Old fart here. When I was a teenager a Snortin' Norton was THE bike. Style, sound, performance, heritage. It had it all. Reliability maybe not so much. I love the look of the new one and hope its a success.
My bud let me ride his Commando. I had a BSA & a Triumph, so I was familiar with right foot shifting. While accelerating through a sweeper, I forgot that the pattern was reversed. So planning on shifting 3rd to 4th, I shifted 3rd to 2nd! So happy I kept the rubber side down.
It looks great. It's not all about speed and gadgets. In the 70s I had a neighbour who had an 850Norton command interstate parked outside his house. It looked quite similar to this. As kids we would stand in silence starring at the Norton it was so awe inspiring. I hope its a success.
When I was a kid I had a 750 Norton Commando. It was a year old when I bought it! The first owner was sitting on it when the kickstand broke and it fell over and it broke his ankle, That is where I came into the package. I loved the Bike!!! It was Quick!! It had the rubber mounted engine so no vibration to the handlebars. It would run with the New and big deal Honda 750 4s. Until it hit close to a hundred and the clutch would start slipping. It would run off and leave the Honda on a twisty road, until you pushed it too hard and the Handlebars gave you the death wobble. Lets not forget the Joys of tickling the Amal Carbs! Okay to you newbies, It had twin carbs each one had a button on top where you pushed down on it, It pushed down on the float and you flooded the carb and gas ran out all over the carb and your fingers. Find Neutral, Pull in the Clutch run the starter through a couple times to separate the disc, so it didn't grind the gears the first time you tried to shift. Kick, Kick , Kick and hopefully it was off and going. It was a blast! I made the mistake of pricing it to a guy, Dang if he didn't buy it! I really didn't want to sell it but when you open your mouth there is usually someone there to stick their foot in it! Don't know what ever became of it! But it was the most beautiful bike I think I have ever seen!
First and foremost...It looks and sounds beautiful. I hope that the new owners are able to make it work. I also hope that they can set up agreements for dealerships in the US.
I had a Norton Commando 750 back in the early seventies, a very traditional go fast early super bike, sooooo very tempting always liked the look of them, not in Australia just yet
Currently ride a Challenger. recently turned 70 and will sometime in the not too distant future be looking for something lighter and easier to push around the garage. Rode early 1970s CB750 back in the early 1970s so rode with Nortons regularly. never rode one. Wish i had. I'd like to ride the more upright version and see how it worked for me. One thing I would really like to see on it though unlikely it will ever be available is cruise....saved me a bunch of tickets over the years. Possibly a contender for my shortlist.
@@layingblacklines they'll get a bike TVS is one of the best manufacturers you could have hoped for. They work with Petronas racing and BMW and developed and manufacture the BMW 310s
@@shadow_realm47 That's good to know. Norton needs some stability to regain their reputation after that chump sullied it. Seeing a few of these on the roads should do wonders for that.
Looks great but being a former Commando 750 owner - yes, 50 years ago! - I can't say it looks much anything like it. But still, hoping it comes to Canada and I can test ride it.
Very handsome looking bike, if the feeling and sound replicate somewhat the spirit of a 60s/70s Norton and reliability is there then , for me, power/performance won’t be a deal breaker.
I remember seeing the Norton John Player Special on the dealer's showroom floor in the early 1970s. I wanted so badly, but it was really expensive. I bought a new 1975 Honda 550 Four instead.
What a surprise to see the Mighty Garage video of my 71 Commando and Mike and Dave’s at the 3 minute 53 second mark, from the States. Interesting he chose two non-standard Commandos as examples of the classics.
What a beautiful bike, stunning! I'd take the SP, the CR looks great but would kill my wrists! Looking forward to MCL and a chance to get up close to the bike. Thanks Bob for this review
A stunning looking motorcycle. 78HP on 58.6 CI is nothing to be ashamed of. While certainly not in the power range of some modern motorcycles it will carry you at a really brisk pace. Definitely a bike to have if you just love the ride and want a real British HotRod motorcycle.
