SPECIAL EDITION N°7 • Summer 2020
Vincent Motorcycles
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VINTAGE Motorcycle News A motorcycle publication for the motorcyclist enthusiast.
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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
This issue started like the previous ones and soon became to overwhelm me. I never realized how much information was available on the internet and so many willing to help. Even though the official brand is no longer existing, replicas of the engine are still being manufactured and sold nowadays. So much that JMC Classics from England has already shipped a few hundred bikes to Australia. There is still a demand for this motorcycle...
EDITOR Pat Castel VMN.Editor@rogers.com
Artists, amateurs and professionals have touch or retouch this engine in many ways. So it was hard for me to pick the right info to share with you guys but I think my selection will please you.
COVER PAGE The Egli-Vincent-Godet
Of all the stories in it, the one I like the most is surely the story of Patrick Godet. In collaboration with Egli, he redesigned and manufactured a better Vincent. If he would still be alive today, his bike would have been far better than Barney Li’s project.
Notice All information furnished herein is provided by and for Vintage Motorcycle News. Unless otherwise stated, none of the information (including technical material) printed herein necessarily bears endorsement or approval by any manufacturer or the editor. The editor and publisher cannot be held liable for its accuracy.
Next Edition In this issue, we will go back in time to see what came out of the brain of engineers and we will have a look at what skilled mechanics have done when a radial engine lands in their workshop.
You cannot talk Vincent without talking about those artists around the world who bring even more panache to a name that has already reach the pinnacle of engines. A young Russian by the name of Dmitry Golubchikov is about to make history probably for a second time at the next biennial AMD World Championship in Cologne, Germany. Just have a look at his most recent creation on page 56. Words are failing me… If your wallet cannot afford the real McCoy why not settling for a 1/9 scale model from MFH. The quality of this kit is way superior to any other kit available on the market. Be the judge and look at the finished kit made by Scott Kilford on page 9. Summer will be quite doll this year. Most of our rallies have been cancelled and for those not yet there, the decision is pending. Do not have to much hope for those events either, this is just a question of time before the organizers realized they won’t have enough entries to justify the cost. Hopefully, next year will allow us to resume one of our favorite activities. Last but not least, our Canadian friend Bar Hodgson is working on an article about his Legendary "Gunga Din" Vincent motorcycle. Just this, will call for a unique edition designed around the "Gunga Din". It will be a treat as Bar has documented the article with plenty of photos. Till next time... Ed.
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Article by: Phil Mahood The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club (VOC) is recognized today as being the largest, and finest, one-make motorcycle club in the world. The Club’s goals are to promote the preservation, restoration, and riding of Vincent H.R.D. motorcycles. It provides spare parts, technical assistance, and a very active social scene for its members. How did it all begin? A UK Vincent owner, Alan Jackson, founded the Club in 1948 with the help and encouragement of the factory and Philip Vincent himself. In one year, membership grew rapidly to 500 enthusiasts. A monthly magazine, MPH, kept Members informed and in touch with each other. Membership grew in the 1950s to over 1,000. The membership number has been stable at over 2,000 for the past
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several decades. Today there are 54 local Sections throughout the world. There are also numerous non-territorial Sections catering to special interests such as Norvins, Egli’s, pre-war Series “A”, competition, and even Vincent industrial products. MPH, the journal of the Club, has been published monthly, without a break, since January 1 9 4 9 . Th i s a w a r d - w i n n i n g magazine has been the core benefit of club membership. It keeps everyone in touch via writeups of local activities sent in from around the world. MPH also prints technical articles, historical items, letters, and humor. Today, communication has been vastly expanded through the Internet. The Club website is a huge, interactive resource that gives access to a searchable database of technical information. There are
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forums for Members to seek technical advice, to publish interesting tid-bits, or just to chat. There is even a Club Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. The first 4 issues of MPH are shown with more recent editions including the 70th anniversary issue. Speed and performance have been constant themes near and dear to most Vincent owners. That is reflected in these cover pictures. MPH is obviously the perfect name for a publication dedicated to the Vincent motorcycle.
The VOC Spares Company Limited is a separately incorporated Company with the Club owning about 43% of the shares. The Company supplies virtually every part for the Vincent motorcycle. It stocks over 100,000 items covering 2,000 lines. The scope of parts has always included wearable, maintenance, and repair items. In recent years the lines have expanded to include larger items such as engine castings, and frames. As a demonstration of its capability, the company assembled a complete Black Shadow entirely from new parts. The Spares Company is obviously the key to keeping these bikes a truly practical choice for the dedicated rider. Summer 2020
VOC calendar full with events for everyone.
The VOC and the spares company operate out of its own premises in Desborough, Kettering, UK. Plans are underway to create a small museum there to display historical artifacts.
Rallies had always been a mainstay of the Club in the UK. However, in the mid-1970s there was an explosion of interest and activity in North America. The first true North American Vincent rallies were held in Ontario, Canada, home of the strongest overseas Section at that time. Year over year growth of these events was exponential. In 1977, it was decided that the Vincent world should meet for the first
International Rally at Shadow Lake (below), a pretty cottage resort in Haliburton, Ontario. Plane loads of bikes and people came from around the world. The attendance number was well over 300. Since then, International Rallies have been held once every four years in locations as far flung as Australia, New Zealand, England, Germany, Italy, and several spots in North America. Local rallies and rides keep the
As for the machines themselves, every Vincent has a story. Those stories start with factory records, now owned by the Club. These days, owners are keenly interested in authenticity and provenance. Out of the original production of 11,000 post-war machines, the VOC can account for roughly half of those bikes, an extremely high survival rate. The Club’s Machine Registrar administers machine ownership data compiled since the start of the Club. As a service, copies of the original Works records are provided to Members on request. Among many other things, these records show the date of manufacture, road testing notes, and the date and place where shipped. When asked what the main benefit of membership is, words like “people” and “family” are most often heard in response. To belong to the Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club is to surround oneself with true friends who will always be there in time of need. If you own a Vincent, or aspire to do so one day, the first place to start is the VOC. If you are considering joining the Club, by all means do so. It is a step you will never regret. Phil Mahood VOC Eastern Canada Section Organizer pmahood20@gmail.com Membership Information www.voc.uk.com/net/index5.php
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http://www.voc.uk.com
1951 Vincent Rapide
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Photo © François Grosset
A brand-new Series A Rapide 80 years after Vincent HRD built the last one! by Philippe Guyony
The Series A is one of the rarest things that you can own in the Vincent world. It is therefore pricey and each time one turns up on auction, it smashes all estimates. But the point is that even if you have a deep pockets, you must wait and hope for years before being able to get one between yours hands. The other way to get around that fact is to build it yourself. Yes, that sounds crazy but not completely if you think that reverse engineering can solve that kind of problems. Nevertheless, it is not simple nor is it free, when you consider the amount of experience, time and money that you will have to invest in such project. François Grosset is now the third Vincent enthusiast to take on that Vintage Motorcycle News
challenge with success, but it has taken him five complete years to put together this first machine, which is also the first of a limited edition of five that he is going to build in his workshop. I know François for nearly 30 years and I always saw him restoring Vincents, Eglis, Velocettes, machining parts when those did not exist or when their quality was not satisfactory, not to mention designing and manufacturing two models of electric-starters and electronic ignition for the Vincent twin. So, when he told me in 2014 that he had started that project, I had no doubt that he would not only do it but that the result could only be outstanding! 6
“…I did not want to reinvent the wheel, so I leveraged the parts available for Series A to focus on those that were either not remanufactured or that were sold for the price of gold due to their rarity. The challenge was in fact to make all the key and specific parts to this model, thus I had to remake all tooling and patterns for the engine casing, cylinders and heads, and also all small casting elements that are integrated in the fabrication of the frame, swing-arm and the Brampton fork as per the original design. However, to save time, this first bike uses cylinder heads from Conway,” says François who concludes: “…this was a terrific project to which I would like to associate my son Samuel who has made all the CAD Summer 2020
drawings and my friend Trevor Southwell who was an invaluable resource when my tooling or my experience reached their respective limits.”. The pre-war 1000 Rapide is the very start of the twin venture for Vincent. Only 78 were made before the world war II outbreak. The base was the 500 Comet—whose top-end can be recognized— assembled together with a completely new Photo © François Grosset bottom-end in a frame with a slightly longer base than for the François Grosset and his home-made Series A on the corner of the fireplace. “I asked about 30 years plus Comet. But when the ago to get my Vincent in my home, the answer was at that time that it will be OK when it will be a Series A. war ended, Vincent So…voila!” I guess François deserves his cup of tea for this priceless moment. Not that the bike has just and Irving had already completed its first 150 miles. designed a unit-bloc from a clean sheet of paper that will Series A model including tooling swingarm and the Brampton fork be used in the Series B and later C and patterns for the engine casing, as per the original design. A 1937 and D. (Photo © Francois Grosset) cylinders, heads, and all small Rapide—ex- Bob Stafford—was The challenge was to remanufacture casting elements that are integrated used as a benchmarked for this in the fabrication of the frame, reverse engineering exercise. all the key parts specific to the
Philippe Guyony Minneapolis, MN The Vincent was of course not my first motorcycle, but rather a slow maturation process, which started in 1982 when a friend of mine offered me the opportunity to ride his Rapide for a few miles. I was student at that time, and in fact, it took me 12 long years to afford the acquisition of my own 1948 Rapide Series B. Since, I have own many other V-Twins of any kind, including a 1951 C Black Shadow, but the Egli-Vincent became to me like an obviousness, or at least, the motorcycle that suited me the best. Even today, although I love all British Classics, she remains for me the ultimate motorcycle, the one I would have if I had to keep only one. My wish is to be able to convey this passion to you through these pages dedicated to the Egli-Vincent and more widely to the Fast Vincent. Vintage Motorcycle News
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Deluxe 1/9 scale Model Kit HRD Vincent Black Shadow 1948 By MFH (Model Factory Hiro) Ref: MFH-K567 available at your local Hobby Store • Based off the earliest build of “Black Shadow” in 1948, with a Brampton gutter type front frame. • A full detailed, multi-material kit featuring white metal, etching, metal plated parts, rubber parts and silk screen decals allowing for maximum representation of the original vehicle. • Moveable bike chain built from a combination of etching and metal parts. • Spokes made from stainless pipe, paired together with metal rim for a realistic representation. • Combination of etching and metal parts used to replicate the brake drum/cooling fins which was upgraded from the Rapide. • “HRD” logo and various marks/emblems not found on later models embedded into parts. • Additional pre-plated parts included to further represent the majesticity of the Black Shadow. • Metal plated parts used in headlight and speedometer giving a sharper look to these areas.
MFH Model Kit built by Scott Kilford
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Bob Larmour’s Vincent Rapide Vintage Motorcycle News
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by Classic British Motorcycles
SMALL VOLUME BIG REPUTATION Vincent Motorcycles have an aura & a cache to them that is vastly out of proportion with their production output. Vincent produced less than 11,000 motorcycles total from the end of World War II until their demise in 1955. It’s amazing how much attention a Vincent Black Shadow, or a Vincent Rapide garners at motorcycle auctions & motorcycle shows, considering how few there are in the world. 11,000 Vincents from 1946 to 1955, or about 1,100 motorcycles per year over 10 model years. In comparison, at their peak, Triumph Motorcycles was building
over 30,000 Bonnevilles a month! Just Bonnevilles. Many more when you consider all the other models they built. Yet, Vincent Motorcycles do indeed have an aura of greatness about them, much like old Ferraris command at car shows. They never made very many old Ferraris either, yet they’re legendary, & indeed all the more sought after for their rarity. And like Ferrari, Vincent Motorcycles had high performance credentials: “The world’s fastest production motorcycle.” A PRISONER'S DREAM The Vincent story really begins in World War I, when young English Royal Flying Corps pilot Howard Raymond Davis is shot down & taken prisoner by the Germans in 1917.
During his internment as a POW, Davis is said to have conceived a design for a motorcycle that he set about trying to produce after the war. In 1924 he takes on EJ Massey as a partner & together they form HRD (Davis’s initials) & build several models using JAP engines. While HRD Motorcycles began winning at the racetrack, they ran at a constant loss financially & by 1928 they went into voluntary receivership. Ernest Humphries, of OK-Supreme Motors bought it for the real estate that came with it (large factory space) & sold off all the other pieces, the HRD name, rights, tooling & materials. VINCENT BUYS HRD Meanwhile, Phil Vincent, whose family was very wealthy with Argentine cattle, had built his own motorcycle in 1927 & 1928 with a unique patented cantilever rear suspension (an early version of monoshock).
1952 Vincent Comet 499cc OHV single.
He wanted to go into business producing them, but was advised it would be wise to start with an established name. So, he purchased what was left of HRD from Humphries for a staggering 450 Vintage Motorcycle News
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pounds! The new company was named Vincent HRD Co., Ltd. & its trademark was the Vincent name in small letters above the traditional HRD logo.
