Norton Dominator is back

The legendary Norton Dominator name is set to return as Norton announce they are already taking orders for a new, road-legal version of their Domiracer.

These images direct from the Norton design department are the first chance to see the new bike and what it will look like. At the moment there isn’t a real bike fully built but these are official Norton drawings of how the Dominator will look when it goes into production early in 2015.

The new Norton Dominator has been inspired by the huge success of the £25,000 Domiracer which was limited to just 50 bikes and sold out in less than a week; secondhand examples are now changing hands for up to £40,000.

The demand for the hardcore, track-only Domiracer has shown Norton there is a huge demand for such a bike and nearly 40 of the 50 bikes sold have been registered as road bikes using Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) legislation.

The new Dominator is a toned-down version of that bike; keeps much of the basic Domiracer engineering but this will be a fully type-approved and road-legal bike that meets strict Euro3 emissions and noise regulations.

Norton has already opened the order books for some of those who were desperate to get hold of a Domiracer in 2013 but missed out on the 50 bikes built. The order books are open but Norton doesn’t even yet know exactly when production will begin but it’s estimated it will be late February 2015.

Garner told MCN: “The Domiracer has been so successful for us we had to do this. The demand for the Domiracer has been unbelieveable and even though we always said there were only ever going to be 50 of them we still get people phoning every week asking if someone had dropped off the list.

“We have seen a few selling on the used market for more than £40,000!

“What we are thinking is that there will be a run of 50 Dominator SS bikes to start with before it then turns to building standard bikes which will be named Dominator. Some of those who missed out on the Domiracer have heard about this bike and have already been trying to give us cash deposits. At the moment we are telling them to hang onto their money until we get more of a clear idea of when production will start.”

The new Dominator has some key changes over the Domiracer it is based on; most as a result of the reduced price of £19,999 which has demanded some of the most expensive elements of the Domiracer have been changed. Norton wants to make sure owners of the original 50 bikes are clear the bikes they bought are still special and aren’t going to be followed by a whole load of cheaper but identical bikes built for the road.

You can read the full story and see lots more pictures of what the bike will look like in this week’s issue of MCN on sale now.