- 8 hours ago
The 2026 Norton Manx R marks the return of one of Britain’s most legendary motorcycle brands with a completely new approach to the modern superbike. Instead of chasing lap records and peak horsepower numbers, Norton built a 1200cc V4 focused on real-world road riding, combining 206 horsepower with nearly 96 lb-ft of torque, semi-active Marzocchi suspension, Brembo brakes, carbon fiber bodywork, and a road-first riding philosophy. In this first ride review from Spain, we test the new Norton Manx on both canyon roads and the racetrack to see how its torque-heavy power delivery, advanced electronics, and exotic design compare to rivals like the Ducati Panigale and Aprilia RSV4. Is this the most usable exotic superbike on sale?
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SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Cycleworld, welcome to Spain, but more importantly, welcome to the
00:05launch of the new Manx Norton. The time is up, it's time to test. We've seen the
00:10prototypes, we've seen the unveiling at Eichmann, it's a bike that's kind of been
00:14coming for like three to four years. Norton came back with TBS money, they've
00:18invested a huge amount of money, over 200 million pounds. They've got a new
00:24facility in Birmingham, in England, they're employing a huge amount of staff,
00:27the bikes are going to be built there with TBS money, TBS tech and a lot of
00:33tech coming from other countries and we've got the opportunity to ride the
00:36bike here in Spain. Now I've got a lot of history we've known and I think that's
00:40why the guys at Cycleworld sent me, probably because I'm the oldest. I've
00:43always loved riding the original Manx Norton and I've got fond memories of
00:47racing it at Goodwood and I love watching those old archives with Jeff Duke on the
00:51Featherbreds at the TT, it's an amazing brand and an amazing history. So for me
00:56to see an English brand back made in England is a real special treat. What
01:01Norton have done is slightly different and unexpected because the majority of
01:05the sports bike market produce a bike that's going to work on track that's
01:09then going to be raced in AMA, World Supers, British Superbikes or at the TT or
01:13wherever. What Norton have done is gone, well we're not going to go racing, it's not
01:17going to be a race bike, it's going to be a sports bike that works on the road. So what
01:21we
01:21need to do is look at what road riders want, not look at what world superbike
01:25riders want, which is a real different kind of way of looking at it and really
01:29interesting. So they did a lot of research, a huge amount of kilometres with a
01:32lot of riders varying in skills and what they found out was the majority of road
01:37riders lived in this kind of 4,000 to 8,000 rpm. They very rarely went above 9,000
01:43and they never went past 10,000, not on the road. Because if you've got 206 horsepower and
01:48you're using all the rev-ridge then your license isn't going to last that long.
01:52The bike still got to work on track but it's mainly going to be made for the road.
01:56Norton really couldn't look back at the original Manx Norton from the 50s and use
02:00anything for that because that had a feather bed frame, shoe brakes and single
02:04cylinder. And the last time they produced a sports bike was the rotary which was
02:07late in the 90s. Again no real reference. They know they wanted to produce a road bike
02:12so they went with a 72 degree V4 which gives loads of torque. They also went
02:18with Marzocchi suspension that on this model is semi-active electronic suspension
02:23which means it can be changed to match the road and the track. They then went
02:27with Hi-Pure Brembo brakes, the very best you can get, lightweight wheels. This is
02:32the signature model so this is full carbon bodywork, full carbon wheels and in
02:37the UK just under 40,000 pounds. They can also tune the engine to the way they
02:42want it and produce it how they want it and produce their own charismatic sound.
02:46When you're producing a bike for the road what they wanted was big fat meaty torque
02:51which is why it's got nearly 96 foot pound of torque at 9,000 rpm and 206 horsepower at 11
02:57.5.
02:58Now if we're playing top trumps or bragging rights in the bar then you're
03:02gonna lose because other bikes have got way more power but other bikes don't have
03:07way more torque in this class. The new Manx Norton has got more torque than the
03:12Panigale, the Aprilia and all the inline force. Similar with the chassis, if you're designing a
03:17chassis to work in World Superbikes or AMA the chassis has to have certain lateral
03:22stiffnesses because it's gonna have to deal with 230, 240 horsepower and deal
03:26with racing slicks with loads of grip and aggressive riding. This isn't ever going to
03:30be raced because it's a 1200cc V4. It's been designed as a road bike so we can have a
03:36pretty exotic looking single-sided swinging arm. We're not trying to save
03:40that much weight. We can put the exhaust underneath the bike and hide it all
03:44away and lift up the center of gravity a little bit. A lot of manufacturers are
03:47going double-sided swinging arm like Ducati because it's lighter where Norton
03:51have gone now we'll go single-sided arm. They've also made their life
03:55incredibly difficult because there's no fair in fasteners. They wanted this one
03:59sleek beautiful bit of bodywork which I think works really well. They've also not
04:03fitted any side pods or aerodynamic wings. There's no downforce. This is mechanical
04:08grip with a few rider aids. It's all a little bit different because they've had a
04:12clean sheet of paper and gone we want a road bike that works in this power range
04:16that gives loads of torque that works on the road that occasionally can work on
04:21track. Suspension is really interesting because when you go for the Apex or the
04:25Signature you get electronically adjustable Marzocchi suspension and in
04:28there and on the back is a potentiometer. Now the potentiometer actually
04:32measures what the suspension is doing. So if you gas it really hard when the
04:35forks extend that potentiometer measures how quickly that fork is extended. It's
04:40exactly the same kind of system that you see MotoGP in World Supers. That's the
04:43precise way to what measure what suspension is actually doing is by using
04:47potentiometers and this is the only sports bike that has that. Slide control,
04:52wheeler control, traction control, touchscreen, beautiful dash, simple to use, really unique
04:58kind of bespoke switch gear. It's all kind of really high-end, really high level and
05:03it's pretty straightforward and pretty simple to use. When you stop you can just
05:08use your finger and it's like a big iPad screen and change and do what you want
05:11and with other connectivity from your phone you can have satellite
05:14navigation, you can take calls, you can change the rider modes. So you can stop for a
05:18coffee, use your phone, go I'll have less traction, turn the wheeler control off
05:22because I'm full of cappuccino. It depends on what you want to do. Again, that's
05:27because it's been designed as a road bike with a really huge informative dash, not
05:31as a race bike. Today we've had a full morning on the bike in the hills here in
05:37Monte Blanco and then we've had a couple of sessions on the track. Interestingly
05:40when we normally ride a thousand cc 200 brake horsepower plus sports bike we fit
05:45slicks, we fit tire warmers and we push for a lap time. What we've done here is from
05:50the road, through the garage, onto the track. Same tyres, same everything and just literally
05:56change the suspension and all the rider aids by pressing a few buttons. It's that easy.