This remained only until US imports grew after WWII. It was deemed that the ‘HRD’-part would confuse customers with the H-D of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, so in 1949 the HRD was dropped & from then on, they were all known as “Vincents”. THE EARLY DAYS 1928 saw the introduction of the first Vincent-HRD with a JAP engine & a Vincent cantilever frame. They also used Rudge Python engines. However, a punishing 1934 racing season at the Isle of Man TT that caused failures in these engines compelled Vincent Motorcycles to design & build their own engines. In 1931 Phil Irving joined Vincent as Chief Engineer. He quickly set about designing a new line of 500cc OHV singles for the 1934 Vincent Meteor. From 1932 to 1936 the awkward Bantam 3-wheeler with a 293cc Villiers two-stroke engine was produced also. Irving left Vincent in 1937 but returned again in 1943.
become a Vincent motorcycle dealer in the US. At this time, Vincent’s only engine was their 500cc OHV singe which powered the Series A Meteor. All Vincents had a unique design feature: the valves had 2 valve guides actuated by a forked rocker arm that operated between the guides, as a way of eliminating sideward thrusts on the valves. These engines produced 26 hp at 5300 rpm & were good for over 90 mph. But, they needed to expand not only their product line but their engine size. FUNNY STORY... How the legendary Vincent Rapide V-Twin engine was conceived is
certainly one of the most tantalizing legends in all of Classic British Motorcycle-dom. Phil Irving was sitting at the drawing board one day with two tracings of the 500cc single. As things got moved around, the top tracing roughly lined up with the bottom one (identical to the top) at such an angle as to look like a V-twin. With a little cajoling, he lined up the crankshaft centerlines & the timing idler gears & ended up with a 47.5 degree V-twin. The single you see, was canted forward at 23.75 degrees, so this just duplicated that angle to the rear. In doing so, the 1936 Series A Vincent Rapide was born. The 994cc V-twin had 6.8:1 compression, made 45 hp & was
POSTWAR DEVELOPMENTS WWII saw Vincent Motorcycles making munitions & marine engines, not motorcycles. But they already had their eye on the emerging US market after the war. In 1944, Eugene Aucott of Philadelphia PA was the first to Vintage Motorcycle News
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1953 Vincent Rapide Series C. good for 110 mph. Absolutely stellar performance in 1936! The Series A (or first generation) engine was somewhat crude when compared with later models, with its non-unit construction & exterior oil lines. The clutch & transmission was also weak. But the Vincent Rapide was still a stunning success for the tiny Vincent-HRD Motorcycle Co. It had a brazed lug frame with Vincent’s patented cantilever rear suspension & a girder front end. SERIES B IMPROVEMENTS It wasn’t updated until after WWII with the Series B 1946 Vincent Rapide. Now the oil lines were all internal & the separate engine cases were incorporated into one major housing in a ‘unit-construction’ format. The V-angle went from 47.5 degrees to 50 degrees & many internal improvements were made. The engine now became a stressed member of the frame, a revolutionary concept at the time & one not revisited until the 1970s. Vintage Motorcycle News
The backbone with the steering head carried the oil & was attached to the top of the engine. The cantilever rear suspension setup was bolted to the back. Dual SLS (Single Leading Shoe) brakes were front & rear & the QD (Quick Detachable) rear wheel was reversible, with different sprockets on the 2 sides to give different gearing options.
Stevenage factory in England to be fitted with a Vincent Rapide engine with the idea of considering it for production. It never happened. SERIES C In 1948, the Series C was introduced with the Vincent Rapide line.
INDIAN VINCENTS
The Series C differed from the Series B Vincents in that they had ‘Girdraulic’ telescopic forks instead of the old girders.
Starting in 1946, Indian Motorcycles of the US became the importers for Vincent.
The engines, while essentially unchanged, were massaged to yield even more power.
Having changed hands during the war, the new owners of Indian Motorcycles wanted out of the heavy V-twin business & wanted to start building bikes like the British vertical twins.
The Vincent Black Shadow had 54 hp at 5700 rpm & was good for 125 mph, hence the title “The World’s Fastest Production Motorcycle”.
Their design was awful, so they changed strategies & became the exclusive US distributors for several British makes including AJS, Matchless, Royal Enfield & Norton Motorcycles. And now Vincent. It is rumored that an Indian Chief was actually shipped to Vincent’s 14
Black Shadows are instantly recognizable by their blacked-out engines. THE BATHING SUIT BIKE They weren’t kidding when they called themselves “The World’s Fastest Production Motorcycle”, because on September 13, 1948, it became official. Summer 2020
At the Bonneville Salt Flats, Rolland “Rollie” Free took a Vincent Black Shadow on several high speed runs but failed to break the 150mph barrier. He determined that the wind resistance of his clothing and sitting in a riding position was keeping him from “The Big 150”. So, he stripped down to nothing but a Speedo swimsuit, a bathing cap and a pair of borrowed sneakers, removed the seat, lain prone on the back fender and proceeded to break all records with a 2-way average of 150.313 mph (241.905 km/h). Vincent Motorcycles built the world’s fastest motorcycle of any type.
The above photo is probably one of the most iconic photos in all of motorcycle-dom. The bike is affectionately known as "The Bathing Suit Bike" and everyone knows exactly what you're talking about.
THE SHADOW KNOWS Most Vincent Motorcycles were black in those days. Just 15 ‘White Shadows’ in, you guessed it, white were sold in 1952. Just 16 Vincent Comets were sold in red in 1950. And 31 Vincent Grey Flashes were built. That’s it! Everything else was black! ENCLOSED BODIES Series D was never a name that Vincent Motorcycles actually assigned, but the developmental changes made with the 1954 model year were significant enough to be referred to as such by the general public. Sales were slow & in a desperate effort to turn things around Vincent came out with a fully-faired (fully-enclosed) line of motorcycles. The 1954 Vincent Victor was a Victor Comet with a full body. The Victor Black Knight was a fully-enclosed Rapide. And the Vincent Black Prince was a fully enclosed Vincent Black Shadow. They weren’t well received & did nothing to turn ailing Vincent's fortunes around. Vintage Motorcycle News
This is the actual 1948 Vincent Black Lightning that Rollie Free rode into history that fine day in 1948, the one-and-only Bathing Suit Bike. It was on display at the Quail Motorcycle Gathering in 2011
This 1955 Vincent Black Prince shows the direction that they believed motorcycles were headed: fully-enclosed bodies. They were about 50 years too early. 15
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A CRAZY IDEA THAT FAILED ANYWAY Crazy ideas must have started looking pretty good to them at this time, as they resurrected their trike that failed back in 1930s. “The Vincent Bantam” was first introduced in 1932. Powered by a 293cc SV JAP engine (later to be replaced by a 250cc Villiers engine) the vehicle was a 2.5 cwt delivery van which unusually used a car type seat and steering wheel rather than a motorcycle saddle and handlebars favoured by some 3-wheelers produced by motorcycle manufacturers. The standard van was priced at £57-10- 0 though for a extra £5-100 a windscreen and hood could be purchased. Production of the Bantam ceased in the mid 1930s.
But when they started carrying the “NSU Quickly” moped in 1954, they promptly sold 20,000 of them the first year. Things went so well that NSU decided to pull their contract & start importing them themselves. THE END IS NEAR By 1955, the losses were piling up so high that Phil Vincent announced that motorcycle production would cease. But he vowed that Vincent Motorcycle parts would always be available, and in fact they are, even after all these years. Yet another testament to the solidity of the Vincent Motorcycle legend.
It too was a failure, on this, its second time around. They even stooped so low as to sign on as the importer for NSU mopeds in their quest to stem the flow of red ink. At first this wasn’t going too well for them. They sold just 160 123cc two-stroke NSU Foxes & 40 98cc OHV 4-stroke models. Vintage Motorcycle News
In 1954 / 1955 in Stevenage. (UK) a one off prototype Vincent 3-wheeler was produced. The vehicle was powered by a Vincent Rapide 998cc engine and was unofficially named “Polyphemus*” by its previous owner Roy Harper. Before this the vehicle had the name “Locomotion. The names were as a result of the single large cooling opening in the nose panel. This duct ran from the orifice at the front of the body, directly onto the front cylinder of the engine. Additional vents at the side of the 16
Vincent helped cool down the engine further. In addition to the engine it used a great deal of Vincent motorcycle parts including clutch, power transmission, gearbox and monoshock rear suspension system from their Series D model. The 14” wheels came from a Morris Minor. The two seater body was made of 16 gauge aluminium panels that were bolted onto a 4-inch steel tubed chassis. The tail section of the car was hinged to allow good access to the rear wheel and engine whilst another panel had to be removed to reach the kick starter. With the standard Rapide engine the Vincent could reach 90 mph. In 1955 this was replaced with a Vincent Black Lightning engine that on its first test propelled the vehicle at a recorded 117 mph, a speed that beat sport MG’s of the same era. It’s perhaps interesting to note that in 1950 a supercharged Black Lightning motorcycle was going to attempt to break the World Speed Record at over 200 mph but despite Summer 2020
Another is the Egli-Vincent, of which about 100 were produced from 1967 to 1972 by specialty frame builder Fritz Egli of Switzerland. They continue to be produced today, both authorized & unauthorized. 2 other enterprises were established to try to capitalize on the Vincent name.
1953 Vincent Black Shadow Series C. Arguably the last of the great Vincent Motorcycles.
the bike being built, the attempt was never made. After several prototypes the Vincent 3-wheeler was offered to the public in 1955 at £500. Despite the interest the price put many people off as the Vincent was not a practical vehicle having no self starter, reverse gear or hood. The whole project therefore was allowed to die a “natural death”.
engines for target drone planes, but this too fell through. In 1959, the Vincent Motorcycle Co. went into receivership. THE NAME LIVES ON But, such is the power of the Vincent name & reputation, that the story doesn’t end there. Vincent V-twin engines continued to be dropped into other types of frames, the most famous of these being the Norvin, a Vincent engine in a Norton Featherbed frame.
RTV Motorcycles had plans to build a line of modern, state-of-the-art motorcycles on the Vincent mold with 1000cc & 1200cc V-twins. They managed to build just 4 bikes before going belly-up in 1998. Lastly, Vincent Motors USA acquired the Vincent trademark in 1994 & by 1998 had spent $2Million developing a modern motorcycle with “the Vincent look” & wearing a Vincent badge. It was to be powered by a Honda RC-51 V-twin engine. But before things could really get rolling for the San Diego-based company, founder Bernard Li was killed in a motorcycle accident & his dream with him.
At least one prototype still exist in the U.K and is owned by top Vincent expert, Bob Culver. This is a 1970 Egli-Vincent. These hand-built bikes had beautifully-crafted chrome moly frames that were THE END
meticulously brazed together with the prettiest beads I've ever seen, then nickel-plated. This one was heavily customized in modern times, turning it into a wicked cafe racer.
After that, the focused on engineering, building industrial engines & the Amanda Water Scooter, perhaps the world’s first p e r s o n a l watercraft. Nothing really hit for them. They sought to secure a l u c r a t i v e government contract to build Vintage Motorcycle News
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VINCENT BLACK SHADOW
A PARAGON OF ENGINEERING What made Vincent famous and their bikes so prestigious at the time was their extreme quality.
From the end of WWII until their demise in 1955, they barely produced 11,000 bikes total, including mostly single-cylinder Comets and Meteors.
Owner Phil Vincent didn't mess around when it came to building and designing the best motorcycles in the world at the time. And they literally were, or close to it.
And sales were slow and getting worse nearing the end, so Vincent Black Shadows were probably only produced in a few hundred per year.
In fact, Vincent called the Black Shadow "The World's Fastest Motorcycle" and it actually was. A modified Black Shadow was the first to break the 150mhp-barrier on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1948, performed by Rollie Free in only a bathing suit!.
Upon closing the company, founder Phil Vincent swore that Vincent parts would always be available, and indeed they are. A tribute to the motorcycle, and to the man. Today, Vincents, all Vincents, but especially Black Shadows, are extremely valuable and much sought-after by collectors and investors alike.
Advanced features abounded on Vincent Motorcycles. Among them was a unique-to-Vincent system of two valve guides per valve, one set high and one low with a forked rocker arm actuating the valve in the space between the two. It was intended to keep the valve travel dead-straight to fight valve guide wear, a big problem back then, and it worked commendably.
Their rarity certainly doesn't hurt (only about 1,700 Black Shadows were produced over their entire lifespan), but their impeccable engineering, stunning performance and 'coolness-factor' are just off the charts! VINCENT BLACK SHADOW
BLACK SHADOW PRODUCTION NUMBERS
1000cc OHV V-twin
Vincent was a low-volume producer of high-quality motorcycles, and high-priced for the time. Vintage Motorcycle News
Series C: 1948-53 Series D: 1954-55 Black Prince, 18
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VINCENT RAPIDE
VINCENT RAPIDE BACKGROUND
solutions that were chosen for the Series A are indicative of pre-war thinking. Non-unitized construction (engine, primary case and gearbox are separate components), external piping for top end lubrication, and an overly-complex valvetrain were just some of the issues that Vincent addressed and improved upon with the Series B.
Vincent head engineer Phil Irving was working on some tracings of the firm's 499cc single cylinder engine in 1936. As things got moved around, two of the tracings lined up roughly in the shape of a V-twin. With a little cajoling, he quickly lined it up enough to see that it would work. And the Vincent V-twin was born. By 1936, the new bike was in production, designated the Series A Rapide. It was, compared to later bikes, complex to build and maintain, but it was fast, very fast. By doubling their cylinder-count and displacement, the new 998cc V-twin made 45 horsepower, almost unheard of in 1936, not to mention its 110 mhp top speed. The 1939 Rapide was the last of the Series A's, with production curtained by the start of World War 2. When civilian production resumed in 1946, Vincent would introduce the new Series B Rapide with the same displacement, bore and stroke, but with a different V-angle and unit construction.
SERIES B RAPIDE IMPROVEMENTS During the War, Vincent's engineers toiled away reengineering the company's V-twin engine from scratch. Even the V-angle was changed, from 47.5 degrees in the Series A to 50 in the Series B. Top end lubrication was now handled internally, eliminating all external oil lines. The engine, primary case and gearbox were all housed in one unitized casing making for a lighter, stronger, more compact package, and one that could now be used as a stressed member for the frame, thus eliminating the need for front down tubes or an engine cradle.
