Just a week after Norton launched the 650cc Atlas Nomad cafe racer and Ranger scrambler, they have added the Superlight road-legal racer.
While the Nomad will sell for £9995 (about $A17,700, $US12,750) and the Ranger for £11,995 ($A21,250, $US15,300), the Norton Superlight will sell for about £19,950 ($A35,350, $US25,500).
That’s a lot for a 650cc bike, but we expect its main purpose is to compete in the Lightweight TT class in next year’s Isle of Man TT.
It will be raced by 23-time IoM TT winner John McGuinness who moved from Honda t Norton this year but didn’t race because of injury.
Why does it cost so much?
Superlight by name …
Well, for a start, it is covered in carbon fibre from the wheels to the body work and single-sided swingarm.
Together with a polished aluminium tube frame instead of steel in the Atlas models, so it weighs just a dashing 158kg.
That’s 20kg less than the Atlas and if you add the optional titanium exhaust system it drops another 6kg.
Suspension is top-shelf Ohlins with NIX 30 forks and TTX GP monoshock.
Ohlins TTX-GP shockBrakes are big Brembo 330mm discs on the front with M50 calipers.
It also features an up-down quickshifter and an Inertial Measurement Unit to control traction and ABS, colour LCD dash and race-worthy electronics such as wheelie and launch control.
Power-to-weight ratio
The 650cc liquid-cooled parallel twin engine in the Atlas models is basically half of the 120cc V4 Norton are working on for their engine V4 flagship model which is expected to be released next year.
In the Atlas Nomad and Ranger, it produces a modest 62kW of power at 11,000 revs and 64Nm of torquer.
In the Superlight it makes 78kW which gives it a racy power-to-weight ratio.
We are still awaiting news from Norton on the V4 and it remain s a mystery what the British company has planned for India.
The company last year signed a deal with India’s Kinetic Group to build 650cc motorcycles for Asian markets.
When we mentioned this before, the company was at pains to say all their bikes are handmade in England.