In the very first year of The Kneeslider, way back in November of 2004, I wrote a short post about a V-Twin called the Norcroft. Like the Carberry and the the Musket, the Norcroft is based on a new bottom end designed to mount the top ends of a Royal Enfield single. Although it was built and running at that time, it seemed to disappear over the years and I heard no more about it. In the ever changing fortunes of small scale businesses like these, the Carberry endeavor has shut its doors, but yesterday, I got a note pointing to a website about the Norcroft and it seems that project has been revived.

The Norcroft was the brainchild of Bill Hurr and Richard Hurst in the UK. After successfully building an engine and installing it in a stretched Royal Enfield frame, development costs began to rise, going beyond what was comfortable for the funds available and the project went mostly dormant though development did continue.

A pair of German enthusiasts, Andreas and Mathias, were fascinated by these V-Twins and initially tried to work with Carberry before that enterprise folded, with the intention of helping them with financing and production. It never worked out and they turned their attention to Norcroft. They located Bill Hurr and visited him in the UK, seeing the original Norcroft for the first time. After some discussion, a new team was formed, consisting of Bill, Andreas and Mathias along with Mathias’ friend Uma from India. They decided to restart the project and made plans to update the engine and build it in India, the present home of Royal Enfield.

From the look of things, they’ve made quite a lot of progress. They’ve gone the route of designing, casting and machining new bottom ends and have a lot of photos on their site of the process. How long before work is complete on the new engine remains to be seen, but they have a couple of videos of the original Norcroft which has now been restarted and is being ridden on the road. The big takeaway from the video is the sound of this engine, it is EXCELLENT! It sounds very strong and just like a V-Twin should.

I will try to get more details of this project, but if they get this engine built and sorted, it will be a welcome addition to this array of Royal Enfield twins, which now seems to be Aniket’s Musket and the Norcroft. If the Carberry is revived, we could have a real battle on our hands.

Be sure to listen to the videos below. The first is a restart after years of sitting. The second is a nice run on the road where you can get a sense of how strong it is. Very Nice. I think you’ll be impressed, I know I was.

Link: New Norcroft website

Link: Norcroft on Facebook

Link: Original Norcroft website





Ignore the music, it fades when the bike runs.