Vincent motorcycles

[JamesG]

Anyone have one or ever owned one? I'm think they are one of the sweetest bikes ever built. I would love to see a Vincent chopper. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[marq]

you don't ever chop a vinnie ,they were built just up the road from me in stevenage herts England about 10 miles from where i live. And they are sweet and fast.......marq

[The37Kid]

The Easyrider Bonneville streamliner has two Black Shadow motors for power, does that count?

[JamesG]

Yummy.....
http://www.motorcyclesonly.com/images/vincent1.jpg

[LIMEY]

took this in '98 just after it rolled onto its side at the top end....

[55olds88]

Girl I went to school withs old man had a couple, even then I wanted one...... need to win the lotto now, HRD/Vincent are the business, seem to remember seeing Elgi framed one on the Isle of Mann at the TT years ago (hell you get to see everything at the TT).

[JamesG]

There back, but about 20 grand for one.
Vincent (http://www.vincentmotors.com/)

[oldchevyseller]

i bought a 57 in may 2000 at a cycle auction because it was sitting at 10 thousand and cheap!!1 then i sold it at another sale here in mpls for a hell of a profit ,i still stare at the wall because the bike was so cool but i let it go for more bucks http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif,and now you cant touch a 53 to 57 for 35 thousand

[whizzerick]

[ QUOTE ]
I would love to see a Vincent chopper. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Oh Man! Bad kharma! Simply uttering these words together could have you hit by lightning! Or, grow huge double D's while you sleep! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[cheaterjack]

Anyone can restore one, but it takes real balls to chop one up!!!!

[luckystiff]

one of the guys from redneck eng. in south carolina is chopping one. it was to far gone to restore and he wanted to use it for something other than parts. it's a ballsy move for sure. i shudder to think of one getting chopped but then want to see it all at the same time. can't see one getting any cooler than they already are. beautiful to say the least...ken....

[55olds88]

They are only back in name.......
At 20k I think I would be into a kustom framed Ducati from one of the bad arse little Euro manufacturers.

[JamesG]

Choppers!
http://www.thevincent.com/vin-chopper2.jpg
http://www.thevincent.com/Chopper-Vin3c.jpg
http://www.thevincent.com/Chopper-vin5c.jpg
http://www.thevincent.com/Chopper-vin7c.jpg

[JamesG]

Heres another and a link to the site these pics are from. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
http://www.thevincent.com/Supercharged49Lightning-Solvang.jpg
Vincent (http://www.thevincent.com/vinmodel.htm)

[Drewfus]

Vincent....I'll have one in Black please........



Gloss black.

[Drewfus]

With a touch of salt.

Cheers,

Drewfus http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[BigDdy31]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone have one or ever owned one? I'm think they are one of the sweetest bikes ever built. I would love to see a Vincent chopper. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, you just HAD to say the 'V' word. Have some sensitivity man! The only reason I ride a Beezer is because I can AFFORD a Vincent. LOL Well maybe not the only reason. I really like the chrome too.

[Just Gary]

Rollie Free topping the 150 mph mark @ Bonneville, circa ~1950, on what is possibly the most famous Vincent of all time...

[porknbeaner]

Never owned one. There was a collector that had a place in South Bay in the 80s. I went in with the ol' man to take a look. He had a Black Shadow and said if I could get it started I could take it a spin.
It started and I got a ride. What a rush, I had to clean the piddle off the seat when I got back.

[disastron13]

Last one I rode sold for three grand in about 1988, a nice bike but pretty rattely, unrestored. A C Rapide.
They are good bikes, fun to ride. They are only about as big as an RD 250, same wheelbase and seat height. But with that nice big motor.
They are geared real high, lots of torque.
Who ever built the chopper is kissin a lot of money goodbye, no Vincent is too far gone to restore.
One night when my daughter was in her skinhead phase, a walking arsenal, a guy in the coffee shop told her his dad had a "Vincent Black Widow"
She said, "No way dude, Black Shadow, Rapide, and a few Black Lightenings. You're fulla shit"
He wouldn't admit he was wrong so he got the iron Doc Martin.
Poor guy.

