Bum's Rush at the Norton Factory

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Unfortunately I have bought the watch, helmet, jacket, etc,etc
so I'm going for the full set .
I waited 2 years for the ducati MH 900
so I'm a patient man .
 
mikegray660 said:
Richard Barks wrote:
Unfortunately I have bought the watch, helmet, jacket, etc,etc
.

sounds like Norton are becoming the harley of the UK then?
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Nope, haven't seen any Norton G-strings yet.
 
Fullauto said:
mikegray660 said:
Richard Barks wrote:
Unfortunately I have bought the watch, helmet, jacket, etc,etc
.

sounds like Norton are becoming the harley of the UK then?
Click to expand...

Nope, haven't seen any Norton G-strings yet.
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And yet you keep looking! :mrgreen:
 
Nope, haven't seen any Norton G-strings yet.
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Nor new Nortons on the street.

I strongly suspect the new Norton owners vastly underestimated the capital needed for a motorcycle manufacturing venture. They may possibly make it as a boutique motorcycle maker, but I have serious doubts as for Norton ever becoming a production motorcycle again. I don't know how much money the new Triumph had to get going, but today it would probably take ten times as much.
 
Hi chaps,

Apologies for not seeing this sooner, have been rather busy!

First off apologies to Richard, with whats gone on at Donny over the last few months the security are quite funny about who goes on site, mainly due to the fact theres only a couple of them now and they cant keep an eye on everyone, plus Norton personnel are the only people on site. We have also has people wandering in unannounced which in itself doesnt sound too bad, but we have 100's of thousands of pounds worth of stock etc that needs to have an eye kept on it, and we certainly need to imrpove our own security, but again as a factory we are still finding our feet so we will sort that out, Richard you are more than welcome to speak to anyone at the factory, just give us a tinkle before hand and your more than welcome!!!

I think everyone underestimated how much needed doing to the Commando to get it to production, I know I didnt think I would have to re-design every component on the thing when I started, but it needed doing so we have done it, there are bikes out there doing road mileage testing now and the last few tweeks are being made to the bike before customers are going to get them delivered, it will happen of course, all the expensive and time consuming tooling has been done so we are just tweeking some parts to make sure they are robust before deliveries commence, I am desperate for it to be right and believe a poor bike will taint us for years where as bike a few weeks late will soon be forgotten if the bike is good enough.

Also it will be a long time before we have a production line, bikes are hand built on a bench, we are not planning building more than 20 bikes a week for quite a few months, which is only 4 bikes a day, so doesnt warrant a 'line'. we want to keep Norton much more bespoke.

I will be at Excel with Stalks and Stuart if anyone wants to come for a chat!!!
 
skinthespin said:
Hi chaps,

Apologies for not seeing this sooner, have been rather busy!

First off apologies to Richard, with whats gone on at Donny over the last few months the security are quite funny about who goes on site, mainly due to the fact theres only a couple of them now and they cant keep an eye on everyone, plus Norton personnel are the only people on site. We have also has people wandering in unannounced which in itself doesnt sound too bad, but we have 100's of thousands of pounds worth of stock etc that needs to have an eye kept on it, and we certainly need to imrpove our own security, but again as a factory we are still finding our feet so we will sort that out, Richard you are more than welcome to speak to anyone at the factory, just give us a tinkle before hand and your more than welcome!!!

I think everyone underestimated how much needed doing to the Commando to get it to production, I know I didnt think I would have to re-design every component on the thing when I started, but it needed doing so we have done it, there are bikes out there doing road mileage testing now and the last few tweeks are being made to the bike before customers are going to get them delivered, it will happen of course, all the expensive and time consuming tooling has been done so we are just tweeking some parts to make sure they are robust before deliveries commence, I am desperate for it to be right and believe a poor bike will taint us for years where as bike a few weeks late will soon be forgotten if the bike is good enough.