SERIES A RAPIDE CHARACTERISTICS
Series C Vincent Rapide 1948-1955
Vincent's first foray into big V-twins started with the 1936 Series A Rapide. It was a 998cc brute with 45 horsepower at at time when the a Triumph Speed Twin had around 26. Everyone loved them, but few could afford them. Complicated and expensive to build, undercapitalized Vincent was never able to produce them in large numbers. Series A was cut short by World War 2 in 1939, and by the time the war ended, it would be replaced by the vastly-improved Series B. The design
SERIES C RAPIDE DIFFERENCES
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The Series C was introduced to the Rapide lineup in 1948, but did not replace the Series B. Instead, they ran side-by-side. The only real difference between the two series was that the Series B used the ancient girder front forks and the Series C used "Girdaulic" telescopic forks, made by Girling and with hydraulic damping, hence the hokey name. 19
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VINCENT COMET
VINCENT COMET BACKGROUND
The compression ratio was 7.3:1.
Vincent was a very low-volume producer of premium motorcycles. During the entire span of the company's existence (1928-1955) they barely made 11,000 bikes.
These engines included a very unique valve arrangement with two valve guides on each valve with the forked rocker arms acting on that portion of the valves that laid between the two guides. This gave the valves more lateral support and a much straighter path.
The big V-twin Rapides and Black Shadows may have been the stars of the show, but the 499cc single-cylinder Comet was their biggest seller, by a wide margin.
The Comet single served as the basis for the V-twin engine in the Vincent Black Shadow, they just doubled everything.
So few V-twins were built that all the money was being made selling Comets.
The gearbox was a Burman BAP 4-speed, all set in a unit-construction case.
The Comet was a very advanced design for a British single of the day, with many features unique to Vincent.
COMET RUNNING GEAR
Most singles on the market at that time were considered entry-level 'cooking' bike (ie: cheap commuters), but Vincent took their singles in a whole new direction, building it into a truly premium machine that people aspired to own.
The Comet had frame similar in layout to the V-twin Vincent Black Shadow which included Vincent’s proprietary cantilever rear suspension and Vincent’s Girdraulic forks up front. And, like the big V-twins, the engine was a stressed member of the frame, eliminating the need for front downtubes and an engine cradle.
COMET ENGINE DESIGN Th e C o m e t e n g i n e w a s a n air-cooled 499cc OHV single with its camshaft set high in the crankcases.
This saved weight and mass, and helped ‘the little Vincent’ punch well above its weight class.
Both the cylinder block and cylinder head were made of aluminum alloy with a cast iron cylinder liner. Vintage Motorcycle News
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VINCENT BLACK KNIGHT
1955 VINCENT BLACK PRINCE BACKGROUND
The fiberglass was certainly lighter, but it wasn't particularly aerodynamic. In fact, the Black Prince was 10 MPH slower than the Black Shadow upon which it was based. But it was never meant to be fast, it was meant to be comfortable. And remember, the Vincent Black Shadow as THE fastest bike that money could buy in 1955, so there was plenty of power to spare. Instead, Vincent carefully designed the bodywork to accommodate and coddle the rider in daily use. At the time, many Brits were commuting to work on their motorcycles, because cars were still beyond the reach of many families. British riders had to endure horrible weather, riding to work in complete riding suits, then having to wipe down the bike and change into their business clothes. The 1955 Vincent Black Prince is designed to shield the rider, including his legs, from the elements. In theory, it was possible to ride to work in your business suit. Weather it worked out that way or not is subject to debate. But they went to great lengths to not only make the bike comfortable, but also easy to live with. While fully hidden, the engine is easily accessible with removable panels for maintenance and repair. The entire rear section of the body hinged upwards to provide access to the rear wheel and chain. And to make it easier to get the fairly heavy bike on its center stand, a long hand-operated handle on the left side of the bike provided added leverage. To cope with the added weight, the single rear shock absorber was replaced by dual units under the seat.
By the early 1950s, Vincent the company was struggling. Founder Phil Vincent, always the innovator, the risk-taker and creative genius, had been steadily improving the Vincent line through several successive 'series'. The Series C, 1951-1953, had failed to spark much-needed sales, so for the Series D, Vincent redesigned practically the entire bike. The frame was reworked, the oil tank relocated, the fuel tank made larger, the wheels shrank in diameter, one of the 2-sided rear brake drums was removed for simplicity's sake, the electrics were improved and new Amal 389 carburetors installed. In Vincent's continuing quest to find sales and open up new markets, Phil Vincent designed two fully-enclosed touring bikes out the the bones of the Black Shadow, to create two new models, the Black Knight and the Black Prince. 1955 VINCENT BLACK PRINCE DESIGN Both the Vincent Black Knight and the Black Prince used fiberglass bodywork to enclose the bikes. This was rare at the time. Triumph was just about to launch it's "Bathtub-Bikes", the 3T 350 twin and 5T 500 twin with partially-enclosed bodywork made entirely out of sheetmetal. Vintage Motorcycle News
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The Vincent Bathing Suit Bike
WHAT IS THE VINCENT BATHING SUIT BIKE?
The record-breaking Black Shadow forever became known as “The Bathing Suit Bike”.
Vincent Motorcycles was calling themselves "The World's Fastest Motorcycle”, and they weren't kidding.
Inside the Vincent Bathing Suit Bike The now-famous Bathing Suit Bike was custom-ordered owned by California sportsman John Edgar from the Vincent factory with many new and/or custom features. These included Vincent's first use of a rear suspension (their Cantilever Frame), the first Mk II racing cams, and horizontally-mounted racing carbs. The Black Lightning was supposed to be some 100 pounds lighter than a stock Black Shadow with about 25 more horsepower.
On September 13, 1948, Rolland “Rollie” Free piloted his modified Black Lightning into the history books at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah USA. At the time, the 150 mph-barrier seemed unreachable for motorcycles. Rollie tried several times, but never quite touched “The Big 150”. He determined that it was the wind resistance of his clothing that was slowing him down. So he stripped down to a bathing suit, a bathing cap and a pair of borrowed sneakers, he removed the seat and laid prone on the back fender.
Vincent's chief engineer Phil Irving and one of its designers said that there were only about 16 produced. The Black Lightning is the fastest Vincent ever produced, and was indeed the not just "The World's Fastest Production Motorcycle", it was, for a brief time "The World's Fastest Motorcycle"-period.
His 2-way average jumped to 150.313 mph. The picture of him breaking the record is one of the most iconic photos in all of motorcycledom. Vintage Motorcycle News
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Vincent Black Shadow Engine Cutaway ONE OF THE PRETTIEST ENGINES EVER MADE! That's a tall statement, I know‌ but just look at the thing!! How can you say that it's not? Th e V i n c e n t M o t o r c y c l e Engine is at the same time solid, robust & compact, yet graceful & ďŹ nely-detailed, a true work of art. It's hard to imagine any engine looking much nicer. Vincent Black Shadow Engine Cutaway At the recent Quail Motorcycle Gathering held at the Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley CA, The Vincent O.C. had on display this utterly scrumptious Vincent Motorcycle Engine Cutaway of a Vincent Black Shadow V-twin. It was a very impressive piece & one that you don't see everyday. Vintage Motorcycle News
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The Egli Vincent
1968 EGLI-VINCENT BACKGROUND
Both are built from high-strength chrome moly tubing, both are held together with gorgeous welding beads, both are nickel-plated, both have large-diameter oil-bearing backbones, and both are similarly triangulated.
Swiss racer/engineer Fritz Egli designed and built custom frame kits for the legendary Vincent 998cc V-twin engine. He built around 100 frames from 1967 to 1972, with the intent of modernizing the iconic Vincent Black Shadow, which fell out of production in 1955.
The Egli-Vincent frame however has no front down tubes, instead using the engine as a stressed member, the same way that Vincent did on their own bikes.
1968 EGLI-VINCENT DESIGN
Early frame-builders like Fritz Egli or the Rickman Brothers were small-scale cottage industries who had the creativity and flexibility to do what the major motorcycle manufacturers of the day could not do: think outside the box.
Every Egli-Vincent is unique, as final fitment of brakes, suspension and bodywork were the choice of the builder. Egli built beautifully crafted frames, famous for their perfect welds, and their nickel plating.
In the early 1960s, when Egli and the Rickmans were building their bikes, standard fare for motorcycle frames was the same across the board, be it an off-road bike, a street bike a road racer.
The backbone of the frame was a large-diameter tube that doubles as the oil reservoir. The basic frame design followed the pattern of other British frame-building pioneers like the Rickman Brothers who started out building motocross frames.
They all started out life as heavy, brazed-lug street bike frames. These early pioneers, like Egli and the Rickmans paved the way to modern frame building, which was copied by the big companies soon after, with their influence surviving today in modern motorcycles.
Despite their different design missions, when compared, the Rickman and Egli frames look quite similar. Vintage Motorcycle News
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These books are available from amazon.ca
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Vincent HRD Artwork by Nigel Lomas Artwork, Prints, T Shirts, Mugs, Caps and more can be found at:
https://www.redbubble.com/people/Niglom?asc=u
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THE BLUE BIKE by Paul d’Orléans from the Vintagent
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Marty Dickerson on his Rapide in 1953 at the Bonneville Salt Flats
In 1948, an eighteen year old walked into ‘Mickey’ Martin’s Burbank Vincent-HRD dealership, putting a cash deposit on the $1120 sale price of a new ‘Series B’ Touring Rapide, starting a payment plan on what was then the most expensive motorcycle in the world. The inspiration for his trip to Martin’s LA emporium were the boasts of a Vincent-owning Scotsman who spoke of leaving ‘long black streaks’ on the highway while passing cars, in third gear and 70mph no less. Readers of the late 40s motorcycle press were familiar with Vincent-HRD ads touting Vintage Motorcycle News
impossible speeds, right beside ads for x-ray glasses and miracle bodybuilding powders. Very few Americans had actually seen a Vincent, even less had ridden one to test the claims. Marty Dickerson, the youth in question, thought the Rapide was ugly, but he “wanted that power, wanted that speed”. He was not disappointed with his purchase, and quickly came to understand he now owned the fastest motorcycle on the planet, and soon, as young men will do, set about proving that fact to SoCal motorcyclists who believed they had the fastest bikes. 29
Harley Davidson had been around since the early part of the Century, as had rival Indian, and their American devotees used the collected wisdom of decades of engine-tuning to make some pretty hot bikes by the 1940s, the toughest and fastest of which tended to be ‘strokers’ with huge motors of over 100 cubic inches displacement (1600cc). Dickerson and his Vincent aroused the curiosity and pride of LA’s fastest street-racers, who formed an increasingly short line to challenge him to a ‘drag’. No matter the fame of the engine builder or skill of his rival at fast Summer 2020
At Muroc Dry Lake that year, Marty squeezed 118mph from his Rapide, while his buddy ‘Tex’ Luce, a Vincent mechanic fated to make his own mark on the racing world, found just a bit more, and recorded 1 2 2 . 0 4 m p h o n t h e b o n e stock machine, with all lights, mudguards, and mufflers intact and present. Motorcyclists are a stubborn and loyal bunch, and the evidence of a new ‘fastest’ motorcycle didn’t translate into immediate sales. Marty Dickerson polishing the cylinder head ports of his Vincent Rapide for maxiumum airflow efficiency
getaways, it was always Marty’s Rapide which first crossed whatever waved-sweater or crossed headlamp finish line was laid, out there on the lonely roads appropriate for such contests. There were other ways to test speed, and the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) provided timed evidence to bolster a reputation gained on the streets.
In truth, Vincent-HRD sales were dismal in California, and by June 1949, ‘Mickey’ Martin had 20 unsold Vincents languishing on his showroom floor. Knowing of Dickerson’s antics in back-road street racing, and more importantly his success at the game, Martin hatched a plan to send young Marty on a ‘tour’ of the southwest quadrant of the US, to raise awareness of the Vincent-HRD marque in the best way – nudge, wink – he knew how. Martin offered to cover all travel expenses, and take over the Th e R a p i d e b e c o m i n g ‘Californicated’, with a bobbed rear fender, trumpet exhaust, cowhorn ‘bars…
Rapide’s loan payments, and soon Marty Dickerson had the best possible job in the world for a 19 year old, being paid to street race all comers in small towns across America, astride the fastest production motorcycle built. For one month in that summer of ’49, Marty Dickerson had the ‘drag racing adventure of a lifetime’, covering 5000 miles through Phoenix, Dallas, Tulsa, Ft.Worth, Tyler, Kansas City, and smaller towns in Colorado and Utah. He raced the fastest motorcycles and cars the locals could muster, sometimes legendary monsters which had never been bested. There were close calls, such as when he didn’t have time to change a fouled spark plug before a race, and the Vincent spluttered on one-and-a-half cylinders while his rival rocketed ahead. Quick thinking and a ‘poor man’s tuneup’ (downshifting from 3rd to 2nd at high revs to blast the plugs clean) cleared the cough and saw Marty take the lead once again. There were other times when ‘sore losers’, with much time and reputation invested in their Harleys or Hotrods, made a hasty exit the prudent choice for young Mr. Dickerson. It must have been infuriating when some short, big-nosed kid on a strange motorbike (‘Harley R Davidson?’) kept pace with the Knucklehead you’d spent months tuning for speed, until your throttle was hard on the stop while you crouched low over the tank…only to watch ‘that kid’ shift into 4th gear, and leave you eating his dust. The Vincent had its problems in that hard month of racing,
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Marty Dickerson at Bonneville, in the company of Triumph twins and a Matchless single. Note the straight-through Black Lightning pipes. The Blue Bike at Bonneville in 1953
requiring the total replacement of a clutch cable and a few engine shock absorber springs, which weren’t expecting such abuse. Dickerson’s exploits were legend, and rumors spread like pond ripples from a cherry bomb about ‘a kid’ with a really fast Vincent, kicking butt all over the Southwest. He came and went through towns so fast nobody remembered it was ‘Marty Dickerson’ riding, he was the Street Racer with No Name, but tales of his exploits reverberate to this day, and form the actual backbone of the Vincent story in America. Vintage Motorcycle News
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PATRICK GODET REMEMBERED By David Lancaster from the Vintagent
Patrick Godet at the Isle of Man for the Manx GP with his 500cc Comet racer, with rider Bruno Leroy behind. Vintage Motorcycle News
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Egli-Vincent-Godet Sport GT He was a bear of a man, whose fanatical love for Vincent motorcycles lasted over 40 years, and developed to the point of manufacturing the amazing Egli-Vincent-Godet specials for which he became famous. At his small factory in Malaunay, just outside Rouen in Normandy, Godet built over 250 of his beautiful Vincent specials, and repaired/restored countless original Vincents and engines for owners around the world, with incredibly high standards.
