Norton Launches V4CR Cafe Racer

It was back in 2021 that Norton first showed the V4CR concept but 18 months later it’s in production and the real thing is almost unchanged from the original show bike. You’ll have to look closely to spot the differences. The side air intakes are tweaked, and slightly smaller than they were on the original prototype. There’s a road-legal exhaust muffler (although the unsilenced, track-only version seen on the concept can be had as an optional extra). There are mirrors on the bars. But apart from those details, the bike is much like the original show version.

As originally intended, power comes from Norton’s own 72-degree 1,200cc V-4. Originally developed during the ill-fated era under Stuart Garner’s leadership, which ended in bankruptcy at the start of 2020, Norton has reworked the engine since India’s TVS took on responsibility for the brand later that year. TVS didn’t buy Norton as a whole, but instead picked up key elements of the company’s assets after the Garner-owned iteration of Norton collapsed. On doing so, it discovered a laundry list of problems with the handful of faired V4SS superbikes that had reached customers, leading to a substantial redesign before it was relaunched as the V4SV.

During its redevelopment, the engine lost 15 hp, dropping from 200 to 185 hp, but Norton hasn’t detuned it any further for the naked V4CR, which claims the same 185 peak. It arrives at 12,000 rpm, with peak torque of 92 lb.-ft. coming at 9,000 rpm. Big numbers, but not reaching the heady 200-plus levels achieved by rivals like Ducati’s Streetfighter V4 or MV Agusta’s Brutale 1000RR and Rush 1000.

Like the engine, the frame is straight from the V4SV superbike. It has a hand TIG-welded, tubular aluminum design; it looks a lot like the aftermarket streetfighter frames made by Spondon, which should be no surprise as Spondon was absorbed into Norton during the Garner-owned era. Chassis geometry numbers are 23.5 degrees of rake and a 56.5-inch wheelbase, but there’s a vast amount of adaptability built in, including an adjustable rake angle, offset, and swingarm pivot point. Öhlins suspension, including a NIX 30 fork and a TTX GP shock, is allied to a steering damper from the same brand, while Brembo supplies the Monoblock radial-mount brakes, with a pair of 330mm front and 245mm rear disc, and master cylinders.

Norton is offering two versions of the bike, differing only in their colors and wheels. The Manx Platinum version matches the original prototype, with silver paint over its carbon fiber bodywork, and OZ Motorbike Piega forged alloy wheels. The Carbon option leaves most of the bodywork in bare composite and gets carbon fiber BST Rapid Tek wheels to match. Either way, the weight stays the same at 450 pounds including 4 gallons of fuel in the carbon fiber underseat tank.

Just 200 of the bikes are being made and, in the UK, they’re priced at an eye-watering 41,999 pounds sterling each. That’s about $52,000. International sales appear unlikely in the immediate future as the V4CR, like the V4SV, hasn’t been put through either the Euro 5 certification required in Europe or EPA certification for the US. In Britain, the bikes go through a process called Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval, which is a much more lenient test designed to cater to one-offs and small production runs. While it’s a thoroughly modern engine, with ride-by-wire, lean-sensitive traction control, and a trio of riding modes, there isn’t a catalytic converter, so the V-4 will need significantly more development before it can be sold in greater numbers and to international markets.

The insatiable appetite for limited-production, high-priced motorcycles among those with the funds to afford them means that may be no barrier to the V4CR’s success. In the last few months, we’ve seen the likes of Ducati’s Streetfighter V4 Lamborghini, Brabus’s KTM-based 1300 R, and KTM’s own, track-only RC 8C—all limited-run, ultraexpensive bikes—sell out within minutes of the order books opening. We should hope the V4CR follows in their tire tracks, as sales success will significantly boost the chances of a more widely available, affordable V-4 model appearing in the future.