[Flat Ernie]

Speak of the devil...here's on on UK eBay:

eBay Vincent (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2192&item=24840279 01&rd=1)

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[porknbeaner]

Ernie
That one is up to 15,000 with that little squiggle (pound?).
How much is that in American?

[zgears]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone can restore one, but it takes real balls to chop one up!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif thats like kicking a hole in a 'picasso' and then calling yourself an artist.

[Mart]

One pound equals about a buck 85.
Mart.

[Flat Ernie]

[ QUOTE ]
That one is up to 15,000 with that little squiggle (pound?).


[/ QUOTE ]

You don't want to know...

...current exchange rate is running ~1.85:1, so £15K = $27,750!!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[40Tudor]

Bonneville effort from Minnesota. Doesn't someone here know the owner of this bike? Any results, yet?
Link to owner's web page (http://motorbyte.com/norton/vincent_bonneville_bike.htm)

http://motorbyte.com/norton/vincent/dsc00405.jpg

[disastron13]

Yeah man that's Steve Hamel's bonneville machine. His goal is 100BHP at the rear wheel, not so easy with a push rod stock displcement motor
He's a complete Vincent engineering shop, everything from the cranks to the flow bench
He does my Triumph motors, when blueprinted by him they are 52 BHP instead of the stock 47 or so- 10% jump just by careful building.
A great shop, he works on Goldies, Norton Internationals, Velocettes too.
Not the Guilbranson radial sherman tank motor with the stub propellor in the background, fires it up once in a while.
A major world headquarters scene

[BigDdy31]

[ QUOTE ]
Last one I rode sold for three grand in about 1988, a nice bike but pretty rattely, unrestored. A C Rapide.
They are good bikes, fun to ride. They are only about as big as an RD 250, same wheelbase and seat height. But with that nice big motor.
They are geared real high, lots of torque.
Who ever built the chopper is kissin a lot of money goodbye, no Vincent is too far gone to restore.
One night when my daughter was in her skinhead phase, a walking arsenal, a guy in the coffee shop told her his dad had a "Vincent Black Widow"
She said, "No way dude, Black Shadow, Rapide, and a few Black Lightenings. You're fulla shit"
He wouldn't admit he was wrong so he got the iron Doc Martin.
Poor guy.

[/ QUOTE ]

I LOVE that story man.

By the way, it's kinda hot when gals know about bikes. How old is your daughter now? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[disastron13]

32 y arrijado
She quit bikes when her kid started school.
Any other veteranls remember the HRM feature on Clem Johnson's Vincent drag bike, "The Barn Job"?
I guess it still exists in LA but will never see the strip again, "too valuable to risk"

[cosmo]

The Classic Bike, a British mag, has a sidebar on Vincents in this month's ish (July).
The opener was a report of a Series A Rapide (pre-war) changing hands privately for $100,000 USD.
Pretty steep money for a motorcycle of any sort.
Next was a lament that Comets (the singles) are over £6,000
UKP ($11,100) and rising.
In April, at Stafford's auction, a box of bits said to be a '54 Black Shadow went for £13,800 UKP ($25,600). This for a basket case!!!
So for the person who would chop one of these, I'd say it is a bit like making a 'T' bucket kind of ride out of a Silver Ghost Roller; it could be done, but it would be mighty stupid, money-wise.
For the uninitiated, Vincent were built by the Howard R. Davies company (the HRD in the moniker) from about 1938 to 1955. The pre-war Series A were the first, natch, also the only to use a frame as such, and the only ones to have an included angle of 47 1/5º. The post-war Series B, C, and D (the fully faired Black Prince and Black Knight) all had no frame as such, and an included angle of 50º between cylinders.
That lack of a frame is what made the bike so impossibly small. The headstock bolted to the front head, the fuel tank bolted to that and the rear head, and the rear suspension (of a triangulated type quite similar to Yamaha's of the 70's), bolted to the rear of the engine unit. Specification of all was of the highest degree, with only a slight cheapening towards the end (on the D's).
Today's market forces many off the road due to worries of damage, much like the Brough Superior during the eighties.
Sadly I have not owned one, and will not in the foreseeable future due to my inability to see putting that much money into a motorcycle. Well, that and not having that much money, too. :-)
Cosmo

