Norton 650 Scrambler Teased

Norton 650 Scrambler teased 1

The British motorcycle manufacturer is set to release a new model. The new bike will be a street bike with roaster — scrambler appearance and a brand new 650 cc twin-cylinder engine. The engine will be half of the V4, and the guys at Norton are thinking about adding in a supercharger.

The new 650 will take a sports bike shape and roaster with all the derivations. The sports version is mainly designed to serve as a base ground for a future Isle of Man TT race bike. On this configuration, the engine will produce around 100 hp and weight under 150kg.

In an interview taken by MCN, the head of design Simon Skinner declared: “The first bike that the 650 will appear in is a Scrambler type bike. The engine has been designed to have three power levels, with the top-end high-spec 175bhp supercharged version, then a normally aspirated high-performance version at 100bhp, the low-powered one with just under 70bhp. It’s the same core 650cc parallel-twin engine with a 270-degree crank, which gives it nice drive characteristics, a nice sound, and a nice vibe — and matches the firing order of the Commando engine."

"It’s a very lightweight, modern parallel-twin, so it’s not like a BMW or Kawasaki mid-capacity parallel-twin. This is literally half the V4, and by losing the rear bank of cylinders, we can make the bike very short, very compact. It shares a lot of architecture with the V4 engine, the cylinder head and valvetrain are all common. The engine is very versatile and has been designed to work across a range of applications and both steel and aluminum chassis," he explained.

If the engine is already in production a mock-up of the first series, Norton Scrambler 650 might be presented next fall. It’s a pleasure to see the British manufacturer so involved in the middleweight machines.

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