Pierre Terblanche Joins Norton Motorcycles

[ducatiz]

More mud for the water:
http://www.vivaducati.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=45

Well there you go.  I don't think that's mud.  The Canyon is just a mini version of the Gran Canyon, and is basically the same bike with a different engine (Mototrans??  I forgot what) and it came out in '95.  Looks like someone at Cagiva figured out how to shoehorn a 900SS engine into the frame after Terblanchey left.

I sit corrected.

[Silver King]

Looks like someone at Cagiva figured out how to shoehorn a 900SS engine into the frame after Terblanchey left.

...and later, a Suzuki water-cooled twin (TL1000???).  I really like the GCs with the Ducati motor but the maintenance keeps me away.

[ducatiz]

...and later, a Suzuki water-cooled twin (TL1000???).  I really like the GCs with the Ducati motor but the maintenance keeps me away.

yup.  the TL engine is pretty nice actually...

[fastwin]

So is the rc51. Just sayin' Plus it's got a couple of WSBK championships!

[Travman]

Terblanche will pen Norton's V-4 superbike.

From Motorcycle Daily: Norton, Terblanche and the V-4

"We were a bit surprised when Norton Motorcycles announced a few months ago that it would field a MotoGP team in 2012 when the 1000 cc capacity comes into play, but the recent announcement that Norton has hired famed Ducati designer Pierre Terblanche tells us Norton has some resources to back up its grand ambitions. European reports now indicate one of the first new Norton models Terblanche will pen is a V-4 superbike. Undoubtedly, this bike will be tied to the engine configuration of the MotoGP machine that will debut in 2012."

http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2011/01/norton-terblanche-and-the-v-4/

[xcaptainxbloodx]

oh shit... please tell me they will make a SBK then strip it and give us a production of the manx rsv with the an rsv4(ish) engine

[badgalbetty]

in a post here someone else asked if the guy who had designed the Norton had done anything else. I watched that bike come into being . I was a very good friend with kenny and rode a prototype 961. May I offer this.....thought. Kenny was a practical man. No he has not designed any other feats of brilliance to my knowledge from scratch. Doing this was quite an incredible task believe me, figuring out the design, cam timing,ignition timing, crank configuration, case design oiling system, valve geometry, electrical system charging system, rake and trail, vibration issues, DEQ compliance ,transmission  and clutch design, overall look of the bike, braking systems, clocks and data ept, compliance with DOT /DEQ and a trillion other things. Can you design a cylinder head> Do you know what kind of valve gear you are gonna use and where to locate it with in the head? How do you design rods that dont fail at 7 000 rpm and blow the cases apart? What material do you make the mainshaft in the transmission out of?Do you know how many were made before that alone was completed? Castings, plastic parts, frame manufacture, forks and suspension, etc all have to be done and if one can get a running prototype for the amount of money he spent or less than you have done good. I remember back in the day of going to see Kenny in his little dark office , cold and tired and he would say hey look I just got this back from the foundry..................experimental cyclinder head Number ......Every time one of those is cast its thousands of dollars. Getting it right is the key, then you have to make sure it is machined right so that all the other components will fit. Its easy to take for granted the work that the designers do when you have a new bike, but I bet not many on this forum have actually seen what goes into making something like this. I have . It takes a special person with an immense amount of self confidence and drive to get this done. I watched many triumphs and many failures, .Money was tight ,very tight and to do what he did on what he did was nothing short of amazing. He did not as Honda does have a team of engineers who can knock out a bike in the design room in a day......................he did it the old way. Pen it see what works and then go from there. I take my hat off to this man even though we have not spoken in a very long time. I rode a prototype. Only a handful of folks in the world rode one of these bikes and I was one of them. I also rode a norton F1 rotary when kenny came up to the farm one day...............I had quite a few miles on that too, very quick bike spooled up like an electric motor, tons and tons of power but a very small bike. I was fat at the time and found it very cramped. but the grin factor was 210 on a 10 scale.
I rode the black one, there was red, yellow and black 952 alpha motors and the 961 beta motors. 270* cranks and 360*cranks. The bike was designed to be able to change the camshaft in 20 minutes. Open the ignition case take out the timing plate unscrew an inspection cover take out the can replace with race cam, reasemble download new ignition tming. Done. a goal of 20 minutes was set,it is so you can run what ya brung. Truly a bike for the enthusiast made by one of motorcyclings greats. He has done more for the biking community than most know and was at one point was  a racer any years ago on the east coast. Maybe I should say hello to my old friend one day........ Well done Kenny you did good.You did beyond good and I respect you immensly.
BTW the newer bikes have been refined as they had the money to polish up the original design and make a few things work better. Either way doing what my friend did with what he had was amazing.I recomend  reading an article called England Swings in cycle world magazine , there you can see the start of the bike from the bike he built for Barry Weiss and then onto the VR880 which corrected a lot of the original nortons design faults. Kens bike the 961 had no parts from the orignal norton on it. That weekend of testing was fun , I rode with then editor of cycle world Dave Edwards , Weiss, Dreer and a few others. Edwards was on a big bevel drive Ducati kenny had just built for a customer and I was on my 900 Triumph .We had a fricking blast. Seeing one of the guys wheelying past a cop I thought for sure we were all off to jail. One of the guys riding with us was a motor officer and he had our backs.....
ahhh back in the day........
BGB

[Travman]

Wow, thanks for sharing.  Those must of been some good times.  I've followed Kenny Dreer's Norton work since he was cranking out the VR880's thanks to David Edwards writing about it in Cycle World.  I'd like to own one of the VR880's someday.  Have you ever seen the Norton Kenny did for Dave Edwards?  It was a little different from the VR880's since it had an Interstate tank, fastback tail, and scrambler type pipes.





I wish the latest owner (Stuart Garner) the best and hope their bikes sell well.  However, I thought he sounded disengenious when asked about Kenny Dreer's prototypes in a fairly recent magazine interview.  I think it was Cycle World.  He minimized Kenny's efforts by stating that none of the parts were ready for production or some sh** like that.  Funny how their production bike looks exactly like Kenny's prototype.  Kenny's work can't be minimized.

[badgalbetty]

Yes I am familiar with David's bike. I remember it well. Kenny and I were good friends. He is quite the man. I saw some of the rarest of the rare at his shop for many years, including a Healey Ariel Sq 4 engined bike, one of 12 made. I was also with him on a trip to CA when he sold a guy a 1963 BSA Factory Desert Sled complete with massive aircleaner. This was a made to order Gold Star as they were done with pre unit machines by that time and were not avaialble. Yeah, I saw some rare stuff and enjoyed it very much.
The VR 880's used a different left side engine case made by Kenny.There is nothing he does not know about British bikes. The man is a genius.
The VR stands for the name of his company Vintage Rebuilds. I believe the 880 is 880cc. He made around 50 of them or so over the years. They were fast, smooth and a vast improvement over the original commando.