cliffa
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- May 26, 2013
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Last Tuesday my brother and I went up to Birmingham (well Shirley actually) to the new Norton factory to have a guided tour followed by a test ride of the new 961sp. Here's how it went....
I had submitted a test ride request a couple of weeks previous to that, and a few days later got an email from Mr. Dean Harris. Some of you may be familiar with Dean as he is the owner of the Australian Norton 961 owners Facebook page. He recently returned to the U.K. from Oz, where he owned and ran a motorcycle shop. He had previously owned two 961's and classic Commando's. Anyway I gave him a call, and we had a chat for about 15 minutes. He agreed that my brother and I could take a bike each to test ride at 15:00 on the 11th.
Come the day we setoff from London and remarkably got to Brum early so headed to the N.M.M. to have a mooch around and some lunch at the museum cafeteria. (If you go there I highly recommend the Leek & Potato soup).
The weather forecast was not good, so we made contact with Dean, and he informed us that his 14:00 test ride appointment had been cancelled so we could go earlier. Yippee !! so we headed to the factory which is about 15 mins from the museum. When we got there we were made very welcome at reception and shortly afterwards Dean came out to meet us. Unfortunately the bikes were still out on test rides, so Dean suggested doing the tour first and then going out on the bikes.
The factory is pretty impressive. It has a huge spares stores area piled high with boxes emblazoned with the Norton logo. Dean informed us that they have drastically reduced the number of suppliers to around 70 which they reckon is much more manageable. All parts except for known quality brands such as Brembo and Ohlins are rigorously quality controlled on highly accurate test and measurement equipment. They trust that those kind of brands have their own high standard QC. We counted around 50 961's around the floor in various states of build, and a few V4's. The engine build room was absolutely spotless as it's a pressurized dust free zone apparently. Although the engines are hand assembled the builders are guided at each stage by an application running on a flat screen. Each stage must be confirmed completed before moving on the to next page, so no step should be missed. We had a very brief look in the weld shop, and were told that each frame has a laser etched code on it, which will tell Norton who welded the frame, on which date, which rods were used etc, etc., so there is a high degree of traceability. As well as the frames the exhausts are now made in house. The test and development area unsurprisingly contained 4 electric bikes from other manufactures for evaluation and examination. As we moved through the factory it was obvious that the folks working there seemed relaxed and happy. We saw the dyno room were biked are run up before being passed on (if all tests are successful) to the the customer satisfaction area where they are scrupulously examined before being approved for release to customers. Dean informed us that they are now at 300 strong workforce and growing so are already looking for more premises. One thing we noted - we only saw black 961's. We asked why and Dean said they have been having quality control issue with the silver painted stuff which will be resolved shortly.
So tour over we got our bike gear on and went outside where a silver and a black 961sp awaited us. By this time the sky was very dark. We were about to don our helmets when Dr. Robert Henschel came over to us and introduced himself. You are not going out in this? he said pointing at the sky. Yes we said, we've come a long way for this. We had a very brief chat and he mentioned how busy they are with so many exciting projects in the pipeline then wished us a good ride and legged it inside before the heavens opened. Literally the moment we put our helmets on it poured down. We pushed on regardless. We headed out and then onto the M42 motorway toward Stratford. the road was pretty busy with lots of spray so visibility was not good at all. Of course the bike was very familiar to me but I instantly realized the seat is more comfortable than mine. I also think that the riding position was slightly different (better) and afterwards wondered if the bars are a bit higher. Mechanically the bikes are definitely quieter at idle and on the run. By modern standards they are still mechanically noisy, however you don't get the feeling it's about to explode. The gearchange was perfect as was the fuelling. One of the biggest improvements for me was that the brakes seemed to have much more feel than mine. Maybe that's down to the radial master cylinder, or the ABS, or different calipers, I'm not sure, but I really liked the progressive feel, especially in the wet. My brother has never ridden a 961 before and absolutely loved it, however he was critical of the indicator switch as he said (like many of us) that it's in the wrong place, so kept pressing the horn instead of cancelling the indicators. He also disliked the non returning footrests, as he kept hooking the left one up on his waterproofs, then had to faff around trying to get it down again. But he loved the grunt. For me the only thing I don't like on the new bikes is the remote reservoirs which I don't really like on any bike, but these are really cheap looking to boot. Dean said take the bikes for about an hour, but about 15 minutes in I could already feel rain seeping through my Belstaff, but we carried on. At the 30 minute mark we realized that we'd taken a wrong turn somewhere and had no idea where we were or how to get back. Luckily I'd brought my Beeline device which in the excitement and wanting to beat the rain I'd forgotten about fitting before we left. I strapped it on the bars and punched in the factory address. It took us back through some very nice "A" roads which would have been a joy on a dry day - such a shame. We got back to the factory and one of the very friendly receptions made us a cup of tea each. Dean came out and we chatted for about an hour he told us that if we were to order a black bike that day lead time is around 6 weeks, but for the silver because of the backlog would be about 10 weeks. My brother asked if he could come back when it was dry and he agreed. We thanked him and the rest of the staff for everything and headed home. Despite the cold and rain we both agreed it had been a great day, but It was a shame that we could not give the bikes a better test.