Riding well does not necessarily mean, riding fast.. becoming one with the machine, adapting to the machine getting to know it’s qualities call me getting to feel where the engine is happiest being shifted through the gears, Learning how to make the machine flow while picking alternative lines and setting up the corners to have a late Apex or an early Apex and the highest exit speed in the right gear in the sweet spot of the power band. That’s what I enjoy about each machine I have owned.. I have more fun on my machines that have less than 50 hp, then I do on machines that have more than 120 hp that I could never use on public roads.. I appreciate the quality of the power more than I appreciate the quantity. I have owned very fast high powered sport bikes, that made so much power, I actually never used 100% of the power ever, but I paid for it when I bought the machine, when I paid the additional premium on the insurance, and when I bought gasoline, over the past 20 years, I’ve actually become a little disenchanted with the complexity of motorcycles and cars. There was a time when you could work on them yourself with average mechanical aptitude.. if I can make one suggestion that will greatly improve the ride, ability for the machine to rotate, reduce the cost, and actually improve acceleration, and improve the suspension. This motorcycle does not need 500 hp of brakes in the front. With a single disk, The rider can easily lock that front wheel. That second disc is a second gyroscope . Have you ever held a gyroscope? They do not like to change directions. That second Gyro on the front of this machine hampers the ability of the machine to rotate left, right, left quickly. that second disc is also a flywheel that must be accelerated. Have you ever had those little toy cars with the flywheel in them, and you roll the car across the floor quickly to spin up the flywheel, that takes energy. Then you have the largest of the sins, you’ve added pounds of unsprung weight. The hardware holding the caliper on, the caliper itself, the brake pads, then there’s the disc and the mounting hardware. That adds pounds, and the suspension has to contend with that. Eliminate one of the discs and all its hardware and hoses and pads and you will greatly increase the ability of this machine to flick left right, to maintain its track through high speed bumpy corners, and it will accelerate just that much quicker. Been there, done that on my Yamaha 250 Road racing machine. I thought I needed a second disc.. I went out on the track in practice after adding the second disc. I lost almost five seconds per lap. The machine would not stay on track through bumpy corners, I was slower on acceleration with competitors I was dead even with before I added the second disc, , And at that particular track, there was a section of S turns that I could take wide opened in third gear before I had the second disc. After I installed the second disc, I ran off the track in the same place every time because the machine would not rotate fast enough for me to make the third turn wide-open… also the unsprung weight made the ride terrible. The suspension could not recover quickly between ripples and the machine would bounce off-line because the energy goes into the springs, and the oil controls the spring on the rebound. With the extra weight, the spring was overwhelmed, and my machine chattered off line.. it was a disaster. Luckily that was on practice day, and I was able to remove that second disc and caliper and hoses and hardware in time for the afternoon heat race. Which I won and Sunday’s final sprint race. If I had left that second disc on. I would’ve lost five seconds per lap. At an average speed of 82 miles an hour, that’s over 110 ft./second. That’s 550 feetThat’s over 550 feet I would lose every lap for 15 laps in the race. at the end of 15 laps, I would have lost 8250 feet which meant I would have been laughed and then some by myself with just a single disc.. been there, done that, on a light machine like this, a second disc for street use is just trendy, not necessary, as is the disc in the rear. Totally unnecessary. Who needs a 250 hp rear brake on a motorcycle? Colin Chapman was right. He added “lightness “to his road racing Formula One cars with many of today’s machines, you have to have special tools to maintain them, or marry the dealer.. I also want to see the beautiful blonde babes in the ads for Norton motorcycles like they used to be..
Well done review. It's an attractive bike. Always liked the old Norton's. It doesn't appear to have a Catalytic Converter on it. YAY! What grinds my gears is the silly remote brake and clutch fluid reservoirs with the rubber hose the manufactures have de-evolved too. But for a hundred bucks and an hour labor (each), you can get what should have been on the bike new. That setup just looks after thought, add on, Jenke.
