Norton Atlas First Ride Review: Testing the New Mid-Size ADV in Iceland

Jul 22
9 min read

Tim Warren takes off to Iceland to experience Norton's first stab at the middleweight adventure segment, the brand new Atlas 600 at its global launch.

Motorcyclist on an orange adventure bike rides a winding mountain road in misty rocky scenery.

After riding the new Norton Atlas 600 I've got a favourite new motorcycle category: ‘midsized adventure bike’. I’m sold!

A storied and famous brand dating from 1898, Norton has new ownership in TVS, which is relaunching the brand and launching new models - the second of which is the Norton Atlas seen here at its international launch in Iceland.

A mid-size adventure bike, it brings together so many good aspects from bikes, big and small.  It's got that pliable, torquey twin characteristic that is a pleasure to tour and loves to haul you out of corners. It's big enough that you can tour in comfort - just grab a high cog and let the engine do the rest.  When you quick-shift through low gears in tight and windy corners, the bike is alive with flexibility and handling.

It took me just 20 minutes riding before I realised I was at one with it and enjoying myself!  I could flick it from side to side with confidence. However you position the bike, whatever the lean angle, it's neutral and predictable. Overall road performance is top notch. And this mill is a good one. The 270-degree firing order gives it that joyful lumpy rumble riders love to hear, which also boasts oodles of torque. It's got torque in excess of what you'd expect for a 585cc twin, and with that torque comes rideability - it was playful and not too heavy.  

Orange-and-black adventure motorcycle parked on gravel with a snowy mountain and cloudy sky in the background.

Norton’s Atlas range ships with EuroGrip tyres, a sub-brand of Norton’s parent company TVS. They were designed for this bike, and it’s apparent as they are a great match with a neutral profile ensuring no handling surprises. Tread looks like a genuine on/off road pattern, chunky without being too knobbly, and the compound is remarkably sticky. Since they are new to market, there is no endurance data on them yet. Rims are standard sizes for the class – 19-inch front matched with a 17-inch rear – so on replacement you will have a range of options.

Norton has included lots of goodies on the bike, from a comprehensive electronics package to a very useful quickshifter. Within minutes I adapted to it. While there's never anything as smooth as a perfect manual clutch change, here you get the choice of either.  Slowing down aggressively into a corner, I use the clutch to stay smooth on the downshifts, with a blip on the throttle.  I did find that if you are too tentative with the quickshifter, it’s a little slow. The way to deal with that is to give it deliberate inputs, and then it does the job.

The clutch is forgiving; you can really slip it in during low speed for manoeuvring and handling slow traffic. Just let the clutch out with care, and it will take off for you with all that torque.

Note: you are not allowed to lane split in Iceland, so we did spend a fair amount of time in traffic getting out of the city, so clutches got a workout.

Close-up of a motorcycle front wheel with orange fender, black rim, disc brake and BYBRE caliper on a gravel road.

Brakes are impressive with twin discs at the front and one rear. The ByBre: “ByBrembo” calipers are replete with ABS. I deliberately triggered it on a gravel surface – and performance is as expected. You can brake harder if ABS does not quite activate, so I was pleased to find a lot of progression in the braking for a best-in-class feel.

Depending on the ride mode, there is a brake linkage to ensure even application. That means whichever brake is chosen, both brakes are applied (at a 30% ratio). You can disable this if you want, or select ‘Enduro’ mode to make the bike the least ‘controlled’ by the systems. One of the features I was impressed with was the front brake ‘hill-hold’. It took getting used to.  But if you're not moving, and you pull and hold the front brake, it will hold for you to help you do a hill start. Or just hold you steady for safety. Again, you can turn this feature off if you want.

The riding position is overall very good. The seat was comfortable and features a grippy rubberised material which allowed you to use your weight to throw the bike around, yet you didn't feel like you were sliding around on the seat. The seat also comes in three different seat heights, allowing for shorter to taller riders. The bike I rode was fitted with the medium seat option.

Motorcyclist on orange Norton riding a wet mountain road, with misty hills and a winding highway in the background.