Personally I think the Norton brand has never looked so healthy.
I had submitted a test ride request a couple of weeks previous to that, and a few days later got an email from Mr. Dean Harris. Some of you may be familiar with Dean as he is the owner of the Australian Norton 961 owners Facebook page. He recently returned to the U.K. from Oz, where he owned and ran a motorcycle shop. He had previously owned two 961's and classic Commando's. Anyway I gave him a call, and we had a chat for about 15 minutes. He agreed that my brother and I could take a bike each to test ride at 15:00 on the 11th.
Come the day we setoff from London and remarkably got to Brum early so headed to the N.M.M. to have a mooch around and some lunch at the museum cafeteria. (If you go there I highly recommend the Leek & Potato soup).
The weather forecast was not good, so we made contact with Dean, and he informed us that his 14:00 test ride appointment had been cancelled so we could go earlier. Yippee !! so we headed to the factory which is about 15 mins from the museum. When we got there we were made very welcome at reception and shortly afterwards Dean came out to meet us. Unfortunately the bikes were still out on test rides, so Dean suggested doing the tour first and then going out on the bikes.
The factory is pretty impressive. It has a huge spares stores area piled high with boxes emblazoned with the Norton logo. Dean informed us that they have drastically reduced the number of suppliers to around 70 which they reckon is much more manageable. All parts except for known quality brands such as Brembo and Ohlins are rigorously quality controlled on highly accurate test and measurement equipment. They trust that those kind of brands have their own high standard QC. We counted around 50 961's around the floor in various states of build, and a few V4's. The engine build room was absolutely spotless as it's a pressurized dust free zone apparently. Although the engines are hand assembled the builders are guided at each stage by an application running on a flat screen. Each stage must be confirmed completed before moving on the to next page, so no step should be missed. We had a very brief look in the weld shop, and were told that each frame has a laser etched code on it, which will tell Norton who welded the frame, on which date, which rods were used etc, etc., so there is a high degree of traceability. As well as the frames the exhausts are now made in house. The test and development area unsurprisingly contained 4 electric bikes from other manufactures for evaluation and examination. As we moved through the factory it was obvious that the folks working there seemed relaxed and happy. We saw the dyno room were biked are run up before being passed on (if all tests are successful) to the the customer satisfaction area where they are scrupulously examined before being approved for release to customers. Dean informed us that they are now at 300 strong workforce and growing so are already looking for more premises. One thing we noted - we only saw black 961's. We asked why and Dean said they have been having quality control issue with the silver painted stuff which will be resolved shortly.
So tour over we got our bike gear on and went outside where a silver and a black 961sp awaited us. By this time the sky was very dark. We were about to don our helmets when Dr. Robert Henschel came over to us and introduced himself. You are not going out in this? he said pointing at the sky. Yes we said, we've come a long way for this. We had a very brief chat and he mentioned how busy they are with so many exciting projects in the pipeline then wished us a good ride and legged it inside before the heavens opened. Literally the moment we put our helmets on it poured down. We pushed on regardless. We headed out and then onto the M42 motorway toward Stratford. the road was pretty busy with lots of spray so visibility was not good at all. Of course the bike was very familiar to me but I instantly realized the seat is more comfortable than mine. I also think that the riding position was slightly different (better) and afterwards wondered if the bars are a bit higher. Mechanically the bikes are definitely quieter at idle and on the run. By modern standards they are still mechanically noisy, however you don't get the feeling it's about to explode. The gearchange was perfect as was the fuelling. One of the biggest improvements for me was that the brakes seemed to have much more feel than mine. Maybe that's down to the radial master cylinder, or the ABS, or different calipers, I'm not sure, but I really liked the progressive feel, especially in the wet. My brother has never ridden a 961 before and absolutely loved it, however he was critical of the indicator switch as he said (like many of us) that it's in the wrong place, so kept pressing the horn instead of cancelling the indicators. He also disliked the non returning footrests, as he kept hooking the left one up on his waterproofs, then had to faff around trying to get it down again. But he loved the grunt. For me the only thing I don't like on the new bikes is the remote reservoirs which I don't really like on any bike, but these are really cheap looking to boot. Dean said take the bikes for about an hour, but about 15 minutes in I could already feel rain seeping through my Belstaff, but we carried on. At the 30 minute mark we realized that we'd taken a wrong turn somewhere and had no idea where we were or how to get back. Luckily I'd brought my Beeline device which in the excitement and wanting to beat the rain I'd forgotten about fitting before we left. I strapped it on the bars and punched in the factory address. It took us back through some very nice "A" roads which would have been a joy on a dry day - such a shame. We got back to the factory and one of the very friendly receptions made us a cup of tea each. Dean came out and we chatted for about an hour he told us that if we were to order a black bike that day lead time is around 6 weeks, but for the silver because of the backlog would be about 10 weeks. My brother asked if he could come back when it was dry and he agreed. We thanked him and the rest of the staff for everything and headed home. Despite the cold and rain we both agreed it had been a great day, but It was a shame that we could not give the bikes a better test.
Personally I think the Norton brand has never looked so healthy.
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