Vincent Enthusiast Pls Help

Hmm, now I am mostly disturbed. I also thought of Hesketh, but I
discounted them due to them being shit.

Agreed, Vincents used Jap engines, but so did a hell of a lot of other
bike makers of the period (and "cars" - Morgans for one). My question
applied when Vincents were in their prime - around the series B and C
models, this is when the Shadow appeared, and I can't think of a modern
equivalent.

 

Great minds etc.

True. It's looking more like the Italian manufacturers are probably
the nearest to Vincent - MV, Ducati, Aprilia?

 

I'd go for KTM.

Well crafted bikes based around a small yet perfectly formed range of
engines.

In second place, I'd plump for Aprilia.

 

Apart from the 2002 batch of self-destructing ones then?

 

Irving Vincent - http://www.irvingvincent.com/


--
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'02 MV Senna '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

I could, but they won't have anything like that.

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'02 MV Senna '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

Oooh, didn't know about that. The local dealer sings their praises in terms
of reliability. It seems servicing costs for some of the twins is a bit
high, but other than that, happy custards bezzing around on their KTMs.

Was it an engine type or the whole range that was afflicted?. All I've found
thus far is a recall for front wheels.

 

Bollocks. Never the fastest thing on the road, and with little to
recommend them except a good finish and good looks.

I rode one once and disliked it.

I'm with the Pigwanker - there isn't a modern equivalent. I dare say you
could make a few cases in the car world, though.

 

It's more than that. The Vincent Black Shadow was, by a long way, the
fastest production bike in the world. When it was launched, it made
45bhp - astonishing for the era and equivalent, I'd suggest, to over
200bhp today.

Plus, of course, the incredible built quality, advanced engineering
thinking, and looks to die for.

With you there. For cars, I'd suggest the Maclaren F1. A 240mph supercar
that carried three people, central driving position, etc etc...

 

The 2002 Duke-II had a batch with a duff bearing in the clutch/gearbox
area. The bearing wasn't strong enough and failed often taking other
bits with it.

Have a look here for other recall info
http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp

 

good point. Bimota might well fit the bill.

 

They were as close as anything was in the 1970s and 1980s, with their
frame design which was *way* ahead of its time. Indeed, it was copied by
a lot of Japanese manufacturers. And their quality of workmanship was
equally unusual.

These days, though, they're just "different".

 

Is there any scope these days for somebody to significantly up the game
further? I'm talking a big jump, like Vincent, or Bimota frames. Apart
from the "oh my god this years gsxrr1zxr is sooo much better than last
years" nobody seems to be making any leaps forward. All I can think of
in the last 15 years were the Blade and the R1, everything else is just
incremental. Probably this has been said for the last x years though!

 

Even then you've got the problem that you've either got too large a
range (Suzuki) or too focussed (MV). Hmmm, Hinckley Triumph were going
to have a shot at world's fastest production bike (but pulled it) and
used the same modular thing as Vincent, but of course they have far
too wide a range too. I suppose it's down to what Vincent would be
doing if they were going today - would they do things like the cruiser
in order to pull in as wide a range of punters as possible? Would they
be as niche (in a different way) as Boss?

One thinga that struck me as odd about the cod-Vincents was the way
the tanks slope down towards the front (reminded me of the pig-ugly
K'tangas when they came out). Then I realised that putting 20 stone of
average US citizen on one would probably level it out nicely...

 

Among others, he also used the commercial version of the Rudge
engine, the Viper. According to his own account he designed his own
engine because he was fed up with Japp, the final straw being the
failure of any of his TT entries to finish. It's odd because Brough
never seemed to have had any problems. Then again Japp twins seem to
have been more advanced than the singles.

Off course there were a lot of manufactures using bought in engines
up to 1939, including Morgan. By the series B twin was not only
designed for power but reliability, Vincent claimed 10,000 miles
between major services.

Ken Young

 

Good God!

<impressed>

 

I always find the idea of 4,000 mile service intervals rather annoying.
I keep wondering if it's just a scam to keep us going to the shop.

 

Eh? What shop?

4k's only an oil and filter change - even you must be able to manage
that.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
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|_\_____/_| ..78895.../...20405.../..31257.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4
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\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG*
'^' RBR 2005: Abandoned - Bronze Award.

 

OK, alternative 4k intervals then. But if it's a new one you want to
keep the book stamped just in case of a warranty fix. 4k used not to
last much more than 3 months at one time for me.

 

Missing smiley?