The lure of racing caught him in 1979, when the French vintage racing scene was founded, and he tuned a Black Shadow to Lightning spec, and was formidable in French historic racing. He further developed the machine to take on the British vintage racing scene as well, with veteran racer
Hubert Rigal at the helm: the pair won the 1985 Vintage Race of the Year with the Vincent Spéciale. Godet turned to Fritz Egli’s chassis to upgrade the potential of the Vincent engine, and approached the master for permission to reproduce the EV frame. On seeing the quality of Godet’s work, he
Patrick Godet racing his Vincent Black Lightning replica [David Lancaster]
The Godet Vincent reproduction engine could be ordered up to 1330cc, with double the horsepower of the original, and was built to a higher standard to cure many of the known faults of the 1940s design. Patrick Godet purchased his first Vincent, a Black Shadow, in 1974, and soon bought a Black Prince as well. Vintage Motorcycle News
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Patrick Godet and Fritz Egli at Egli’s office for a Christmas party. The bike on the bench was sent to Australia. [Sandra Gillard]
became the only licensed manufacturer of the Egli frame, and the Egli-Vincent-Godet was born.
Fritz Egli (friend and collaborator on Egli-Vincent-Godets)
It was the ultimate café racer, especially with one of the new 1330cc engines, which brought performance into modern territory, and were simply exquisite aesthetically.
Patrick was passionate about all Vincents. He first learned of our Egli special chassis from our successes with Fritz Peier and Florian Bürki, racing on British circuits.
The EVGs were built in a new factory by a team of six by 2006, and the waiting list for new machines was very long indeed. After Patrick Godet’s sudden death in November 2018 at age 67, David Lancaster was moved to collect reminiscences from long-time friends, to tell his story through their words.
Vintage Motorcycle News
Soon, Patrick serviced Egli-Vincents in his Malaunay workshop; these were early machines delivered to French customers. He was very pleased with the handling, with the weight saving and soon a commercial cooperation started. Patrick became our French distributor for the Egli-Vincent chassis.
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There were numerous challenges, especially with exchange rates. The French import taxes made the chassis very expensive in France. Soon, we discussed production in Patrick’s workshop, avoiding custom costs, transport costs and currency problems. Having seen his tidy, well-organized workshop and having received and checked a first sample chassis he built, I was convinced that he is a good partner, that this was the way to go together. I never regretted it. From then on, he was the only man I allowed to produce the EV chassis and to use the name ‘Egli-Vincent’. I become his distributor for these machines in Switzerland and Germany. Summer 2020
A spectacular lineup of EVGs at a rally; any color you liked! [Paul Coene]
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We had a regular exchange of tuning and developments ideas, to the benefit of us both. We rode many miles together with our Vincent-Precision outfits: Patrick with his Series D model, me with my `Black Rapide’ – both driven by his brilliant and powerful 1330cc Godet engine… So many good memories. I finish with some of the words I said at Patrick’s funeral service: ‘Your decision was strong and brave, as you were. I was shocked. All our friends were shocked. Then we learned the brutal facts and we understood and accepted it. Patrick, sometime, somewhere in the universe we will re-unite: there will be no pressing burdens, no speed limits. Farewell my dear friend. We will meet again, with our Vincents, and we will release the clutch, and open the throttle.’ Andrew Nahum (London Science Museum)
Road testing the Black Lightning. [Andrew Nahum]
He took on tough commercial realities, real engineering challenges, and also contributed pure emotional commitment. And so, his Egli-Vincents are – to me – the most beautiful Eglis ever made
and the team at Malaunay spare nothing in attention and care in every aspect of the engineering, the aesthetics, and the final build.
Patrick Godet on his Vincent Black Prince outfit, contemplating messages left at the Fairy Bridge on the Isle of Man. It’s said that if you don’t pay homage or acknowledge the fairies at this bridge, bad luck will befall you in the TT, so contestants and their supporters leave messages of supplication to ensure a safe ride for their loved ones. [Sandra Gillard]
I was lucky enough to meet Patrick about twelve years ago when an old friend, Peter Fox, suggested we ride down together to Malaunay on Peter’s Egli-Vincent-Godet and the Ducati 750SS I owned back then. The Egli was going home to Patrick for its first service. We arrived quite damp after a good fast haul down the A16 from Calais. Patrick looked over the Ducati and said: ‘if you like café racer – you must try mine’. It was the first of several trips in Springtime, sometimes by van, to bring back or collect a bike. Usually we spent day or so looking at the latest developments in the works, followed by an excellent dinner with Patrick in Rouen or nearby. Making something as special as Patrick’s bikes was, of course, an enormous personal struggle. Vintage Motorcycle News
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A classic Egli-Vincent-Godet café racer, ridden by David Lancaster [David Lancaster]
No one should underestimate the extraordinary task Patrick had set himself to build such exquisite machines by hand and in small numbers for the real connoisseur. Of course, Patrick’s knowledge of every element in the Vincent – both engine and frame – was awesome, as you would expect with his unmatched experience on the road and track with them and in design, development and manufacture. And we should not forget that his interest was not just in the Egli – he has also done many impeccable restorations of ‘classic’ Vincents – Rapides, Shadows and Lightnings. I recall discussing some familiar problems I’d encountered years before when I ran an ageing Rapide. Two examples, out of many; the crank wheels can shift out of alignment if the crank wheels move on the big end pin. Vintage Motorcycle News
Then the bike starts to vibrate horribly and becomes nasty to ride. Another one; the engines can seize if the interference fit between the finned alloy cylinder or ‘muff’ and the pressed-in steel liner is inadequate. Patrick’s answer was very thoughtful. Vincents were, in his view ‘a question of metrology’. If all these interference fits are properly measured, the V-twin engines are impressively strong, as he proved by pushing the capacity of his café racers up to 1330 ccs and doubling the power. The 500cc Egli-framed racer was another example of his adept engineering. I think it was in 2013 that Patrick showed us an incomplete prototype motor and talked about his hopes for it in classic racing. 39
Barely a year later, it had all come together, with the bike putting up impressive performances against Manx Nortons and the like. We are all so sad to lose him. Patrick was one of those rare people with the enthusiasm to enhance other peoples’ lives – ‘a true keeper of the flame’, a passionate and skillful designer and engineer, and a lovely guy. Tom Lancaster ‘Small Library Burns Down In Normandy‘ Patrick Godet became friends with my parents in the early ’70s, although in terms of age he was closer to my brother and me. He stayed with us often in London usually to attend Vincent Owners’ Club (VOC) events. I remember teaching him to play cricket as a youngster. He would always remind me of this. Summer 2020
A crossing of the Alps with Vincent enthusiasts Fritz Egli, David and Tom Lancaster, and Stéphane Membre. [David Lancaster]
Patrick’s mind was a ‘sponge’ for anything Vincent-related even then, picking the brains of survivors such as Phil Irving, Eddie Stevens, PCV himself, even Rollie Free at the North American Rally in ’77. He returned home to set up the Section de France and unearthed the original French importer of the marque. Patrick grilled M.Garron about any remaining bikes or parts that he knew of.
Editor Rick Kemp and I covered all this happily as Godet and his projects were always good copy. Patrick’s step-son was staying with me in London and Patrick came to visit us in a client’s Aston Martin DB6. So things were going smoothly.
There was some sadness in Patrick’s personal life, although he lived what always seemed the most enviable and worldly bachelor lifestyle. He was a product of les trente glorieuses and it may be that a sense of entitlement was part of the
A road-going Vincent Black Lightning replica with ‘Montlhéry’ long-distance fuel tank, all built by Godet, at the Montlhéry Autodrome [Bernard Testamale]
Dad and I rode to Patrick’s first French Section Rally. His family in Normandy seemed rather grand with a chateau and a haulage firm to pay for it. His brother was a fine artist in oils I recall. By the mid ’80s, I was working for Mark Williams of Bike magazine fame. Patrick was racing then and converting old Comets to Grey Flash spec (somewhat controversially). Vintage Motorcycle News
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configuration, but his charm and seeming innocence remained effortless and natural. He could light up a pub, bikers’ beer tent or any haute brasserie. That changed after Sylvie died. Patrick was devastated. But he remained unfailingly kind and hospitable to me and my family. It felt like he would always be there for advice and a chat. A ride through Rouen will not be the same without stopping for lunch with Patrick. I can’t tell you how much I will miss him. In 1991 Argentina lifted restrictions on the export of its ‘national treasures’. These included some 800 Vincent HRDs imported from 1946 to 1950 when the going was good there (not so good in England). The first production Lightning, first Series C Shadow and other glories were said to be among them. Most, in fact, were destined for the Federal Police and Peron’s Presidential Guard, plus a few ”playboys” who would ”tit up and down the Avenida 9 de Julio” (my translation, from memory). Patrick and I had spoken of these bikes when I lived in Paris. We would sometimes retourner le monde into the small hours. But we were not alone. The Argentine Vins had been legendary – like a lost tribe – so there was a bit of a gold rush on.
Patrick Godet entertaining the troops at a French Vincent rally (his business partner Florent Pagny is behind, hoisting his wine glass). [Sandra Gillard]
decades, and consulted a couple of old hands: WW2 veteran Jack Barker and USAF pilot Alex Nofsger had both been down and come away empty handed pre-embargo days. Loaded with 19” B spec. sports mudguards – which Patrick rightly guessed would be suitable bargaining
chips – I arrived at Buenos Aires airport where Patrick failed to turn up. First visit was to the offices of the original Vincent importers, Cemic, with colonial blinds and ceiling fans as I recall.
An original Vincent crate from the 1950s decorated Godet’s workshop office [Andrew Nahum]
I had picked up some colloquial Spanish in a muralist brigade in Chile in earlier years, so I mugged up on my Series B parts list and eagerly took up Patrick’s invitation to go big Vin-hunting with him in the Argentine. I read all I could find in the house journal of the VOC going back Vintage Motorcycle News
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Godet was a skilled mechanic and craftsman, and hundreds of Vincents passed under his hands, and were better for it. Here he inspects a Black Shadow in Florida. [Sandra Gillard]
Everything and everyone seemed to be from ‘central casting’. Then it was mostly gum shoe/barn find stuff: asking around at old garages, flea-pits, bars etc.
As always, Patrick seemed to fit in wherever we went, even without any Spanish. We set ourselves a limit of one thousand pounds sterling per twin.
This meant turning down some real lovelies when, out in the pampas grass, a gaucho-type would dust off a copy of the Classic Bike buyer’s guide, much to our dismay.
An ultra-rare road-going Vincent Grey Flash racer, as found and restored by Patrick Godet. [Sandra Gillard – who rode both bikes in the photo!]
The state of the bikes, however, was usually dire. They’d not been run for decades and there were hardly any matching numbers, or often even numbers at all. In 1950 el Presidente had imposed severe restrictions on imports. Phillip Vincent himself Anglo-Argentine – we met his in Buenos Aires – and close quarter of his twins had exported there.
was sister to a been
But not even the most basic spares could subsequently get through without bribery or major hassle.
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Patrick and I were continually amazed – and genuinely impressed – by the subsequent historic adaptations employed to keep these things on the road. Everything, from chain links to servo-clutch parts, had been hand-machined, often evidently to increase horsepower. We were initially puzzled by the widespread gaffer-taping of girder forks to look like the more up-to-date Series C Girdraulics, but accepted this as a ‘streamlining’ vogue. Hmm. We bagged about a dozen ‘complete’ bikes and enough spares to help fill up a shipping container. Without the Godet garage and expertise, however, I am not sure that it would have been worth it. Patrick’s passion was for the marque, and with him is lost a lifetime of expertise and magic. And a rare old friend. Back in the 1960s on family holidays we visited Fritz’s workshops when he was building his Egli prototypes, mostly with Series B engines. Looking back now, I wonder what Patrick had had in mind for all those Argentine B Rapide lumps with near-useless cycle parts.
Patrick Godet racing one of his early Vincents at the 1983 Bol d’Or. [David Lancaster]
That night, introductions were made, dinner was served and calvados consumed. We stayed up all night – I damn nearly died the next day. It was the beginning of a long, long friendship. After the rally, I was invited back to his place in the hills of Rouen, Patrick leading the way on his beloved Black Prince, me on my B Rapide.
We took in the sights of his home town, met some girls, and it dawned on me this man was the King of Rouen. His family ran a transport business and soon I was working on Renault diesel engines there. In the evenings I would return to his home – on Rue de Vincent – where sumptuous meals would appear from one of his female friends.
