Clutch inspection time

cliffa · Jul 1, 2026

TonyA said:
Not exactly identical. The inner hub on my New clutch has the 2.5mm oil holes drilled in to it. I would not assume all clutch baskets will fail . The quality and consistency of the riveting comes to mind on the Norton 961 clutch. I don’t know what year they started drilling the holes. But all inner hubs can be copied. By the time you add shipping and labor the cost could be the same as a new basket. Also , you can attempt a Local AUS repair shop route . If you can find out about spares from Judd would be great. Fingers crossed that Norton will actually sell you spares!

Unfortunately I think the springs will eventually eat their way into the aluminium sockets on all bikes. Putting steel buttons on the ends of the springs ( as somebody did on mine) should slow it down I think.

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 1, 2026

TonyA said:
Not exactly identical. The inner hub on my New clutch has the 2.5mm oil holes drilled in to it. I would not assume all clutch baskets will fail . The quality and consistency of the riveting comes to mind on the Norton 961 clutch. I don’t know what year they started drilling the holes. But all inner hubs can be copied. By the time you add shipping and labor the cost could be the same as a new basket. Also , you can attempt a Local AUS repair shop route . If you can find out about spares from Judd would be great. Fingers crossed that Norton will actually sell you spares!

Agreed Tony. Had an initial conversation with Judd - no apparent problem with purchase. I’ll give you guys the full story once confirmed.

TonyA · Jul 1, 2026

Stephen_Spencer said:
Agreed Tony. Had an initial conversation with Judd - no apparent problem with purchase. I’ll give you guys the full story once confirmed.

That’s good news.

Portofino Norton's Garage · Jul 2, 2026

cliffa said:
Unfortunately I think the springs will eventually eat their way into the aluminium sockets on all bikes. Putting steel buttons on the ends of the springs ( as somebody did on mine) should slow it down I think.

Yes, for sure.
I'm exactly working on this, I'll come back shortly with explanation and pictures of my mods

TonyA · Jul 3, 2026

Stephen_Spencer said:
Agreed Tony. Had an initial conversation with Judd - no apparent problem with purchase. I’ll give you guys the full story once confirmed.

One last thing , take what Judd says with a grain of salt. Remember what Stu said and what happened to me . At first Judd is willing , but ultimately no parts ship. I hope you can get parts.

TonyA · Jul 4, 2026

TonyA said:
One last thing , take what Judd says with a grain of salt. Remember what Stu said and what happened to me . At first Judd is willing , but ultimately no parts ship. I hope you can get parts.

If there are Norton 961 parts to be had , Stu Bodycote or Ollie Thiel should know . And it begs the question why are Norton not supplying spare parts ?

NorTriDuc · Jul 4, 2026

TonyA said:
If there are Norton 961 parts to be had , Stu Bodycote or Ollie Thiel should know . And it begs the question why are Norton not supplying spare parts ?

That’s the age old question we’d all like to know.

Why would anyone even be interested in purchasing a new TVS Norton, knowing how they treat their own customers?

It was definitely easier getting parts from Donington.

TonyA · Jul 4, 2026

NorTriDuc said:
That’s the age old question we’d all like to know.

Why would anyone even be interested in purchasing a new TVS Norton, knowing how they treat their own customers?

It was definitely easier getting parts from Donington.

As I view this from this side of the pond , I have read that TVS Norton customers are not happy. Everybody that deals with Stu is happy. I would think that TVS Norton would be willing to sell spare parts and make a decent business from it. By now there must be a couple thousand 961’s in the market. Maybe more ? So I agree with you Nortriduc ! Will they finally right the ship ?

. So far it looks like no. The V4SS guys might be worse off ! At least the 961 has 15 years of production behind it. Poor bastards.

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 22, 2026

It’s taken 3 weeks but I have a 961 clutch basket assembly on the way from Judd Racing.

I made a call to Judd’s spares department, followed up by a spares request via email. They responded straight away, outlined that there were stock holdings and they’d process my request. A few days later, I was sent a link to their website which I joined and made payment for the clutch basket.

Things slowed when Norton were involved and requested to forward the item, but only really through admin error in identifying the correct item - they sent a ring gear, but then corrected this forwarding the clutch basket.

I was upfront that the item was for a 2015 961 and was to be shipped to Aus. This appeared to have no influence on the purchase. Judd were super efficient, Norton a little less so but my guess is they’re pretty busy.

I can’t account for others experiences but have had no difficulty in ordering spares - notwithstanding that you need to be patient.

cliffa · Jul 23, 2026

Stephen_Spencer said:
It’s taken 3 weeks but I have a 961 clutch basket assembly on the way from Judd Racing.

I made a call to Judd’s spares department, followed up by a spares request via email. They responded straight away, outlined that there were stock holdings and they’d process my request. A few days later, I was sent a link to their website which I joined and made payment for the clutch basket.

Things slowed when Norton were involved and requested to forward the item, but only really through admin error in identifying the correct item - they sent a ring gear, but then corrected this forwarding the clutch basket.

