Norton closed down.

[F5 Dave]

Don't be despondent , sometimes these things take a while. Heck my Dad has an order in for a car that's been quite some time. He got sick of these rusty jap boxes, so apparently this one comes with a Stainless Steel body. Never rust he says. Thinking about it I was a teenager when he placed the order. . .

[Laava]

I bet this cunt nicked it!

[Laava]

Here is a link to the poor sod picking up the remains of his £40,000 bike from the Norton factory. No bodywork, wheels or front suspension.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...65863823596859

[Bonez]

FacePlant sux.

[pritch]

Amazing story. Forget about the unpaid tax and the Bexit bullshit, Superbike magazine asks was it fraud from the start.


https://www.superbike.co.uk/article/...from-the-start

[Laava]

Pretty likely! No doubt Stuart Garner will be off hanging out with Ghislaine Maxwell soon!

[F5 Dave]

Hopefully Davey Jones. Some people are pricks huh?

[Navy Boy]

I bought my 961 Sport after winning a Norton Factory tour during an auction which helped raise funds for Kevin Ash's family back in late 2013.

In case you're wondering Kevin Ash was a UK bike journalist who was killed during the launch of the liquid cooled BMW 1200GS in South Africa in early 2013. I used to enjoy reading his work and so it seemed like a good idea to help raise some money for his family - Especially as it was held at Silverstone and was hosted by the lovely Suzi Perry

I was impressed with the Norton facility - This was prior to their move to the Donington Hall factory and was based right at the entrance to the Donington Race circuit where the Ron Haslam race school bases itself from. It was small but was heaven for a bike nut such as myself.

Sadly the bike itself, whilst looking gorgeous and sounding rather nice, always had an erratic idling issue. This would strike when the bike was fully up to temperature and would happen, in accordance with the law of Sod, at just the wrong moments. Like entering a roundabout... Fortunately there was nothing on the roundabout at the time...

They had two attempts to fix this but neither worked. The second time I was told 'Well it is a big twin you know - They are going to be a bit lumpy...'. Funny how my Harley XR1200 before it never had that problem and they weren't exactly known as being super high tech were they??? Patronising as well as being based on dodgy financial dealings - Not a good combination me thinks.

Despite my experiences I really wanted Norton to make it and thrive. It's a real shame for those who've paid for bikes as well as the workers there who will, as always with such things, be the ones who are hit the hardest.

[sidecar bob]

The guy whos collection i maintain has a 961 in the UK.
He only rides it when he feels like a nice long walk in the sunshine.

[Bonez]

I hear they are so unique they have different piston sizes for each bore.

[TheDemonLord]

Amazing story. Forget about the unpaid tax and the Bexit bullshit, Superbike magazine asks was it fraud from the start.


https://www.superbike.co.uk/article/...from-the-start

That was a rather interesting read, not sure of the veracity of any of it, but interesting none-the-less

[James Deuce]

That was a rather interesting read, not sure of the veracity of any of it, but interesting none-the-less

John Hogan has been around a while now and worked for many publications. He's not going write something like that without being able to back it.

[TheDemonLord]

John Hogan has been around a while now and worked for many publications. He's not going write something like that without being able to back it.

Hairy Muff, I didn't mean it in a dismissive sense, more so that I don't follow Motorcycle Journalism - so have no baseline to reference.

[F5 Dave]

The guy whos collection i maintain has a 961 in the UK.
He only rides it when he feels like a nice long walk in the sunshine.

So does he ship it to France for that?

[James Deuce]

Hairy Muff, I didn't mean it in a dismissive sense, more so that I don't follow Motorcycle Journalism - so have no baseline to reference.

It's all good. No attitude here. Just communicating info.