A fantastic looking bike with some lovely top draw components. It's a shame that whilst making the manufacturing updates they didn't squeeze out a bit more performance from the powertrain, but I guess reliability is a higher priority for them at this stage. The Commando is such an iconic bike I'm sure it will sell sufficiently well.
Had a 1972 commando there has never been anything like it. Sorry to have parted with it!!!!!!!!!!! The only bike (out of 13) I have had that is on a par is my street twin. 62 years riding now.
Bob, I loved the fade out music on this vid, do you know where it can be obtained? as for the bike keeping it safe with my R9T... purchased partly on back of your reviews
It feels intentional when the obvious comparator wasn’t mentioned. The Triumph Thruxton is the standard bearer for modern British cafe racers. When the last iteration of the Norton debuted, it was touted over the previous air cooled Thruxton as a premium choice. Now that the Thruxton line has moved into a premium space in the cafe racer segment, it makes for an obvious competitor for the same customer as this new Norton.
I live in India and hence familiar with the TVS name. If TVS is good enough to sell TVS bikes with the BMW badge I can assure you that Norton is in safe hands- safer hands than BSA which is owned by a Mahindra subsidiary. TVS priority is to set up the factory and get the production started with the models and drawings they inherited when they purchased Norton Motorcycles and unravel the mess created by Stuart Garner.
You are so wrong. This model has been around for at least 10 years now and many of the engine casings and components are some 40 years old, albeit re-engineered to a more modern standard. They are a beautiful bike, the attention to detail is amazing and has a really premium look and feel, lots of cnc milled brackets and solid metal. For me, these are not everyday bikes, these are a bike you take out on a warm summer day for a blast along the back roads and park in your lounge so that you can just look at their beauty. I imagine they will be as much collector items as daily rides.
I had two Norton commandos, how I used to love riding the flag. Rode down to the south of France on the first got married while one the second and the dream ended. These are bit expensive side for me and could never justify the cost personally. Best of luck to all at Norton and I hope you find a way of getting costs down, who knows, maybe the dream will be re-ignited.
The lack of electronic gizmos is a huge plus in my opinion. At least with the old commando it was simple tech. Fabulous real bikes and I loved riding an old 750 fastback.
While I’ve not seen it in the flesh as yet, from photos and videos seen I think the top yoke and around the clocks looks like it’s unfinished, just grey parts that don’t blend with the rest of the bike. They would look nicer polished or black. Also key in the bottom yoke and would more pleasing in my opinion. Look forward to see this bike soon. 👍
Nice, maybe, but to expensive for what it delivers. For a classic feel, whatever that may mean, the Royal Enfield, for example, is a much better choice at a much more attractive price.
I don't know a lot about British motorcycles, but that bike looks like it came out of a garage after being in storage for 50 years, I really like the looks of this bike, it just looks like it comes from a much simpler time.
As they reworked 36 per cent of the components it is a huge pity they didn't resolve the terrible ergonomics of the 961 model which carried over from Dreer's daring but flawed design. Never seen anyone over 5'8" look comfortable riding one. Hopefully it has 6 gears now too because the old model ran out of revs far too early. Hope they make more fundamental improvements on the new Dominator version rather than just making a clone copy like this Commando is, so people can actually ride it further than the nearest pub.
@@motobob I know, I spotted that but Norton is reading these comments so I saw no harm in getting the point across! I wish I could get a lot more across too. That model needs some serious reworking to make it practical and comfortable enough to justify such a high price although I think the tank may have bee subtly improved to improve one of he comfort issues.
With the previous, unreliable 961 it was possible to de-cat and re-map the bike. Once run in and ridden hard they loosen up and become a fair bit quicker. Sound thunderous too. Unfortunately this new one looks to be retaining it's catalysts with no option of a full,open system and re-map. That would be a deal breaker for me i'm afraid.