I was upfront that the item was for a 2015 961 and was to be shipped to Aus. This appeared to have no influence on the purchase. Judd were super efficient, Norton a little less so but my guess is they’re pretty busy.

I can’t account for others experiences but have had no difficulty in ordering spares - notwithstanding that you need to be patient.

That’s good news indeed Steve. May I ask the price ?

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 23, 2026

The price has a bit of a question mark next to it Cliff. I paid £255 (incl postage) for the Clutch Basket. This price came from Norton to Judd and (I’m guessing) may have been an error tied to identifying the correct item. They initially sent a Ring Gear.

When Norton invoiced Judd the price was over £900. I had already paid by this point so Nicole (Judd - Spares) asked Norton for a credit for the difference as Norton had made the error on price/part number; they agreed. £900 seems high for the clutch basket assembly alone - sounds more like complete clutch price to me but who knows.

The main point here I think is that there appears to be no impediment (through Judd anyway) to purchasing spares for legacy 961’s. Nicole was friendly and super efficient. The only difficulty was with Norton part number/price identification, in this instance.

TonyA · Jul 23, 2026

Stephen_Spencer said:
The price has a bit of a question mark next to it Cliff. I paid £255 (+ postage) for the Clutch Basket. This price came from Norton to Judd and (I’m guessing) may have been an error tied to identifying the correct item. They initially sent a Ring Gear.

When Norton invoiced Judd the price was over £900. I had already paid by this point so Nicole (Judd - Spares) asked Norton for a credit for the difference as Norton had made the error on price/part number; they agreed. £900 seems high for the clutch basket assembly alone - sounds more like complete clutch price to me but who knows.

The main point here I think is that there appears to be no impediment (through Judd anyway) to purchasing spares for legacy 961’s. Nicole was friendly and super efficient. The only difficulty was with Norton part number/price identification, in this instance.

View attachment 125634

Great news , 900 pounds (was 800) sounds correct for a complete complete clutch basket. Do you know what part you are getting , I assume a basket alone for 255 pounds ? Will you be getting the rest of the parts I assume a basket that you will have to get riveted together ? Maybe you will need more parts than that ? Like new rivets . When I bought mine I got it complete minus the steel plates , fiber plates and pressure plate springs ,. I am happy to hear that you can get parts !

TonyA · Jul 23, 2026

TonyA said:
Great news , 900 pounds (was 800) sounds correct for a complete complete clutch basket. Do you know what part you are getting , I assume a basket alone for 255 pounds ? Will you be getting the rest of the parts I assume a basket that you will have to get riveted together ? Maybe you will need more parts than that ? Like new rivets . When I bought mine I got it complete minus the steel plates , fiber plates and pressure plate springs ,. I am happy to hear that you can get parts !

Hi Steve , If you can get parts then Ollie and Stu and even I can get parts .

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 23, 2026

TonyA said:
Great news , 900 pounds (was 800) sounds correct for a complete complete clutch basket. Do you know what part you are getting , I assume a basket alone for 255 pounds ? Will you be getting the rest of the parts I assume a basket that you will have to get riveted together ? Maybe you will need more parts than that ? Like new rivets . When I bought mine I got it complete minus the steel plates , fiber plates and pressure plate springs ,. I am happy to hear that you can get parts !

Hi Tony.

I’m expecting the Clutch Basket Assembly, comprised of all components of the riveted assembly (gear, damper, basket - no basket internals) as shown in both images below provided by Judd. Part No 510006_R7.

However, part number 5170134_R1 appeared on the shipment notification following postage. Decided to let this play out and see what arrives.

I reckon it will be as I described above - £220. Or the fuller assembly you received - £900. What part number did you receive?

Others getting differing results is maybe not a complete mystery. Originally spares requests went to Norton direct and then morphed to any of the multiple dealers. Different dealers, different priorities, different staff etc. Should’nt happen but it does.

I’ve not heard of any of our members being turned away specifically because they’re legacy bike owners - happy to be corrected. Would be useful to see that in writing if it has occured - email maybe?

Poor/slow customer service at the dealer level, leading to people giving up, is diffent to Norton won’t sell us spares. Anecdotes from various members, dealing with multiple organisations over a prolonged period of time might not give us a true picture of current access. My opinion only.

Stu and Ollie are a different proposition I suppose. Who knows how Norton view alternate motorcycle maintenance/spares businesses. Lots of money to be made through the sale of spares though, whomever wishes to buy them.

NorTriDuc · Jul 23, 2026

Stephen_Spencer said:
Hi Tony.

I’m expecting the Clutch Basket Assembly, comprised of all components of the riveted assembly (gear, damper, basket - no basket internals) as shown in both images below provided by Judd. Part No 510006_R7.

View attachment 125644

View attachment 125648

View attachment 125650

However, part number 5170134_R1 appeared on the shipment notification following postage. Decided to let this play out and see what arrives.

I reckon it will be as I described above - £220. Or the fuller assembly you received - £900. What part number did you receive?