[a/fxcomet]

[ QUOTE ]
32 y arrijado
Any other veteranls remember the HRM feature on Clem Johnson's Vincent drag bike, "The Barn Job"?
I guess it still exists in LA but will never see the strip again, "too valuable to risk"

[/ QUOTE ]

http://thevincent.com/BarnJobcp.jpg

That is how you cut up a Vincent. I think the only stock peices in the motor are the cases and a couple bearings. He made the rest in his barn http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif.

So is it in a museum?

[burndup]

As badass as those are, when something becomes THAT desireable, it makes it totally UNdesireable to me.

Kinda like, unobtanium would smell like poop if I ever was allowed to get close enough to be able to catch a whiff.

Makes me appreciate my POS $400 honda 900 all the more. Fast AND disposable! Ugly, yes...

[mikes51]

[ QUOTE ]
Any other veteranls remember the HRM feature on Clem Johnson's Vincent drag bike, "The Barn Job"?
I guess it still exists in LA but will never see the strip again, "too valuable to risk"

[/ QUOTE ]

I still have that article.

I saw this one at a car show a few years ago.

[mikes51]

,

[saltflataddict]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone can restore one, but it takes real balls to chop one up!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif thats like kicking a hole in a 'picasso' and then calling yourself an artist.

[/ QUOTE ]


Fuck that chop whatever you want. Thats like telling my man Jeff Decker that he fucked up chopping his Crocker. If done right it could clean up the lines of an already beutiful bike. For example Jeffs Crocker. Fuck the purists..

[UKAde]

we lost a large chunk of British motorcycle history a year or so ago when the mational motorcycle museum went up in flames
But nero and super nero survived two very fast drag vincents
i have a 55 matchless once had a ride on a comet thought it was very over rated as it was heavy and slow for a 500

now my matchless is even heavier and slower but it never was a performace bike


UKAde

[Spitfire1776]

A Vincent chopper would be such a waste. Vincents were meant for speed and cornering. It would be like chopping a Crocker. I actually think I would be inclined to kick the ass of anyone that did anything to either one, that didn't improve the performance. They were art.

[disastron13]

Crockers are a little different, they were hot rods to start with, never went for the BMW-style fast touring market. Probably no two Crockers were alike, I bet most of their customers wanted a "hot rod bobber"
You guitar pickers out there will dig to know that Crockers chief engineer was Paul Bigsby.
I think chopping a Crocker is right in the spirit of WWII hot rodding, but chopping almost any British bike makes it less efficient...
like adding air conditioning and a white fur interior to a clean lakes roadster

[zgears]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone can restore one, but it takes real balls to chop one up!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif thats like kicking a hole in a 'picasso' and then calling yourself an artist.

[/ QUOTE ]


Fuck that chop whatever you want. Fuck the purists..

[/ QUOTE ]

hey.. anybody can do whatever they want with there own property.
but, just because someone can cut and weld something dos'nt make them an artist.

theres no shortage of badly done customs.

[Spitfire1776]

Anybody know anything about the new supposed "Vincents"? What are their engine based off of? Looks like a V-twin with a cylinder and head design kinda based off Hinckley Trump triples.....

[Kilroy]

My Father in Law is reported to have a few squirled away..

He used to race brit bikes on the dry lakes and my wife knows he had a couple for sure but might have sold them.
He's also pretty shrewd so I'm betting he still has them stored somewhere.

He's just enough of a jerk for it to be true also. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[asillymick]

The new ones are nothing more then Honda RC50 motors. Kinda weak to take a Brit bike name and slap something like that in it but... oh well who am I to judge.