I bought a 961 cafe racer in 2015. I’ve never once regretted buying it. Some buy motorbikes.. I reckon I bought a handmade work of art. Yes, it’s not perfect. I also have 2 x Ducatis - boy, they’re no where near perfect but that doesn’t matter.. Think I’m talking tosh? How many think the original Laverda Jota’s were the definition of reliability? They’re still legendary though….
Beautifully done, it seems to embody all the visual desirability of the originals. As for the performance, does it at least match the last iteration of the 850 Commando, considering it has another 110 cc of displacement? Is the handling equivalent to the last original Commando? And why, like Triumph, did they decide to go with a 270 degree crank?. I'm assuming, also like Triumph, the engine is DOHC. That's not so bad, but that should have allowed for a bit more power through cam timing and tuning.
On appearance alone, it is a beautiful bike. All the appointments, brakes, suspension, carbon fiber, seem to be top shelf. Still, it's a head scratcher. The weight is over a hundred pounds more than the Norton Commandos of the 1970's. And, with that weight, I'm curious why it seems a little lean on power? The quality seems to be definitely there but is the thrill factor missing?
Beautiful bike. Looks the part for anyone wanting a reliable retro bike. As another old fart starting with a 1949 Triumph 3T, BSA Gold Star, BSA A65 Lightning and a Suzuki 500 twin the model I forget. The things that kill.modern bikes for me is the weight! My final bike was a Suzuki Vstrom. I struggled in my 70s to get it up on the centre stand.
I bought my wife a 1996 Suzuki Bandit 600 in June. It is completely original and with just over 11,000 miles on the clock and while it might not be as rare as the Norton. or as desirable, it looks very similar, has similar power and does the exact same job, for about a 10th of the price. This is just another rich man's toy, for a very limited market. I doubt that this project will last much longer than the various previous attempts to relaunch the Commando.
I wanted a Norton thoughout high school back in the late 60's and early 70's. I suppose they have abandoned the 1 up, four down, shift on the right (where it should be) transmission.
Seems very expensive. I'm in Canada and a new Triumph Speed Twin here goes for around CAD17,500 -> GBP 11,500. You could throw a set of Ohlins on the rear of the Speed Twin for CAD1700 and it will be a way better bike than the Norton . . . .sorry to say it.
They need to make it an 8 valve twin while still keeping the pushrods. Like the Triumphs from the 80’s, the Irving Vincent, the Honda CX & the Moto Guzzi Daytona.
Pretty bike but 506 pounds wet weight is unforgivable. How hard is it to get the weight down? The Ducati SR4 I had, once upon a time, dyno'd at 111 RWHP and scaled at 410 pounds with a full tank. I can live with the ~75 HP, but 500+ pounds is at least 60 pounds more than I'm interested in.
Looks good. I'm waiting for Yamaha, to bring back the XS650, any iteration, with the kick starter, same pipes, same sound. Probably do better on Craigslist.
Looks stunning but that price is more than I can afford, if it was Enfield money I’d have one but looks like I’ll be waiting quite a few years for prices to come down.
Visually, it looks lovely. I'm surprised you didn't compare it to with say the Triumph Thruxton or maybe Speed Twin, which are similarly retro (okay cast wheels on the Speed Twin !) . Both offer quite a bit more performance and cost quite a bit less. If I had a lot of cash sloshing around in my bank account and a big garage, where a Commando could be company for my Speed Twin, yes I'd have one. That's not the case, so it's not for me. They will find buyers, with plenty of cash, who want something "less common" than a Speed Twin or Thruxton, but that's not me.
I really love the look of it, but I wonder why they made it a 5-speed instead of a 6-speed. Now I want to know the top speed and the quarter-mile time. I'm not looking for it to be a super sport bike at all, I just want to know that it doesn't top out at 90 mph and that the gears aren't spaced too widely apart.
