Norton's is a storied brand, and the stories haven't always been comprised of ideal situations. After several bankruptcies and a comeback under TVS ownership that required a few years to produce a totally new range of bikes, the next shot had to hit the bullseye. Norton couldn't offer up an all-new superbike, in the form of the Manx R, that cost upward of $50,000 in some guises without being absolutely sure it'd be a hit.
Of course, Norton didn't blindly launch a $50,000 superbike, but how much research and development it put into the Manx R is astonishing. The brand went through 100 prototype motorcycles, covered more than 500,000 km (310,685 miles) of development and validation, with 20,000 kms (12,427 miles) being on track.
