Scooter weather in Georgia

mackasenbach said:
Great old beemr!! Bill
You know I saw a special feature on the Vincents on the finer living channel
Supposed to be the fastest production bikes made in the years they were produced. Good looking bikes too.
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Yeah, fast. The manual said that there was not a road "open enough" to safely get it up to "top end" and back down again in all of England.

Had some funny ways of dealing with problems like chain noise was "usually caused by richness in the casting" that would cease as the casting was worn away by the chain.

AND to be sure that the engine had reached operating temperature before changing the oil so that all the "swarf and gluck" would flow out.

998ccs of belch fire V2 fury! It did honk along. But did not handle very well and the brakes were a joke. But truly an innovative scoot for 1950s. I believe that 1955 was the last year Vincents were made. A large percentage of their owners were killed on them.

Mine was a Black Shadow. The lesser tuned model was a Rapide and the hot shot racer, ran on a mixture of fuel 60% petrol and 40% Benzol, was the fabled Black Lightning.

I think that a pretty stock Black LIghtning did 180mph, pretty strong for the 1950s. Can't find any stats, but I seem to remember that number. Had a very small fairing on that one.

http://www.thevincent.com/vbl.htm

Really innovative bike. Rear monoshock. Overhead cams. The frame bolted to the engine, note no down tube on the front.

Bought mine in 14 cardboard boxes. even the wheel spokes ahd been taken out. Took over a year to get it running.
 
180 mph is strong by todays much more technology rich standards
Not many bikes today handle 130 plus very well.
Not that I get them there that often
Brakes and good tires are a must though
Fascinating bike
I think I saw where they still have a yearly Vincent convention on the Isle of Man
Were they real reliable or did they require a lot of maintainence to keep cooking?

Brings me back to wondering about Harley's and the MARKETING MACHINE
that is their company. I wonder if that abiity to sell current stock slows research and development.
Good bike, handles well etc, ( I own one) great sound, but technologically deprived.
I am fond of my Harley but it is a tractor next to my Suzuki of roughly the same displacement and manufactored the same year.
Same basic V twin BMW lays them sideways and makes them last forever
Triumph and Vincent turns them into barn burners in the 50's . Honda adds two and runs them next to each other and turns out an awesome bike. Harley has just now with the revolution motor arrived in the 21rst century but who knows what kind of longevity to expect? I do understand that they are going to start putting the revolution in the baggers soon.
You gotta love Harley riders though they are truly a lot of fun
 
73F outside, sunny, beautiful, bit windy, but that's OK for ya. definitely biking weather.

bike.jpg


That's my baby
 
mackasenbach said:
180 mph is strong by todays much more technology rich standards
Not many bikes today handle 130 plus very well.

Were they real reliable or did they require a lot of maintainence to keep cooking?

You gotta love Harley riders though they are truly a lot of fun
Click to expand...

Had a 1988 Honda Huricane 1000cc that I took to 155, but it began making a strange sound, so I brought it back down to 70. Weird bike. Had the feeling that it would kill me one day. The feeling got stronger and stronger. I listened. I sold it.

Vincents reliable? Hah! British 1950s? No, always working on it and some of the bolts were Whitworth. Ever heard of THAT wrench size? Had to get a set from London. But like Jaguars, fantastic when were running right.

My Vincent had a nasty habit that involved the number of people watching me kick start it. The more people, the more kicks. The record was 67 kicks at Al Rodi's motorcycle meet. They counted every kick. IN UNISON. Thanks guys!

Kept it a basement with a low ceiling. But there I had to don my helmet BEFORE trying to start it, because it had a NASTY habit of kicking back and slamming my head into the low ceiling. Outside, it never kicked back! Pull the compression release and kick it through.

Had so many freaking quirks that I was seriously considering an exorcism on it.

Always liked Harleys, but never had one. Too many friends had them and they had a lot of problems. Standard joke was, "How are Harley's and hound dogs alike? Both like to ride in the back of pickup trucks."