Patric Godet atop the Col de L’Iseran on his touring Black Prince. [David Lancster]
Chris Lipscombe (riding partner and friend since the 1970s) During the 1970s and ’80s, I regularly spent summers in Europe riding my Vincent. I met Patrick in 1976, at the first French section VOC rally in Normandy which he organized, riding there with Alan Lancaster and Bryan Philips. In many ways, this set the pattern for many miles and adventures with him: we got lost in the fog off the boat in Dieppe, and came across the rally site by chance. Vintage Motorcycle News
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Many years ago: Phil Irving, legendary co-designer of the Vincent V-twin, with Patrick Godet and VOC president Bryan Philips. [David Lancaster]
We imported two Eglis from Italy one year, borrowing a woefully under-powered Peugeot pickup for the drive, with a bag full of cash under the seat. Somehow we crossed the borders with two bikes in the back and absolutely no paperwork. A lot of English and French was spoken, however. He visited me often in Maryland, helping me build up a Comet from a basket case, which is still racing around in Class C. He was generous beyond belief. Dee Vincent-Day (daughter of Philip Vincent) I was saddened to hear of the death of Patrick Godet.
The foreman at the family firm, a wonderful man called Henry, saved Patrick’s ass too many times to count.
ability there was a never a broken Vincent there for long. For the next 20 years, I visited every summer.
It was a magical time. His cellar was full of Vincent spares and due to his
Alan Lancaster, Dick Perry, Patrick and I rode to rallies all over Europe.
Patrick Godet and his beloved dog Elvis on the Normandy coast. [Sandra Gillard]
Patrick contributed greatly towards keeping the Vincent name alive. His work in restoring Vincents was exemplary, creating demand from many Vincent owners including my son. His Godet racing team competed on Vincents at many veteran events including the Isle of Man Classic TT and Spa-Francorchamps. His contribution to motorcycling was boundless. He will be missed by many. Philip Vincent-Day (grandson of Philip Vincent) I can remember the first time I met Patrick. Or at least the first time that I could remember meeting Patrick. I was at a VOC international rally, about 15 or 16 years old, having received notice the rally was taking place in Essex close to where I was living at the time. I was sat chatting with Bryan Phillips when two Frenchmen approached. Before Bryan could introduce us, Patrick already knew who I was – I wasn’t quite sure how.
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I must admit that at that moment I had no idea who he was, and found it odd that I hadn’t had to be introduced. From that day, his reputation just seemed to grow and grow, and I kept hearing more and more about his Eglis. It didn’t seem all that long before I was regularly attending the Isle of Man classic TT races. Here I was fortunate enough to spend more time with Patrick, along with visits to the Egli-Vincent Rally in the Rhone valley and the Café Racer Festival at Montlhéry. Each and every time, the love and passion that Patrick felt for Vincent motorcycles, the engine, the design, even the way the wheels turned, shone through. He was tremendously (and rightly) proud of his bikes, yet he always referred to my grandfather as ‘The Boss’ – or at least while I was around. I can remember showing Patrick a video I had recorded of Bruno Leroy racing his Grey Flash through Glenn Helen. Patrick must have watched at close proximity 10 times before I had to ask, what was he watching out for? ‘Nothing particularly, I just love it.’
Godet with a classic NorVin café racer in the 1970s [David Lancaster]
began to write a page of a story that belongs to us. Patrick often told me I was his bench he could rest on. With me in the side-car on his Black Prince we rode to three Egli-Vincent-Godet rallies, to Vincent Owners Club meetings and to the Manx Classic TT in the Isle of Man in 2015 and 2016.
We travelled to Switzerland and Florida. I rode a Vincent Black Shadow in Florida and France and an original Vincent Grey Flash on the roads of Normandy. Last September, Patrick came to Switzerland to see my first photo exhibition in Lausanne.
Sandra Gillard ready to test ride a 1330cc EVG, as Patrick Godet makes final adjustments. [Shannon Saad]
Sandra Gillard (friend and photographer) In 2012, I wrote an e-mail to Patrick asking about photographing a Vincent. With this simple question, I went in August 2013 to his workshop to shoot the jewels he created and restored. Within a day, I had ridden an Egli-Vincent-Godet 1330 for the first time in my life. From there, I dreamed, travelled and rode with Patrick and his Vincent. Together, for the next five years, we Vintage Motorcycle News
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Being in the side-car of Patrick’s Prince was fabulous – travelling in the ‘basket’, on the right-hand side, is like being in a cart. Patrick was the perfect rider. I loved the sensation of speed – with my Canon always in my lap. To the Isle of man, we crossed England at speed. We broke down. Patrick repaired the bike. Once on the Isle of Man, we rode the circuit twice – the first time in the outfit, the second time I hired a Triumph and followed. Riding on the TT circuit is like being the ball in a pinball machine. Patrick was a wizard in his workshop. Eternally dissatisfied, he demanded perfection. His “guys” were part of his family. He was a bear, and he could growl. But he had a tender heart.
Sandra Gillard aboard a Grey Flash racer at a French Vincent rally in 2017. [David Lancaster] Patrick Godet’s masterpiece
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If his anger could be memorable, his loyalty was unwavering. In turn, he was a jeweller and a magician, but first of all he was a man with a big heart.
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Patrick Godet 1951 -2018
Patrick Godet by photographer Jean-Pierre Praderes Vintage Motorcycle News
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The Sport GT genesis started as a natural gap between the Café Racer and the stock Vincent. A request from customers, who wanted something less radical than the Café Racer but more modern than a Rapide or a Black Shadow. The Sport GT is seen as the modern touring Vincent, the one that the factory could have built as a Series E. With the side panels, this machine looks incredibly neat. As the Café Racer, the Sport GT was available in conventional 998cc or 1330cc displacement while the gearbox can be the stock Vincent 4 speed or the Surtees 5 speed. For the more demanding riders, the 230mm Fontana magnesium front brake can replace the 210mm. Philippe Guyony
Dunhill wanted something different, “a touch of class”, a bike which had the appeal of the Cafe Racer without the racing background. So was born the Sport GT. One of the three bikes was more widely used in the UK for the promotion of the brand in magazines and old vehicles rallies Vintage Motorcycle News
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2005 Dunhill Sport GT Egli Vincent Godet
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Egli Vincent Godet CafĂŠ Racer 50
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Bar Hodgson’s ‘Tribute to Patrick Godet’ Vincent Project Here is a sneak preview photo of Canadian Vincent Motorcycle builder, Bar Hodgson’s latest creation.
frame (#28) along with Spondon magnesium calipers and rotors, mounted on Campagnolo magnesium wheels.
Shown in its early mock-up design stage, this very special project uses some very special components from very special people in the Vincent world.
The alloy bodywork was custom built by Dave Ashenbrener of Legendary Motorcycles in Florida.
The engine was especially built for Bar by Patrick Godet, at his workshop in France, as a 1330cc 100hp magnesium electric-start engine, Vincent engine number F13MB/5C/17111, matching case numbers BH M1.
The SMITHS ‘yellow dial’ 180mph speedo and 8,000 rpm tachometer are Vincent Black Lightning racing items. As the bike is as yet unnamed Bar says, “presently it’s nicknamed my ‘How I kept busy during the Quarantine’ Bike!”.
This is the only magnesium engine Patrick built before his untimely death.
If you want to follow the build of the ‘Bar’s tribute to Patrick Godet’ project on-line go to:
Bar installed an NOS set of Swiss engineer Fritz Egli magnesium racing forks (#340) to the British-made/built-in-Italy Colin Taylor Egli style Vintage Motorcycle News
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The Legendary "Gunga Din" Vincent motorcycle
Photo by Mark Preston
Bar Hodgson is the producer of the annual North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Toronto, founder of the Canadian Motorcycle Heritage Museum & Hall of Fame and proud owner of Gunga Din. When he bought the bike, Bar Hodgson committed to bring it regularly in classic bikes events for the pleasure of everyone. Bar is actually documenting a story about his Legendary "Gunga Din" Vincent motorcycle. His article and lots of photos will be available thru a Collector Series coming out soon.
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The Vincent Concept by Aleck Jones The Vincent Concept by Aleck Jones was one of the highlights of the 2014 Coventry University transportation design show. The futuristic sport bike not only presents creative design solutions but also revives a historic British motorcycle brand which ceased to exist in 1955.
content, that’s really what I wanted to show here.” The Vincent concept is an exercise in minimalism, the extreme “naked” bike where all the functional elements are on display; a working piece of art where every minute detail has been carefully
examined to lend an uncompromising form alluding to the performance capabilities within. Partly inspired by the Ariel Atom and Vyrus 986 M2 race bike, the new Vincent embraces the brand’s history and the elements that
Vincent motorcycles had been known for building fast bikes with innovative components since its inception in 1928. The company built its own suspension and developed highly efficient engines. That innovation was something Jones wanted to depict in his concept. “This concept shows where the brand would be had it continued trading” says Jones. “At the time they boasted high performance and engineering Vintage Motorcycle News
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defined it, evolving the latter into a package worthy of the 21st century. The design plays on the key aspects of a Vincent: high performance, p r e s t i g e , c r a ft s m a n s h i p a n d innovation. With this in mind, Jones sought to employ a 200hp hybrid powertrain to create a high performance machine, which highlights the alternate thinking expected from the brand.
suspension (a practical and visually appealing solution typically found on sports cars), front swinging arms and rear in-wheel braking components. All these elements help generate a design that not only performs exceptionally against current motorcycles but stands out as something special. Titanium, aluminum and carbon fiber components also communicate the
company’s historically-backed avant-garde approach. “I like the look of parts and seeing how things function,” says Jones, who developed the design from 127 parts (and 96 bolts) based on the functional components of the bike. “I wanted to showcase the parts so people could too look at and appreciate them.”
The concept is as much an engineering project as a design one. Jones spent a great deal of time researching not only what the brand’s values were – so he could build upon them – but also how the concept could be realistically built. Aesthetically the bike tests typical motorcycle convention, with features such as push-rod Vintage Motorcycle News
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LOVING VINCENT
A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BUILD FROM MOSCOW Story by Bike Exif - Images by Alexey Sulima In 2018, DMITRY Golubchikov became the first Russian to become the AMD World Champion of bike building. The 31-year-old triumphed with an amazing hand-built Yamaha SR400 called ‘Insomnia.’ Dmitry is now back with another jaw-dropping creation, and we reckon this one could sweep the board too. It’s based around a Vincent Lightning engine, but virtually everything else is made by hand.
Dmitry was born in the Republic of Karelia, near the Finnish border, and now lives in Moscow. His workshop is called Zillers Garage, but he usually works alone unless the job sheet gets too long. A Zillers bike is a unique creation crafted around an existing engine. In this case, the engine is a 1200cc Vincent Lightning replica built by the English company JMC Classics, which is also licensed to produce new Egli-Vincent motorcycles. Vintage Motorcycle News
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“I purchased the engine five years ago in England,” says Dmitry. “I’ve always been a fan of Vincent engines, and as soon as the opportunity arose to buy one, I decided to customize it.” “The engine is ‘new’ and was already prepared for active riding. Dell’Orto carburetors came with it, but I decided to abandon them and use BMW carburetors. The intake manifolds are cast in aluminum, and the gearbox has four gears” says Dmitry. All the oil and fuel lines are custom-made using stainless steel, and it looks like Dmitry has used very early Bing carbs. At the exhaust end, he’s built a sinuous system out of stainless steel. No pie-cut welds here: just a few perfectly socket welded pipes converging into a single length of muffler… that we suspect doesn’t muffle very much of the magnificent pushrod V-twin at all.
Before working on motorcycles, Dmitry was a high-end motorsport mechanic. And that’s how he refined his amazing fabrication skills: the frame, front fork and control levers on this bike are made out of stainless steel, and the seat unit, bars and gas tank are made from aluminum. Since this is a high-end show bike, the fabrication is anything but simple. The forks are a duolever design, similar to that used on BMW’s K series bikes. “The main advantage is that the steering is connected through a linkage, and vibrations from the road are isolated,” says Dmitry. Vintage Motorcycle News
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It’s also a remarkably elegant looking setup, which will help at show time.
Look closely and you’ll see that the brake discs and calipers are inside the spokes of each wheel.
Dmitry has machined this arrangement himself, with cushioning provided by a spring at the bottom front of the hand-made frame.
The discs are machined out of cast iron. “The brake lines with fluid pass through the center of the wheel,” Dmitry explains. “The hub itself is empty.”
The wheels are one-offs too, with chrome-plated steel rims shod with Avon Cobra rubber. The center section inside each rim is machined from aluminum, and hooked up to twenty spokes per wheel—each one individually CNC machined.
Even the brake pads are custom-made, using repurposed clutch friction plate material.
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The Zillers Vincent is one of those machines that justify a very close look at the images.
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The craftsmanship is off the scale, and the design is fascinating too: note the way the rear frame tubes snake under the seat unit, which is trimmed with crocodile skin, and reappear as one. That single tube then curves over the split tank, with a second tube right underneath the tank, carrying brackets that mount to the cylinder heads. The bars alone are a work of art, curving like antelope horns, and graced with slender levers—in sharp contrast to the engineering complexity immediately beneath. Summer 2020
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If you’re keen to see this extraordinary machine in the metal, patience is called for. It won’t be revealed to the wider public until October 2020, at the next biennial AMD World Championship in Cologne, Germany. Vintage Motorcycle News
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Geared up: Brian Hill spent ÂŁ10,000 over eight months on the classic bike Vintage Motorcycle News
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Man leaves bike bought in pieces for £40 (now worth £225,000) to pal Some things are worth the wait. But for Brian Hill, his dream of owning a 1937 Vincent Rapide HRD lay in pieces, literally, for 45 years. As a 21-year-old cash-strapped student he despaired when the opportunity arose to buy the classic motorbike in kit-form for £50. Friend John Lumley stepped in to snap up the bargain in 1968, with a tenner off but kept the bits stashed in two tea chests for four decades. Mr Hill regularly asked Mr Lumley if he could have the bike but each request was greeted with a wry smile. But when Mr Lumley died, Mr Hill got a call to say that he had been left the bike – complete with the tea chests – in his friend’s will. Businessman Mr Hill, 66, assembled the bike over eight months and is now the proud owner of the 1937 machine one of only 78 made – worth £225,000. Mr Hill, of Longfield, Kent, said: “My father used to have a Vincent motorbike when I was a child and they really got into my blood. It was very sad to hear John had died. I was told he had kindly left me the bike. I was incredibly touched by the gesture. It was in exactly the same condition. I knew John would have wanted me to use the bike so I spent £10,000 on it.” He added: “It is a beautiful bike that still turns heads 75 years after it was made. I’m determined to get out and ride it as much as I can – it’s what John would have wanted.”
