and ‘SP’ (and the CR’s) may all be Solihull models. So maybe they’re doing a bit better than was thought. Who knows with this SISO (sh#t in - sh#t out) type system though.

IMG_9299.jpeg
 
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