Norton powered Zongshen Cyclone RX6 on sale soon
By Ben Purvis
Norton's tumultuous 2020 has inevitably led to delays in bringing new models to the market, and as a result, Chinese firm Zongshen - which bought a licence to manufacture Norton's new 650 cc parallel twin engine - looks set to get its version into production before the genuine article is on sale.
January 2020 saw Norton collapse into bankruptcy amid controversy over former boss Stuart Garner's financial dealings.
The deal with Zongshen was concluded before the bankruptcy filing and the remaining valuable elements of the company, including its intellectual property, were eventually bought by India's TVS - which is working to bring the company's models back on sale, having established a new headquarters in Birmingham, England.
But there's been an inevitable pause in production and new model development. That means the most important new bikes to emerge in more than a decade since Garner's Norton revival - the 650 cc Atlas Nomad and Atlas Ranger - have yet to complete their development.
In the meantime, China's Zongshen, which bought rights to manufacturer its own version of the Atlas' new water-cooled, DOHC parallel twin engine back in 2017, has completed the work on its first model to get the engine.
The Cyclone RX6 has now completed its type-approval in China, passing the country's strictest emissions limits - roughly equivalent to the Euro 4 standards that have just been superseded in Europe - and is heading for production. Euro 5 emissions standards have been considered during its design, so the Zongshen should also be able to meet the requirements to be sold in Europe.
"Licence-built 650 twin beats Norton version to type-approval"
Unlike the handmade, retro-style Norton Atlas models, which are both 1960s-inspired scramblers, the Cyclone RX6 is a determinedly modern adventure bike that's clearly targeting the likes of Suzuki's V-Strom 650 and Kawasaki's Versys 650. In performance terms, it matches those rivals, with 70 bhp on tap. That's rather less than the ambitious 84 hp that Norton claims for the same engine - itself effectively made from the front two cylinders of the firm's V4 superbike - but exactly in line with similarly sized twins from other mainstream manufacturers.
With Zongshen positioning its Cyclone-branded models as high-end machines to rival Japanese and European competition, it's no surprise to see the bike has some familiar brand names on its bought-in components. Nissin supplies the brakes, for instance, while Bosch provides the ABS system and software.
Zongshen showed two prototypes in China last year, but the images here show the production-spec machines used to pass Chinese type-approval. Two versions have been approved, one with wire wheels, the other with alloys.
As a resolutely modern machine, the RX6 includes all the parts you'd expect from a new model in 2021, including a colour TFT display and LED lights, but it's surprisingly heavy, with a homologated 'wet' weight of 245 kg, which is around 30 kg more than the similarly sized V-Strom or Versys. That may be offset in future by a larger version of the parallel twin engine, as Zongshen is rumoured to be developing an 850 cc derivative.
Various Zongshen models have been offered in Europe and the UK in the past, and the RX6 is clearly the best-positioned model the company has made yet to appeal to export markets, although it will need a coordinated export push if it's to compete against rivals like Loncin and Qianjiang, which have dedicated Euro-focused sub-brands in the form of Voge and Benelli.
