On June 3rd, Moto-Electra, one of the pioneers in electric motorcycle technology, will attempt to break the world record for electric vehicles in a cross-continent ride spanning over 2500 miles.
Events / Promotions
Saturday, May 4 marked the 5th annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering in Carmel, California. With such a diverse collection of historical, rare and outrageous motorcycles, the Quail is an event we thoroughly enjoyed attending last year. To commemorate the occasion, this year’s guest of honor was none other than three-time 500cc Grand Prix world champion, and local area resident, Wayne Rainey. Continue Reading »
Norton Motorcycles has acquired the Donington Hall estate in the U.K., including its 25 acres of land from airline company British Airways. The property also includes the 45,000 square foot Hastings House facility will become Norton’s new production facility and design studio.
Until now, Norton has been operating out of the Donington Park circuit, which was formerly part of the Donington Hall estate. The Hall itself was built in 1790 and carries a lot of history. During the First World War, the British government requisitioned Donington Hall and used it as a POW camp. The Hall later housed Hungarian refugees fleeing the Soviets after a failed revolution in 1956.
“Donington Hall conjures up a uniquely British way to show style, strength and quality which are all great attributes of the Norton brand,” says Stuart Garner, chief executive officer of Norton Motorcycles. “It became clear some time ago that we had outgrown our current location, to be able to move less than a mile down the road to an outstanding facility like Donington Hall is ideal. It will allow Norton to grow our manufacturing business with focus on ‘built in Britain by British hands’, export growth and job creation.” Continue Reading »
Norton Motorcycles has received approval from Canada’s transportation and environment government agencies, finally opening the way for the British manufacturer to introduce its Commando models to the market. Norton has been working to enter Canada for a while and already has customers waiting since 2010. Deliveries will finally be made in the spring.
The news comes after Norton gained similar approval from the California Air Resource Board. Norton will import three models to Canada, the Norton Commando 961 SE (pictured above), the Commando 961 Café Racer and the Commando 961 SF.
All Commando models share the same 961cc air-cooled parallel-Twin engine, upside-down Ohlins forks, radial-mount Brembo brakes and carbon fiber trim. Canadian customers will have a choice of blacked-out or chrome exhausts for the SF and black or polished rims for the Café Racer Continue Reading »
Norton Motorcycles has received approval from the California Air Resources Board for its Commando 961 lineup. The 2013 Norton Commando 961 SE, Café Racer, Sport and SF (Sport Factory) are now certified for the state of California.
All Norton Commando models are powered by 961cc parallel twin engines. The air-cooled SE, Café Racer and Sport models claim 89 hp at 7700 rpm and 59 ft-lb. at 6000 rpm while the air/oil-cooled SF model recently unveiled at the NEC Motorcycle Live Show in the U.K. claims 89 hp at 6500 rpm and 66 ft-lb. at 5200 rpm.
All four models use twin 320mm front disc brakes from and four-piston calipers from Brembo, but all except the Sport model use radial-mount calipers. Brembo also supplies a 220mm disc and two-piston calipers for the rear brake. Continue Reading »
Norton Motorcycles announced it will compete in the 2012 Isle of Man TT with a new racebike.
The as-yet-unnamed racebike will use an Aprilia RSV4 engine with a chassis from Spondon Engineering. If that formula sounds familiar, it’s because it sounds like of MotoGP’s new Claiming Rule Team machines. Norton doesn’t mention MotoGP directly in its announcement, though it did say it will receive no factory support from Aprilia just like several CRT efforts.
Critics will argue the racebike is not a real Norton as it uses an engine and frame from other manufacturers (though it should be noted Norton had previously used a Spondon chassis in its NRV588 racebike). Norton did make a number of its own components at its Donington Park facility, including its traditional polished aluminum fuel tank. Continue Reading »
Some motorcycles bite, particularly those with a kick starter. Kick starter levers sometimes “kick back” as any past or current owner of a bike with a kicker will attest.
But what would you do if you discovered your bike really wanted to get you? Like, it wanted to kill you.
Steve Twist, a student from Bournemouth University, has created this great short film over the last 5 months morphing a Norton Commando into a computer animated living transformer. Congrats Steve on a job well done!
Check it out after the jump.