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THE BLACK by perfectionist Ian Barry An unfathomable amount of time and attention was spent on THE BLACK’s creation “Ian Barry occupies a unique position, working at the nexus of art and engineering, exploring ideas about aesthetics and functionality that blur the boundaries of both worlds, and softening the hard distinctions between them. The motorcycle is his chosen medium, but his attention has evolved rapidly from the pioneering and oft-copied Bullet of 2007, which is an exceptional motorcycle, to the irreproducible and highly conceptual mechanical-sculpture the White of 2015. His Falcon motorcycles ask questions about the relationship of machines, art, and humans addressed nowhere else in the world of motorcycles; his peers in this exploration are usually found in literature, cinema, and the traditional “fine” arts. Falcon motorcycles are demanding of their viewer, and easily misunderstood as simply “art custom” machinery, but in his evolution as an artist, Barry’s work veers into a category not yet defined” 2017 Paul d’Orléans from the Vintagent
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THE BLACK was created in 2011 in Ian Barry’s studio located in Los Angeles, CA.
The Starting point for THE BLACK’s engine was a 1952 Vincent Black Shadow, which has been heavily modified for dry lake racing at El Mirage in the 1960’s. It was built for speed at a time now fetishized as a golden era, when obsessive amateurs labored nights and weekends to shave seconds from the timekeeper’s clock.
THE BLACK’s chassis was fabricated in its entirety –– barring a single small frame lug –– at Ian Barry’s Los Angeles studio: frame, forks, brakes, tank, handlebars, hand and foot controls, seat and mudguards.
Barry purchased the Vincent engine in parts, to be modified once again. Complete analysis of all parts proceeded, and Ian collaborated with the world’s foremost Vincent expert, Herb Harris, on the engine.
THE BLACK engine is from a 1952 Vincent Black Shadow, wisely considered one of the “top 10 best” production motorcycles of all time, and “The World’s Fastest Standard Motorcycle” for over 25 years after its introduction in 1948.
With the technological and industrial standards of the day, many of the Vincent’s parts were designed for ease of manufacture and cost efficiency –– prioritizing certain parts and nearly forgetting others. A cast lug at the top of the swingers seemed peripheral, even trivial. For Barry, a total reinventing was vital. This disposable cast lug deserve to live –– and to live with a lasting purpose and beauty. Envisioning a design too complex for 3-axis machine tools, Barry took a solid block of stainless steel and transformed it by hand, making a new lug resembling a diatom skeleton. THE BLACK’s front suspension echoes the Vincent’s original “girdraulic” fork while enhancing the
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performance and look. The forged 7075 T6 aluminum alloy blades have been hand-shaped. Additionally, the drag inherent in the bushed spindles has been eradicated using needle bearing throughout, controlling movement with bespoke gas shocks. A castellated axle nut sits captive in its own hexagonal recess, locked in place by a cotter pin passing through the fork leg. The fork spindle nuts are similarly locked, but with a kind of circle, in a system Barry invented.
the center of the risers, sliding into both sets of grooves, and when tightened, cinches all three tapers until the assembly is rock solid. Two levers lock this assembly, reminiscent of dragonfly wings. The 8-inch diameter front brake hub mimics the Vincent Black Lightning’s ribbed racing drums, but it is made from a single mass of aluminum, and enlarged. With mirror image brake plates each having twin leading shoes, this system is capable of halting a 150mph motion.
The handlebars are bent half-bars with tapered ends, fitted into risers poised atop the fork crown proper, grooved for secure locating –– offering several adjustable fork positions. A tapered pin slides through
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A 3-position seat with two leather covers, a drag racing option and touring option, snap onto the frame, and
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can be swapped in seconds. A stainless steel perimeter frame attaches to dozens of springs radiating from a central plate, guiding their shape into a concave arc, a seat-shape solution usually accomplished with padding.
Reverse the procedure with the single drag tank option; push-click the tank onto the sprung pins, and pop the fuel lines together. The handlebars can be adjusted to suit, as noted above, while the foot controls are also fully adjustable with the footrests rotating on one-way ratchets. By simply pulling outward, turning, and easing onto the mating surface, both the footbrake and gearshift levers are fully adjustable.
THE BLACK can effortlessly shift from a “touring” mode to a “drag racing” stance. First, one locks the rear suspension with a pair of hand-wheels beneath the saddle, pops the marine-sourced fuel connections, pushes the spring-loaded tank retaining pins until they click, then the twin, hand-formed aluminum pannier fuel tanks are removed.
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None of the above actions, is should be noted, requires a single tool.
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THE VINCENT MOTORCYCLE FACTORY AT STEVENAGE IN THE LATE 1940'S
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THE VINCENT MOTORCYCLE FACTORY AT STEVENAGE IN THE LATE 1940'S
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THE VINCENT MOTORCYCLE FACTORY AT STEVENAGE IN THE LATE 1940'S
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THE VINCENT MOTORCYCLE FACTORY AT STEVENAGE IN THE LATE 1940'S
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THE VINCENT MOTORCYCLE FACTORY AT STEVENAGE IN THE LATE 1940'S
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We Specialize in Repairing, Rebuilding & Restoring of Classic British Motorcycles from the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's.
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1949 Vincent Rapide
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& Hollandia Sidecar
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Robert Watson’s 1939 Rapide
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Robert Watson admits to a bad Vincent-HRD habit. He owns six of the Stevenage scions, including three post-war Rapides and a Comet, plus two “A” models: a TT Replica single and our feature 1939 Rapide twin. “It’s like the club T-shirt,” he says of his addiction: “HRD Positive: No Known Cure.” The idea to restore a pre-WWII twin came as Watson contemplated retirement. “I know what happens to guys who retire with nothing to do,” he says, “so I thought, ‘what would be fun?’ I was figuring it would take two or three years to find enough parts to start building one.” Watson contacted Canadian Guy Stanford, who had owned a Vincent Series A Rapide in Toronto before moving to the West Coast. Stanford thought the Twin was still in Toronto. It was, and the owner turned out to be … well, we will call him John Doe. Vintage Motorcycle News
Stanford thought it was unlikely the bike would be for sale — John Doe reputedly never sold anything — but it was worth asking. So Stanford emailed a mutual friend. A reply came back five weeks later. Yes, John Doe would sell the A twin, but an A single would be included in the deal, and the price? Let’s just say an apartment might have been cheaper. “I just about collapsed on the floor,” Watson says. “I’d been figuring on spending maybe half of that. So I phoned him and we talked and talked. Finally he said, ‘now about the A single: the engine number is TTR121.’ And I just went: ‘TT Replica. It’s done. This is a done deal, right here, right now.’” It took John Doe a few months to round up all the parts of the two bikes, which were both completely dismantled and spread over a 81
number of warehouses. In the meantime, Watson found a van for sale in Toronto and flew out from the Vancouver area to collect the two bikes. The deal required payment in cash. “It was April 1, 2006,” Watson says. “I was sitting in the back of the van outside [John Doe’s] bank with a briefcase full of cash, counting it out, and I said, ‘isn’t this an appropriate day!’ and he couldn’t see the humor in it, never even cracked a smile.” The two bikes (except for the frames and other large parts) were packed into Rubbermaid containers and stacked in the van. The only assembled parts were the two halves of the twin’s crankcase.
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he showed it for the first time in 2011. The rebuild was complicated by the fact that it had been crashed in the 1950s, breaking the frame. It had been repaired by the time-honored method of ramming a smaller tube inside and welding up the join. Watson replaced the tube and then re-jigged the frame to straighten it. The engine, always a tight fit, was then found to interfere with the seat pillar, requiring more heating and bending. The engine’s bottom end has been modified to bring it closer to post-war spec with improved location and sealing, and it gained a splined primary drive sprocket. Much of this work was done by Vincent guru and AJS V-4 builder Dan Smith. Big end bearings came from Alpha Bearings, and the connecting rods were magnafluxed.
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The pistons are the post-war type made by Omega for the Vincent Owners’ Club spares scheme, with Honda piston rings meant for a 350 dirt bike.
But Watson has dated, period photographs of his twin from the early 1940s showing these features. Watson has also traced the bike’s ownership lineage.
New rear suspension spring boxes in stainless steel are by Overlander in Australia.
According to the factory records, the twin was originally sold to a Mr. R. Smith in England.
The front brake alloy ribs were damaged in the earlier-mentioned crash, so Watson turned up a new set from alloy billet, then shrunk and screwed them to the drums.
Noted on the build sheets was the fact that the cylinder heads had been prepared by none other than George “Gunga Din” Brown, the famous Vincent factory tuner and racer.
Provenance Vincent purists have noted that Watson’s A twin doesn’t seem to be completely “stock.” Some of the plated parts, for example, are chromed (Phil Vincent is said to have despised chrome), and the large tubular cable splitters for the throttle and choke controls seem to be an afterthought.
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The next owner was a Major Johnston, who sold it to George Rampling, the Vincent factory test house supervisor. Rampling emigrated, with the Vincent, from the U.K. to Canada in 1948. “I know that because one day I got on the Ontario white pages, and I found a Rampling and phoned them,” Watson recalls. “I said, ‘Sir, this is
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not a crank call. I’m a motorcycle guy, and I’m looking for anybody that might be a relative of George Rampling.” It turned out to be Rampling’s stepson. George Rampling married his mother after her husband had been killed in WWII, adopted their children and moved to Canada. “He said, ‘I always wondered what happened to Dad’s bikes.’” Guy Stanford later discovered the Vincent in a chicken barn in Toronto when he was 15. He managed to get it running, but it didn’t prove too reliable. Watson has pictures of the bike from that era, and also of the group of Vincent owners, including John Doe, that Stanford belonged to. Stanford sold the bike, and it was passed around the group before landing in the hands of John Doe.
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The bike remained in storage from that time on while John Doe accumulated parts for it.
Riding the Vincent Series A Rapide So how does the A twin compare with the later B series? “They’re lower,” Watson says. “It’s a much smaller bike to sit on. And you have to deal with the Burman gearbox. Post-war gearboxes were not particularly slick, but this is a bit clunky.” In order to alleviate overloading problems in the gearbox, Watson has changed to a taller primary drive ratio, made possible by the use of a modified Honda clutch supplied by Conway Motors.
[Vincent C series] Girdraulics,” Watson says. When it comes to comparing the A’s performance with later twins, Watson says it’s “very similar,” noting that his A twin has a higher compression ratio than stock, estimated at about 8:1 versus the standard 6.8:1. “It motors right along,” says Watson. “There’s a little vibration between 65 and 75mph, but at 85 it’s quite smooth again. It’s a fun bike. I really enjoyed building it.” Overall, he says, the experience of owning the Series A twin is every bit what you’d expect — legendary.
“The forks are quite similar to post-war Brampton forks. They’re very light-feeling, and the bike is very light to ride, quite different from the
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CYCLE WORLD columnist Peter Egan and the Vincent. Two legends of the motorcycling world. Vintage Motorcycle News
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The “almost new” VINCENT BLACK SHADOW In October 2002, a press release made motorcycle enthusiasts around the world sit up with a jolt. It announced the return of Vincent, one of the most iconic names in motorcycling. At a palatial house in San Diego, self-made millionaire and long-time Vincent aficionado Barney Li whipped the covers off five prototype motorcycles: a ‘Phase 1’ machine based on the Black Lightning, and four modern interpretations—including the Black Shadow pictured above. The modern bikes were built by Roush: they had that distinctive, low-slung Vincent look, and there were neat touches throughout, such as the large vintage-style headlight hiding several projector-style beams. The engine was Honda’s RC51 fuel-injected V-Twin, pumping out around 136 horsepower, and the lure of the Vincent name was so strong that Honda was prepared to sell its engines to an American maker. But American investors were uncomfortable with the idea of a Japanese motor in a resurrected Vincent. And the 19-liter fuel tank forced the wheelbase out to 62.5 inches—the same as a Harley Dyna Super Glide. So Li took a breather, and scouted around for alternatives. In the midst of this search, he went out for a ride on the morning of Saturday 3 May, 2008. Out of sight of his riding buddies, he crashed on Highway 260 in Eastern Arizona and died as a result of his injuries. That was the end of the latest Vincent dream...
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Source: Irving Vincent
Let’s give the final word to Jon Branch “The Vincent Black Shadow ended production with all other Vincent motorcycles a week before Christmas Day 1955 and the company finally went into receivership in 1959. There have been some efforts to resurrect the Vincent and the “Black Shadow” name: one was attempted by a gentleman named Bernard Li who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident before he was able to see his dream fulfilled and in Australia with the creation of the Irving Vincent. This bike has been created by HRD Engineering, which in this new company stands for Horner Race Development. The Irving Vincent is a re-engineered model based on the original Vincent drawings but improved using modern technology and methods.”
