A year ago, to the day, Norton announced that it was working on a street-going superbike that featured a 200hp, 1,200cc, V4 engine. Now, Norton confirms that news, saying that we will see the limited-production (200 units) machine later this fall. Yay.
On the bright side, Norton posted a concept drawing of the new bike to its Facebook page, giving us at least something new to whet our appetites on the new motorcycle.
The concept looks very similar to the sketch we saw last year, making today’s new a little bit about nothing. But, our friends at MotoFire report that Norton is still working on a 650cc project, which will debut later this year as well.
If the 650cc displacement size sounds a bit strange to you, then your head isn’t swimming in the Isle of Man TT, where Norton has been racing an RSV4-powered superbike the past few years.
At the Isle of Man TT, 650cc sport bikes compete in the Lightweight TT class – a class that is dominated by Kawasaki motorcycles, and primed to see a little bit more competition from OEMs.
Putting two and two together, it would seem obvious that Norton’s 650cc machine will use a parallel-twin engine, and thus be race-legal for the Lightweight TT class.
We can also expect Norton’s superbike to use themes seen on its race bike at the TT, something that the concept sketch suggests as well.
So far we’ve seen a lot of flash from Norton, and not a lot of substance. Hopefully, that won’t be the case with these new bike debuts. We have only a couple more months to wait.
Expect both models to debut at the NEC Motorcycle Live show in the UK, this coming November.
Source: Norton (Facebook)
Comments