The late great Norton motorcycle

Mailman

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Norton is down for the count........again.

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tre...2/29/2020_CT&utm_term=Common Tread | Combined

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Interesting comments being made under that article. Will be a shame if the Norton brand doesn't live on. Some of the comments speculate that a Chinese manufacturer will buy it for the brand. I don't see any major manufacturer buying it, given the relative slump in overall bike sales and the now tarnished reputation.
 
Interesting read Bob. From the sound of it, Garner belongs... and probably will be in jail. I suspect the brand will live on though. After all, Royal Enfield is made in India now. Wouldn't surprise me to see the same happen with the Norton name.
 
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C'mon now that's mean!
I'm not aware Erik resorted to deception or theft in his scrambles for finances.
Promising more than you can deliver to other corporations is just part of the game, right?

Gary, I never meant to imply that Eric did anything unethical, I just meant to point out that not every great idea is met with success.
I think Buells ideas were revolutionary and bled over into mass produced bikes.
 
Oh Yeah, Now That's a case study!
In fairness I only know of him through seeing endless prototypes.
But IIRC that WAS the story.
I have a friend that worked for Jim. He says that Jim was as honest as they come. Big dreams from a terrible horrible nonexistent business mind.
To be fair to Jim... the BD-5 is still an awesome idea.

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There is a brilliant engineer type that has moxie to get ideas to working prototype, and start of manufacturing, then can't, won't put up with the evolution to a mass appeal version that can be built, marketed at the needed price point. Any meddling with HIS design is morally unacceptable.. IMHO Buell has some of these characteristics, probably the others mentioned also. Why larger companies split off R&D, racing departments firewalled from production.. A totally different mindset is needed to be a production engineer.
Just riffing.
Ayn Rand's central characters fit this savant mold. :wink2:
 
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