Norton Commando 961 review: special, expensive, exclusive – and worthy of the famous badge

Street bikes with names such as Dominator and Commando and, in more recent times, the rotary-engined machines captured the imagination and provided a visually tougher alternative to the firm’s BSA and Triumph rivals.

Yet racing brought Norton finances low and in 1953 it was bought out by the Associated Motorcycles (AMC) group, which also owned Matchless, AJS, Francis Barnett and James. Then in 1962 the old Bracebridge Street factory was closed and Norton moved to Woolwich in south-east London.

But all was not well with the British motorcycle industry (insert endless discussion here) and big bike sales were falling in the face of changing tastes, a lack of development and, not least, fierce competition from Japan. AMC became insolvent and was sold to Manganese Bronze Holdings and Norton became Norton-Villiers. A UK government-engineered shotgun marriage with BSA became Norton Villiers Triumph, but the main issues weren’t really addressed and subsequent governments blew hot and cold over subsidies to a bike industry apparently in terminal decline.

Eventually the Norton name got split up, with a number of different owners, and although the name was relaunched in 1988 on the side of a Wankel rotary-engined machine, that proved a tough nut to crack due to reliability issues and a high sales price. Norton continued to flounder, with investigations by the Department of Trade and Industry and a furore over the sale of its historic models.

Not so ancient history

Then in 2008, Stuart Garner, an entrepreneur and property developer, purchased the Norton name from a US interest. The intention was to set up production of a new Simon Skinner-designed Commando (the previous Commando went out of production in 1977) at a brand new plant at the Donington Park racing circuit in Leicestershire. The first machines broke cover in 2010, but production was patchy, reliability was lacklustre and Garner’s bold vision was about to come to a sticky end.

In January 2020, Norton went into administration over an unpaid tax liability, with rumours of customers’ machines being stripped of parts, as well as serious financial irregularities.

A subsequent investigation found that when the banks refused to loan money, Garner had delved into an £11 million pension fund to prop up the business. This March, Garner walked free from Derby Crown Court having pleaded guilty of three charges of breaching employer-related investment rules. He received a suspended jail sentence and an order for costs of more than £20,000 despite him being bankrupt.

Indian interest

In 2020 the Norton name was purchased from the administrators by the Indian conglomerate TVS for £16 million. TVS is a Chennai-headquartered multinational founded in 1911, with at least 50 subsidiaries, and is one of the world’s leading two-wheeler manufacturers.

The board of directors of the new Norton Motorcycle Co includes Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS, and Ralf Speth, formerly head of Jaguar Land Rover…

Its chief executive is Robert Hentschel, formerly of Valmet Automotive and Lotus, and the chief technical officer is Vittorio Urciuoli, formerly of Lotus, Ferrari and Aprilia. We should note here that car makers haven’t always had a great relationship with motorcycle manufacturers, although Audi’s ownership of Ducati and Porsche’s design work on the Harley-Davidson V-Rod engine are collaborative lighthouses.

TVS has committed to investment of £110 million in the next three years, it has set up Norton manufacturing in a new 7,300m²  factory in Solihull and set about re-engineering the £44,000 Norton V4SV superbike. 

In addition it has set about solving the issues with the Garner-era Commando 961, which had left so many owners stranded. Accounts are properly filed in Companies House, some 250 to 300 jobs are promised and Norton has honourably agreed to fulfil the 29 outstanding Commando orders left from the Garner ownership.

Why is it doing this? That’s not an easy question to answer, but there has been a wave of Indian firms buying old British bike names over the last decade. In the early Nineties, Royal Enfield India merged with Eicher Motors, an Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer, and despite some ups and downs recent years have seen a relaunch of the brand, with the opening of modern factories and new models.

In 2016, the Mahindra Group of India (which also owns Mahindra Two Wheelers and has a majority shareholding in Peugeot Motorcycles) spent £3.4 million to purchase the BSA name, which it plans to relaunch this year and expand.

Norton joins this fray but will need to get a shift on since as it stands the air- and oil-cooled parallel-twin Commando engine can’t be sold in Europe for long as it doesn’t meet the Euro 5 emissions regulations. In fact, each new model has to be submitted for a Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval (MSVA) test which is expensive, time-consuming and means that sales can only take place in the UK at the moment.

The specification

Approach the Commando and it seems a short machine despite a 1,400mm wheelbase, with a modern nose-down attitude on its suspension from Swedish specialist Ohlins. Various options are available, but the main differences are the sit-up-and-beg handlebars on the tourer and the low-set items of the café racer, named respectively SP and CR, which will retail at £16,499 and £16,999.

The gold anodised finish of the braced forks and twin rear coilover shock absorbers are a bit blingy, but there’s no doubting the intent of upside-down, 43mm Ohlins forks, which give 24.5 degrees of rake and 99mm of trail. The wheels are 17-inch, hand-built, wire-spoked items with aluminium rims and Dunlop Sportmax tyres.

Quality seems pretty good with the TIG welded tubular-steel trellis frame well finished, along with a deep and even paint finish and crisp gold pinstriping. The engine has a characteristic tricorn-shaped generator cover on one side and a huge polished primary drive cover on the other, both reminiscent of the 1970s Commando. Weirdly all the machines are monoposto, with a pillion seat an optional extra.

