Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128005
Norton /nternationa/652 gle, which is a wo rthy bea rer of such an illust rious bad ge. Just slinging a leg over the Nor ton at res t u nlocks th e ke y to a rgua b ly th e b igges t im p rovem e n t, b ec a u se a t 30 inches the seat height of the production Intern ational is a cruci al one and a half inches lower than the first time around, and not only is the sea t itself far bette r looki ng th a n th e p lan k-like p ro totype pr eced ing it, it's also p ro perly sha ped . Th is mea ns yo u don 't require a ladder so mu ch to cli m b aboa rd an ym or e, thou gh the need to use the F650 BMW's a irbox for ho mo logati on rea so ns s till mea ns th e No rto n is qu ite a tall bike, just no longer excessively so. The narrower seat now allows you to grip the fu el tank properl y with yo u r knees - a tank w hose sha pe says "Domin at or," ju st as th e tw in T og a -m ad e exha u st silencers sho u t "Com mand o," u ntil yo u hear th em whitteri n g occasionally on the ov errun, wh en the call cha nges to "Gold ie!" The mor e close-coupled stance combin ed with th e sligh tly lower footrests and narrow , quite fl at h andlebars (so u rced fr om the MZ 125 /250 parts b in! ) whi ch replace th e prototype ' s clip ons help s make you feel a part of the bik e - essential in terms of sin gle satisfaction , and add ing to the impression of a lean, com pact, swe et-stee ring motorcycle. The distinctive MMB clocks mad e for Se ife r t in eas tern Ge r ma ny are ve ry clear and easy to read , but the most positive Teut on ic influ en ce on the N orton 's co m po r tmen t is n ' t e ve n th e BMW eng ine, bu t the outs tand ing 320mm castiro n single front disc specially made for N MD in Ger ma ny . G ri p ped by Bremb os la test-s pec fou r-pot ca li pe r a nd mounted on an F650 hu b assembly bu t w it h a 17-in ch wire w hee l fi t te d to rep la ce th e s tock 18-i nc he r, thi s is arguably the best str eet bra ke I've sam'pled in th e past fiv e yea rs , ever since Brem bo stopped making cast-iro n d iscs themselves. T h e No r ton 's s e t u p r em in d s yo u wha t a shame that was. The single rotor d elivers ma gical sto p ping power on a bike wei ghi ng 338.8 p ound s ha lf-d ry (w ith o il /wa te r, n o fu el) w h e n y ou squeeze hard , bu t always in a firm , yet progressive way. There's no sna tch, just im med iate resp on se tha t you can modula te as you like accord in g to the lever pressu re, withou t having to wa it for the disc to hea t up an d start wo rking, as is th e case with so m a ny s tai n less s te el set u ps. I also had occas ion to d iscover h o w well it a lso w ork s in t he ra in spri ng time , in Britain! Plu s, ha vin g the power of a pair of stee l discs from a single cas t-iron one me ans a reduction in unsprung weight and gyroscopic forces by not havin g to d ou ble up, benefitin g th e s tee ring an d fr ont su sp ens ion , in turn. In lower ed guise the Internati on al' s fram e design still resembles mod ern interpretation of N orton' s legendary Featherbed , even if in fact it' s closely based on the Tigcraft race chassis which pack Supermono g r id s around th e w orld . Th e tubular s tee l p erim et er design uses large-diameter 41mm tubes which d ouble as th e oil tank for th e 652cc dry-sump en gin e, manufactured b y Rota x in Austri a exclu s iv el y for BMW, and thus quite different from an y of their other proprietary four-va lve sin gle mot or s. The 43mm Paioli forks are s pecia lly mad e to NMD sp ec' s and emblazoned with the legendary Roadhold er trad emark, repl ace th e 41mm Sh ow as purloin ed fo r th e p rototype from a CBR600. With 20 clicks of ad justm ent for rebound and compre ssion d am pin g, th e Paiol is d o a good job of maximizing the benefits of the Norton's balanced chassis geometry, wit h its 25d egr ee head angl e a nd 94m m of trail. What seems lik e quick, di rect stee ring never beco mes ner vou s, and thou gh it migh t have been nice to have some preloa d adjus tment to ba ck off w ha t seeme d lik e a s lig h tly s tiff setu p, the forks a re quite co m p lia nt a nd eat u p pretty lar ge bumps in their stride . Like it s Fea th erbed -fram ed fo re bears, th e born -again In te rna tio na l goes w he re you point it, and stays there. bikes, which as I kn ow from both.testing them an d ra cing agai nst them, p lays a big pa rt in making Dave Pearce's Su permono fra mes so effective. Tho ugh the flat -sid ed 70x35 mm oval-sec tion steel ' swinga rrri replacing th e origi na l boxsect ion rear end gives goo d feed back, it tu rn s ou t that the Koni is spru ng for a 407-po un d C BR600F3 , no t a s ing le weighing 60 pound s less. That says it all, really, and Norton customers would be in order to check that the shock is set up right on delivery. Ho \,:ever, in norm al every d ay u se Less su ccessfu l, th ou gh , is the rear su sp ension, whi ch is d efinitel y overspru ng for solo