Made In Britain. I Ride The Norton Commando 961 To The Factory & See How It’s Made!

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Today I had the pleasure of a private tour around the Norton factory in Solihull Birmingham, It was amazing to see every step of how a motorcycle is made and also to see British manufacturing first hand. They are a very low volume manufacturer so that means they have a small economy of scale which also adds to the costs.

After seeing the factory I can really appreciate what goes into creating these bikes and why they are the price they are.

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Yeah I mean if you could see over that wall You’  see products that don’t yet exist really we got   many plans lot oh amazing hello and welcome back  to the channel and welcome to the Norton HQ and  

Factory this is a really impressive unit uh so  I’ve just ridden this Commando about 70 Mi here   in absolute torrential rain I could barely see  anything and the road was practically a river   and as I got to the end of the ride I think  something is slightly wrong with the bike um  

It’s kind of lost power and then it would kind  of get power again and then lose it again so it   was being a really jolty I also thought that I  was going to have to amputate my hands because  

They’re all purple but it’s just a Dy from  the leather gloves I couldn’t feel my hands   either so I really did think I would frostbite or  something but I was just trying to start it up and see kind like it firing on one cylinder sounds all right

Now something’s not quite right with it but  they’re going to have a look at it but let’s   have a look through the factory first Norton  have come back to me to let me know that it was   an issue with the intake temperature sensor  uh this particular sensor’s waterproof seal  

Assembly from the supplier wasn’t quite right uh  so with the excessive rain that we had on that day   day uh this didn’t quite go to plan so this has  since been changed and the bike runs absolutely  

Fine straight away uh and if this was a customer’s  bike it would have been fixed under warranty with   no issues we kind of skip passes cuz this is like  almost the end of a of a motorcyle production St  

Okay so we kind of come back to that we’ll come  back to this otherwise we’re skipping ahead yes   yeah this is stored as you can see and that is  where everything that’s all the parts of the  

Motorcycles car deliv ready be fit into the bike  okay um the way it works so you some really major   manufacturers like car volume manufacturers do  what’s known as D in time so that’s where a part   is like delivered and within 50 minutes it’s  fitt to the vehicle that of thing that means  

They don’t hold any store apart we don’t do that  kind of manufacturing each motorcycle has a build   trolley so there’s a build trolley just there and  you get two types of build trolley so that’s an  

Engine and that is a V4 engine waiting to become  a full V4 engine and then the other side of it   the ones where they got the bigger boxes that is  a full motorcycle build if you went around there   you would see Wheels suspension components  okay everything that builds a motorcycle B  

Awesome so these are all End of Line bikes that  have come off of the factory line so these are   all finished some of those are pressed bikes at  the end and then you’ve got this huge area with  

All the parts in so there’s a fair bit in stock  but uh they sort of order in what they need for   when they’re building the bike so um and they  build them in batches so they build the V4 for  

A certain amount of time and then the Commando  um but if you want to Nick any olens Forks this   is where you find them yeah they will Design  um future product basically okay um and it’s   it’s visual design rather than like technical  design so engineering is still in the building  

But they’re over at the other end yeah so this is  looks the design the looks uh and I yeah I mean   if you could see over that wall you products  that don’t yet exist really have we got many  

Plans a lot lot com oh amazing that’s ex exting  perod yeah definitely yeah I’m excited I really   like these bikes so uh what sort of things have  you got planned can you tell me a little bit no  

Better enough but yeah it’s an exciting period  for over next year going to release plenty of   new models awesome really fun cool but yeah so  this is where design look awesome nice yeah you  

Can um fil in front of the you can see a PL it’s  a PL the new Norton PL fil that bit fun yeah no iton at least we can film the rest of it I was panicking Gap in the door there’s nothing  immediately to State um these windows  

Are have got shade on them because  it’s obviously Welling is might see window exciting oh yeah here you go this  is a Commando frame being welded   oh amazing that’s so cool so almost  everything single bit made right it’s  

A difficult thing to see press the lens  right yeah you can barely see that can can’t when it when it look really bright if you if  you shade the lens against the try on this camera  