Saw them at a dealership but was confused I was like huh a new Norton, then I saw the price and walked away. Probably a collector's item in the becoming, but there are so many options with the same riding experience. For the price I'd go for a W800 which is a reliable bike and has a unique sound and engine with the bevel and gear driven cams. A la Manx.
As a current double commando 850 owner I am really interested in how this bike works out. I would love to support the new owners in buying a new one. A few thoughts. The power. Looks pretty average, but thinking about it, Triumph only get proportionately more from 1200cc! The price. Awful. I get premium product for premium price business model, but compared with the competition ( RE, Triumph, even Moto Guzzi) they don't come close to stacking up. They will sell the expensive early production run for a while as motivated enthusiasts buy up, but over time they will drop away. Norton must offer more. Much more. Say, a more cost conscious model. For example, drop the Ohlins, who needs shocks like that when the bike can hardly pull the skin off a rice pudding? Anyway, god help them if Royal Enfield see an opportunity to really crank out a much upgraded (or new model) bike for 50-60% of the Norton asking price. Last comment. Bag Garner all you like, but their two current bikes were developed under his watch. They do look ace. Everyone seems to talk them up, but they are looking out of date now. Especially given the price. I hope the next newly developed range of bikes knock our socks off, and are priced to sell on scale. I will probably buy one!
Nice but. The exhaust frustrates me how it squares off out of the motor doesn't follow the frame and doesnt follow engine shape. Looks like a home made add on. Otherwise love it
Kind of disappointed in the engine specs, if for no other reason than I am seriously considering buying a Thruxton RS, and I was hoping the Norton would give the RS a run for its money.
Thing is Norton was a superbike. For a good looking retro Norton with only middling performance like this I would expect to pay more like Triumph money. For this much money I would expect closer to Ducati performance. I would also expect lighter weight from a simple air-cooled twin. I will say it is one of the best looking bikes, period. Somehow the looks and style of this appeal to me in a way that no modern Triumph has even come close. They also have a bit of a Harley problem in that the people who can afford this and who remember lusting after a Norton back in the day are all like 70 80 years old. A shrinking demographic that buy fewer and fewer motorcycles. Finally there's the elephant in the room which is the Royal Enfield Continental which has exactly the same kind of vibe, retro British thing but is a steal and a thoroughly pleasant well engineered bike in every respect and if I didn't already have a bike I would drop a dime on one of those in an instant and feel fine about riding the bolts off the thing and wringing it out without worrying about the classic paint. I would put a poster of the Norton up in my garage but sitting on the concrete would be a Royal Enfield.
So what engine is in it, Bob? Nobody else seems to want to answer. Did Garner not sell the 961 engine rights and tooling to Jinlang before Norton went bust? Are Norton buying the engine from China?
I live in India and hence familiar with the TVS name. If TVS is good enough to sell TVS bikes with the BMW badge I can assure you that Norton is in safe hands- safer hands than BSA which is owned by a Mahindra subsidiary. TVS priority is to set up the factory and get the production started with the models and drawings they inherited when they purchased Norton Motorcycles and unravel the mess created by Stuart Garner.
1970 Norton Commando weighed 190 kg or 410 pounds, this bike weighs 230 kg or 507 pounds. Why is it so much heavier, seems to me for the price of this bike they could of used materials and parts that weigh much less, it would make this bike so much better to have it at the weight of the 1970 Commando.
Lets be honnest for the money its not exactly that special, until you start looking at the attention to detail. Iam sure norton will please new & old customers , there clearly putting in 110% to make this work , i wish them well.
Maybe you don't have to give up Moto Guzzi. Keep both if possible. I love my Guzzi too. But this Norton looks very appealing, except for the price to me.
@@lenrobinson9767 you only have to listen to the clip in this video to know it's a 270 - just not sure when they made the switch but it was before this generation