[haring]

[ QUOTE ]
like adding air conditioning and a white fur interior to a clean lakes roadster

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, jeez. I'd better change my game plan then ... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[LIMEY]

[ QUOTE ]
My Father in Law is reported to have a few squirled away
He's just enough of a jerk for it to be true also. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
It may be time to do some ass licking........oh dearest father in law http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Spitfire1776]

Talk about a slap in the face. The Jap bikes killed the Brit market and now they wear their names. I think I might buy a whole slew of PTCruisers and slap Auburn on em. Anybody wanna be first in-line to get one? Come on, you could own an Auburn for only 55,000 bucks. Its a steal.....

Dirty F@#*(^&.......

[Kilroy]

I would Limey but he and my wife are "estranged" (ie; they want to kill each other if they get locked in a room) plus he is known to have a collection of simi-legal fire-arms. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[LIMEY]

Probably the maddest Vincent ever built was this ex Reg Deardon supercharged Black Lightning, Deardon took delivery in 1949 but later returned it to Stevenage to have the custom built Shorrock supercharger fitted, Philip Vincent oversaw the design & construction.
Never actually dyno tested but running on alchohol was estimated 130bhp at 6800revs, it was going to be run on the German autobahn & there were roumors that Vincent was planning to take it to Utah in streamlined form.
Sorry don't have any other info regarding performance but its now in Austin Texas owned by a lawyer Herb Harris who paid £55.000 (yes pounds) in 1987.

[LIMEY]

.

[LIMEY]

..

[LIMEY]

Almost forgot to mention Herb Harris also owns the 1948 Rollie Free 'bathing trunks' record bike too!

[JamesG]

CHOP CHOP CHOP!!!!!!!!!


That Crocker is the Shizzit! Fo shizzile hizzle!

Like someone said ealier, if its yours do what you like. People need to stop worring about being "excepted" and make themselves happy. Like I said before, if I ever win the lottery(like that will ever happen)I'm going to try and buy one of the remaining 48 Tuckers and you will see a KUSTOM, RAT RODZZZZZ, LOWBROW, BEATNIK, TIKI, ROCKABILLY, PHSYCHOBILLY, LEAD SLEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[JamesG]

Heres a link to some Vincent links. There aren't many out there.
Vincent links!!!!! (http://lsvoc.vincent-hrd.co.uk/voc_links.html)

[JamesG]

For sale in Dallas......

Black Shadow (http://adcache.cycletrader.com/5/7/2/66237072.htm)

[SamIyam]

Does anyone have any pictures or know anything about Joe Simpson who set records at Bonneville on a Vincent? In the mid 50's??

Sam.

[Kilroy]

I just got confirmation from my wife that her dad sold his Vincents a while back.

I guess a guy had been bugging him to sell one of them for like 20 years and finally wore him down.

From what she hears, he didn't get what they're worth for them either.

She tells me he had more than 2 over time too.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

There are some things you just don't do...chopping a vincent is one of them. i'm no purist but i know when something is better left alone. that's like turning a Bugatti into lowrider just cause you can http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[LIMEY]

[ QUOTE ]
I just got confirmation from my wife that her dad sold his Vincents a while back.

[/ QUOTE ]

so i guess he's got nothing going for him now then!! who needs a father inlaw anyway http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Tony Bones]

I like Vinnies, but there's a number of other bikes that I think are way cooler for the coin.

Man, I'd beg, plead, steal, and cajole for a Crocker. Someday...someday.

[JamesG]

[ QUOTE ]
I like Vinnies, but there's a number of other bikes that I think are way cooler for the coin.

Man, I'd beg, plead, steal, and cajole for a Crocker. Someday...someday.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heres some history on them....

