Not with a bang...

All systems go for a new biking world

What do you make of the Norton saga? Taken at face value, Norton was a pretty looking set up. Some aesthetically pleasing motorcycles were turned out. A man who owned the company would often appear, courtesy of whomever was looking after the company’s PR account, and say how great Norton was and how terrific the motorcycles were.

There were rumblings and rumours going around the industry for a while about aspects of Norton Motorcycles perhaps not being quite ‘right’. But they were largely rumours. A while ago, a report of dealings in a pension scheme were printed in British Dealer News, an early red flag, which has emerged as one of the elements of a larger fall-out that Norton Motorcycles, its staff and its customers now find themselves in.

Who is to blame for this fall from front cover grace? Time will tell who indeed should shoulder the anger, frustration and sadness of those who are still waiting for their motorcycles, or have motorcycles and now worry about what will happen next.

But whoever is actually responsible for this state of affairs, it’s the fans, customers AND those people who worked for Norton Motorcycles – the customers who put down money in good faith, everyone who pushed so hard to take Norton Motorcycles from an idea to something tangible and now face losing their jobs amid the drawn-out process of administration – those are the ones we should feel sorry for. Genuine people with genuine cause to support and fall in love with aesthetically pleasing motorcycles assembled at Donington Hall in an old office block.