Norton Atlas First Ride Review

Introduction

The Norton Atlas will be here in a couple of months. And when it arrives, it will take on motorcycles like the BMW F 450 GS and the upcoming Royal Enfield Himalayan 750. Compared to those motorcycles, the Atlas will be more expensive. But it also packs in more performance and a significantly longer features list. The question, then, is whether all of that translates into a better riding experience.

To find out, we spent a full day riding the Atlas in Iceland. We rode it on highways, through cities, on fast-flowing roads, and even on dirt tracks. By the end of the day, it was clear that the Atlas has some solid underpinnings, which give it a big advantage in the space it will operate in. But then, it has its set of shortcomings too. Here’s what we found.