Bennetts interview with John Russell

MxMartin said:
Assuming that they will still be refining crude for the jet and shipping markets then there will be a lot of gasoline surplus to requirements, what will happen to that?
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What else?
They will sell it to China, but quietly.
Just like some countries today sell coal to China, quietly.
 
Excuse me for diverting the topic of conversation back to the thread topic for a moment...

So if I’m hearing John correctly, first bikes out of the new factory are likely to be the 961 final run and the 1200 SS. Then at end ‘21 / early ‘22 the Atlas range will start to be manufactured (which goes to show how ridiculous Garners timeframes were).

The Superlight isn’t dead, but he did say it’s got to deliver on its promises, so I suspect further development will cause a further delay with that. As the market, and legislation requirements, will have moved on in the intervening 4 years, so will the development requirements! The Superlight has got to be special to justify its existence after all.

I’m thinking they could make more out of these existing engine platforms, as has already been suggested by folk on here. Maybe be 750 twins, maybe this could lead to a Commando replacement? Maybe 1000 V4s for racing and spin off sports bikes? An Ariel Ace style naked 1200? Maybe even a V4 touring, or even Multi Strada style bike?

Of course, one of the challenges of diversifying into some of the genres mentioned above is that they are already occupied by some extremely good motorcycles.

Lets hope Norton are up to the challenges.
 
Do you think they'll use the Commando name on an updated twin, or save it for something a bit more special?
(Only asking :) )
Ignoring what's already out there, and given the names they have, to me Atlas would be 'muscle bike'.. Navigator the long distance tourer, Ranger would have off road pretensions, and Electra would of course be the 'Green' machine..
But 'Commando??' It was Norton's flagship for so long, where will they pitch it?
(Do they have 'Dominator' too? That'd be as Garner's.. stripped street machine )
 
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Dunno, it’s a good question.

We had the same question with the Bonneville, there were those who thought that name should be reserved for their flagship sports bike, not a tame retro job. But it worked out OK for Triumph.

I want a naked Norton 1200 V4 ‘Combat’ !

Come on John, you know it makes sense...!
 
MxMartin said:
Assuming that they will still be refining crude for the jet and shipping markets then there will be a lot of gasoline surplus to requirements, what will happen to that?
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Under the counter sir for motorcycle riders!
 
kommando said:
Oil will still be needed for all those plastics, chemicals, medicine feedstocks, fertiliser etc etc. The demise of oil is very over rated.
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Depending which source you choose, there are something like around 1.5 billion cars on the road today. Thats just cars.

TVS is the 5th or 6th biggest motorcycle maker and make approx 4 million per year (which puts those 40 odd final edition 961s into perspective).

IMHO, just becasue a few rich, guilty, countries are talking about banning the sale of new petrol engined cars within 10-20 years, the idea that petrol will be banned or unavailable is inconceivable.

The vast majority of people in the vast majority of countries are still going to be petrol / diesel reliant for transport for many decades to come.

I actually think that tyres (manufacture and disposal of) are going to become a bigger environmental hot potato than petrol.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Excuse me for diverting the topic of conversation back to the thread topic for a moment...

So if I’m hearing John correctly, first bikes out of the new factory are likely to be the 961 final run and the 1200 SS. Then at end ‘21 / early ‘22 the Atlas range will start to be manufactured (which goes to show how ridiculous Garners timeframes were).

The Superlight isn’t dead, but he did say it’s got to deliver on its promises, so I suspect further development will cause a further delay with that. As the market, and legislation requirements, will have moved on in the intervening 4 years, so will the development requirements! The Superlight has got to be special to justify its existence after all.

I’m thinking they could make more out of these existing engine platforms, as has already been suggested by folk on here. Maybe be 750 twins, maybe this could lead to a Commando replacement? Maybe 1000 V4s for racing and spin off sports bikes? An Ariel Ace style naked 1200? Maybe even a V4 touring, or even Multi Strada style bike?

Of course, one of the challenges of diversifying into some of the genres mentioned above is that they are already occupied by some extremely good motorcycles.

Lets hope Norton are up to the challenges.
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Oooo, I wonder if the registered "Challenge" name?
 
Fast Eddie said:
Depending which source you choose, there are something like around 1.5 billion cars on the road today. Thats just cars.

TVS is the 5th or 6th biggest motorcycle maker and make approx 4 million per year (which puts those 40 odd final edition 961s into perspective).

IMHO, just becasue a few rich, guilty, countries are talking about banning the sale of new petrol engined cars within 10-20 years, the idea that petrol will be banned or unavailable is inconceivable.

The vast majority of people in the vast majority of countries are still going to be petrol / diesel reliant for transport for many decades to come.

I actually think that tyres (manufacture and disposal of) are going to become a bigger environmental hot potato than petrol.
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Did you know that in general electrical vehicles are heavier,stands to reason,so the tyres are more substantial due to the increased weight, and guess what,more expensive.
 
Okay... totally bitchy I know but did SG have the 'Norton Intestate?' Dead by the side of the road and no will to get going?
 
No matter what he said in the interview, realistically he knows in himself that to get Norton back on the go they need an initial Norton Model (any cc / type) that is both attractive and reliable. Without either the path to success will be a hard one.

As for cost, hand built bikes in the UK are expensive, very expensive, so expect so to see a very different premium price to what we have seen before. The Triumph street twin is a cheap bike and needs accessories, if you are paying premium money for a Norton then it should come with them. They clearly know who they will be targeting and I suspect they will be out of my league.
 
Fast Eddie said:
I’m thinking they could make more out of these existing engine platforms, as has already been suggested by folk on here. Maybe be 750 twins, maybe this could lead to a Commando replacement?
Click to expand...

Now that sounds delightful.
Slap a supercharger on it and I'll have one sir, thank you.:cool:
 
We have already seen a 850cc based engine on the Norton Atlas twin from China correct ?
 
Fast Eddie said:
“One intriguing question remains: if the Norton twin can be expanded as far as 850cc, could the same bore and stroke could be used on the V4 it’s based on, creating a 1700cc engine”?

Now THAT is a good question !
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Old hat! Ford had a 1.7 V4 in the Corsair ages ago :)
 
Well there you go then, the Norton Corsair ;)

Pretty sure the FoMoCo offering wasn‘t 200bhp tho ...
 
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