Big things are moving in the Norton Motorcycle company. After the company’s purchase by TVS, the Norton V4SV superbike program has been rebooted, with some pretty substantial changes and updates to the platform.
The British brand is set to bring a naked version of its superbike as well, showing a prototype of what is being called the Norton V4CR café racer.
True to the ethos of the café racer genre, the Norton V4CR is very much a superbike without fairings, including clip-ons rather than an upright handlebar.
While its full-fairing counterpart is a bit anemic on the spec sheet now, the Norton V4CR is looking rather peppy with its 185hp peak power figure coming from its 1,200cc 72° V4 engine.
The body panels are made in carbon fiber, which can be left bare, or painted in Norton’s fetching silver livery.
If you were hoping to bring a friend on the ride, you can’t. The Norton V4CR has only a solo tail that is shorter in length to the superbike’s. The headlight is a round LED unit, and the TFT dash carries over from the V4SV project (as do many of the pieces).
Brembo does the brakes, Öhlins the suspension, and the wheels appear to be forged aluminum units from OZ. The exhaust looks like it has never seen the paperwork of a Euro5 homologation, but that’s another matter.
Right now, Norton is only teasing the V4CR as a prototype model, but the machine will almost certainly see production. Likely in a year’s time – perhaps as a 2023 model year bike.
No word on pricing or US availability, of course. But, that should come with time, as TVS gets Norton’s house together, and its business operations running on all cylinders.
Source: Norton
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