The Atlas is quiet, which is great for touring. Some will be tempted to fit a loud pipe, but it's not necessary; the bean-can that's on there does a great job balancing tone and muffling duties. There's an awesome induction bark from 4,000rpm. Genuine design effort has gone into making the whole exhaust compact and effective, with a smart burn guard. Yet it’s so quiet that sometimes I couldn't hear if I'd managed to change down or not – so I’d find myself checking the indicator on the dash screen.

Within the dash there's a variety of controls, settings and ride modes. Tour and Sport modes were my go-to, plus Rain when appropriate. At the end of the ride, the large Atlas colour touchscreen gives you a ride summary. If you get the app, which is being rolled out starting with England, it gives you your route and a lot of details.

Motorcycle dashboard showing Light Settings menu with welcome lights, DRL, parking lamp toggles and a headlight graphic, 11:07 displayed

Gear ratios are selected with care; clearly, Norton kept in mind that an adventure bike has the double duty of working around town while taking you on those unsealed sections.  I found the box excellent in the city (lower gears, lots of start-stop), yet it could stretch its legs on the highway in the higher gears. When you get to the difficult stuff, the low gear is just at the right ratio for crawling. Let’s make it clear I'm not a motocross rider, so it will be interesting to get the view of more seasoned off-road riders on the gearing.

We took off from Reykjavik with about 30 kilometres of highway driving to get out of the city and its surrounds. Iceland is wild, so before you know it, you're turning onto B-roads—surrounded by staggering views at every turn.

On a side note: if you come to Iceland, get a slow car so you can actually take in the scenery! The team did an incredible job of organising the media tour, which took place over two weeks in July—summer in Iceland. But don't let the word "summer" fool you. Here, summer means 100 km/h winds (gusting upwards, of course), rain in the air, and 12°C if you manage to find a warm spot.

Two helmeted riders on orange-and-black scooters ride down a city street, with a mint e-scooter and parked car behind.

This is a land of extremes. Well, extremes make for beauty—and they also make for great roads. Now that I was super comfortable on the bike, I was able to make it my own. When you turn off the B-roads, you hit the F-roads, which are closed in winter and impassable to most vehicles. Only the brave and foolhardy use them, and I think motorcyclists are a bit of both.

In my riding group, we had a Norton lead and tail rider alongside five media members, including myself. Spanning from Argentina to South Africa, we were a great group united by a shared passion for motorcycling. One of the most interesting characters was a Japanese professional test rider. Over 20 years, he has ridden everything, crashed everything, and broken many things—yet he remains completely humble and understated, with a wonderfully dry sense of humour.

Ride days were broken up into distinct segments: breakfast, briefing, first ride, morning tea, the next ride with a content run, lunch at a stunning location, and then another ride.

After the first ride segment, I felt the rear was a little unforgiving, so I spoke with our very knowledgeable Norton tail rider. He looked me up and down and dropped the rear preload by two clicks. The next segment proved his assessment was spot on: the rear and overall road performance were now faultless.

Motorcyclist in white helmet rides an orange bike on a rocky gravel road through misty hills with power lines.

As for the off-road performance—at first, I enjoyed the nimble handling as I adeptly skirted around all the potholes. But as my confidence in the bike grew, I started riding right through them (for research purposes, of course). The bike soaked them up effortlessly. Soon, I was actively seeking them out, cackling to myself, "Haha! Potholes mean nothing to me!" as I bounded over deep ruts in the oft-broken road. Easy.

Lunch was a real highlight. You get off your bike at the end of a rough road, soaking wet, and step inside a transparent plexiglass moonbase with Wi-Fi and five-star food. Sometimes you just brim with gratitude—and this was one of those times.

Motorbikes are most fun when you get to take an occasional break, and that's just what Norton had planned for us. Halfway through the day, some of the team were getting a bit cold. Thankfully, I wasn't.

Back to the Bike

Silhouette of a person beside a motorcycle on a rocky hill at sunset, with mountains and clear sky.

