| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
I was standing in line waiting to get a toolbox and motorcycle lift yesterday when I noticed something interesting outside in the parking lot next to a fire hydrant. I thought "Holy S***! That's a Vincent!". I got out of line just so I get go outside and get a photo:  That my friends is a legendary Vincent Black Shadow, just about the coolest motorcycle ever made. The rider left before I got my stuff and got back out, and the bike was so quiet my wife didn't hear it even though she was only ~30 feet away with the windows down. | ||
| Tootal |
Definitely my favorite old bike. I remember the local BMW dealer had one shipped to them that a customer had bought for $25,000.00 back in the late 80's. It was crated up and still looked great! | ||
| 86129squids |
 THAT would have made my day, just to walk around it. Hugh, why in the heck didn't you just hang around for the guy to fire it up and take off?!? Heck, who knows- you might've made a new riding buddy who one day MIGHT let you take it for a spin! And- that there motorsickle is worth a SHIT ton of $$$. Wish you'd gotten about 3 more pictures. I'll never have one, but now I feel pretty good about my old Beemer in which I've got about 2 grand invested.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Wish you'd gotten about 3 more pictures.    I would have hung around, but it was about 95 deg. F and my wife was sitting in the not running truck guarding our furniture purchase while I was getting stuff in HF, so I was trying not to kill too much time | ||
| Akbuell |
Hmmm . . . With no chain, it would be quiet. Perhaps a secret stealth electric (non Lucas) hybrid drive? | ||
| Glitch |
Pssst...the chain's on the other side... | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
Chain is on the right inside the chain guard. Got it. So what is the big sprocket on the left for? | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
I forgot to say, MY GOD THAT THING IS BEAUTIFUL! | ||
| Glitch |
The wheel is reversible so you can just flip it around for a different sprocket ratio | ||
| Hughlysses |
The wheel is reversible so you can just flip it around for a different sprocket ratio Yep, how cool is that? | ||
| Glitch |
Very cool! With the higher ratio sprocket it could go 125+ | ||
| Akbuell |
And my face is sooo red . . . . But a cool feature. | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
Now that is a cool feature. | ||
| Ebutch |
WOW  | ||
| Joe7bros |
Like many things, I could have bought one back in the 70s for, if I remember correctly, $2000; ex-drag bike, tank had been modded, some engine work, but a complete Vincent. The guy had 3 or 4 of them in his garage. This was in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia. | ||
| 1313 |
And my face is sooo red . . . . Thanks for taking one for the team! I noticed the 'extra' sprocket with no chain and was going to say something, but decided to let the situation resolve itself. Especially when I could make out - at least what my mind told me what appeared to be - a chain guard on the right side. But I'll admit I'm a bit too 'new school' as I wondered where the rear brake rotor was... Obviously with drum brakes, and non-directional tires, 2 different sized rear sprockets are entirely possible on the same wheel. Again, thanks for taking one for the team! | ||
| Ourdee |
Saved me too brother. Thanks. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I've had a thing for Vincent's since an early age. I likely first learned about them in the motorcycling section that used to be a part of Hot Rod magazine in the late 1960's. I'll always remember getting my first decent calculator (1975 IIRC), an HP21. An example problem in the user's manual included an obviously tongue-in-cheek example about a daredevil riding his Vincent Black Shadow at high speed. I swore allegiance to the guys at HP from that moment forward. | ||
| 86129squids |
OK, I usually cry when I hear this- Richard Thompson wrote the original, but I like Del McCoury. | ||
| 86129squids |
As I was walking out of work tonite, this older couple walked over to a Ferrari coupe, hard-top, that I and one of my kitchen guys were drooling over. I thought at first it might be a drop-top, didn't see the seams... Yes, it was a drop-top. And, I heard it roll away. Came home in my crappy old Nissan hardbody, running like a champ, and like a clock. Must be nice to have money. | ||
| Alfau |
They have a bad habit of stripping the fiber timing gear in the middle of nowhere. Also the rear suspension has a knack for giving your spine whiplash. X1 was said to be fashioned after one of these. Only similarity I can see is that they both have two wheels. | ||
| Glitch |
Lou "Mystic" Usher He's not a BadWeBber, but he is a friend to a lot of us anyway. | ||
| Ducbsa |
My buddy tells me it is electric start, based on that rounded lump just under the pipe and in line with the foot peg. | ||
| Glitch |
He should talk to someone that owns one, that way he won't embarrass himself any longer. | ||
| Buellish |
My friend Bernard,back in the early 2000's did a package deal with another friend of ours who was getting out of motorcycle ownership.For the lofty sum of $24,000 dollars,he got a 1954 Vincent Touring Rapide complete and running with an extra set of Rapide engine cases and an extra front fork.A 1919 Sunbeam with a J.A.Prestwick V-twin engine,a WWII BSA M-20 military single and a Finnish Bender side car that had been mounted to the Vincent.Barnard has many running motorcycles and always considered this package of bikes to be part of his retirement.He sold the M-20 for $4000,the Bender for $3500,the Vincent cases and fork for $7500 and the Vincent Touring Rapide for $46,000 back in 2007-2009.He has money in the bank and a free 1919 Sunbeam V-Twin. Who needs the stock market when you can enjoy fine vintage motorcycles and make a few dollars in the process? | ||
| Ducbsa |
This looks like it might be what that bike has: http://www.thevincent.com/Electric-Starter-Instruc tions.html | ||
| Glitch |
maybe my buddy has a different model, so, I could be wrong, it certainly wouldn't be the first time! | ||
| Hughlysses |
The electric starter deal is a recent retrofit, which is pretty cool They definitely didn't have that when new. Some of y'all may remember the attempt at a Vincent revival a few years back, spearheaded by Bernard Li (founder of Eagle 1 car care products).  There were actually 4 different prototypes. One was built around an updated air-cooled Vincent V-twin, but they decided this wouldn't cut it for modern motorcycling. The other 3 bikes were based on a Honda RC-51 engine, and included the cafe racer shown above, a sport touring model, and a sort of cruiser-ish thing called the Vincent Black Eagle, which oddly enough foreshadowed the Ducati Diavel. IIRC, Li died about the time things were coming together and the project died. The bike above looks pretty cool, but a narrower angle V-twin (like the ET-V2 for instance) would have worked much better. | ||
| Teeps |
Cool pics. There are a few Vincents rolling around L.A. One turns up at the Rock Store from time to time, and then there's always something cool that Leno is riding. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Back before the Indian museum in Springfield closed down, every third Sunday in July was Indian Day. The rear parking lot was closed off and only Indians were allowed inside that area for the show, all others had to park outside the grounds. Indians only except for one other bike that showed up there every year, a beautiful black "HRD" that was always parked just after you walked in. |