Irving Vincent Human behaviour predicts once an item becomes hard-to-obtain, the more in-demand it becomes – a Vincent bike, (or motor) being no exception. Exactly 13-years, (to the month) after the factory closed, intensive and consistent searching paid-off when Ken finally found a Vincent Rapide engine – although not accompanied with the original Vintage Motorcycle News
frame, but rather, as a partially completed Vincent/Norton project. Word-of-mouth had led Ken to an American engineer, road racer and member of the Sandringham motorcycle club who needed a prompt return home, and therefore, a reluctant seller of a rare-but-fabulous ‘NorVin’. To this day, regarded as the ultimate street-legal package of the 1950/60’s era, when Ken completed the project in 1970, his ambitions were reserved to brisk, pleasurable street-outings, however, as with many-a-champion preceding him, the realisation was the racetrack is the better part of valour – although a sidecar was the desired steed. Having never run a racing lap, fittingly, Ken’s last ride aboard his ‘NorVin’ was at Phil Irving’s funeral in 1992. It remains registered - and amongst the never-to-be-sold items. Truly infected by “the racing bug” with a passion for sidecars, a Vincent motor was always the preferred power plant, but the ‘NorVin’ wasn’t to be a victim of transformed desires, therefore, another extremely rare motor was sought. 87
Magically, in late 1970, a Vincent ‘Black Shadow’ motor appeared in ‘The Saturday Age’ newspaper. Instantly recognising the rare opportunity manifesting before him, Ken dropped previous plans and devoted all resources to make sure the motor advertised promptly became the centre of his road racing sidecar project. Rebuilding the Rapide for the ‘NorVin’ gave tremendous insight to the motor’s potential, starting with increasing capacity to 1300cc. 12 months of dedicated engineering saw the completion of the project with Ken set for the Unlimited Sidecar class, which lead to literally rubbing shoulders, (and fairings) with now Australian legends, the likes of Lindsay Urquhart, Alex Campbell, Ken Rumble and Dennis Skinner. Continually amongst the frontrunners, with many individual wins, Ken’s dedication was also earnt him 3rd place at the 1974 Australian TT at Melbourne’s Calder Park. Further development and racing success, as stated earlier, was placed on-hold due to the expansion of his company’s Austart product range. Moving forward to the 1990’s... Summer 2020
Irving Vincent 1300 (2017) ! !
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1300cc 2-Valve !! ! Compression Ratio:13:1 !
Renowned Australian car racer and automotive magnate, Reg Hunt, (who finished second to Sir Jack Brabham in the 1955 Australian Grand Prix) approached Ken to rebuild a 988cc V-twin Vincent he’d bought from speedway sidecar legend Jack Walker for his ‘Bedstead’ project. Upon completion, flippant internal dialogue declared, “it would’ve been a dam-sight-easier to build a new one” fuelled the response, “so why don’t I?” With the Austart expansion under control, reasons weren’t forthcoming. Once the proposition took a serious nature, obeying the brothers’ do-it-right-or-not-at-all approach, the first steps included a discussion with Phil Irving’s widow, Edith, to explain the passion inspiring their endeavour – Vintage Motorcycle News
SPECIFICATIONS Bore: 100mm ! ! ! BHP: 158 at 7000 RPM !
that of applying new technology to establish modern outcomes of her legendary husband’s original design. It’s reasonable to assume Edith acknowledged similar intellect and enthusiasm that ignited the innovative design in the first place. Appraising her family’s legacy was in trustworthy hands, Edith wished Ken and Barry every success, but at the time, it’s unlikely that either party could comprehend the heights that wish would ascend. By early 1999, the plan was to build a couple of “Classic” racing sidecars and solos under the Irving Vincent HRD, (Horner Racing Development) banner, but somewhere during the three year development and production of CAD drawings, patterns, jigs, tooling, castings and fixtures, the solo took precedence. Bike #1, built 88
Stroke: 82.56mm Torque: 116 ft lb at 6000 RPM
to contest the Period 4, Classic category, producing 130bhp, (97kW) was unveiled with Ken riding a few demo laps during the lunchbreak of the 2003 Philip Island Classic meeting. A return to racing sidecars rekindled the fire in Barry, but racing a solo with vigour was to be assigned to someone of youth and established credentials – the effort and performance figures warranted it. The trouble was, riders of the elk Ken and Barry considered worthy didn’t identify the results of their engineering brilliance, nor the local and international resurgence in Post Classic and Classic racing; considering the fully-sponsored ride beneath them, as they couldn’t comprehend a locally-reengineered, 67-year-old, pushrod design, being competitive against the might of Summer 2020
Irving Vincent 1600 (2017) ! !
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1600cc 4-Valve !! ! Compression Ratio:13:1 !
the Japanese models only 20-25 years of age at the time. Ken rode the next outing; the Geelong Speed Trial in the later months of 2003. Proudly British, veteran motorcycle racer and internationally accomplished journalist, Alan Cathcart, naturally holds a strong and passionate knowledge of the Vincent period. Becoming enthralled in the Irving Vincent’s progression, he regularly enquired and in 2006 joyously accepted an invitation to ride and review the Period 4 bike. His article took on many forms, publishing in various magazines throughout Europe. Th e I r v i n g V i n c e n t ’ s fi r s t international appearance had Barry and “sidecar swinger”, Chris De Nuzzo winning the 2006 ‘Sidecar Vintage Motorcycle News
SPECIFICATIONS Bore: 100mm ! ! ! BHP: 186 at 7000 RPM !
Spectacular’ hosted at Pukekohe, New Zealand – producing two wins from two starts. Horsepower at the time matched the solo at 130bhp, (97kW). A referral led to rising New South Wales, (NSW) young-gun Craig McMartin accepting a test session at Broadford, Victoria, in October 2006. Completing his first ride on the Period 4 machine, the question asked “what’daya think?” was met with the simplest of responses – “yep!” And history was in the making. As with the Austart range preceding the Irving Vincent project, continued development remains a natural and on-going progression. Combined with Craig’s riding talents, the results began with four wins from four starts at the 2007 Island Classic; 89
Stroke: 100mm Torque: 142 ft lb at 6500 RPM
winning the Period 4 class and fourth overall in Period 5. Three weeks later, at the ‘Barry Sheen Festival of Speed’ held at Eastern Creek, NSW, the team relished in a clean sweep of both Period 4 and 5 classes. The perfect scoreboard reads pole position and all wins in both classes – the two Phils, (Irving & Vincent) would surely be giggling in racer heaven. Never to rest on one’s laurels and continuing with the original objective, that of pursuing the limits of Phil Irving’s 1936, 45 horsepower, air-cooled, “pushrod” design, the world-renowned ‘Daytona Speed Week’ in Florida, USA was chosen as the next objective. The stakes would be raised considerably due to having never Summer 2020
Irving Vincent Sidecar ! !
! !
1300cc 2-Valve !! ! Compression Ratio:13:1 !
raced there before, let alone on “banked” corners, plus they’d be competing against the very latest in modern V-twin technology – including multiple World Superbike Manufacturer’s Champion, Ducati and world-class riders, the likes of multiple World Superbike Champion, Doug Polen. On top of all this, the event program only allowed for 12 laps of practice. It was an insane prospect, but one the brothers Horner grasped with both hands, building a purpose-built 1600cc, 165bhp, (123 kW) machine. What an objective! What an outcome! Race 1 – 3rd place. Race 2 – 1st place and outright winner of the AHRMA ‘Battle of the Twins’ – March 4th 2008. Vintage Motorcycle News
SPECIFICATIONS Bore: 100mm ! ! ! BHP: 158 at 7000 RPM !
C h a n g i n g c o n t i n e n t s , Th e ‘Goodwood Festival of Speed’ is amongst the world’s most prestigious events. Participation is by invitation only and public ticket sales are capped at 150,000 per day – for the three-day event. Held in the private grounds of Goodwood house, West Sussex, England, owned by Lord March, regular participants include Formula One teams along with past and present world champion drivers and riders – the likes of John Surtees, Sterling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Kevin Schwantz, Kork Ballington, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner – and their magnificent machines. World-wide acclaim following the Daytona victory surely caught the attention of the Goodwood 90
Stroke: 82.56mm Torque: 116 ft lb at 6000 RPM
organisers and an invitation to appear was graciously accepted in 2011 and 2012. Craig McMartin was accompanied by Beau Beaton for riding/show-off duties. (The event is classified as an untimed “Hill Climb” so wheelies and burnouts thrive.) Barry and Chris also entertained with the equally inspiring and immaculate sidecar. The Goodwood estate encompasses an airport and race circuit, the latter of which hosts the annual ‘Goodwood Revival’. Gallantly accepting the esteemed invitation, Ken and Barry purchased and rebuilt an original Vincent ‘SeriesC Rapide’ to deliver 96bhp, (71.5kW) (a phenomenal 113.3% increase in brake horsepower from the original 1936 design) and Summer 2020
contest the ‘Barry Sheen Memorial Trophy’. During the event, seven-time World Motorcycle Champion and one-time Formula One World Champion, John Surtees CBE, commended Ken for his intricate advancements made to the ‘Girdraulic’ forks. John’s praise is valued not only due to his unmatched racing achievements, (still the only-ever 2 and 4 wheeled World Champion) but also for his personal knowledge of the Vincent motorcycle. (John’s first professional race was with his father, aboard his Vincent sider. They won, only to be disqualified due to John being underage. Later, aged 16, John started his apprenticeship at the Vincent factory in 1950 and within a year was challenging world champion, Geoff Duke for race wins.) As to be expected from an event and accolade of such magnitude, the prize is highly sought by
Vintage Motorcycle News
rivals-of-calibre; such as British racing ace and Grand Prix winner, Jeremy McWilliams. Once again, the stakes were incredibly high. Aggregate points from two races run over two days, under the guidelines of the era, comprising a Le Mans start and compulsory pit stop with rider change decided the results. Leading the charge for the European entrants, Jeremy was up for the titanic battle which unfolded, however, the Irving Vincent team emerged triumphant once again. 2015 saw a return to Australian domestic racing in the ‘Formula Xtreme, Pro-Twin / Naked Bike’ series. As with the Daytona races, this category is open to twin-cylinder bikes of any make, model and year of manufacture. The purpose-built, 1600cc, 4-valve per cylinder Irving Vincent won
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the 7-round national series with the air-cooled, pushrod motor producing 200bhp, (149kW). That’s an inconceivable 344.4% increase from Phil Irving’s original 1936, 45bhp design. Being victorious on all three of the greatest motorcycle-racing continents – Australia, Northern America and Europe – the Irving Vincent team is undeniably amplifying the racing endeavours of Phil Irving and Philip Vincent. In doing so, they’ve enhanced the achievements and reputation of all those legendry Aussie racers, engineers and mechanics that paved the road before.
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The Black Shadow, 150 miles per hour, speedo is a nice touch to my Rapide. Indeed, many Rapides are upgraded with the massive 5 inch instrument. Vintage Motorcycle News
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The Vincent by Dan Talbot
It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that throughout my life I’ve had a strong yearning to own a Vincent motorcycle. I’ve come spectacularly close to owning a Vincent about two and a half times but life had other ideas for me (and that’s fine). Vincents have, by and large, remained a figment of desire, the unicorn that was never going show up in my shed. Until now. A Vincent motorcycle is the classical embodiment of speed and sophistication, a triumph of technical expertise from the golden Vintage Motorcycle News
era of the British motorcycle industry. For decades I have been immersing myself in the literature, both technical and folklore, around these motorcycles. Often I found the dream very nearly outgrew the reality, but dreams often do. It has long been held Vincent motorcycles were advanced beyond their nineteen forties design but they were created by man, made of metal and alloy and they’re not exactly rare, just very expensive, so, fiscal resources aside, my dream was destined to one day become a reality – I just didn’t expect it 93
would take me forty years! Of course, having been created by man so too can they be improved by man. One man particularly versed in improving the Vincent is Terry Prince. Throughout the life of the Vincent motorcycle a few names come to the fore, Howard Raymond Davies (HRD), Phillip Vincent, Phillip Irving and Terry Prince. There’s a great many others but those four gentlemen feature prominently in Vincent discourse that I’ve been drawn to over a lifetime of consuming information on the Summer 2020
At the heart of the Vincent, indeed the great majority of the bike, is the stonking, huge v-twin engine. One of the most iconic images in in all of motorcycledom.
marque. With Terry Prince being the only who is still alive, and therefore still active in Vincent engineering, he is keeper of the Vincent flame. Terry is known around the world as one who will manufacture a complete, Vincent engine, and even the whole motorcycle, using modern engineering and materials. When a 1948 Vincent Rapide popped up on the market laying claim to having been restored by Terry Prince consisting 85% of new parts it well and truly pinged my motorcycle radar. Here was a Vincent that promised a balance between original, precious metal and a road-going, reliable link to t h e i c o n i c m o t o r c y c l e . Th e advertising blurb read, amongst other things, “Prince’s hand is evident all around the bike, starting with the front brake hubs, which contain four-leading-shoe internals. Vintage Motorcycle News
Suspension has been upgraded with modern dampers front and rear. An accessory tread-Down centre-stand eases parking chores. The Shadow 5in. ‘clock’ perched atop the forks is a nice touch. Of course the engine – just overhauled by Prince and breathing though modern carbs.” The 5 inch clock is a massive speedo that has been lifted from Vincent’s own hot-rod, the Black Shadow. Rumour has it people have been booked for speeding by police who have been able the read the speedo from a position slightly astern of an errant Vincent rider. There were some other Shadow touches that added to the desirability of the machine, although, it should be said, a Vincent Rapide in stock trim is a highly desirable machine on its own. I resolved to call Terry Prince. 94
Having made the decision to call Terry, I found I was a bit nervous. What if I wasn’t deemed competent to own a Vincent? I had let opportunities of ownership slip through my fingers in the past, maybe the motorcycle gods had already decided I wasn’t eligible to join the ranks of Vincent owners. Or, perhaps it could be fatalism with all the other machines being pushed aside until this one came along. With all the nervousness of a job interview I made the call. Within moments of calling Terry Prince I was relaxed and we were chatting like old friends. The more we talked the more I wanted that motorcycle. I learned the bike had been reassembled by Terry from a basket case presented to him along with a Vincent Black Shadow. At the time of building the machine it was Terry’s intention keep it as his personal everyday rider, which Summer 2020
“Not for aircraft use,” probably not for Vincent use either in my book. Mikuni carburettors work well on Vincents, and in my Triton, but having desired a Vincent for over 40 years and pouring over countless machines, photographs and references of these fascinating motorcycles, everytime I look at my Vincent, my eye falls to the Japanese carbs. They will probably be replaced with original Amal items in the very near future.
