#norton

In January 2020 Norton Motorcycles, then owned and run by UK entrepreneur Stuart Garner, collapsed into bankruptcy, and on April 17 that same year was acquired from the liquidator for a cash payment of £16 million by India’s third largest motorcycle manufacturer, TVS Motor Company. Currently manufacturing more than three million powered two-wheelers annually at its Hosur factory outside Bengaluru, TVS has also been associated with German giant, BMW Motorrad since April 2013.

Norton Motorcycle has filed trademark applications for several names from its history that may portend the company’s future under the ownership of TVS Motor.

The beleaguered Norton Motorcycles has been bought out by India’s TVS Motor Company. Norton, which was put into administration in January, was purchased by TVS through a subsidiary in an all-cash deal worth 16 million British pounds (US$20 million).

In the midst of all the uncertainty and panic caused by COVID-19 and the hard times millions around the world have fallen upon, we thought we’d share some beauty created by French custom shop, FCR Originals. The shop has a penchant for turning British Twins, among other machines, into creative custom builds with styling cues that harken back to the ‘50s and ‘60s. As is evident from the pictures shared here, the level of detail and commitment to their projects is stunning. 

If you were paying attention to American roadracing in the 1990s (more and more resembling a golden era), the name Martin Adams might ring a bell. Martin begat the Commonwealth Racing team, which in 1989 won its first AMA title: That would be the AMA Pro Twins GP championship (at the last corner, at the last round of the Series (Topeka), with Randy Renfrow in the saddle of the Commonwealth Honda RS850).

Lost in the worldwide hate storm being spewed on Romano Fenati after he pulled the dumbest move in racing history, is this clip from the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Here we have the proper way to reach out and get the attention of a fellow rider.

I should probably have broken this down into “Riders Over 50 with a History of Failed Relationships and Bad Decisions Without a Pot to Piss In,” and “Riders Over 50 With Healthy Portfolios and Dazzling Smiles”… but I didn’t. Because motorcycles are still relatively inexpensive, and because all us old guys seem to be drawn to the same ones whatever they cost. Besides, even wealthy motorcycle people mostly seem to be inherently cheap; otherwise they’d be car people, no? Consider this my personal cross-section of the bikes people like me covet most, and/or actually would (theoretically in my case) own.

Norton revealed two sketches showing a new scrambler that will debut in November. The 2019 Norton Atlas will be powered by a new 650cc Twin powerplant with a target price of about £10,000 (US$13,200).

Motorcycles are unique conveyances defined largely by their engines – they are motorcycles, after all. The choice of engine in a bike dictates the chassis that must hold it, which has a direct input on the size and weight of the vehicle. The engine also – more than any other motor vehicle – provides a disproportionate amount of character to the riding experience.

Do you remember how boring and mundane going to a museum was as a kid? It was practically torture, but any excuse to get out of school was better than the alternative. It’s funny how things change as you get older. You start to appreciate and become more interested by the way things were, how previous generations lived compared to what we’ve grown accustomed to now. Shit, you could actually learn something.

The 9th Quail Motorcycle Gathering took place last weekend, and I was finally lucky enough to attend for the first time. Despite the cold weather, the event more than lived up to my hopes, even if I only had two hours to wade through 350 motorcycles. Our stringer, Geoff Drake, covered the event and the winners that were chosen by people who are experts about historic motorcycles, so you should definitely check that out. This article includes my subjective favorites from the Quail, purely the result of my quirky mechanical tastes. So, let’s see what tickled my fancy.

The Quail Motorcycle Gathering on May 6 included more than 350 drool-worthy vintage and custom motorcycles, from Italian tiddlers to full-on race bikes, arrayed on the green grasses of the Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel, California. All this eye candy was fawned over by around 3,000 people – record attendance for the nine-year-old event. It was enough to warm the heart of any gearhead.

I was a little surprised my kid liked the new Honda Rebel 500 as much as he did last week, but then all of us are surprised by our offspring, aren’t we? His daily driver lately is my old Yamaha R1. He finally got around to getting his motorcycle endorsement last month – on our borrowed KTM Super Duke GT… so he does have quite a varied motorcycle background for a kid who’s only 23 years old. In an effort to understand the younger moto-mentality, and as a service to all the manufacturers trying to figure out what the hell millennial motorcyclists want, anyway, I drilled further into my child’s mind to get down to the Top 10 of things.

This week’s Top 10 comes to us courtesy of Miguel Galluzzi. Mr. G is best known for designing Ducati’s original Monster and starting the modern naked-bike movement, but before that he also penned Ducati’s early ’90s 900 Supersports. He’s been a busy man ever since, and is currently director for PADC (Piaggio Advanced Design Center), in Pasadena, CA, where he – together with another design team in Noale, Italy – cooks up new Moto Guzzis, Aprilias and other Italian delicacies. —John Burns

Norton Motorcycles announced a new 1200cc carbon-clad sportbike, claiming a maximum output of more than 200 hp and a dry weight of 395 pounds. The V4 RR is priced at £28,000 (US$34,777) while a special edition V4 SS version is valued at an even more posh £44,000 (US$54,651).