There’s a decent set of instruments in a polished aluminium panel as well as a digital display which scrolls between trip and odometer functions. Look in vain for modern niceties such as seat heaters, cruise control and so on, this is a simple machine which trades on its looks and hopefully its handling. It’s no lightweight, though; at 230kg wet, rivals such as the latest Ducati Monster, which tips the scales at only 188kg, start with a potential handling advantage.

The air- and oil-cooled, pushrod, two-valve, parallel twin displaces 961cc, with a short-stroke geometry, a balance shaft and dry-sump lubrication with the oil stored in the frame. It produces 77bhp at 7,250rpm and 60lb ft of torque at 6,300rpm and drives a five-speed gearbox with a chain final drive.

The Mk2 Garner-era Commandos weren’t altogether bad but more than 350 items have received attention under TVS ownership, with attention to materials, surface treatments, finishes and strengthening. The headstock, for example, is now hand-machined from aeronautical-spec alloy, there’s a new camshaft, crankcase breather, valvetrain and gearchange.

The moment of truth

The engine roars into life as if it were parked outside the famed biker hangout of the Ace Café in its 1960s heyday. It really is a magnificent-sounding machine, thudding, growling and rumbling, and the fuelling seems better than that reported on previous machines, picking up with the merest trace of throttle and feeling progressive all the way to the stop – this was particularly welcome given the imminent rainstorm.

The first machine I rode was a black café racer. It had an issue with the gearchange and no evident neutral light, which made starting something of an issue, particularly as first gear is quite a high ratio. I’d also pick out the tiny steering lock which dictates a massive turning circle, while the side stand has a short fold-out hook which means it’s rather too easy to inadvertently engage a gear and stall, or worse.

So, with a bit of clutch slip you get underway and almost immediately it’s clear that despite the niggles, this is a confidence-inspiring, powerful machine, and a pleasure to ride.

The cam-in-block engine gives a low centre of gravity and great stability even at low speeds. From low revs it surges forward and builds to a crescendo of thudding power. The vibration starts to build above 4,000rpm (70mph is about 4,250rpm in top) and above that the footrests and bars are fizzing merrily despite the balancer shaft’s attempts to quell the parallel-twins inherent imbalance.

At low speeds the Ohlin suspension feels hard especially in rebound, which can give a sharp ride around town, but once on the open road the Commando tips into corners with alacrity and feels easy to flow through a series of bends, with a supple and responsive ride quality. On paper, the Commando shouldn’t feel this good, but the combination of engine and suspension compliment each other and it’s difficult not to love the way this bike makes even a wet ride feel fun and rewarding.

The Brembo brakes are powerful and progressive, too, although they grab slightly in the wet as the discs dry.

The Telegraph verdict

“Commando is probably one of the most important sub-brands in motorcycling,” says Gladwell, but despite its evident appeal this reengineered machine is still slightly flawed – and a hell of a price. Gladwell wants to sell Norton as a luxury brand (“Modern vintage, we like to say. Hand-made, hand-finished, hand-polished; something that raises the soul of the people who make it and the people who ride it”).

We’ve heard this before in the car industry, of course, but in the modern vehicle world of integrated electronics, computing and mechanical engineering, you need the power of a big brand behind you to provide the development and testing expertise and act as a source of reliable low-cost parts. You can sell special, expensive, exclusive things to wealthy people and the Norton is all of these, but you can’t make monkeys of them by skimping on reliability or quality.

“We see ourselves as custodians of the brand,” says Gladwell, “but also with a mission to safeguard motorcycling.”

As well he might, but there are a number of hurdles in Norton’s path. The Euro 5 emissions rules mean that as it stands the Commando can’t be sold after about 12 to 18 months. There’s also the fact that riders of larger-capacity motorcycles are getting long in the tooth and don’t seem to be being replaced. 

In addition, there’s also the sword of Damocles hanging over all petrol-engined motorcycles with a likely ban after 2035. TVS says it will be investigating battery machines with Norton badges, but that’s the future.

I sincerely hope that Norton survives and thrives. In most aspects, it deserves to, but I can’t help thinking that this is going to be one of the toughest tasks of its 124-year history.

The facts

Norton Commando 961 CR

Price: £16,999 (£16,499 for standard model)/now (five-month waiting list)

Engine: 961cc, parallel twin with balancer shaft and two overhead valves per cylinder actuated by pushrods

Power/torque: 77bhp @ 7,250rpm/60lb ft @ 6,300rpm

Gearbox: five-speed manual, chain final drive

Weight: 230kg (wet)

Brakes: Brembo twin four-piston monobloc radially-mounted calipers on fully-floating steel discs at the front, two-piston Brembo caliper and single disc at the rear (both with anti-lock)

Wheels: aluminium-rim spoked wheels, 17-inch Dunlop Sportmax tyres

For new and used buying guides, tips and expert advice, visit our Car Advice section, or sign up to the Telegraph Cars newsletter here and to join the Telegraph Motoring Club Facebook group click here

A-Z Car Finder