British motorcycle brand Norton Motorcycles has announced a new model in the company's sportbike line-up. The Norton Superlight SS is a supercharged and full-carbon version of the company's 650 cc twin-cylinder platform. The Superlight SS features a carbon fibre frame, subframe and swingarm. With a claimed 175 bhp power and just 160 kg kerb weight, the Superlight SS promises to be a performance-packed sportbike, although the basic architecture is the same 650 cc unit of the standard Superlight, Norton has borrowed the same gearbox and running gear as the Norton V4, so that the SS can cope with the extra power of the supercharger.
The supercharged 650 cc engine puts out 175 bhp of maximum power at 12,500 rpm and with 125 Nm of peak torque, with a 47 per cent less weight than the aluminium-framed Superlight, which puts out 105 bhp. The new Norton Superlight SS will be a limited edition model, with only 50 of these supercharged 650 cc sportbikes to be built. According to reports, Norton has not ruled out putting the non-supercharged engine into the carbon fibre frame, or putting the supercharged engine into the aluminium frame, saying that both of these are interchangeable and there are options if there is customer demand.
Norton has recently announced a crowdfunding campaign, moved at helping to raise GBP 1 million, to aid the company in ramping up production of the company's latest line of V4 SS superbikes and 650 cc model ranges. In India, a few models from the Norton Motorcycles stable are offered by Kinetic MotoRoyale, which offers these bikes as CBU models in India.
