Yes! Get your safety-scissors and glue sticks out because today we will be learning about the Norton Isolastic system the fun way!
The much-fabled-for-it's-handling featherbed frame which housed the Norton twin through the Dominator, Atlas et al years was of course, a fantastic roadholder. However, the new Commando needed more power and since Norton decided against developing a new engine in favour of simply wringing more power out of the old unit (which was fundamentally unchanged since the late 40s), vibration went from being simply a pain in the arse (literally) to beedin' 'orrible. And so it was that the Isolastic system was designed, using rubber bushes to isolate the engine and swingarm from the frame, forks and therefore, vibrations from the rider. The system worked a treat provided the bushes were in good condition and kept in adjustment using shims (threaded adjusters on the Mk 3 made things easier).
So there you are: Isolating + Elastic = Isolastic.