Get a photo window you can see yeah yeah this is  the wel area we can’t go the health safety but   yeah gosh it’s like a hospital isn’t it amazing  so we do um steel aluminium welding here yeah V4  

Frames aluminium right okay and each each bit has  like each there’s different processes taking place   like it gets done the frame gets done in chunks  yeah move what are the what are the differences   and costs of manufacturing in England to like  India it must be I mean cuz people always say  

Oh the Norton’s 17 grand I can’t justify it get a  few of the comments have said that but it’s just   trying to explain to people well Manufacturing in  England’s a lot more expensive yeah I mean it’s  

Yes uh so I don’t we don’t manufacture anything  in India so I don’t know what the cost would be   for you to do that um but yeah I mean the simple  fact of it is it is expensive partly because we  

Do it right here but also a lot we take a lot  a great deal of care our motorcycles um it is   a time consuming process so to kind of put things  in scale so this Motorcycle Factory running uh at  

Full speed produces a maximum of 8,000 motorcycles  a year right right here on this site okay our   parent company TVs produces uh 13,000 a day wow  crack it yeah 3 million a year lovey hell so if we  

Set off in a race to build the most motorcycles  Yeah by lunchtime on January the 1st they wi   beaten us cing so that gives you and obviously one  of the things they have is an enormous economy of  

Scale the amount that maybe that helps answer the  question yeah lower numbers is always more as well   yeah economies a scale of course yeah if you’re  producing 10,000 a day then it’s a bit different   isn’t it fr other thing as well next and none of  our uh manufacturing process is mechanized right  

It’s near all hand pretty much all Handler yeah  yeah again is that’s the price yeah all and little   bits all add in so you know if you do robotic  welding for instance you don’t have to wait for  

The frame to cool down you can just the robot  can pick it up and move it yeah yeah of course   you can’t yeah so lots of all little ways that you  kind of don’t really think of what happens in here  

Then this where everything gets polish brilliant  oh nice Anthony must be a lunch I know uh he might   I tell you what we’ll come back once we finish  doing but this this is the polishing room so  

This is where so we have yeah there’s a guy called  Antony and he does every bit of our polishing okay   so everything is when I like hand you know he uses  a machine but it’s Polished by hand yeah um a V4  

Frame for instance which is completely polished  front to back take about 6 hours really wow yeah   and if you’ve never done it before polishing is  a real skill it’s really hard work for the start  

But it is a real real skill so one slip and the  part is ruined really yeah go so of trade I mean   not I mean I don’t know maybe the on part the most  part that’s good you can also see if you through  

There can see the exhausts for Commando so I I  won’t go in but I can just I can bring you out   a piece of plate steel so there those exhaust  arrive as plate steel okay and they’re rolled  

Welded packed polished every bit of the exhaust  right you know is made here I mean we don’t knit   the wadding that goes in it but within reason  every bit again none of that is outsourced it’s   all handmade right there it sounds bloing good  as well they sound amazing yeah they sound really  

Good so one of the reasons it sounds so good yeah  is we uh we SVA our bikes they’re not homologated   yeah so because we’re a small unit manufacturer  we’re given special dispensation basically um   that’s why our Bo sound as amazing as they do here  is right here is Anthony perfect timing so he’s  

Going to do it for excellent he also as a lot of  people here a dead key motorcycle maybe he’s not maybe the other part I have to remember when we  do these things is ultimately this is a working  

Factory these guys have have jobs to do yeah  they need to produce that isn’t just entertaining   [Laughter] me you just walk around and watch them  every day could you and through there we also do   um an element of non-destructive testing so uh  when frames are manufactured they’ll so there’s  

Like a a simple check like an obvious like visual  check yeah um and then there’ll be ultrasound   there’s also like crack testing there’s a spray  they can put on that can measure that there’s no  

Defects in them and the W 10 mm without physically  cutting the frame up we do cut some frame uption   cut up again to make sure everything’s exactly  as it should be um and then also in that um Metro  

Room you saw with a fire alarm so they can bolt  it down and then run that around it and make sure   every single Dimension so like a classic one to  worry about would be like a shock mounting point  

On a V4 make sure that is left or right where  it should be and I can measure that against   like known data that’s all non-destruct yeah um  do you have any sort of giveway for measurements  