use - might be okay tw oup, but though th er e's p ro vision for a passen ger, I reckon th at 'll only be for the rid e home wh en you get luck y at the pub! The Koni shoc k is fully adjustable, but even backing off the preload to minimum lea ves th e Norto n' s rear w he el s kip p ing in th e a ir o ve r bumps, in a passabl e imitation o f a period tw in shock rear end . Sorry , but this is tak ing his torical au thenticity too far. And anyway, the lack of compliance completely ro bs you of th e chan ce to take ad va ntage of Tigcraft' s progr essive rear suspension link , same as fitted to their race- this ma inl y a ffec ts ride quality rather than handling, especially employing the kind of relaxed ridin g s ty le th e Inter e ncou r ages . Da v e Pearce ha s rightl y reduced rim si zes to 2.50 in ch es front and 3.00 inches rear , both now 17-inchers s ho d w it h M et zel er MEl rubber, well suited to a bike like this . "Peo ple make th e mi stak e of ov ertyrin g their Singles," he says, "and this d eprives th e handling of mu ch of th e agili ty and lightness such bikes oug ht to have." No t here. The 55.2-inch wheelbase is short enough to help make the No rto n nimble; th e steering extremely neutral a nd d ir ect . It cha ng es d irec tio n fro m a u; '" g' < 22 side to side so easily, and all-in-all this is one of those sweet-hand ling motor cycles that embodies the spirit of biking at its best. As su ch, speed isn't rea lly an issue, though I was a little surp rised to find ton-up travellin g (100 mph or more) out of reac h. Th e bike's happi est ru nn in g between 4000 and 7000 rpm - below that and it hunts a little , till it s tarts to pull hard w hen yo u hit the four-grand mark. Bu t 95 mph w it h the ta ch o ne edle locked on the 7000 rp m mark was as fast as the Norton felt like going. Even coaxin g it u p to the 7500 rpm rev lim iter, ac companied by th e only not ew orth y vibrati on the smoo th-action single delivered , wasn' t an op tion. Rem emberi n g th a t th e pro to type I sampled 18 mo nths ago felt just as accelerative bu t didn' t run ou t of br eath up high , thi s see med s tra nge, bu t it' s not jus t b eca use of thi s th at I reckon the No rton's und ergeared . Even cru ising at 70 mph in top, I ke p t findin g m yself gro ping for a non-exist ent six th gea r. Che ckin g my records on return to home base, I found out why. The production International I was rid ing had the stock 16/ 47 ge ar in g o f th e F650 Funduro . wh er eas the '97 prototype carried 17/46 - a big difference. Since riding th e Nor to n, w it h m y ensui ng comp lain ts, it turns out the custom er b ik es wi ll no w be retro- fitt ed with 17-tooth engine sp rocke ts. Goo d move, Joe - now, abou t that rear sp ring! Sw in ging throu gh narro w co u n try lanes in spring su nshine - alon g the very road s o n w hich a s a kid I u sed to encou nter Meriden tester Percy Tait, tryin g ou t the han dli ng of the la test Tr iu mp h twin en rout e to the farm in the next village whe re he lived und erli ned how well Tigcraf t's expertise in chassis pa ckagin g has not only recrea ted No rton 's legend ary handling qu alities, but ha s a lso a llowed BMW ' s ben chm ark four -stroke single mo tor of the mod ern e ra to finall y ac h ie ve it s true s tre e t poten tial as a sportbike. I' m no t sayi ng BMW co u ld n' t have built a bike like this wi th the F650 motor if they'd wanted to, bu t the fact is they ha ve n ' t, a nd the flaw ed Birn ota BBI wi th its awful vib ra tio n on ly sh owed how 11 0 1 to d o it. By con trast , the almost 33,000 miles of testing clocked up by the N MD prot otype has refined the No rton Intern ati ona l into a textbook exam ple of how to buil d a classic sing le in a modern cont e xt. N o w o nd er Jo e Seifert ha s or d ers for it fro m aro u nd the w orld a t the $7972 list price (inclu ding a 15-percen t tax in Ge rma ny) , and no wond er, either, tha t BMW's top execu tives were quite im p ressed by the No rto n w he n they rod e the pre-prod uction prototyp e at their secret test track last October . Maki ng a p ilgrimage to pa rk up this Br it ish m ot o rcy cl e w ith a Germa n eng ine ou tside the BMW-owned Rover Group' s WorldHQ in Warwi ck may only ha ve been a cheeky way of underlining wha t could or sho uld, rather than what will, happen to Norton. But a comp any th at ' s mad e s u ch a s u ccess of bringing N orton 's exact four-wh eeled counterpart, MG, back from the dead in th e pa st five ye a rs , ha s to be a prime cand ida te for performing the same trick on two wheels. Seifert insist s no su ch d iscu ss ion s are pre sently afoot, bu i ad mits he is locked in negotiati on with an established British compa ny for volume manu facture of th e International sing le, as we ll as other fut ure mod els, includi ng a twin ! No r to n 's co meb a ck is fin all y u nder w ay. And th is, th e b ik e th at ' s physica lly here an d read y to buy now, is the proof. eN