Best Retro Classics coming in 2024 as shown at Motorcycle Live at the NEC Birmingham 4K

[@jonnaylor3154]

Wow! The Peter Williams developed Norton! That bike chassis was 20 year's ahead of everything.fight me on it.😎

[@bikerdood1100]

It was indeed the work of the late Mr Williams Who’s father of course much design work at AMC

[@seoras83]

The Ariel Leader had a moncoque frame in 1958 as did the Honda "Cub". ;o)

[@mikewysko2268]

All good looking motorcycles. Always pleased to see those vintage Nortons. 🏍

[@bikerdood1100]

Very true Glad you enjoyed it

[@nikos-giorgos]

​@@bikerdood1100 Just don't put a deposit down...

[@bikerdood1100]

@@nikos-giorgos 😂😂

[@bikerdood1100]

@@nikos-giorgos well with our bikes into double figures I don’t have room for a bantam I think Norton is now a far safer bet in all fairness and build quality is much improved beyond any doubt

[@matthewcochran3325]

Great video buddy! I concur on the lack of rear brakes today. When I ride my old drum brake Honda, I almost exclusively use the rear brake. That is just a habit I picked up from my dad who has been riding since the mid 1960s.

[@bikerdood1100]

I don’t understand how your supposed to have low speed control

[@davidrochow9382]

Interesting that you didn't mention the RE Scram when going through the new range of Royal Enfields.

[@bikerdood1100]

Well no particular reason It like my Himalayan is a different animal More practical travel bike than foe classic

[@rickh8380]

A lot of nice bikes that will hit the market soon. Never heard of the Herald. Looks interesting. Can't wait for Deb's review on the BSA. Ride safe all. Cheers

[@bikerdood1100]

Thanks 👍🏻

[@hodaka1000]

​@@bikerdood1100 Where are the Herald engines made ?

[@Norfolkbiker50]

@@hodaka1000 Herald motorcycles are based in stukely meadows near Huntingdon but I'm fairly sure that their business model is importing Chinese bikes and rebadging them, at least that's how they started about 10 years ago. On an unrelated note I think the wall of death now uses heralds after decades of using the good old Honda CB200!

[@RulgertGhostalker]

it's good to see Norton is making at least one bike for commoners again.

[@bikerdood1100]

Well it’s relative Affordable ish

[@Peter34736]

the Norton name might be 120 years old but it has nothing too do with this new Norton company not their legacy or heritage

[@bikerdood1100]

Well at least they are genuinely built in the UK I’d save you indignation for Mr Bloors Foreign built Triumph

[@Lanes-Explorer5733]

Thanks bikerdood. It's the Hunter for me, of course but nice to see some other machines. Herald is a completely new one to me. LE

[@bikerdood1100]

They seem to have slowly emerged in recent years The bike has a very 80s vibe

[@Lanes-Explorer5733]

@@bikerdood1100 Ah yes that's why it didn't tick any boxes for me then as I prefer the styling of motorcycles from the 60s just into the very early 70s. And they have to be air-cooled... 🙄. Narrows my choices somewhat. Fortunately Royal Enfield must have heard my plea 😂😂

[@nikos-giorgos]

That triumph 400 range...why tf would i buy a motorcycle with a logo big enough to be seen from space, am i sponsored and i don't know about it?

[@bikerdood1100]

The graphics are a lot aren’t they Big union flag I do find that irritating all things considered

[@WOLFIE-96B-UK]

I think it's great to see the old British names on new motorcycles, no matter where they are built!

[@bikerdood1100]

Have to say I’m not so sure A Malaysian built bike covered in the union flag seems plane dishonest to me And who’s benefiting ?

[@WOLFIE-96B-UK]

​@@bikerdood1100Unfortunately almost everything we buy these days is imported, so I suppose it had to happen to motorcycles. Sad but true!

[@bikerdood1100]

@@WOLFIE-96B-UK but it shouldn’t be Norton is Uk made why not others ?

[@WOLFIE-96B-UK]

I would love to see them all built here, I guess Norton (at the moment) is a bespoke hand built motorcycle aimed at a well off customer base where the purchase price doesn't need to be as competitive as cheaper brands. I've enjoyed reading the comments, both for and against!

[@paulcooper5610]

I going tomorrow, just wish Moto Guzzi would make an effort to turn up!

[@bikerdood1100]

Well piaggio as a whole A lot of companies not there in fact including HD

[@paulcooper5610]

Yes slightly disappointed with the show this year, I guess a lot of manufacturers no longer value the UK market. At around £30 to get in maybe next year I'll just visit the Dealerships individually and look at the bikes I'm interested in. The new Triumph 400's look good value, I noticed the Fantic had been reduced possibly due to Triumphs pricing. I dare say a lot of other bikes in the 30 -50 bhp area will also have to review there prices if you can now by a Triumph for £5000.@@bikerdood1100

[@CaptHollister]

I've said this before, but to me the best looking of all the retros is the Meguro K3 and it's too bad Kawasaki has decided it would be too expensive to sell outside Japan.

