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View Full Version : Norton goes under.


Motu
19th April 2006, 14:35
Bugger,they are dead in the water.Ah well,who cares - closest I'd get to one is coining the tank of some rich pricks pride and joy.

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/apr2006/bw20060413_534319.htm?campaign_id=search
surfchick
19th April 2006, 14:53
poohs i hate it when little guys get squashed. yet another step towards the global domination of just a few manufacturers....
Matt Bleck
19th April 2006, 15:08
Yeah abit sad really, I liked that new commando.
Streetwise
19th April 2006, 15:12
bugger thats got to suck,
jonbuoy
19th April 2006, 15:33
:( Damn not that I could afford one anyway.
froggyfrenchman
19th April 2006, 15:37
now before we feel too sorry for them. Just remember who was responsible for the motorcycle with a rotary engine....
Motu
19th April 2006, 15:42
BSA were responsable for the Norton rotary,that's where it started.
Big Dave
19th April 2006, 15:57
now before we feel too sorry for them. Just remember who was responsible for the motorcycle with a rotary engine....

Some Wankel.
Perhaps Norton translates to 'Destined to Bankrupt' in Hindi or something.
Jonty
19th April 2006, 16:03
I feel sorry for existing owners who need the parts back up!!
Bonez
19th April 2006, 17:40
BSA were responsable for the Norton rotary,that's where it started.
My apologies. Norton bought the tooling from Sachs.

oh and this link may be usefull-
http://www.nortonmotors.co.uk/
eliot-ness
19th April 2006, 18:14
now before we feel too sorry for them. Just remember who was responsible for the motorcycle with a rotary engine....

A guy called Mercer, lived in Bradford, northern England, had a BSA Bantam powered by a home built rotary in the 1950s. Many years before the wankel engine. As far as I can remember the bike is in the Dewsbury museum
Motu
19th April 2006, 20:06
My apologies. Norton bought the tooling from Sachs.

oh and this link may be usefull-
http://www.nortonmotors.co.uk/

I have an old magazine around somewhere with that rotary powered BSA in it,and the story about it.Back in the days of the big upheaval when BSATriumphVilliersNortonMatchlessAJSandahostofothe rs were going under and throwing everything overboard to stay afloat...some guy had been set the task to make a rotary motor...and in the panic they forgot about him.I guess some beancounter said one day - ''Why do we supply a box of 2 ply toilet rolls to shed 47 every week? Go down there and see what they are doing'' And they found he'd been working quietly away for years undisturbed and had that prototype running.He was too far along to stop,I think having sorted the charge cooling,and they continued the development.Norton was just a name to hang on it because BSA and Matchless were out of favour,and Triumph were the bad boys at Meridan doing the communist thing.
froggyfrenchman
20th April 2006, 16:13
I stand duly corected
Timber020
20th April 2006, 20:02
Shouldnt that read "norton goes under-again?"

What a shame, its good to have more manufacturers in the mix.
HenryDorsetCase
22nd April 2006, 20:13
thats a shame.

I thought long and hard about going on their waitlist for $500USD up front. You got a sweatshirt and a hat also. Glad I didnt now, cos that would have been an expensive hat.

This months Cycle World has a four page feature on one of the production intent 962's, along with the Triumph Scrambler and the Ducati SportClassic.


As for the comment about parts, there are heaps of repro and NOS stuff for "old " Nortons, Kenny Dreer's bike was all new.

Hopefully someone will pick it* up and run with it.


*it being the proprietary design, the name and all the tooling.