Norton Comando 961 Fastback Concept by Oberdan Bezzi

Today we bring you to Motorpasión Moto another of the successful sketches one of our favorite and habitual designers of these pages that is none other than the Italian, Oberdan bezzi. Obiboi, as our man likes to be called when he works for pure pleasure for himself, offers us a version of the Norton Comando, the Norton Comando 961 Fastback Concept. Whenever we have shown Oberdan Bezzi designs, we have commented whether or not they are close to what the current motorcycle market offers. There are times when his pens draw projects far removed from current trends. Other times it is not like that, and with few changes, it literally "turns around" motorcycles that we can see at dealerships.

With this Norton Comando 961 Fastback Concept it gets into the realm of the classic café-racer in its quieter version, although those gas shocks and those radial brake calipers seem to say otherwise. Right now on the market, we can differentiate two types of café-racer. The aggressive and really sporty ones like the Ducati Sport 1000, in almost all its versions, or the current Norton Comando. And on the other hand, those with the same aesthetics, but less sporty depth, such as the Triumph Thruxton or the Kawasaki W800 or the Guzzi V7 Clássic. It is curious how a clear segment of minorities unfolds into two different aspects.

I can't get out of my head the eternal discussion that one can see on internet sites between the Ducati Sport Clássic and the Triumph Thruxton when, despite having mirrors on the tips of the handlebars and a very intense coffee flavor, they are not the same nor do they point to the same type of susceptible buyer. Looking at Oberdan Bezzi's drawing and a photograph of a Norton Comando 961 Sport Today you can see the differences since the Norton Comando 961 Fastback Concept would be more in the line of the Triumph Thruxton, quiet. And the Norton Comando 961 Sport is more in line with the aggressive styling of the Ducati Sport Clássic.

It should be mentioned that I am not forgetting the other two Norton Comando in the current Norton catalog, the 961 Café-Racer and the 961 SE, even more aggressive and sporty in terms of components and driving position. The Norton Comando 961 Sport in the photo would even cover a third category in which we would have the Ducati GT1000. Things get complicated, right? Basically we can leave it in the two aspects that I mention. The choice of one or the other will depend on the pretensions racing that we have since the most aggressive and sporty can roll in circuit batches with hardly any modifications against the quieter ones that will quickly bring out their deficiencies in these track battles. For road and route, for convenience, the tables are reversed, obviously.

But…, an aggressive café-racer with high seatpost handlebars and risers? Norton Comando 961 in its SE version?, For example. Or just a Ducati Sport 1000 with a Ducati GT1000 seatpost and handlebars might do the trick. Anyway … we're not going to mess around anymore. The range of possibilities can be greatly expanded And Oberdan Bezzi knows a lot about that, he always gives us those magnificent drawings like the faired version of this Norton that he calls John Player.