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Discussion Norton Factory Tour - Pic Heavy

Discussion in 'The Pub' started by Andych, Apr 1, 2017.

  1. Andych

    Andych Moderator Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    3 weeks into our trip to the UK and yesterday we did the Norton Factory Tour at Donington Hall.
    We could hear the British Superbikes during practice at Donington Park while waiting for all the people to turn up...
    It really is a small British Motorcycle Factory with around 1000 bikes a year being made there...
    There are plans to up production soon as the V4 1200 comes online in August so they will add another 8 Bike stands for a total of 16....
    While the older Commando and Dominators are beautiful bikes.. the V4 1200 is gorgeous... so compact for a 1200cc V4 and with a design brief of 200 HP and 200 MPH it has apparently hit the mark.
    We spent quite a bit of time in the Fab shop looking at and discussing their TT bikes (new bikes being built for this years TT). These are very special bikes... nearly 30 litres of fuel to get around the full TT course... they are still running an Aprillia 1000cc V4 but could well go to their own V4 next year... but it was nice to be up close to these special bikes.

    Anyway... on to the pics... not in any special order...

    UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f6b.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f6c.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f6d.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f6e.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f6f.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f7a.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f7b.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f7c.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f7d.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f7e.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f7f.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f8a.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f8b.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f8c.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f8d.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f8e.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f8f.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f92.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f70.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f71.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f72.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f73.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f74.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f75.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f76.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f77.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f78.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f79.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f80.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f81.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f82.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f83.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f84.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f85.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f86.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f87.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f88.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f89.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f90.jpg UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_f91.jpg
     
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  2. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    That's amazing !!!
     
  3. 2valve

    2valve Well-Known Member

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    Wow, that is so super cool.I hope you packed that special motorcycle carry on bag that we spoke about.My favourite bike is the first picture, it just needs one of those thumb nail fairings fitted and i'd be one happy fat little piggy to own it. Which one have you bought ?. Good to hear your having a blast on your holidays though.
     
  4. Andych

    Andych Moderator Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Haha, no room for any extra luggage, the shopping boss has seen to that.
    I would love the V4SS but at $35K it is well outside my budget.
    I will just stick to my 250's for now.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
     
  5. 2valve

    2valve Well-Known Member

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    Cant afford that either , nice bike though. But i'll stick to my little SRX 250 also as it suit my needs / likes. Plus the 250cc forum is a very welcoming / helpfull place be at. No bad attitudes are here as like other forum's that i use to visit.
     
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  6. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Well-Known Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Wow, great looking bikes...!
     
  7. Andych

    Andych Moderator Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    It was great to see in the fab shop, the bare frames and the differences between the Dominator and the Commando... stance is different which requires slightly different down tubes, different angle for the steering etc....
    And then seeing the alloy fuel tank process... 5 pieces make up the top skin with them tig welded from the inside... then linished back before they go over the skin with a DA sander (less heat than linishing all of it) and polish just the weld lines to ensure they are not porous.... then the underside is tacked in place and test fitted to a frame jig to ensure it doesnt snag anywhere etc... if its all ok they then hand cut filler pieces to be welded in before pressure testing and then full polish....
    the alloy tanks are not coated in any way... they couldnt find a coating that produced a finish they were happy with that didnt go yellow after a short while in the sun... I believe the frame on the V4 1200 will be highly polished as well so it will need quite a bit to look after it...
     
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  8. maelstrom

    maelstrom LiteTek Staff Member Premium Member 250cc Vendor Contributing Member

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    Great! Such a shame that the Irving Vincent can't be produced as a road bike. I expect someone in the world will buy them out sooner or later.
     

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