06:01On the road it takes a little bit of a kind of recalculation because I'm so used to riding
06:07sports bikes where you're chasing the revs, firing in the quickshifter and kind of doubling
06:11the national speed limit. Where the Norton kind of goes slow down a bit, take it steady,
06:16use the mid-range, let it roll into the corners, carry some corner speed. Like back
06:20in the US this is going to be great for just carving up a canyon road where you're just
06:23kind of in that four-fifth gear, four to six thousand rpm, really strong, meaty mid-range
06:29that other sports bikes don't have. The sound is really good, the quickshifter works really
06:33well. But it's going to be a little bit critical, the fueling is a little bit snatchy. Once
06:38you've actually engaged the throttle and you say winding on from ten to thirty percent that's
06:43great but the initial pick up from zero to ten is a little bit snatchy which you notice
06:48at slow speeds and around town. There's a rain mode and I used a rain mode in town which
06:52is very easy and simple to select and that just calmed everything down and softened everything
06:56down. There's three rider modes and you can't change them, they're kind of set but there
07:01are two track modes that you can play with and you can play with those on the fly and
07:04on the move and if you switch the keyless bike off and switch it back on again, all the settings
07:08are saved. So I changed the track mode to my own little mode. I had the road power mode,
07:13I had the road suspension, I still had track ABS, I had no wheelie control and that seemed
07:18to be my kind of perfect little place because with the road suspension it dealt with all
07:22the imperfections really well, it wasn't too harsh like it would be if I was in track mode
07:25and that road fueling just gave it a little bit softer and a little bit more of an easier
07:30time. And then when we come to the track, we just again just put it in track mode, suspension
07:36goes to track, ABS goes to track, power goes to track and your traction control and slide
07:42control is reduced. Wheelie control, do what you want with. On track I wasn't expecting
07:45great things because Norton have put their hands up and said other bikes are going to
07:49be quicker. This is not a track bike, this is a road bike. We've given it torque, not top
07:52end power. But it performed really well. End of this straight is flat out in fifth, braking
07:56into a first gear corner. These high pure brakes work really, really well. No fared even
08:01after a long session and you could hold the brakes well into the turn. Really, really good
08:05front end. But again you could use second in places where on a normal bike I think I would
08:10use first because you've got so much drive and so much torque. The rider aids are there
08:14in the work and in the background and Norton kind of put their hands up and said the rider
08:17aids are there for average riders. So they're kind of like quite a big safety net. For me
08:22I had to turn the rider aids down quite significantly to get the most out of the bike. So in
08:26the
08:26last session I turned everything off and really felt the bike really darting between corners
08:31and really driving hard. It's got some real strong mid range and it really powers between the corners.
08:36On the back straight you can pull some nice wheelies and show off and have some great fun.
08:40I think if we actually put a stopwatch on it then yes it's going to be slower than the
08:44competition. But over 200 horsepower on this track in these conditions it's pretty hard
08:50to fault. The fueling again was just a little bit snatchy. So when you're on big lean and
08:55you're requesting it just a little bit and to get the most out of the bike you do need the
08:59rider aids on minimum or switched off if you're a relatively experienced rider. I think if we put
09:04the average rider on the bike then it will throw up a little bit of a different verdict because
09:08to ride some of the other competition you've got to be pretty dedicated and pretty on it. Where this
09:13with the torque and the drivability and the usability and those rider aids that are a little
09:17bit more enclosed giving you a little bit more comfort. It'll be interesting in lap times if we
09:21have average riders. What we also need to do at Cycle World is put a lot more miles on this
09:26bike.
09:26We've just got a flavour of what it's like on the road. The mirrors are not the best. The fuel
09:31tank is
09:31only 14.5 litres. It is going to be a little bit thirsty because it is a V4 and we
09:36need to see what
09:37this heat is like from the back cylinders when we get it in a real hot climate say in California.
09:41What's it going to be like for long distance? What's it going to be like fuel economy? What's that
09:45range going to be like? Is it going to be less than 100 miles to a tank range? And we
09:48also want to see
09:49what it's like with that big fat feed of torque compared to the competition. In theory this should be
09:55a better road bike than some of the competition and in theory it should be a second or two down
10:00compared to the competition. But considering Norton have not produced a sports bike since the 90s this
10:06is an astonishing achievement. They've just kind of come out the corner and done really well and
10:11they've gone to it from a different angle. If you want to chase lap times and drag your elbow and
10:17be the
10:17fastest then this isn't for you. If you want to open your garage door to something that's usually
10:21desirable and attractive that you're going to ride on the road then maybe so.
10:25you
10:28you
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