Ores it have to be exactly I do yeah so if we  take like a shot Mount so when we took over   from old Norton we found their shock mounts were  6 mm either way really yeah and we up down from  

Be half a millimet wow yeah B difference the wow  attention to detail so this is the engine building   room wow um so you can see some Commander ones  the back with a natural silver finish so it all  

Starts here with the eave which is basically a  giant washing machine pretty much so like parts   and cases go in there and they come out completely  clean and the engine makes it way around here and   has bearings pushed in valve seats valve guides  valve springs every single bit of an engine yeah  

So that basically by the time it hits the little  line out there and comes out the back end finished   the finished motor yeah the way it works is the  whole the whole bit is computer control so the  

Torque renters are all set by the computer and at  each stage of the process there’s a you can see up   there it shows the operator what they’re doing  so within reason we could go in there get one  

Of those engine build trolleys and put together an  engine really yeah gosh I don’t think I’d try that   I think I’d Co it up yeah we we will leave it to  the experts but theoretically that is the process  

So TVs help has produced that and again it’s about  it’s about making sure that we minimize as many   errors as possible the more simplistic you make  for someone the less room there is for yourself   yeah of course yeah definitely I must say I love  I love that engine so characterful yeah the it’s  

Amazing I’ve got I’ve got a ni P myself yeah yeah  I absolutely love it I never I never got over the   noise and like third gear we just crack it and  rs fantastic I love it so let’s head this way  

Down to production there are there is engines  coming out of the engine build room right okay   see they come along that where they met with  frames and start to become complete motorcycles   amazing and then you know so here there’s like  Vin stamping takes place here yeah um you can

See the Commando frames they go through this  processing bit by bit and they become complete   motorcycles oh okay you been to motle of any  variety before no this is the first one I’ve ever  

Been to yeah I’m quite excited a lot more involved  than most yeah I bet especially in the UK so this   is a testing development Workshop right okay so  you talking about design any new products that   need to go through like Road testing validation  whatever it is yeah in there okay awesome look at  

That it’s intricate isn’t it bit of heavy metal  while you build the mot B it’s very INF fitting   so so we can see together you can see the build  talk about those silver engines that were in  

There I see must be for uh it could be for limited  edition so we’re going through the first uh build   build phase for the limited edition models at the  moment so we’ve already shipped some and or about  

To ship some I should say okay and they couple of  enets they look really good those yeah even more   special when you see the original one which I show  you yes yeah but this is a hydraulic station right  

So on the V4 it just does front and rear brake on  the Commando it does clut as well and the way it   works is uh that’s computerized a little the arm  of the hydraulic filler goes onto the little honey  

You know the reservoir first thing it do it draws  a vacuum and sees if it can hold a vacuum assuming   the vacuum holds it will then fill it and means  there’s no air bubbles in it if it doesn’t hold  

A vacuum it Flag straight away it’ll kind of fail  the evaluation test and then the operator needs   to go around it and fine so is is something  not tightened up properly is there a problem  

With their PA M like that and that means that it  doesn’t get to the point when you fled it someone   starts using it it start leing fluid you get an  improper okay feel of the caler yeah so and at  

Each stage of the process the vehicle is scanmed  it job card is scanmed and that allows it to move   on to the next computer computer controled start  the process so if for instance uh let’s say it’s   Friday afternoon the operator wants to go home  and this and there’s a problem with that part  

Let’s say there’s an issue with the part supplied  to us and it fails to test if the operator try and   override it and just fill it with fluid yeah he  wouldn’t do it anyway that happens when he goes  

To the next bit or to the dino it flagged that  it never passed this test okay so it minimize   any sort of issues is that before they get to you  ridden one of those yeah what you think it’s yeah  

But in a really it’s really nice I did I did  a nice ride last year uh where I took a couple   of they were they were early prototypes actually  down to Charlie bourman and doing a podcast with  

Some of his friends and we Rod s through the  roads of s around his and even though that’s   not they were little tiny little country back  roads it’s not kind of like where that that  

Bike is best used you big flowing a road um we  had a it was really great you know the roads   were terrible with the suspension State up and  the throttle is really Progressive so a lot of  

