Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EUROFILE BY ALAN CATHCART First MV, now N orton slotted into the fram e, tot al weigh t of the 652SM in dual-seat for m is 347.6 po und s with oil and wat er, includ ing 1.3 gallons of fuel. "A si ngle- sea ter Man x No rto n might follow later on:' said Pearce, "a nd it'd be quite a bit d ifferent - but th at 's a long wa y a way, after we get this version into production first. We plan to cha nge the shape of the seat, wh ich is a bit too planklike at the moment, as well as red esign the sid e pa nels and chrom e the ex ha us t sil encers, to underline the retro reference. Otherw ise, the bike w ill enter producti on pretty much as launched." Seifer t ha s no doubts about putting the new bike in to produ ction for the ma rkets in which he controls the Norton name. "The re's been endless talk about reviving Norton, especia lly after what Bloor's achieved with Triumph - but I've pu t my mon ey where other people's mouths are: ' he says spiritedly. "Even so, I'll admit to being posi tiv ely impressed by the favorable reac tion a t Birm ing ham to the launch of ou r single. Jus t six weeks aft er the historic MV Agusta nam e was revived with the launch of the new F4 Superbike a t the Milan Show, the legendary Italian marqu e's most fam ous rival durin g the golden age of Gra nd Pri x racing has also , with the d ebut of a new st reet bike a t th e Birmin gham Show in En gl and o n November 6, been born aga in - No rton. Ridd en in to the N EC ex h ibi tio n hall appropria t ely enou g h by former 500cc World C ha m p io n Geo ff Duke (w ho won the first three of his World titles riding for the British b rand), the new Norton 650SM st reet single is the fir st poppet -valve (l.e. , nonrotary-engined ) Norton street bike to be p roduced in more th an two decades, and th e first new Norton mod el wi thout a rotary engine to be developed since th e abortive Cosworth-engined Challenge twin in 1975. However, though the new No rton s t re e t s ingle was d esign ed a nd bu ilt in Britain by Dave Pearce of single-cylinder specialis ts Tigcraft (the wo rld 's leading cons tructors of Su permo no race bi kes ), the fact tha t it ex is ts at a ll a nd is scheduled to go into p rod uction next spring - when the first ba tch of 100 bikes is p lanned to go on sa le - is en tirely tha nks to No rton's former Germa n im port er, Joachim Seifert, an d the BMW fac tory. It is BMW who w ill s up p ly Siefert wit h th e F650 DOHC four -valve engi ne used in the 652SM - com plete with No r to n ba d ging to rep lac e BMW's own nam e on the motor. In con tras t with the success of Triumph und er John Bloor's ownership, Norton's hist ory over the pas t five yea rs has bee n deeply trou bled , with p rod uctio n of the rotary-engined bikes at the Shenstone factory nor th of Birming ha m endi ng three yea rs ago . Simply put, the Ca nadia n Aquilini family (the owners of No rton) is relu ctan t or unable to und erta ke the same kind of massive investment program to d evelop new produc ts. But Seifert, a ha rdened enthusiast of the Norton - he even rides a Garden Gate Manx in European Vinta ge races took the precau tio n of reg is te ring the Norton trad emark in Germa ny, Fra nce, Ita ly, Benelux, Austria, Switzerland a nd some eas tern Europea n countries, mea ning that he alone has the right to sell bikes bearing the N orton na me in those markets . He then set out to develop a new roa d model capable of being put into production very quickly, which meant usin g a n established engine as its basis. BMW man agemen t ag reed to ma ke supplies available of the F650 fou r-valve moto r built exclusively for them by Rota x, and to name it as a or ton. Seife rt then commissioned Tigcraft earlier this year to design and develop the bike around the BMW engine, wh ich Pearc e and his staff d id from scratch in the near-record tim e of four months. When Duke rode th e result in to the Birmingham Show, it underlined the fact that preproduction tests of the new bike have already begun. . "[o Seifert 's brief for us was to develop a Norton street sing le with some rctro references to iden tify it as a Norton, bu t (w ith) thorou ghl y modem performance, especially in term s of suspension and br aking," said Dave Pearce. "He d idn't wa n t somethi ng that wa s a fake 'golden old ie: like some of the Japa nese singles bu ilt aroun d Yamaha engines with Matchless or BSA bad ges on th e fuel tank, no r to aim the bik e a t the res tricted ma rket for mod em single-cylinder cafe racers. This is a practical two-seat er w ith sport ing ov ertones, just like all No rtons were back in the old days - eve n th e In terna tional model, whic h was a road replica of the Manx production GP race r." Pearce should know: He finished fourth in the Senior Manx GP on the Isle of Man on a Man