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Norton Atlas - would you buy one?

cal scott

cal scott

Wookie
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
Location
FOSTER CITY
Moto(s)
V-Strom DL650AL3
Name
Iain
The new Norton Atlas appears to be getting great reviews. It ticks the majority of boxes from my perspective at a very competitive price point and comes from an iconic brand. It will be interesting to see how well it does once it is commercially released.

 
No but...
Phil Schilling of "Cycle" magazine in 1974.

"The Norton vertical twin should have died and gone to legend a generation ago. In a world of perfect logic, engine designs should never maunder on for decades and finally be crushed by onrushing technology. Good ideas deserve better. Good engines should go to harvest in the fullness of their autumn; most mechanical things which struggle on simply die cold and wretched in December.
Seasons do not cover England in perfect symmetry. Spring is cold and damp, and so is fall and winter. Onrushing technology there slows; the present walks in cadence with the past. And mechanical things like the Norton twin soldier on and on...through the Fifties...into the Sixties...and reach the mid-Seventies. In other places, someone would have raised the last hurrah at an earlier stage-when the original 500 twin turned to a 600, or 650, or 750, or 850. But somehow, no matter how deep Norton reaches into December, the final cheer never comes. There's only the next hurrah."
 
I was pretty hot on the latest version of the Norton Commando, like @bikewanker posted above, until common sense got a hold of me.

With the latest iteration of Norton, I'd be most concerned with the dealer network, parts, reliability, and getting work done on the bike. The Atlas seems like a reasonable bike, but I am not looking for Made in India. I can't imagine a scenario where I would choose the Atlas over all of the other options in this segment. And at this point, the Norton name is meaningless. Even if Norton had remained intact continuously all these years, I can't imagine going to Norton for an adventure-type bike. Just like I wouldn't go to Harley for a Pan America. I know a lot of people enjoy the Pan America, and I am sure people will enjoy the Atlas. If you place a premium on having something different, the Atlas might be ok, but how different can a brand making bikes in India really be? Plus, the keyless fob and keyless under-seat access are failure points I would never want to deal with.
 
augustiron said:
A name is not a brand in my book
Click to expand...

I believe most people would beg to differ. There are hundreds of examples of founders who start a company named for them and then build that name into a brand. The fashion world is replete with examples... Gucci, Channel, Prada to name a few. You can't say these are not brands despite being the named after the designer. Other great examples are McDonalds, Cadbury, Nestle. In the auto world Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota. And then of course the major Japanese motorcycle brands, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki. Or closer to home, Harley-Davidson.
 
Continuity, or lack thereof, is part of the issue as well.

You can't just reach back and grab a name of something that once existed many decades ago, start a brand new thing, call it the old name and expect it to be the same marque.

Well I guess you can, but I call bs, as do many.
 
Cornfish said:
I was pretty hot on the latest version of the Norton Commando, like @bikewanker posted above, until common sense got a hold of me.

With the latest iteration of Norton, I'd be most concerned with the dealer network, parts, reliability, and getting work done on the bike. The Atlas seems like a reasonable bike, but I am not looking for Made in India. I can't imagine a scenario where I would choose the Atlas over all of the other options in this segment. And at this point, the Norton name is meaningless. Even if Norton had remained intact continuously all these years, I can't imagine going to Norton for an adventure-type bike. Just like I wouldn't go to Harley for a Pan America. I know a lot of people enjoy the Pan America, and I am sure people will enjoy the Atlas. If you place a premium on having something different, the Atlas might be ok, but how different can a brand making bikes in India really be? Plus, the keyless fob and keyless under-seat access are failure points I would never want to deal with.
Click to expand...
All great points. They certainly have some work to do to regain the trust of their potential buyers. I'm not sure that made in India is necessarily a deal stopper. Smaller displacement models from many of the major brands are already being built in India. Royal Enfield is primarily building in India and they've certainly done well expanding outside of Asia. I think most were highly suspicious of Chinese bikes just a few years ago but now CFMoto is changing that equation. If they do it right, Norton could certainly make a come back. While the Norton name is not synonymous with the adventure category, that is where the growth is so it makes sense to target this segment.
 
