New Norton 961's are solid mount parallel twins with 270' cranks and new age contruction, but they ain't no real isolastic Commando ...
http://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle_ro ... _se_page_2
The 270-degree crankshaft gives the bike requisite character, although it’s more Ducati than old-time 360-degree-crank Norton. A Twin, however modern it is, isn’t supposed to be glass-smooth or buzzy, and the Norton isn’t either of those. The counterbalancer quells the strongest of the vibes and leaves the rest for you. Output is a claimed 79 hp at 6500 rpm, and it feels like it on the road. Claimed torque is an equally welcome 66.4 ft.-lb. at 5200 rpm. Healthy enough figures for an air-cooled Twin.
Don't improve the handling either ...
And while the engine is right on the money in comparison with similar-displacement, modern, air-cooled Twins, the handling of the SE is shocking. Not bad. Shocking, as in unexpected. The appearance of the new Commando is a mixture of British history, rose-tinted familiarity and trusted modern blue-chip brands. But grab it by the bars and wring its neck and any nostalgia trip is over. The bike twitches and shimmies like a stripped-down streetfighter. The bars kick as the front end goes light on the throttle. Perhaps it’s the superlight South African-made BST carbon-fiber wheels (non-SE models will be equipped with alloy-rimmed wire-spoke wheels) that help it feel so frisky. The new Commando doesn’t go AWOL but gives the impression it’s up for a fight or fun, whichever comes its way.
Again to me its just evidence the whole rest of the world is mis guided down dead end half fast solutions to handling and pilot comfort.
My '00 'curvy' 90' crank SV650 feels tight smooth and secure, till on it ~20 minutes, then the buzz of valve train annoys. Yet its as smooth as is acceptable to new age world. After Code's Corner School where I learned to fly inline4 buzz bombs off the surface I did it on SueVee too to find she smoothed out while in the air but for /slow' suspension oscillation, then we'd land and the buzz hits again. ugh. Ms Peel when flown suddenly shakes with the crank shaft and the valve train and suspension plus shimmies with wind eddies, till she lands on pasture grass or THE Gravel and disappears again but for surface texture inter face. Same on tarmac, but that level of handling is beyond comprehension here or by the world most elite racer craftsmen.
About half dozen rear linked plus 2 helper rod 360' Cdo in the works with eager seasoned skilled riders, till then just ole hobot's word that all's ya all's don't know what you are missing out on, hehe. When the going gets tough on oldest Cdo's or newest moderns, they go off shopping, with twitches, shimmies, shakes, rattles and rolls alerting pilot to back off or lose it, not on Ms Peel she just enters next level-phase change of energy handling and stays on accelerating smooth glee, till the next higher level-phase change of energy handling threshold crossed, for 3 more funner ways around than anyone but hobot enjoys in refreshing low effort sensation.
Handling and smoothest have been totally solved in the Ozarks, just don't know how long it'll take rest of the Cdo world to catch up. We have one other example of supremesty of 360' isolastic in Doug McRae's rub plate tri-angulated racer but he's not described any further handling phases than plain old boring phase 2 counter steering. But he' and chassis are not annoyed by the vibes.
Smartphones have app's that use accelerometers to graph vibes, so want to get one and pass it around, but most want to record a fully loaded two up Goldwing as I think Ms Peel unloaded one up is smoother yet.