View attachment 125651

Others getting differing results is maybe not a complete mystery. Originally spares requests went to Norton direct and then morphed to any of the multiple dealers. Different dealers, different priorities, different staff etc. Should’nt happen but it does.

I’ve not heard of any of our members being turned away specifically because they’re legacy bike owners - happy to be corrected. Would be useful to see that in writing if it has occured - email maybe?

Poor/slow customer service at the dealer level, leading to people giving up, is diffent to Norton won’t sell us spares. Anecdotes from various members, dealing with multiple organisations over a prolonged period of time might not give us a true picture of current access. My opinion only.

Stu and Ollie are a different proposition I suppose. Who knows how Norton view alternate motorcycle maintenance/spares businesses. Lots of money to be made through the sale of spares though, whomever wishes to buy them.

So trying to get spares directly from Norton factory is considered giving up? You know I’ve tried for a very long time. Hats off to you. Consider yourself blessed.

cliffa · Jul 24, 2026

NorTriDuc said:
So trying to get spares directly from Norton factory is considered giving up? You know I’ve tried for a very long time. Hats off to you. Consider yourself blessed.

I’m pretty sure the factory started directing spares requests to dealers a couple of years ago, which to be honest makes sense. However being a world class manufacturer is not only about world class bikes. After sales support is also part of that aspiration, so let’s hope they have realized that.

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 24, 2026

NorTriDuc said:
So trying to get spares directly from Norton factory is considered giving up? You know I’ve tried for a very long time. Hats off to you. Consider yourself blessed.

I think that your spares requests from some years ago now, at a time back when they were trying to decide whether we could be sold legacy 961 parts (and prior to the Solihull 961 release), have very little bearing on the current spares situation.

If you still require parts mate, contact Judd and place a spares request. Whatyagottalose?

TonyA · Jul 24, 2026

Stephen_Spencer said:
Hi Tony.

I’m expecting the Clutch Basket Assembly, comprised of all components of the riveted assembly (gear, damper, basket - no basket internals) as shown in both images below provided by Judd. Part No 510006_R7.

View attachment 125644

View attachment 125648

View attachment 125650

However, part number 5170134_R1 appeared on the shipment notification following postage. Decided to let this play out and see what arrives.

I reckon it will be as I described above - £220. Or the fuller assembly you received - £900. What part number did you receive?

View attachment 125651

Others getting differing results is maybe not a complete mystery. Originally spares requests went to Norton direct and then morphed to any of the multiple dealers. Different dealers, different priorities, different staff etc. Should’nt happen but it does.

I’ve not heard of any of our members being turned away specifically because they’re legacy bike owners - happy to be corrected. Would be useful to see that in writing if it has occured - email maybe?

Poor/slow customer service at the dealer level, leading to people giving up, is diffent to Norton won’t sell us spares. Anecdotes from various members, dealing with multiple organisations over a prolonged period of time might not give us a true picture of current access. My opinion only.

Stu and Ollie are a different proposition I suppose. Who knows how Norton view alternate motorcycle maintenance/spares businesses. Lots of money to be made through the sale of spares though, whomever wishes to buy them.

I don’t remember any part number. I am glad you are getting your clutch basket . You will have to get the starter ring gear off . Maybe you should get some new shoulder bolts ? The clutch I received was everything but the plates and springs. I wish I could have had that nice parts diagram to order from !

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 24, 2026

TonyA said:
I don’t remember any part number. I am glad you are getting your clutch basket . You will have to get the starter ring gear off . Maybe you should get some new shoulder bolts ? The clutch I received was everything but the plates and springs. I wish I could have had that nice parts diagram to order from !

I had planned to re-use the shoulder bolts when I swap the ring gear over Tony, but to dowel following Richards procedure. May see if I can find new shoulder bolts also

.

From messages exchanged with Judd it seems they may not have full integration to Norton’s parts system (referred to as their EPC - Electronic Parts Catalogue). Nicole referred to ‘mocking up a parts order’.

May be wrong, but you’d expect full integration? Not sure, but a copy of the full parts catalogue would be gold - not achievable of course. Nicole was super helpful though, which is a real bonus.

TonyA · Jul 24, 2026

Stephen_Spencer said:
I had planned to re-use the shoulder bolts when I swap the ring gear over Tony, but to dowel following Richards procedure. May see if I can find new shoulder bolts also .

From messages exchanged with Judd it seems they may not have full integration to Norton’s parts system (referred to as their EPC - Electronic Parts Catalogue). Nicole referred to ‘mocking up a parts order’.

May be wrong, but you’d expect full integration? Not sure, but a copy of the full parts catalogue would be gold - not achievable of course. Nicole was super helpful though, which is a real bonus.

View attachment 125664

I just remembered that others have struggled getting those shoulder bolts out since they started using the strong Loctite on them. I would order new parts while you are getting your order together. Maybe even a new ring gear to eliminate all possible trouble for this job.

Clutch inspection time

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