1971 Norton Commando 750 Ad for the US market.
Great detail of the mufflers
Production Racer. Surely one of the
most beautiful bikes of the era With handlebars like that it must be for
American consumption
It was the same air-cooled 750cc parallel
twin, with two pushrod-operated valves per
cylinder, this time the engine was inclined
forward, but what shook the motorcycle
fraternity at the time was that vibration,
the curse of vertical twin riders, had been
tackled and overcome with a system called
‘Isolastic’. The engine, gearbox and swinging
arm were all isolated from the main chassis
by rubber-bushed mountings at the front of
the crankcase, cylinder head, and gearbox
cradle. This left the rider free from vibration
at normal engine speeds. The downside
was that the bushes had to be adjusted
every 8000km. The Commando production
began in 1968 and continued until the 1975.
It doesn’t however end there. There are
rumoured to be 100,000 owners world-wide,
spares are not difficult to find, and Norton
Owners Clubs are plentiful and helpful. The other aspect of the Commando is
not only what it achieved as a fast, open
road touring roadster, but its success on
the race track. The most high-profile race
track Commando-engined race bikes
were the John Player Nortons. They raced
extensively in Britain and Europe, and also
at Daytona. Formula 750 was also a happy
hunting ground for them. Perhaps the most
resounding success came in the Isle of Man
Formula 750 race in 1973, when the talented
rider and engineer Peter Williams won the
race, with Mick Grant on another JPS 750
Norton in second. Peter’s fastest lap was
171.63km/h. To put this into perspective,
five years later Mike Hailwood won the 1978
Formula One race on a 900cc Ducati twin,
and his fastest lap was by comparison only
176.99km/h
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