quote:
Originally posted by GordyMy prediction: they will fail.
Why? Well…
After the first flock of Nortonophiles who will buy it?
It will have a premium price but the company behind it has no track record.
It is over-weight.
It has a mediocre frame design.
It will vibrate.
Max torque is produced close to max power revs and hence unlikely to capitalise on twin cylinder advantages(i.e. good pulling power in a high gear at low revs).
It has an air-cooled engine and hence needs to run greater clearances meaning: higher oil consumption, lower max power (per cc), and higher clatter noise.
They appear to have no dealer network(?).
They appear to have no long term business plan.
They have just one model.
Putting a bike into series production is very costly, and no ammount of enthusiasm can overcome losses.
The millionare behind the project may be happy to lose money, which is the only way the actual bike will ever become ‘successfull’.
They are blindly trying to revive the Commando engine / styling image and in the process ignoring the one thing that would almost guarantee vast sales of a modern watercooled multi-cylinder bike… the brand name!!!
Norton is a fabulous name and if they got their act together and designed a properly specified and costed RANGE of modern bikes they could take on the world and hopefully break even in less than ten years. But as it is… well, I wish them luck… but they will fail.
Sadly I fear you may well be right