People worry with something that’s got 185 break  quite a lot of talk 12 motor it’s just going to   be too much Hammer but not at all the thrt is  really Progressive and you know it’s only about  

As much as that you do also you know that one’s  it’s got flippers riding modes all the rest of it   so if it was in really you know in weather like  you experienced you spr in Rain mode the whole  

Yeah fair enough so these are these are limited  edition ones aren’t they yeah so it’ll be Miss so   it’ll be waiting for part so that as progressed  as far as it can it looks like it’s waiting for  

A a chain guard fuel tank on to un so yes that’s  limited edition which we’ll be waiting in from   the supplier really like that one the 58 is really  confident it’s a really good it’s good color it’s  

Dino okay um so every motorcycle before it goes  through line go through Dino amazing and uh when   you see that basically the bikes loaded on there  and it’s sort of it’s a little bit of the sort  

Of stuff you’d expect inot do like breake tests  stuff but the operator also runs it through the   gearbox does a power test and stuff so generally  well I mean right out there they come into light   but this is where a Norton first properly comes  right yeah is there any tolerance in the power  

Is that always there is I don’t know what it is  up top of yeah from memory I want to say it’s   5% or 10% I can’t there is there is like a um  what’s the like a standardized industry figure  

Oh yeah forgot about that also if we the other  problem is when we see it end of line yeah um   obviously Ray if someone like me comes along and  scratches it with my watch ra then again we need  

To replace the part right okay fair enough so soon  noik to be loaded on it yeah see runs all through   the gears and it just it’s to make sure the bik  is performing exactly as it should be before it  

Gets to the point where I mean they go in a road  test anyway just to make sure that everything is   before it gets to that point nice I’ve never seen  people always ask about like does anything fail  

I mean theoretically could do it I’ve never seen  it happen if it was the sort of thing that would   fail on the D it would get flagged a long way it  didn’t go in Gears some would it was a part Miss  

Yeah of course um so it’s the bu passes it comes  down here which is start end of the line we got   two things here we got End of Line inspection cqo  Right End of Line inspection is exactly what you  

It says on the 10 B goes into that tunnel and  it’s checked over is this motorcycle exactly as   should be yeah is every part fitted is it fitted  correctly are there there’s no blemishes or marks  

In the paint anything like that kind of stuff  okay and then cqpa is there’s a chat called Ray   who is’s actually in there at the moment he’s  doing End of Line stuff and Ray is sort of like   the world’s fussiest customer really and he’s  going through that bike and he’s not going is  

This motorcycle he’s is this motorcycle as good as  it possibly could be could we reroot this cabling   a little bit better could we could that zip tie be  terminated nicer all that kind of stuff he’s going  

Through it with the eye of the fussiest customer  in the world to make sure that every motorcycle is   perfect that’s the best way yeah absolutely yeah  and Ray does Ray does failed products that’s his  

Job you know if he picked up nothing I mean  it’ be good it’ be good on one hand but it’   be a worry on the other course you know accidents  do happen a classic example is you Ray’s got them  

On but they’ve got like bands to cover like belt  buckles and things like that to make sure there’s   no scratches obviously idiots like me come along  showing journalists around just go oh yeah and   then scratch it and then the part is spoil so  replacing polishing working something like that  

And then once it’s been to End of Line it comes to  here okay and if there’s any issues that that Ray   Flags it’ll be flagged and it’ll say for instance  over there awaiting reworks there’ll be something  

There I don’t know what it is there might be a  mark on the frame a scratch a panel Gap something   like that that’s what our rework area is for over  there so if anything needs swapping replacing it  

Gets done over there uh once it goes from here  got an SVA station um just across the it um it   goes there it gets SVA gets pass to sales gets  a number plate yeah and it goes to a very very  

Happy customer somewhere in the world and it’s  very rare it’s very rare that you ever meet them   apart from like at events but not the factory  but seeing that it’s very rare that you see the   moment that someone collects their motorcycles you  get how exciting it is to motorcycles so exciting  

So it was really nice to see that chap in earlier  collecting his V4 he was an M customer so you know   at one point you probably thought everything was  lost here he is I BL it today come he’s collecting  