reinforced the notion of no expense spared when it came to building the machine with upgraded brakes, suspension, modern carbs and electronic ignition. At the time of calling Terry two other people had expressed an interest in the bike and one was particularly serious, so serious in fact the bike had been shipped from the US to Melbourne as the prospective purchaser lived in Victoria. How the bike came to be in the US is a long story, but, at the time of my call, it was still sitting in California. Before the bike was due to leave the US a Black Shadow came up for auction in Australia and purchaser number one was keen to bid on it and Terry was prepared to hold the Vintage Motorcycle News
Rapide pending the outcome of the auction. Evidently he won the auction, with a bid of $AUD160,000, as two days later when I phoned Terry he hadn’t heard from either gentleman and the way was cleared for me to send my deposit to secure the motorcycle. I hurriedly sent off a great chunk of the funds I had set aside for my daughter’s forthcoming wedding (sorry Love). Sometime later the Vincent was loaded on a ship destined for Melbourne. I waited a few short weeks and as soon as the boat berthed in Melbourne I booked my flights, first to Melbourne to check out the bike and secondly to Sydney to meet the man himself and hand a cheque over. 95
10 weeks after striking our deal I was standing in front of my Vincent (I still get a pang of excitement when I say ‘my Vincent). She’s a beauty. After two years in the US she’d lost a bit of lustre but I know within a few hours of the bike arriving in my shed she will be looking as good as new. I spent a couple of hours running my eyes and hands over the bike and heard her running. Satisfied with my purchase I set off for Sydney. Arriving at Terry’s forest hideaway I’m met first by Ursala and then Terry comes out to greet me. Again, I’m immediately at ease with this couple who have invited me into their house for the night. After coffee and a chat I was treated to a visit to the workshop. There was Summer 2020
A 40-year dream of owning a Vincent motorcycle is a reality.
four Vincent motorcycles and an at least one complete engine in the workshop. I was particularly intrigued by the engine because it is a new one, made from all new parts. Sadly, the parts don’t simply just bolt together and, out of frustration, it has been sent to Terry to rectify and make usable, causing him a host of frustrations. Had he been on the job from the get-go it would be fine but now Terry is having to go back to bring someone else’s work up to spec. It’s a difficult and costly task which, at the end of the day, will result in someone having spent a lot of money for a replica Vincent engine. Standing in the workshop, I’m juxtaposed between the old and the new, where items from this century Vintage Motorcycle News
and last are found in the same engine. Terry’s original engine, one he’s owned for close to 65 years, sits in a modern chassis and is reportedly pumping out over three times its original 45 horsepower. That same engine has also seen regular service in Terry’s Land Speed Sidecar – which still holds world records at Bonneville Speedway. This creation is not unlike Bert Munro’s famous Indian, except Terry started with better stock in the Vincent than a clunky, old vintage Indian. The stock of new parts, heads, barrels, pistons and just about everything that has a thread is tantalising. One of my close calls to Vincent ownership includes me recently bidding on a pair of 96
Vincent crankcases. Two lumps of alloy that were sold for close to $AUD5,000. At the close of the auction I was slightly relieved not to have been the winning bidder, a relief that was even more palpable when I saw the look on Terry’s face as I recounted the story. Suffice to say I would have been up for a lot of money to bring those crankcases up to anything resembling a functional engine. Anyway, I needn’t worry about that now as I have the genuine article complemented by some modern parts that maintain the authenticity of a 1948 motorcycle in a package that will outlive me, even if I ride it every day for the rest of my life – which is exactly what I plan on doing. Summer 2020
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"1952 Vincent Black Lightning" Lyrics by Richard Thompson Oh, says Red Molly to James, "That's a fine motorbike A girl could feel special on any such like" Says James to Red Molly, "My hat's off to you It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952 And I've seen you at the corners and cafes, it seems Red hair and black leather, my favorite color scheme" And he pulled her on behind And down to Boxhill that they did ride Oh, says James to Red Molly, "Here's a ring for your right hand But I'll tell you in earnest, I'm a dangerous man For I've fought with the law since I was seventeen I robbed many a man to get my Vincent machine And now I'm twenty-one years, I might make twenty-two And I don't mind dying but for the love of you And if fate should break my stride Then I'll give you my Vincent to ride" "Come down, come down, Red Molly," called Sergeant McRae "For they've taken young James Adie for armed robbery Shotgun blast hit his chest, left nothing inside Oh, come down, Red Molly, to his dying bedside" When she came to the hospital, there wasn't much left He was running out of road, he was running out of breath But he smiled to see her cry And said, "I'll give you my Vincent to ride"
Short Bio
Richard Thompson OBE is an
English singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
He made his début as a recording artist as a member of Fair-
port Convention in September 1967.
He continues to write and record new material regularly
and frequently performs live at
Says James, "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world Beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl Now Nortons and Indians and Greeveses won't do Ah, they don't have a soul like a Vincent '52" Oh, he reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys Said, "I've got no further use for these I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome Swooping down from heaven to carry me home"
venues throughout the world.
And he gave her one last kiss and died And he gave her his Vincent to ride
Check it out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yw2yKNLEPc&frags=pl%2Cwn
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Seeking Grandfather's Long-Lost Vincent
This is a bit of a long shot and I’m sure you get these requests all the time, but I’m looking for my grandfather’s bike. He’s been in quite ill health and finding its whereabouts would be the boost he needs. Currently I know that the bike is registered offroad. There are no customs notices so I presume the motorbike may still be in the U.K., but the VMCC have no registered owner since 2003. Any help would be massively appreciated. The tag appears to read 00D 607. Anna Skeates, Ringwood, England Email: skeatesanna@gmail.com
R & T Motorrad Sidecars Sales & Service since 2000 Specialists in subframe fabrication, Installation and alignment
Tel: (613) 967-0301 www.sidecarcanada.com
1949 Vincent Rapide & Hollandia Sidecar
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Norvin Combines the Best of Norton and Vincent By Adam Kaslikowski - Photography by Josh Clason for Petrolicious The annals of Café Racer history are a dusty and half-remembered collection of anecdotes, second-hand stories, and overblown media reports. The reality of this unique 1940s and 50s British scene is now far less important than the fantasy—a pastiche of leather-clad youth with a disregard for law and safety and a lust for doing The Ton.
Of course, these were not on the same bike, or even from the same manufacturers. Thus special concoctions and mashups were built to exploit the very best of what was available.
But one kernel of truth of the Café scene needs no embellishment and has survived the endless retellings wholly intact: the machines.
The Triton was easily the most popular: a Triumph engine plunked into a Norton featherbed frame. These were cheap and readily accessible parts that combined to make a formidable street machine. But if you wanted the absolute best—and had a little more cash than the average teenager—you built yourself a Norvin.
Café Racing was a scene built out of custom bikes. Hardly just for vanity, no contemporary motorcycle was sold that satisfied the unique desires for speed and handling of this lunatic fringe of riding culture.
A Norvin is any hybrid consisting of the well-trusted Norton frame and a venerable Vincent engine. (Yes, that would be Vincent as in the Vincent Black Shadow.)
Bars were dropped, frames were chopped, and engines were tuned and fettled. It quickly became clear which engines were the fastest, and which frames were the most agile.
Even if you’re sane enough to steer clear of motorcycle culture, you’ve likely heard the name Vincent Black Shadow. This is because the Black Shadow was Genesis—it was a new breed of sports bike and the fastest motorcycle in its day.
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The NORVIN era It introduced a slew of technical innovations, as well as legitimized the sports bike genre. Fewer than 1,700 Vincent Black Shadows were made, and they were all hand-assembled beauties. Because of this rarity, many Norvins were made from one of Vincent’s other engines. The example here was crafted using a Comet engine, a thunderous single cylinder 499cc power plant good for 28 honest British horses. Many technical innovations and racing inspired specifications were used on the Comet engine, making it the perfect heart of a Café Racer. The Norton featherbed frame, meanwhile, was renowned for its handling and cornering prowess. Originally developed for the Isle of Man TT race, it quickly made its way into Norton customer bikes and was widely considered to be the best handling frame that a café racer could have.
Vintage Motorcycle News 2020
It is still produced to this day by specialist manufacturers who have been hard pressed to find areas to improve upon the original design. This, then, is what happens when worlds collide. A Norvin is a superhero teamup: a best-of album that will rock you without fail. This machine was and always will be more than the sum of its parts. One look at a Norvin tells you that you are on to something special. The dimensions, the stance, and the absence of trivialities tells you this a racer through and through. Sadly, Vincent went bankrupt, making Norvins a unique moment in time, a capsule that brings together all the Café Racer scene into one beautiful machine. This beautiful machine is equally at home in a museum or attacking a twisting road. Even as the Café Racer scene continues to grow worldwide, the Norvin still holds its dominance as the Holy Grail of motorcycle builders. 101
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JMC NORVIN CAFE RACER Source: Return of the café racers
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While stories Ton-up and Peas and gravy,ofspaghetti and boys meatballs, Chelsea jukeboxes continue to light up Sonny and Cher. It seems some things the are imaginations motorcycles to this just made to of go together. day,Take thetheNorvin racer remains an Norton featherbed frame for unbelievable instance, reality. arguably Norton's greatest achievement, it was the frame that every Cafe Racer rider wanted in the fifties and is still highly regarded today; add to that one of the most beautiful engines ever made, the Vincent 1200cc Lighting and you’ve got one of those winning combinations. JMC Classics and restorations in Hertfordshire, England have been producing motorcycles based on this combination for more than two decades and it seems they’ve just about perfected it. This is the JMC Norvin. A modern day version of the classic Cafe Racer combination and if you want a reliable classic this is about as good as it gets. Starting with the engine you’ll get the choice of either a Vincent Shadow (1000cc, 66bhp), Vincent Lightning (1200cc, 87bhp) or the Vincent Nero (1200cc Race spec). Each built with a JMC racing clutch, Alton alternator, 5 speed gearbox and professionally tuned by the JMC team this won’t be a ride for the faint hearted. The Featherbed inspired JMC wideline frame has been developed by Andy Sydlow. Lacking the front cradle (which undoubtedly saves some weight) it allows the engine to dominate the the bikes aesthetic and further simplify its appearance. The rear suspension comes in either a dual or mono shock configuration which is complimented by a set Ceriani Forks and Yoke or Norton on the front and you also get the option of stainless or fiberglass mudguards. All the aluminum on the bike including the rear sets is done by AMC craftsman Axel Meier whose work is nothing less that stunning. My favorite part of this particular bike though is the sweeping 2 into 1 exhaust that snakes around that beautiful engine and rears its head at the other bikes trailing behind.
www.jmcclassics.com Vintage Motorcycle News 2020
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Contact us at: 1-800-880-7567! and get those Special Collector Editions
MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS PREWAR PERFECTION…………………………$9.99 Take a trip down memory lane with the Motorcycle Classics Prewar Perfection special issue! Packed with stories about all different kinds of bikes (from a 1936 Harley-Davidson EL and 1941 BMW R75 to a 1927 Cleveland 4-45 and a 1933 KTT Velocette), this collection features something new and interesting on every page. Read about the enduring legacy of the inventor of Carmex lip balm (his grandson rides and fixes up motorcycles), travel to Berlin to discover the roots of the 1939 BMW R51, and learn how the 1930 Henderson KJ Streamline was used as a police transportation vehicle. This is the perfect read for the history lover and motorcycle collector! Other articles include: • Refined Pioneer: 1921 Reading Standard – Some antique motorcycles are time travelers. They do much better in current conditions than they did when they were built. One of these is the Reading Standard. • Diamond in the Rough: 1931 AJS S8 Deluxe – Restorer John Whitby was flipping through ads for cars when a motorcycle in the background of a photo caught his eye. • A Little Fun on the Side: 1941 BMW R75 – Owner Mark Dunn urges us to retain our historical memory while keeping it light at the same time with a military sidecar BMW. • And more!
MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS STREET BIKES OF THE '50S…………………..$9.99 Motorcycle Classics dedicates this Special Collector Edition to the remarkable street bikes of the 1950s. Numerous classic motorcycles were designed and built in the ’50s, and Motorcycle Classics has put together a 96-page special edition featuring articles that explore the decade and what it brought to the motorcycle world. The Harley-Davidson KHK, Honda JC58 Benly, Devil Lusso Extra, and many others are all covered in this glossy-page, full-color guide. Whether you’re just discovering these bikes or have been riding them since they first came on the market, you’re sure to enjoy this special edition. Articles in this guide include: • Unapproachable: 1957 Norton Model 30 – Joe Block’s rare 1957 Model 30 is one of just 70 built that year, but that doesn’t stop him from riding it. • Big Sid’s 1950 Series B Vincent Meteor – A towering man, Sidney Biberman left a monumental legacy as a Vincent aficionado, tuner, and lover of speed. • Dad’s 1958 BMW R50 – Shortly after the death of Richard Costello, his son Bill found a note attached to his father’s R50 in the garage. Since then, Bill has devotedly restored his dad’s BMW. • Speed Twin: Ed Turner’s Triumphant Twin – Emulated by everyone, Triumph sold a parallel twin first. Vintage Motorcycle News 2020
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