Quick Ride
QUICK RIDE
NORTON INTERPLUS Game warden turned poacher
THE BIG YELLOW MACHINE cruises smoothly and easily at 90 miles per hour, feeling relaxed and longlegged. There’s so little vibration that you might guess you’re coasting. But you’re not.
This is the Norton Interplus, built not by Norton but by a small firm in England called Classic Plastic (Ashwellthorpe Industrial Estate, Ashwellthorpe, Norwich, Norfolk, England; phone 011-44-50841-8366). The Interplus’s guilty se-
cret is that it’s based on the aircooled, rotary-powered Interpol II police bike Norton first produced over 10 years ago.
The Norton’s new life began when it was bought by Mick O’Neill, who owns Classic Plastic, which makes fiberglass automotive and motorcycle products. O’Neill designed and built this bike as a one-off for his own use. But a neighbor convinced O’Neill that the Interplus had commercial potential. The two joined forces to put it into production.
To create an Interplus, O’Neill strips a standard Interpol of its police uniform. The 38mm Marzocchi fork is refurbished, the seven-spoke Grimeca wheels and the chainguard powder-coated. The rotary engine can be sent off for a complete rebuild, or, to keep cost down, simply cleaned, polished and painted. Standard 38mm SU carbs are kept, along with the rotary’s complex induction system, which requires the carbs to be fed by air that has first been warmed by passing through the engine to cool the rotors. Replacement steel exhaust pipes save weight, though those on the testbike had been spoiled by the aluminum coating’s inability to withstand heat.
New bodywork includes a fairing and the seat/tank unit. Clip-ons, a lightweight, carbon-fiber-reinforced front fender, and new headlight, battery and speedo are prominent in a lengthy list of detail changes. The result is about 154 pounds lighter than the Interpol; the Interplus weighs about 436 pounds with fuel.
In typical rotary style, the motor runs cleanly from idle to its 8500-rpm redline, pulling harder as the revs rise but showing no real signs of a power step. Midrange is excellent for an engine rated at 588cc; a 5000-rpm crack of throttle sends the Interplus forward with a unique rotary whistle, though the Norton’s claimed peak output of 84 horsepower at 9000 rpm means it’s outperformed by most modern Japanese 600s. But a rider interested in a modern 600 isn’t the buyer for the Interplus, and vice-versa.
Classic Plastic is concentrating on the first batch of 10 bikes like this, one of which has been sold. Price for the basic Interplus is £5000, or about $7300 at current exchange rates, rising towards £6500 for a bike with a fully reconditioned motor.
The Interplus’s makers think it is the bike Norton should be building even now. Perhaps if it was building such bikes, Norton wouldn’t be on the verge of liquidation today.
Roland Brown
