NortonMotorcylceCo.-Julia

= Norton Motorcycle Company =

by Julia Ashton

Norton Motorcycle Company, known as one of the greatest names of the British motorcycle industry, was a British motorcycle marque that was founded in 1898 in Birmingham by a guy named James Norton. At first they only manufactured cycle chains, but by 1902 that started producing actual motorcycles with bought-in engines. These motorcycles, right away, started to flourish in the racing industry with its first victory in the twin-cylinder class in the first Isle of Man TT race. That began a tradition that lasted until the 1960's(Norton Motorcycles). The original owner, James Norton died in 1925 after seeing his motorcycles win a very important race. Many other engines were developed after Norton's death including the CamShaft One in 1927. In 1934 when Sturney Archer gearboxes decided to close Norton bought their designs and producing a new lone of gearboxes for the motorcycles. These motorcycles were not only for racing, but also fro everyday recreation by normal citizens. Today they are still producing motorcycles in many countries (Liptrot). For many years the company has fallen into hands that were not of the original family or friends. The legacy had faded, but with the new owner it is possible that Norton Motorcycles could make a comeback (McFarlane). Only a few years did it finally get back in the hands of the British as stated by Motorcycle News: "Garner, 39, has spent millions of pounds getting the sole rights to the Norton brand for racing, road bikes and all rights to the name with plans for a range of new Norton road bikes starting in 2009" (Downes) The amount of dedication that has been put into the company by Garner shows that the importance of this company is huge. This is apparent because the words "spent millions of pounds getting the sole rights." Somebody would not work that hard to gain control of an unimportant company.

Works Cited Downes, Andy. "New Norton Boss Speaks Exclusively to MSN." Motorcycle News UK. 16 Oct. 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.

Liptrot, Alan. "Norton Motorcycles Live On." Classic Vehicles - Motorcycles And Cars. 2009. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.

McFarlane, Andy. "Can Norton Make Its Marque Again?" BBC News. 30 Oct. 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.

"Norton (Motorcycle)." WordLingo. 2010. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.