It is tall, but as I've mentioned, there are different seat heights available. With a high pillion seat, it's hard to swing your leg over, so I got used to standing on the left footpeg to mount the bike. At one stage, the Icelandic wind almost caught me off guard and nearly knocked me and the bike over. It didn't, though—I caught it. But that would have looked silly. Coming to grief in front of your global peers and the brand team would be a humbling experience. Let's avoid that!

We came a different way back: cue more stunning views of Iceland, this incredible, stark, beautiful island. (Note that the local spelling is not ICEland, but Ísland—quite literally, an island).

Coming around a blind bend, Reykjavik vistas opened up for us, and we cruised back on the highway. Jumping off the bike I felt great; I didn't feel like I’d just ridden 200+ km in challenging conditions. I felt ready for more!

Motorcyclist on an orange and black bike leans through a winding mountain road under a cloudy sky.

I was impressed with the look of the bike. It's attractive in a restrained English way and genuinely unique—you're not going to confuse this with any other bike. It features a prominent running light "smiley" across the front, and the top Apex-trim models have cornering lights built in, which seems like a no-brainer to me and ties into the design very nicely.

The Atlas isn't visually complex, which gives it broad appeal. Despite this, it's packed with clever little features: excellent footpeg positioning (great for sitting or standing), an integrated passenger handhold, a manoeuvring handle, and a pack-rack base.

Overall, everything worked well and came together seamlessly. It feels very sorted—not like a first iteration. It's clear a lot of testing has gone into it, and the Norton team was very receptive to feedback.

Styling & Performance: Looks-wise, it's strong, as is the performance. Oodles of torque—essentially flat from 4,000 rpm upwards—makes this a pleasure to ride.
Protection & Ergonomics: There is just the right amount of protection from the elements thanks to the adjustable front screen. It's handsome looking, too. I love the orange, though the green I saw was stunning as well.
Touring Ability: You can get integrated Givi-designed luggage, which I'm all for, and I think most buyers will be too. That makes it a brilliant choice for touring. It's also light and narrow enough to do things you couldn't on a full-size adventure bike, like lane-splitting and carving through tight corners.

Electronics & Handling

The electronics are impressive, with intuitive controls where everything works smoothly. This is the kind of bike you can jump on and ride straight away, though you'll benefit from reading the manual. There is plenty of practical functionality built in, like a puddle light that shines down right where you deploy the kickstand.

Motorcycle dashboard screen showing Vehicle Controls with toggles for Vehicle Hold, Drag Torque, and Quickshifter.

Touring and off-roading on the Norton was both fun and reassuring. Again, I adapted quickly and felt at one with the bike. I'll pay the Atlas the biggest compliment here: it handles like a smaller bike, but performs like a bigger one. It puts out as much power as twins from 20 years ago that were 25–30% larger, while being significantly more fuel-efficient. This engine is truly something special, and while it's unique to this bike for now, more models are on the horizon.

Final Thoughts

Norton is an exclusive brand with immense heritage. Want to learn more about Norton? Talk to your dad! It's one of the true greats of English automotive engineering—a brand that performed at international racetracks and off-road with the original Atlas. New owners TVS have done a fantastic job, keeping design-led in England to retain that rich heritage.

I like it. It's handsome, rides well, sounds good, and most importantly, it's fun. My overall riding impression was simple: it’s a more capable bike than I am a rider.

Straight away, I imagined having this as my daily. As I said, a mid-sized adventure bike is my new favourite style—and this Norton Atlas sets the benchmark.

Do I give it a thumbs up? Yes. Two thumbs up.

Motorcyclist in white helmet rides an orange Norton through purple wildflowers on a rocky path.

Norton Atlas Models

Atlas: Adventure-oriented with spoke rims.

Atlas GT: Road-oriented with solid alloy rims.

Editor's Note: Photos in this article are of the Atlas, however, they had the solid GT rims as they were a pre-production version. Users have a choice of rims. Matching luggage is an optional extra. Warranty is 3 years. There is an SOS button that can call for help. Details on this are yet to be released outside the UK.