x Norton in the 1960s, and the o ne he still owns today mayhave provided some inspiration in producing the 652SM. . . The new Norton uses a chas sis d esign broadly similar to the Tigcra ft Su pe rmo no racers, w ith a tubular-steel perimet er frame usin g 41mm lar ge-diameter tubing which doubles as an oil tank, with the fill er behind the steerin g head. The 1380mm wheelbase a nd 25-d egree head angle, with 95mm Fonner World Champ io n Geoff Duke sits astride th e new Nort on trail, sho u ld combine nimble handling with sta bility, a nd 652SMat the Birmingham Show In England. Sho wa forks and rear monosh ock are fitted to the prototype the latter apparently in an inclined cantilever position , but in fact with 2:1 ratio rising-rate linkage. It' s probable that the And pro vided we can ge t enoug h ord ers to make it viabl e, production version will have Pai oli sus pens io n. A s ingle we 'll definitely start production next April in Britain, with a 320mm floati ng Brernbo front disc is gripped by a four-piston first bat ch of 100 bikes." Meanwhile, neg oti ations are und ers tood to be under way Bre m bo ca liper, a nd Pea rce is keen to underl ine tha t he' s deliberately opted for narrower ti re si z es - th e fr ont an between Seifert and the Aqu ilinis a bou t selling the Briti sh11 0 /70-17 Metzeler MEl on a 2 .50-inch rim, the rear a built street sing le in th e cou n tries (including Britain) where the Canadians have the ri ghts to the br and. And with the 130/70-17 on a 3.50-inch wheel. "Peo ple make the mistake of over-tiring their sing les, a nd launch of the 652SM, hist ory repeats itself: Exactly 90 yea rs this deprives the handli ng of mu ch of the agility and lightness ago this year, in 1907, Rem Fowl er won the very first Isle of tha t.such bikes ought to have: ' he said. "Th ese are the sam e Man IT race on a Norton - fitted with a Fren ch-built Peugeot w hee l sizes as a Honda CB5oo, and are ideal for a bike like V-twin engine. . For more information o n < new Norton, customers o r dISthe this." With a KTM-made radiator and the DOHC BMW engine tributors should fax [o Seifert directly at 49/ 081-512-1103. Bultaco toreturn After MV Agu sta and Norton , now it's Bultaco 's turn to rise from the ashes, with th e a n n o u n ce m e n t th at the fam ous Spanish brand, w hich cea se d producti on in 1980, will return to the sh owroom s ne xt yea r w ith a new range o f s ma ll-c a p a city bikes p roduced by the ir former rivals and Catalan compatriots, Derbi. Both Derbi a n d Bu ltaco a re Barcelona-based fa mily en ter p rise s, the latter founded by sporting ent husiast Francisc o Bulto in 1958 when he ' broke awa y from Montesa (a bra nd he' d previously hel pe d start in 1945) in p rotest of his part ners ' decision to pu ll out of 125cc GP ra cing . Bu ltaco SWiftly develo ped a worldw id e reputa tion for robust two-stro ke singles of every kind , o fte n of ava n t-ga rde design. Bulto 's compa n y won fou r 50cc wo rld titl es in GP roa d raci ng with th e firs t monocoq ue-chassised Cha m p io n Wo rld m a ch in e ; ma r keted a succession o f GP p ro d ucti o n ra cers that were the backbone of privateer grids in the 1960 GPs ; built th e first two-stroke ever to finish o n the rost rum of a 500cc G P; pl ayed a key pa rt in developing the modem twostroke MX an d end uro bike; and , in conjunction with Sa m m y Mi ll e r, created the blueprint of the modem trials bike in the form of the She rpa T, w hich w e nt on to domina te the trials scene for a lm o s t tw o d e ca d e s , winn ing coun tles s world titles in the hands of riders fro m Ma rtin Lampkin (fath er of toda y 's World Tria ls Champion, Doug) to A merica n Bernie Schreiber. Wh en Bult a c o closed in 1980, it a lso cu t off supplies o f a s u ccessful li ne of sportin g two-stroke st reet sin gies capable of winning th e Isle of Ma n Produ ction TT th at w ere m a rk eted s uccessfu ll y all a ro u n d th e w orld, includ in g the Unit ed States. Bultaco' s comebac k seems t o ha ve b e en tr ig g ered b y a si m ila r o peratio n to w hat Joa ch im Seifert has performed with No r ton. Frenc hman M a r c Teiss ie r (one of th e fo u n d e rs of th e Scorpa tr ials brand, with whi ch h e is no longer associated ) has acquired th e rights to th e defunct Bultaco name by registering it as a trademark in a total o f 42 countries around the world, and he is presently d eveloping an all-new tria ls bike which is intended to carry the Bultaco name a nd di stinctive thumbsup badge . However, unlike Seifert with No rto n, Teissier has no historical links with Bultaco, making his acq uisi tion of th e trademark ques tio nable especia lly since his ac tion in reg istering it awoke the Bu lto fam ily to th e t-, '" ...... '" r<) ... OJ ..0 6 OJ u OJ c 5

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