Harley? Enfield? Bah - I want a Vinnie

[Collector]

And I want it NOW, if you please.

When I was a youngster I missed out on the opportunity to buy a Vincent by a couple of months; a neighbour sold a Black Shadow for silly money and at the time I didn't even know he had it!

Now I see this has come up on Ebay in the UK for a paltry £54,995.00, or $89,383.00 in your coin of the constitution.

Here's the skinny:

In the 1960’s and 70’s racer Fritz Egli became famous for designing and making high quality light weight motorcycle frames the most desirable was the legendary Egli-Vincent. Powered by a 998cc Vincent V-Twin engine, often Black Shadow spec these bikes were considered to be not only the fastest but the best handling machines of the period and quickly became collectable amongst motorcycle racers and connoisseurs.

Approximately 10 years ago the successful French motorcycle racer and engineer Patrick Godet began to develop the original Egli-Vincent frame design and make small improvements. Such was the quality of his work that Fritz Egli granted him a license to produce the fames and so the Godet / Egli Vincent was born. This development continued further as the now aging Vincent engine was given a reworking, a new combustion chamber design was introduced, capacity was increased and new engine cases were designed and produced in magnesium in Godet’s own workshops, with the blessing of the owner of the Vincent trade mark. The result is not only staggeringly beautiful, fast and with fantastic handling but is also no doubt one of the finest hand made bespoke motorcycles in the World. To produce a motorcycle of this kind takes hours of work, attention to detail and real craftsmanship and as such they can not be produced in large numbers.

This example here also boasts a unique feature, a weight saving belt driven primary drive that due to the complexity of its design and build time may never be repeated on future bikes.

The build on this bike was completed last year and the bike was registered in the UK in August as a Vincent with an age related 1968 registration with a UK V5C logbook. It features a 1330cc Black Shadow specification engine with magnesium cases and covers 10:1 compression ratio with special 105 cams and squish band cylinder heads, electric ignition and 36mm Mikuni carbs. The gearbox is 5 speed with a Newby clutch and fortunately it also has an electric starter ! It is estimated to produce about 100bhp.


This amazing motorcycle also has many other weight saving parts, Cerani front forks, a huge magnesium 4 leading shoe front brake and alloy wheel rims. Full specs can be found at Patrick Godet Motorcycles -main page

Having covered just 1,000 miles it is in fantastic order and comes directly from the owner who commissioned the build. There is a considerable waiting list for these bikes with rising cost, and as such this is an opportunity to acquire a truly unique and very exotic motorcycle ahead of the list in as new condition.

Pics here:























In my book it is quite possibly one of the most beautiful motorcycles I have EVER seen. It completely does it for me. I mean, 1300cc, 100BHP, electric start - what's not to like?

Send money now - I will buy it and look after it on behalf of all of us but only because I am that kind of guy!

Collector

[PA Dave]

Brakes.

[jpr1968]

They are Beautiful bikes. I'm an honorary member of a local Vincent club but have never riden one .

[Collector]

Originally Posted by PA Dave

Brakes.

On the front is a Fontana 4 leading shoe racing front brake. Contrary to common belief, drum brakes can be effective.

Plus it looks really neat!

Not only that, with 10:1 pistons there will be a spot of engine braking too.

Collector

[PA Dave]

Don't get me wrong, I love it; the looks and that it even exists. It is a work of art. Is there any rear brake at all, though? It looks like the shifter in on the right hand side and I couldn't make out a brake pedal on the left.

[hypostang]

Originally Posted by PA Dave

Brakes.

Brakes only slow you down

[Collector]

Originally Posted by PA Dave

Don't get me wrong, I love it; the looks and that it even exists. It is a work of art. Is there any rear brake at all, though? It looks like the shifter in on the right hand side and I couldn't make out a brake pedal on the left.

Well, you see, in the good old days British motorcycles had the gearshift on the right hand side and the brake pedal on the left.

There is a brake pedal on the left; the brake drum is on the other side (drive side) of the wheel and is cable operated. It's not easy to see in the pictures but it is there.

A cable rear brake was not uncommon - for example, some of the BSA big twins had them.

Collector

[MikeB]

Well, you see, in the good old days British motorcycles had the gearshift on the right hand side and the brake pedal on the left.

Didn't all European bikes back in the day? I used to give myself whiplash trying to ride my brother's Bultaco...never could get my brain to direct my feet properly.

Which raises a question: does anyone make a right-foot-shift bike any more? I declined to rent a 500cc Enfield and chose a Yamaha instead while in India for this very reason but I'm told that the newer model years have changed over to the "correct" side for all markets, not just the US.

[PA Dave]

Originally Posted by Collector

Well, you see, in the good old days British motorcycles had the gearshift on the right hand side and the brake pedal on the left.

There is a brake pedal on the left; the brake drum is on the other side (drive side) of the wheel and is cable operated. It's not easy to see in the pictures but it is there.

A cable rear brake was not uncommon - for example, some of the BSA big twins had them.

Collector

I've learned something new today. Thanks Collector!

[wallasan10]

I had several bikes back in the 60s that had the shift on the right. A Bultaco 250 (which had a Rickman Metisses frame) and a 450cc Ducati come to mind. I never rode a bike that did not have the throttle and front brake on the right and clutch on the left but other than that I don’t think there was any standard layout for controls like we have today. Another thing was the gearshift pattern, which, as I recall, was often up for first gear and down for the rest on a lot of bikes. We didn’t know any better and you just had to learn each bike.You want awkward? Try an old Harley with a foot clutch and hand shift. Electric start was almost unheard of.
Drum brakes (dual leading shoe and quad leading shoe) can be very effective if you can keep them cool but the biggest drawback was maintenance. Changing pads is WAY easier than changing shoes and you had to keep adjusting them as they wore down.
As for Vincent, when I visited the Clinton Presidential Library a few years ago a bike called Redneck Vincent was part of a motorcycle display. I’m not a big fan of bikes that are made for show rather than ride but I thought this was way cool.