From guitars to bikes. (http://www.bigsbyguitars.com/history.html)

History of the Crocker. (http://www.star-riders.org/starcruiser/volume1-2/crocker.html)

Crocker Motorcycle Co. (http://www.crockermotorcycleco.com/)

[JamesG]

Sweet.....
http://www.crockermotorcycleco.com/photos/ph12.jpg

http://www.crockermotorcycleco.com/photos/ph38.jpg

http://www.crockermotorcycleco.com/photos/ph28.jpg

http://www.crockermotorcycleco.com/photos/ph10.jpg

[AnimalAin]

I saw "The Barn Job" run at Lions about a thousand years ago. E.T.s were really inconsistent, but always ran within a couple of miles an hour (fast) at the top end. Bitch'n.

[zonkola]

Not in the same league performance-wise, but If I bought another bike it'd be one of these. Still in production and relatively cheap to boot. Plus you can get them with saddlebags to carry your British intelligence documents.

http://www.fieldimport.dk/enfield/images/enfield.jpg

[Flat Ernie]

[ QUOTE ]
Still in production

[/ QUOTE ]

...in India

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[burtrido]

My dad told me he had one when he was about 17, and it was a pain in ass to start. One day he couldn't start it and it fell over so he left it there. Somebody got a bargain. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[JamesG]

http://www.testsite9.co.uk/Strokeman/vincentpics/newphotos/Factory_7.jpg

[JamesG]

Indian Vincent?

http://www.testsite9.co.uk/Strokeman/vincentpics/newphotos/Vincent_Indian_pic_9.jpg

[disastron13]

Indian distributed Vincents for a while- Touring fenders, and ape hangers for the USA market.

[Scotch]

All this talk of cool vintage bikes and no mention of my personal fave...The Ariel Square Four?

Gotta love twin crankshafts spinning in opposite directions. Here's a '56...

[JamesG]

Revell Germany has a Vincent Black Shadow 1:12 kit out now. You can get them at Hobby Lobby for 29..95

http://i23.ebayimg.com/02/i/02/37/66/4b_1_b.JPG

[johndanger]

This is a true story .

A few years ago my buddy Brian got a bug up his ass to get a Vincent , so we went down to LA to look at a Rapide that a car restorer that he knew had , turns out that it was owned or painted by Von Dutch ( he was still alive then ), my friend didn't buy it because it had alot of etching in the cases and crazy paint and stuff and he wanted to restore one , but we were given a name and number for a guy named Marty Dickerson who lived outside of Paso Robles , right where James Dean died .

We drove out to meet him at his shop. this guy used to race for Vincent in the 50s and worked on them . He had at least 20 bike there , singles and twins and tons of parts.

We came to look at a Rapide , it was parted together and missing a bunch of parts , but most of it could be bought from Marty , it needed lots of work and was over priced.

When we looked around we found a Black Shadow neatly unbolted into two halfs up in the rafters to keep it out of the way.

When we asked about it , we were told it was a customer's bike in for repairs and not for sale. It was covered with dust and hadn't been moved for years . While Marty was distracted we noticed that the owners name was still visable in the registation tube above the liscence plate with an old adress in Las Vegas. We didn't buy the Rapide , but we told him we would be back.

Later after some calling around the owner was found in a retirement home in Vegas, he had forgotten about owning the bike ,as it had been at the repair shop 30 years , and no work had been done . Brian asked if he would sell it , the owner said he would think about it .

Two days later he got the call , the pink slip had been found and he was ready to sell .Two more days later Brian was back from Vegas with the title in his name and even some old photos of the owner and the bike in the 50s .

I drove back down to Paso with him to pick it up , Mr Dickerson was pissed , I guess he thought it would end up his , he claimed that he was owed money for repairs and storage , we pointed out that it still was not fixed , he offered to do the work , we declined gave him 300 bucks and took the Black Shadow home .

Six months later it was restored , it gets riden all the time .

The guy in Vegas sold this all original 1951 model C Black Shadow for $1000 bucks.

As we all know from all of the little old lady and barn find stories we read here on the HAMB ; The're still out there , you just gotta look harder.

[JamesG]

Great story! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[CRAP]

1 1/2 years of lurking I have gathered 1lowdilbert is a fucktard.