Norton Dominator: All You Need To Know

Norton Motorcycles will be launching two bikes in India, the Norton Commando and Norton Dominator in late 2018. Both bikes will be launched by Kinetic MotoRoyale under the new joint venture between the Kinetic Group and Britain's Norton Motorcycles. Like the Commando, the Dominator name is also taken from Norton's 1940s motorcycle with the same name. The original Dominator was in production from 1947 till 1976, with varying engine capacity, ranging from 500 cc to 828 cc twin engines. The new Norton Dominator has been manufactured by the resurrected Norton Motorcycles company based at Donington Park, Leicestershire, UK. It's a production model based on the exclusive Domiracer, and was first unveiled in 2015. It's the second bike from the British bike manufacturer which will be launched in India after the Norton Commando.

1. The new Norton Dominator is based on Norton's exclusive Domiracer. The Dominator uses high specification components while maintaining a classic appearance and style. It's still a café racer, and uses carbon fibre judiciously across its body, be it the flyscreen, side panels and rear fairing.
   

   The Dominator is a cafe racer from the British motorcycle manufacturer

2. Initially, the Norton Dominator was offered in two variants. The Dominator SS was a limited edition model and only 50 bikes were built, which were all sold out. The Dominator uses a classic "featherbed" style frame mated to a trellis-style swingarm, like the Domiracer.
   

   The Dominator is powered by a 961 cc, air-cooled, parallel-twin engine

3. The current Norton Dominator was launched in 2015, and is powered by the same 961 cc, air-cooled, parallel-twin engine with dry sump lubrication used in the Norton Commando. The engine has been developed in-house by Norton and has a 270-degree crank, and makes 79 bhp of power and 90 Nm of peak torque. And it's mated to a five-speed transmission.
   

   The Norton Dominator gets top-spec components, including Ohlins suspension and a lot of carbon fibre

4. The Norton gets hi-spec components, like the 43 mm, Ohlins upside down fork with adjustable preload, compression and rebound damping. The rear suspension is also from Ohlins, with the monoshock being adjustable for ride height, preload and compression. Braking is handled by top-spec Brembo four-piston Monobloc radially mounted calipers gripping twin 320 mm discs up front and a single 220 mm disc with a two-piston Brembo caliper at the rear.
   

   The Norton Dominator will be the second Norton bike to be launched in India after the Commando

5. The Norton Dominator is priced at GBP 19,950 (over Rs. 17 lakh) in the UK. It will be initially sold as a full import, and a special edition for India, so expect prices to be very, very expensive when the bike does come to India in late 2018. Kinetic MotoRoyale expects to assemble the Dominator in India as well, so expect prices to marginally stabilise once the CKD versions roll out. It still won't be an outright affordable motorcycle though, and with the carbon fibre bits and hi-spec components, the Norton Dominator will only be for the select few.