NEC NORTON

Dommie Nator said:
That would have been good, save using Yamaha owned suspension and anything to not use gold anodized shite.
They could also have used Harrison or Pretech brakes to keep it British.
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"They could also have used Harrison or Pretech brakes to keep it British."

Not much Aluminium mined in the U.K. ;)
 
The thing is with the British branding/sourcing, it's very important in the UK, but not elsewhere. In fact it's a mark against.
In the big North American market, UK made is seen as problematic.
A lot of the UK built vehicles that made their way over here in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, were very poorly built. When I ride my Brit bikes I encounter this mentality constantly with other bikers. I'm always having to defend them as " really not all that bad"
But public perception here is that British made means leaky, low performance and frequent breakdowns, godawful electrics, right from new. Come to think of it, my folks purchased a new Jag xj6 in 1990 that fit that description well, other than performance, that was fine.
They sold it at a big loss after 1 year. A friend asked why .
I explained that, aside from other issues, they couldn't get in it. He said " Oh, they are getting to old for the low seating?"
I replied , no they can't get in as it locks itself when parked and no one can get in, not even the dealership mechanic"
Plus it had all kinds of other issues.
It had factory auto levelling suspension that would, all on its own, raise one corner of the car way up while sitting at a stop light, then drop way down PeurtoRican low rider style.
With a Senior citizen at the wheel and another as passenger,you can imagine the looks they got!
It was quite funny but also quite an unsafe car.


That was fairly typical of even high end British stuff for a big chunk of the last century.
MGBs, Austin Healey's leaky, vibratory old Brit bikes, over here and in the big US market, they just aren't seen the same way I see them or as many in the UK see them. That might be why Triumph decided they could sell bikes just fine without the Union Jack. They are savvy marketers, I'm sure they are aware of this image.
I'll tolerate a lot of issues because I think the British motorcycle and auto styling is the best.

Glen
 
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North American vehicles weren't much better by the 80s.
The Japanese made a run up the centre, first with reliable Econo cars, then with reliable luxury cars. By the time the Econo car buyer aged and gathered some loot, the Japanese were offering reliable luxury cars. Why not go back to the one that ran and ran for you without giving trouble?
It was much the same with the bikes wasn't it?
Start with the low end small cc stuff to get your toe in the door then work up from there.
I still remember the day a friend purchased a used CB350. I informed him that the little Honda couldn't possibly keep up to my big 500 Norton.
Of course he went by me like I was on a Pedal bike!
With his reliable electric start and oil tight engine, damn him!

Glen
 
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worntorn said:
I'll tolerate a lot of issues because I think the British motorcycle and auto styling is the best.
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I also agree with this. We've had 3 British cars over the years - just bought one about a year ago. Having multiple cars to rely on eases the pain of less than stellar reliability. If I only had one car (or one motorcycle) reliability would be a much bigger factor for me
 
We are only too aware in the UK of how we manged to lose the lead we used to have with our bikes and cars. There is enough discussion elsewhere on the subject but I see it as the short sightedness of banks who would not finance our nasty oily car/bike industries full of nasty oily common little engineers Up North for medium/long term returns when their public school financial investment chums could bring in a good short term returns. Then the unions were only too happy to allow communist infiltration. No conspiracy theory; it was an open attempt to scupper our main industries - manufacturing/coal/steel/power. Conversely the German banking model, respect for her engineers and a clearout of outdated pre-war machine tools brought them to where they are today.

Anyway - so is this Norton EV project part of a genuine roadmap to bring electric bikes to market as TE-1 seems to be or just to help the brand image? Either way it's nice to see them providing support for a local university. And why did the exhibitors at the NEC who attended miss the opportunity to distribute branded face masks? I expected to come away with handfulls of the things.
 
Wow, an actual smile from Dr. Bob!

And admitting that they are looking at possible re-design of the 961.
Holy crap, a Christmas miracle?


NEC NORTON
 
worntorn said:
The thing is with the British branding/sourcing, it's very important in the UK, but not elsewhere. In fact it's a mark against.
In the big North American market, UK made is seen as problematic.
A lot of the UK built vehicles that made their way over here in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, were very poorly built. When I ride my Brit bikes I encounter this mentality constantly with other bikers. I'm always having to defend them as " really not all that bad"
But public perception here is that British made means leaky, low performance and frequent breakdowns, godawful electrics, right from new. Come to think of it, my folks purchased a new Jag xj6 in 1990 that fit that description well, other than performance, that was fine.
They sold it at a big loss after 1 year. A friend asked why .
I explained that, aside from other issues, they couldn't get in it. He said " Oh, they are getting to old for the low seating?"
I replied , no they can't get in as it locks itself when parked and no one can get in, not even the dealership mechanic"
Plus it had all kinds of other issues.
It had factory auto levelling suspension that would, all on its own, raise one corner of the car way up while sitting at a stop light, then drop way down PeurtoRican low rider style.
With a Senior citizen at the wheel and another as passenger,you can imagine the looks they got!
It was quite funny but also quite an unsafe car.


That was fairly typical of even high end British stuff for a big chunk of the last century.
MGBs, Austin Healey's leaky, vibratory old Brit bikes, over here and in the big US market, they just aren't seen the same way I see them or as many in the UK see them. That might be why Triumph decided they could sell bikes just fine without the Union Jack. They are savvy marketers, I'm sure they are aware of this image.
I'll tolerate a lot of issues because I think the British motorcycle and auto styling is the best.

Glen
Click to expand...
I bought a new Hinckley Trident in 1992 and kept it for ten years. Absolutely superb, no issues, in fact possibly the best bike I've ever had. It was a great bike at a great price.
In 2008 I bought a Bonneville Scrambler (one of the last UK made ones), also a great bike - until after only about 3 months when the chrome wheels started to corrode. I then discovered that Triumph had switched wheel suppliers from a Birmingham company to a Thai manufacturer (Union Cycle)!
Triumph were already hugely profitable and people such as myself were only too happy to boost their profits by buying reliable machines made in this country, they had no need to switch production abroad.
If Triumph are so savvy and now find UK products conjure up such an undesirable image - why don't they stick a Thai flag on their machines?
 
For marketing in North America, a Japanese flag would be better yet if they can find a way to legally get one on there!
On the topic of public perception and marketing, last trip out on the Norton Commando I had it parked in a picnic area frequented by motorcyclists.
A 30 year old on a new Indian built RE Interceptor rode up and immediately started dissing it.
" Does it leak? Those Nortons usually have a pan under them etc"
I said no it doesn't leak , (not much anyway) and " It's almost 50 years old. They might put a pan under you in fifty years!"

Glen
 
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