This very short post just to honor those who rebuild vintage motorcycles and never give up on their dream trip on old iron. Also, a good pretext to publish a very nice Vincent… Recently, an Englishman named Harvey Bowden took his rare Vincent Rapide HRD over to Chicago to drive Route 66. He bought it at auction two years ago and has been restoring it ever since to get it back on the road for this journey. He made the trip with 2 other HRD owners from Canada, one having spent 14 hours a day for two years rebuilding a Vincent from the ground up, carburetor included.
Harvey’s bike made it 600 miles (past the bridge at Devil’s Elbow at least) before his follower’s cam spindle started to oscillate so much it tore away the aluminum casing, calling the end of the journey! However, now it’s in the garage being fixed before he takes it back to the same spot in Oklahoma in a six-month time to finish the remaining 1,800 miles with his Vincent addicted buddies..
A broke down Vincent is worth a huge sum of cash. One of the most valuable collectable bikes ever made. I’m sure the Rapide will be up and running to complete its tour of the Mother Raod.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone re-started Vincent staying as true to the original design as possible but using more modern technology to make it more reliable and long lasting? Royal Enfield seems to be doing pretty well at it.
Royal Enfield never went out of business. It continued in production in India after the Brits stopped building them in the home country and that’s where they come from today almost unchanged since the early sixties.
I’ll never forget about ten or fifteen years ago while at Daytona when I pulled up to a red light next to a PAIR of Vincent Black Shadows (much more desirable than a Rapie!) being ridden by youngish guys wearing sneakers and windbreakers. I snapped a quick photo but did not get a chance to talk to them.
I could be wrong but they left me with the impression that these guys were not riders but were smart, wealthy investors taking in the event and enjoying the use of their investments so much more than had they put their money in bonds, etc.
Beautiful old machines, just beautiful.
Very Cool stuff.
Delightful to see & lust after. I’m certainly envious ….. 🙂
Regarding availability:
http://www.irvingvincent.com/
RE:
“…the impression that these guys were not riders but were smart, wealthy investors …”
Those familiar with vintage British iron know that you need to be more that “a casual rider” if you plan to even simply “… enjoying the use of their investments… ” for an occasional event outing.
Any yuppie contemplating that dream had damned well better have a savvy Brit mechanic and a healthy wallet backing them up or the investment will quickly become worthless.
No matter what the brand, these are not Japanese bikes and they won’t take kindly to casual, uninformed use.
-nicker-
nicker
The Brit bike life of Joesph Lucas and a Zenner Diodes
Rodent,
Actually, i’ve had no problems with Zenner Diodes and Lucas alternators.
Hell, on a kick start Triumph that’s all that’s needed.
Now, the generators and regulators that’s a different story…. 🙁
But that’s the same story with my 42 FL…… 🙂
-nicker-
Probably THE best bike ever made
Beautiful & fast
Winning combination in my book