there are cheaper ways to buy a bike whose brand has absolutely no parts support in several years, buy a Buell
 
cal scott said:
All great points. They certainly have some work to do to regain the trust of their potential buyers. I'm not sure that made in India is necessarily a deal stopper. Smaller displacement models from many of the major brands are already being built in India. Royal Enfield is primarily building in India and they've certainly done well expanding outside of Asia. I think most were highly suspicious of Chinese bikes just a few years ago but now CFMoto is changing that equation. If they do it right, Norton could certainly make a come back. While the Norton name is not synonymous with the adventure category, that is where the growth is so it makes sense to target this segment.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with a single point you made. Still, I am not looking for Made in India. I am admittedly a KTM fanboy and owned an RC390. The Made in India stuff is compelling at the price. But the KTMs I own now are made in Austria, and I wouldn't go back to the Indian bikes again. That's just me. Plus, the Atlas doesn't really fit my needs, so there is that. But if I were looking at this style of bike, I'd probably pick the Tuareg. But both the Atlas and Tuareg are a little on the heavy side as far as I'm concerned, with too much of a street bias. Again, being a KTM junky, I'd pick an 890 Adventure if weight wasn't a consideration. But at the moment, I have a deposit down on the yet-to-be-announced KTM 690 Rally.

It will be interesting to see if Norton can syphon off enough of the adventure market to make this viable.
 
Adv bikes is a very crowded space, also, is it a fad?
Remember the 90s-00's? Sprotbiles dominated the market
 
augustiron said:
Adv bikes is a very crowded space, also, is it a fad?
Remember the 90s-00's? Sprotbiles dominated the market
Click to expand...
As you are pointing out, timing is everything. The ADV market will certainly ebb and flow. Whether Norton has the timing right time will tell.
 
Even well established brands are losing dealers and thus factory service departments close to home.
 
augustiron said:
Adv bikes is a very crowded space, also, is it a fad?
Click to expand...
I think the proper term here is trend. Sportbikes were huge at a time when there weren't that many viable options for performance on the street. And while not as popular as in the heyday, they are still very popular. I have a friend selling motorcycles at a big dealership in Houston, and he said they sell more sportbikes than anything.

But the aging motorcycle buyer (me!) and plenty of others are realizing that it is a lot more comfortable to be more upright on a bike, and that style of bike, with a huge chunk being adventure bikes, has the performance that was missing in the past. The ADV bikes have basically replaced the classic sports touring bikes. Even though most of the ADV bikes sold never see dirt. I definitely don't see it as a fad, and I could see a buyer of the Norton Atals never leaving the tarmac and still being happy. I see that with people I know with Wee-Stroms.
 
In answer to OPs question....no, I would not buy one.

I had a 'real' beautifully restored 1967 Norton Atlas, I sold it a few years ago.

But the reason I would not buy one of these new things is because I will not spend my money to buy a vehicle from a startup with no proven track record, no established dealer networks with a history.
My view on the ownership window is long, and I need to know that there is factory and aftermarket support for parts for the life I will have with the bike That is easy to access and reliable.

The story I mentioned about the Norton 961 was when I was in a dealership for them and commented to The manager how cool they were and he took me into the back and showed me a long line of them sitting there, all dead and covered in a thick layer of dust, waiting for parts that were never going to come, and then he told me they have another building elsewhere full of the same.

Beautiful orphan lemons.

No thank you.
 
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augustiron said:
In answer to OPs question....no, I would not buy one.

I had a 'real' beautifully restored 1967 Norton Atlas, I sold it a few years ago.

But the reason I would not buy one of these new things is because I will not spend my money to buy a vehicle from a startup with no proven track record, no established dealer networks with a history.
My view on the ownership window is long, and I need to know that there is factory and aftermarket support for parts for the life I will have with the bike That is easy to access and reliable.

The story I mentioned about the Norton 961 was when I was in a dealership for them and commented to The manager how cool they were and he took me into the back and showed me a long line of them sitting there, all dead and waiting for parts that were never going to come, and then he told me they have another building elsewhere full of the same.

Beautiful orphan lemons.

No thank you.
Click to expand...
Just saying …..
You’re right these are the biggest risks with Norton today.
Even Norton’s own leadership acknowledges that rebuilding trust requires proving parts availability and service consistency.
Confirmed. Reviewers specifically call the E‑key a constant headache.
Geez….
PaulR
 
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