His brand new V4 SV absolutely delighted with  it you know yeah it’s really nice it’s quite a   rewarding moment I bet yeah and he’s probably  ended up with a better bike than he would have  

Done if he well undoubtedly yes so any so v4ss  owners that took delivery we had a black W with   sort of scrappage scheme yeah where they could  bring those in and we exchange them for V4 SVS   so with a bit of a contribution and we have to  crush those they’re completely unsafe really  

Nothing can be Salvage really they’re that bad k  there well this was Norton’s first motorcycle the   Norton used a clemont engine yeah um and this was  believe it or not this was manufactured less than  

10 miles away from where we stood right now really  yeah wow that’s how close the factory is to where   nor unbelievable so when did they start producing  these 1902 1902 until about 1906 I think when the  

Model one took over okay which was Norton’s first  motorcycle with their own engine right um this was   this basically it’s 10 oh I’m going to get the F  wrong it’s about 120 odd CC maybe maybe maybe 170  

CC I come a little single cylinder engine um it  was very Innovative at the time because it had a   carburetor right okay up to then they just used um  like evaporative carburetors basically just a tray  

Almost like a tray of open fuel it just sucked the  fumes in amazing it had a two-speed gearbox made   by stery Archer who bicycle gearboxes amazing  and you pretty much need like three hands to  

Operate it yeah so your front brake is a little  Rod brake that just pushes on the tire like an   original bicyle that there is your spark advance  so manually adjust the spark timing that’s your   throttle there basically and then that there it  doesn’t have an oil pump that’s your oil pump God  

So you have to pressurize that and you would  pump it and it pressurized the system and it   slowly lets the oil drip through uh one pump would  last about 10 minutes really and then you’d have  

To keep remembering to do that as you went along  uh it’s not it’s got no clutch of which to speak   really just the just the natural slip of this  leather belt that’s how it drives you’d set off  

Pedaling right um and then when you were ready you  would basically smack it into first and that would   bump start it off okay um cing the rear brake is  this Rod that presses there and the lever just  

Sits just inside that leather belt there so you  have to make sure you had your tow trousers tied   up because otherwise it catches yeah go um yeah it  was good for about uh Max I think the maximum was  

About 20 mph and it was good for I can’t remember  the range off the top of my head but again about   20 or 30 miles something like that it was it was  sort of like the electric bicycle of its day you  

If we think how far you can ride an e bicycle  and that sort um at the time n marked it it’s   been good for doctors I have no idea why unless  they meant it was like good for doctor’s business  

Because but I suppose like when this thing was  invented you probably drive from here to London   and without seeing another vehicle on the road  yeah so um cracky so this is where it all starts  

With the a amazing it’s very impressive as you can  see it’s kind of like it’s not a bicycle foray it   looks a lot like it’s purpose built but it is  basically a bicycle it’s re strengthened it’s  

Not just like a standard shot bicycle and it’s  got like a you know it’s much like a seat tube   angle it’s got much longer seat stays and chain  stays to okay stretch it out um the saddle was  

Supplied by Brooks who are like a local bicycle  saddle maker they’re still in operations now and   going to make his one but believe it or not uh  I won’t do for fear but I could theoretically  

Ride off this really it work it’s a runner it’s  a run way it’s a run amazing so I hope you’ve   enjoyed this factory tour I certainly have  that’s the first motorcycle Factory I’ve been   around and I must say is mighty impressive and  as he was explaining on the tour they are very  

Small company and they don’t produce many bikes  only about 8,000 a year uh whereas their partner   company who own uh the Norton brand they produce  about 13,000 bikes a day which is unbelievable so   that’s why this is such a small production bike  and that of course adds to the value of the bike  

Because it’s a lower scale of economy and it’s  made in Britain and pretty much everything is   handmade so I hope this gives you a better in  insight into why these Norton are the price  

They are and it kind of justifies it for me as  to why they are that price and I do absolutely   adore this bike I really really do so I’d love  to have another one maybe even one on a long term  

Um i’ I’d really happily ride one of these for a  year and see how I got on with it but hope you’ve   enjoyed it we’ll see you in the next video don’t  forget to subscribe and we’ll see you in the next one yeah yeah can I have some water water