[@bikerdood1100]

Well it’s been on sale in the uk as the W800 Not sure about best looking though It does have more credibility than the Malaysian Bonnie however Cost isn’t the thing though More like emission regulations for an air cooled unit and slow sails when it is available

[@CaptHollister]

@@bikerdood1100 Good points, but the Meguro has key equipment and aesthetic differences from the W800, though they are the same mechanically which means emissions-wise the K3 could be sold wherever the W800 is sold. As it happens, one of my daughters works for Kawasaki Canada, so she and I have had this conversation before, many times in fact as I pester her about my new favourite bike: the official reason the Meguro K3 isn't sold in Canada, while the W800 is, is because the projected retail price would be just too high. I suspect it's much the same in the UK.

[@specialized500]

Too high for short old blokes as well

[@bikerdood1100]

Well not necessarily checked them against two short women 😂

[@Norfolkbiker50]

A mahindra with a bsa badge is still a mahindra and will never ever be a bsa. Bsa built their last motorcycle in 1973 and ceased trading in 1978. Mahindra bought the bsa name recently and are using the name of a long dead iconic British marque to sell cheaply built Indian motorcycles.

[@bikerdood1100]

Yes yes We all know Move on 🙄

[@Norfolkbiker50]

@@bikerdood1100 apparently a lot of people don't know, if they did they wouldn't buy the bloody thing. A short story for you, one of my friends is an MG enthusiast, is a member of the owners club and currently owns 4 of them including one of the last MGZTs (rover 75) to be made. He also owns a rover 75 diesel and one night as He was leaving to go to a club meet the ZT had a flat battery so he jumped in the 75. When he got to the pub where they meet he was told in no uncertain terms that it's a MG owners club meeting and as such other marques are not welcome so he went home (I know right) about a month later the chairman, the same guy who chastised him for turning up in a rover, arrived in a Chinese suv with an MG badge on it. My mate pointed out that he was turned away and yet this guy can turn up in a Chinese car which is so obviously not a MG? He was told that it has a badge that says different. At this point my mate quite rightly reached the conclusion that these people are not enthusiasts they're idiots and he had made up his mind that he was done with them but just for a laugh he stuck an MG badge on the boot of his 75 and took it to the next meeting, as expected the chairman rushed over to him as soon as he arrived shouting that he'd already been told that his rover was excluded from the club (pub carpark) so my mate took him round to the back of the car and showed him the badge. The chairman said "sticking a badge on it doesn't make it a MG" to which my make replied "I thought you'd say that" and pointed to his Chinese suv! Obviously he never renewed his membership.

[@mickcresswell1031]

@@BanjoLuke1it might be a valid comment, but it is oh, so tiring. There are so many marques, both in motorcycling and in cars, who don’t make their products in the ‘original’ country, or have had a ‘break’ in production since they were ‘originally’ produced. Why can’t people be pleased that an iconic brand name is back selling bikes? You never know - getting people positively engaged with the new bikes just might get them interested in the old BSA’s, which is definitely a good thing, especially as the average age of all classic bike owners is still increasing. Or, perhaps we all moan about BSA not being the ‘real BSA’ and we loose interested bikers, who only see a bunch of whingers moaning all the time. Just some food for thought? From an old RE and Triumph owner……

[@Norfolkbiker50]

@@mickcresswell1031 you're so wrong, the reason for my rant is because the BSA goldstar was one of most iconic British bikes ever built, that piece of crap that mahindra have cobbled together is nothing like an original goldstar and to call it such is at best false advertising. If it was badged as a mahindra nobody outside India would buy it because like I said, it's crap, a few years ago the AJS badge appeared on cheap small capacity Chinese bikes and just like the mahindra they were awful. Oh, and I'd hardly call 45 years "A break in production".

[@bikerdood1100]

@@BanjoLuke1 well I personally own a 1954 Golden Flash And yourself?

[@thepeakybiker]

its a good event its a shame its getting smaller every year

[@bikerdood1100]

The British market has been shrinking for decades and little is ever done to address it, so it’s no real surprise

[@thepeakybiker]

@@bikerdood1100 yea was poor this year I thought a few of the big manufacturers didn’t go and the hall sizes are smaller each year pitty really use to be a great day out with lots of stalls

[@nikoscosmos]

Slapping a round headlight on a modern bike does not make a retro classic!

[@bikerdood1100]

Yawntastic comment But if it retains the same virtues Sooner That than the hideous transformers coming out of Japan

[@hodaka1000]

Not wrong

[@nikoscosmos]

@bikerdood1100 what same virtues would those be? It's just a naked bike with tft digital instruments. At least the RE and dare I say new BSA look like a heritage development.

[@garyives1218]

Gold forks on "retro" motorcycles look awful.

[@bikerdood1100]

Black would be better

[@hodaka1000]

I hate those ugly gold forks

[@bikerdood1100]

That’s very specific 😂