Press

If you listen to the headlines, you would think the UK’s pothole crisis is finally being taken seriously. Billions are being pledged. Long-term strategies are being rolled out.

There was a time, not that long ago, when walking into a dealership and asking about a new bike didn’t start with the price—it started with the monthly payment.

It’s March 2026. The roads are drying out, the evenings are stretching, and by all rights this should be one of the busiest, most optimistic moments in the motorcycling calendar.

You’ve seen the videos. Two men in hoodies. An angle grinder screaming against hardened steel. Sparks flying across a city pavement like fireworks at a celebration no one asked for. Pedestrians drift past with takeaway coffees. A bus rolls by. Someone films from ten metres away. No one steps in.

We arrived at Norton’s state-of-the-art Solihull facility with a mixture of excitement and cautious curiosity. Memories of the rather underwhelming Donington site visit back in 2020 still lingered, so expectations were balanced somewhere between hope and healthy scepticism.