What's the sweet spot for Norton's?

It's probably been asked before but I haven't been able to find it so will ask again! I bought a 2017 961 last year but didn't keep it because of running issues and it was just too expensive to just have sat around. However I must admit I really liked the bike when it was running but bought in a hurry without doing any research what-so-ever.

Mine was a Euro 5 model with all of the emissions rubbish which from what I have read cause problems. It had been de-catted and had free flowing exhausts and a map though.

It seems the very early models had problems with the transmission and just generally poor quality. later ones it seems had issues with 'fake' components and once the OMEX Ecu was fitted were not easily maintainable as not OBDII compatible and now the factory has gone that will be more of an issue.

So where is the sweet spot? Early Mk2/ late MK1. there are plenty of these people on this forum who have put a reasonable number of miles on their bikes so it must be possible to get reliability but is this only because they have made changes or was there a time when out of the factory the early teething problems had been resolved yet the penny pinching hadn't started?

Why am I looking again - well the prices certainly seem to be softening and newish bikes are heading down to £10K and I see that continuing for a while. A Sub-£10K bike without a warranty I would maintain myself. A year old £13K bike I expected more from.

Mine was built in 2018. As far as I could tell, all Bosch sensors and coils were genuine.
All electrical connections were made with silicone grease.
All wire harness routing was good, tension free etc.
Overall, I think the quality was probably about as good as it could get.
I had none of the starting or running issues that are often reported.
But my bike was collected from the factory workshop de-catted and re-mapped from the very beginning. I never rode it (or any 961) in standard trim.
Hence, with mine being an good un’ I had always assumed ‘the later the better’ but I think others experiences may be different.

I had all the initial issues with mine which was the same time as Fast Eddies but I wasn't allowed to have mine altered until the first sevice. So the initial issues were expected. I had a seat change and mudgaurd change to to them breaking within the two years. The last work was to stop an oil leak from the rocker cover by re-facing it and change a water temp sensor/sender. So I believe mine should now be as good as it can be, we shall see over the coming year. Saying that, it wouldn't start yesterday after two weeks and quickly drained the battery. Will start her up later today

Euro 4 2017 9500 miles in 2 years - probably the best sort of age. Starter issues so may find a better quality unit when the current one fails then electrical issues with relays. Don't know why that should be - the relays come in already attached to the wiring looms so unknown quality. They had some problems with MAP sensors failing also.
I don't mind a bit of work because for me there is no other comparable bike and anticipate keeping it until one of us terminally fails...

I like mine very much , but admittedly I had to work on it . Built Nov 2014 . A mere 14,700 miles on it now . I feel like we are speaking at a funeral for a loved one who has passed away . This is a special bike , and all of us who see one in the future will be drawn to it for one reason or another . Even the 961 haters .

Happy to report, I burn no oil. 4500 miles, oil level virtually the same, none on the air box, air filter still looks practically new with 12k plus and almost 6 years later. I do lose a couple of ounces of tranny fluid every 1500 or so.

Anyway, 4k for a 60ish cruise. I prefer 4800 for a more spirited ride.
Long opens, Decat, O2 sensor plugs, blah blah blah.....

I think the thread starter is looking for a year which is Ideal for ownwership or to purchase.

TonyA said:

I think the thread starter is looking for a year which is Ideal for ownwership or to purchase.

Click to expand...

Ah...I see. LOL. Busted not reading. We've had a thread once before asking for the sweet spot, but it was RPM related.