But the Harleys have a sound and a look like nothing else in the world. Any time you can get a lot of your customers to tatoo your company name and logo on their own bodies, you have a winner.


BTW I have heard that the Honda Shadow was designed as a Harley look-alike.

The Japanese looked at a cusomized Sportster and made 'em one with a few improvements. Let's make it water cooled. Engine will last longer, but even though we don't need fins, let's put them on the engine and make this 598cc look like a 1200cc.

Now 598cc brought it in under the higher insurance classification that began getting expensive over 600cc.

Let's give it a rear tire the size of the State of New York. OK, sell 'em. Didn't sell that well first year.

Next year. Looks like a Harley, but needs a stepped exhaust to sound more like one. Better sales but not enuff. What is the problem?

Engine too smooth. Does not vibrate like a Harley. Won't get your "Old Lady" off. So remove some vibration dampners and they sold like the proverbial hot cakes.

Had mine since new. 1988. Only maintenance it ever rneeded was a battery and tires every so often and one clutch cable. Same chain and sprockets.

Good scoot.
 
Thanks for the great Vincent link, a few years back at the local hill climb a guy entered a Vincent modified into a hill climber he was the only guy that year to hit the top and throw it over the lip.

Hunter S. Thompson said:
A fool couldn’t ride the Vincent Black Shadow more than once, but a fool can ride a Ducati 900 many times, and it will always be a bloodcurdling kind of fun.
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Bill Marsh said:
Had a 1988 Honda Huricane 1000cc that I took to 155, but it began making a strange sound, so I brought it back down to 70. Weird bike. Had the feeling that it would kill me one day. The feeling got stronger and stronger. I listened. I sold it.
Click to expand...
Yup...I did that and had the same feeling. Never looked back either.


My Vincent had a nasty habit that involved the number of people watching me kick start it. The more people, the more kicks. The record was 67 kicks at Al Rodi's motorcycle meet. They counted every kick. IN UNISON. Thanks guys!

Kept it a basement with a low ceiling. But there I had to don my helmet BEFORE trying to start it, because it had a NASTY habit of kicking back and slamming my head into the low ceiling.
Click to expand...
LOL...yeah...like me...embarass you in public and then crack you in the head... :eek: ;) :D

.
 
I think that there is another joke about a dog and a Harley


I had a friend who got caught up in the mystique that goes with a Harley but after he had saved up his money could only afford an older Harley to ride.
The Harley left him on the side of the road a couple of times and gave him some more mechanical trouble. Well we lost contact for a year or two as friends are apt to do. Until we ran into each other at some convention or other and I happened to ask him about his Harley. He gave me a funny look and told me that he had sold the harley and used the money to buy a well
pedigreed German shepard. This sounded odd to me because I knew the
sacrifice that went into buying the Bike. So I had to ask him why would he use the money to buy a dog
He said that If he was having to walk anyway that he might as well have a little company.

I dont want to sound Mystical or anything but I too have had premonitions ?
about a bike or car or gun or person and either got rid of them real quick or not purchased them or went home.
I really think it is wise to heed such feelings. They may not be so mysterious
as it is a pattern recognized by the subconcious and ignored by the concious
Just my theory

I wonder why the Brits dont make real reliable motor vehicles
They certainly have a knack for original styling.

PS Bill Weather sure is looking good today in GA going to sneak a bike ride out
while I can
 
May have been a premonition about selling the Honda Hurricane, but it was also a squirrly handling bike. Blistering acceleration. Zero to 60 in 2.1 seconds. 10 second quarter mile. The fairing kept out the wind noise, so speeding was too easy. Add that kind of power with a squirrly handling chassis equals an accident waiting to happen.

But heeding that inner voice has saved my bacon on more than one occasison. Who knows?

"There are old motorcycle riders and there are bold motorcycle riders, but there are no old and bold motorcycle riders."
 
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