Also it will be a long time before we have a production line, bikes are hand built on a bench, we are not planning building more than 20 bikes a week for quite a few months, which is only 4 bikes a day, so doesnt warrant a 'line'. we want to keep Norton much more bespoke.

I will be at Excel with Stalks and Stuart if anyone wants to come for a chat!!!
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The point is that even if you are extremely busy, communicating with the outside (I'd recommend via your website rather that try to answer every forum post) is essential especially if published deadlines are approaching. And not after.

There is a lot of interest in your "little project" and since it's not the riding months folks are want to sit and gossip like a bunch of old church ladies. Best way to nip off the gossip is honesty.
 
Appreciate everyones comments, the reality of the situation is every project in industry I have witnessed has been at least a few months late, but at Norton we have people scrutinising our every move, no one has their eye on at what stage the latest Triumph project is for example, although again I am aware we have got ourselves into this position!

Again I know we should keep people more informed but things are moving so quickly and we are such a small team we would be up issuing the website at the end of every day! All I say is please be patient, you will be rewarded with a great bike and an even greater name!
 
skinthespin said:
Appreciate everyones comments, the reality of the situation is every project in industry I have witnessed has been at least a few months late, but at Norton we have people scrutinising our every move, no one has their eye on at what stage the latest Triumph project is for example, although again I am aware we have got ourselves into this position!

Again I know we should keep people more informed but things are moving so quickly and we are such a small team we would be up issuing the website at the end of every day! All I say is please be patient, you will be rewarded with a great bike and an even greater name!
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You don't have to do it once a day. Like I recommended just be aware of published deadlines. Otherwise people won't worry.

Good luck and get back to work!
 
Skinthespin,

When I read Richard Barks' post referring to he not able to get into the factory, I knew then you guys lost sight of what is most important. Everything else is peripheral to the customer. When you become too busy to attend to the customer you soon will have no customer to attend to.
 
Hi Jim, we havent at all lost sight of the customer and we know without a customer there is no Norton, end of, but we didn't know Richard was there, like I said in my post any customer is welcome, just need a call or mail and we can let security know your coming.
 
like I said in my post any customer is welcome, just need a call or mail and we can let security know your coming.
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Barks did call, from the gate. Someone told security to deny entry. Barks has ordered a bike, with probably a substantial deposit, yet was not able to get into the factory as advertised.
 
JimC said:
like I said in my post any customer is welcome, just need a call or mail and we can let security know your coming.
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Barks did call, from the gate. Someone told security to deny entry. Barks has ordered a bike, with probably a substantial deposit, yet was not able to get into the factory as advertised.
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Jim, unless you have a deposit on a bike, perhaps you should stop busting their balls. It's a small company with a lot of visibility. Calling from the gate is not the same as setting up a prior appointment (which is what he meant by calling first).
 
When John Bloor bought Triumph, he paid something like 44 million pounds for the works. His main intention was to develop the Meriden site into a housing community, which he did.

In the meantime, he licensed Les Harris to continue to build Bonnevilles while he built a new factory in Hinckley, and developed a new range of motorcycles. Harris built Bonnies through 1988, and the Hinckley Triumphs went into pre-production in '89, with customer sales beginning in 1990.

All in all, Bloor is said to have invested a little over 1 billion pounds in Triumph, though much of this investment was financed by the development of the Meriden property and licensing of the Triumph trademark. Supposedly, the company went into the black around 2000, and has been making money ever since.

I hope Mr. Garner understands this Norton venture may not pay off for a decade or more, if ever.

If he follows the lessons of Triumph and not of Indian, I think he can succeed.
 
Re :

I hope Mr. Garner understands this Norton venture may not pay off for a decade or more, if ever.
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He is going to need deep pockets to get it off the ground, especially in the present economic climate. I can't see a bank investing in a new motorcycle manufacturing business at the moment to get a return on their investment.

Good luck to him.

More of a passion or crusade to resurect such a classic name than a business venture, bit like us, do we add up the money we spend on our bikes ? ( It would give too much ammunition to the wife ! :) )
 
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