Norty’s still nice

One day in March 1980 a spotty 17-year-old passed his motorcycle test, threw away his L plates and sold his Honda CD175.

As anyone who took it back then knows, the motorcycle test in those days was ridiclously simple.

In my case an old bloke walked next to me for a few yards to test my clutch control, made me do an emergency stop by lifting his clip board and that was about it.

You could ride a 250cc bike on L plates in those days, but I was gunning for something bigger right from the start. And so it was a few weeks later that I was trying to cross London on my newly acquired 1975 Norton Commando 850.

It was a MKIII which meant it had a disc brake at the back and an electric starter. The brake was reasonably effective, the starter not at all.

On that first ride I thought I’d made a terrible mistake, but it wasn’t long before I fell in love with the big British twin-cylinder bike.

It was a multiple winner of

Motor Cycle News’ bike of the year competition five years in succession at a time of stiff competition from Japan. The Commando’s 828cc engine had a lot of torque and once I’d mastered the thing I could easily outrun Honda’s famous CB750.

And now a scary 44 years later, I am once again sat on a silver Norton

Commando. It’s brand new, the product of a very much revitalised Norton Motorcycles. Few brands have gone through as much misery.

The marque was bought in 2008 by businessman Stuart Garner who ended up getting a suspended jail sentence for using Norton’s pension fund to prop up the company.

In 2020 Indian motorcycle giant TVS Motor Company then took over, injected a lot of capital and re-established Norton in a new factory unit in Solihull, West Midlands. Equally important, it sorted out all the quality issues with the the V4 sports bike and the Commando 961.

This latest machine, according to my mates at Motor Cycle News, is a huge improvement with more than 350 changes made. When I got to the factory it was raining, but it turns out the Norton is the perfect bike for wet and potentially slippery roads.

It has modest power at 77bhp and like its predecessor, lots of bottom end torque and a very smooth power delivery. Two models are available: the

SP with upright handlebars and the CR (cafe racer) with low clip-on handlebars.

I took out the SP which costs £16,999 against the £500 pricier CR. Those are stiff prices so it’s as well the Commando is a high quality item down to its nuts and bolts because other characterful retro bikes from Triumph and Moto Guzzi are much cheaper.

But they wouldn’t have the iconic Norton badge on their tanks. Not surprisingly, the new Commando feels very modern compared to my old 70s

bike. It stops, for one thing.

But in character they are surprisingly similar with a distinctive engine note and strong power low down. Occasionally, when the dreaded nostalgia kicks in, I think about reliving my youth and buying an old Norton Commando.

In silver, like the one I had.

But how much more sensible it would be though to buy a new one. Same silver, same badge, same character – and with an electric starter that works.