T
here are those companies
that should be left to die a digni-
fied death.
Companies that were once titans
of their industries, but through com-
placency, arrogance, or outright
industrial-scale criminality, should be
consigned to the pages of history.
Norton Motorcycles came very
close to becoming one of those.
Britain's most famous motorcycle
company, once the standard-bearer of
His Majesty's two-wheeled engineering
excellence, has started and stopped,
started and stopped, so many times
since it was founded in 1898 by James
Lansdowne Norton that it has become
a shadow of its former self.
Once the awfulness of former
Norton owner Stuart Garner and his
embezzling of pension funds came
to light in 2020, the company was on
what many saw as its final, everlast
-
ing deathbed. But people love a good
comeback, and India's third-largest
motorcycle manufacturer, TVS Mo-
tor Company, saw that value was still
there in the grand old Norton brand. So,
in 2020, TVS swooped in and acquired
Norton Motorcycles for approximately
$20 million in an all-cash distress sale.
Fast-forward five years and hundreds
of millions of dollars later, Norton is
ready to roar once again, with three
distinct design and manufacturing
bases in Solihull, UK; Bologna, Italy; and
P114
RIDE REVIEW I 2026 NORTON MANX R
One of the
greatest
names
in British
motorcycling
is back and
we are all the
better for it.
The once-great brand of Norton has
risen from the ashes to shine brightly once
again, and the first machine to receive the
new logo is this: the all-new Manx R.
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK I PHOTOGRAPHY BY NORTON MOTORCYCLES
Who's
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