From the Toronto Motorcycle Show comes news about two new (or re-introduced, at least) motorcycle lines for Canadian riders: Norton, and Royal Enfield.
Norton Motorcycles Canada will import the Café Racer and Sport versions of the new 961 Commando, though we don’t have prices for them yet.
We do have a price on the SE high-end Norton, which will retail for a rock-bottom $34,899. That firesale price will include a limited edition Norton watch by Bremonte, an Arai Norton helmet, and a Norton leather jacket.
Or you could forgo the Norton, wear your own jean-jacket and HJC helmet, carry a Timex, and stash a whole fleet of Royal Enfields in your stable.
The Canadian distributor for the Indian-made marque, Bullet Motorcycles of Edmonton, Alberta, has announced pricing for the Canadian market: $7,395 for the Bullet Classic EFI, $6,995 for the Bullet Electra Deluxe EFI, and $6,895 for the Bullt Electra EFI.
Royal Enfield will also bring in the Classic Military model in the spring (price not yet known) and kits to convert a Royal Enfield into a café racer or vintage model – as if the Royal Enfield didn’t have that vintage cachet locked up already!
If you’re younger than our esteemed editor, you may not know this, but both Royal Enfield and Norton motorcycles were well-known marques back in the days when John, George, Ringo, and Bob were still together.
The Norton is a beauty, but at 40K out the door it’s going to most likely flop. Nearly four times the price of a new Bonnie! At least in India, they understand that to sell bikes you have to be realistic on price. The Enfield may just stomp the Norton on sales volume, and be around longer because of it. Would Triumph’s 675 Daytona be a good seller, if it were priced more than three times higher than Japanese 600’s? I don’t think so. Absurd prices mount up to low to no sales, and I would love to see Norton come back as well as Triumph has.
Now there’s an interesting comment by Petertrocewicz. I think the time is ripe for all the old names to make a come back. Retro’s the way to go!
Seven grand for a Royal Enfield is as close to a bargan as anyone is going to get these days, in fact that’s pretty much rock bottom for any motor cycle. I’ll be taking a look at the Enfield’s at the Calgary show, and if they are only half as good as I think they’ll be, I’ll be handing a cheque over. Personally I’m pretty bored with modern motorcycle’s.
The must be alot of rich hard core motorcycle owners who purchase each new $18k+ dollar machines solely on the fact that they cost so much money.
Wonder if this market is saturated yet?
Hmmm,I wonder if anyone is going to bring back the BSA name? With “what if they had never left the scene, what would they be building now?” philosophy. A modern Gold Star, Rocket twin, Lightning or Firebird could be a thing of beauty. Much like what John Bloor did wit Triumph.
Am glad to see the new and hopefully improved Enfield back! Another option for us air-cooled Thumper fans … and this one GORGEOUS!!
I love the 961’s front end. Those forks and brakes look great.
At 35 grand its a collectors toy. One thing is for sure, the
assembly line won’t be working very hard.
Norton and Enfield are at different ends of the pay scale because one is hand built in England with the best components and the other, I believe and correct me if I wrong, it made in India with not the best components. Having said that just shy of $35,000 is a little mad for the SE, but it is a limited edition to attract collectors. I suspect the Cafe Racer and Sport will be a lot more reasonably priced.
Yes, the Nortons were gorgeous. But at 35Gs? For a set of top-of-the line Ohlins suspension powered by a 2-valve pushrod twin? :eek
The Enfield really tugged at the heatstrings though, particularly the military model. I’m actually considering one for an abouttown and just general play bike.
The Norton’s were nice looking bikes. I heard pricing around 20,000. I think that a Triumph Bonneville could be made to look about the same for alot less.
It’s interesting that Norton and Enfield are peddling the same nostalgia but at oposite ends of the price range. Granted the Norton would provide considerably more performance.
If Norton reintroduction attempts hadn’t failed so many previous times Id be very excited. But then I saw the British list price and figured that there is a limit to nostalgia. A new Triumph Bonneville at 70% less comes to mind.
I was informed that I could fill out an “Application to Purchase” at the show, which I guess in a Canadian Context, didn’t stimulate any Royal DNA .. Ill pass this time.