Any Vincent owners here? [Archive] - The Jockey Journal Board

TRIUMPH TERROR

06-02-2005, 09:04 PM

Been searchin for a nuff stuff to build one got a line workin now but i may have to sell everything I got to afford it.Also I am afraid I might get threatened by some vincent owners for destroyin the holy grail of motorbikes.Chop Chop Cut Cut as I say if you leave it stock you aint do nothin to improve on it.:eek: It probably wont pan out for me but I guess i can go on to plan B which would be a arial square 4 I know of and try to get that.
Shoe

I love those bikes. I've seen a couple of them as bobbers. Just wondering if there was anyone here that even has one?

BigDdy31

06-02-2005, 09:21 PM

If anyone IS a Vincent owner, please list your complete address here and also the times that you are not home when it's dark. ;)

CRAP

06-02-2005, 09:27 PM

If anyone IS a Vincent owner, please list your complete address here and also the times that you are not home when it's dark. ;)

Our mailman at the shop apparently has a black shadow. I need to see to believe.

BigDdy31

06-02-2005, 09:59 PM

Our mailman at the shop apparently has a black shadow. I need to see to believe.

Yeah, I'd have to see a pic of him, the bike, and today's newspaper to believe that. :rolleyes: :D I've seen a couple of guys pay money that would have kept me in a house for the rest of my life for a VBS. Scary.

luckystiff

06-02-2005, 10:21 PM

Yeah, I'd have to see a pic of him, the bike, and today's newspaper to believe that. :rolleyes: :D I've seen a couple of guys pay money that would have kept me in a house for the rest of my life for a VBS. Scary.

i haven't heard any news of it's progress but one of the guys at Redneck Engineering in sc is chopping a vincent. it needed so much work he decided the shock value of a chopped vincent would be worth more than the $$$ to restore it. i used to see these guys on a regular basis as they all get tattoed at the shop i used to work at. i left there over a year ago and don't keep in touch to well. i need to ride down there on day to check it out...ken....

1LowLeSabre

06-02-2005, 11:42 PM

i haven't heard any news of it's progress but one of the guys at Redneck Engineering in sc is chopping a vincent. it needed so much work he decided the shock value of a chopped vincent would be worth more than the $$$ to restore it. i used to see these guys on a regular basis as they all get tattoed at the shop i used to work at. i left there over a year ago and don't keep in touch to well. i need to ride down there on day to check it out...ken....

I love this picture. Heres the story behind it.
http://www.myvincent.co.uk/rfree.php

Truth

06-03-2005, 10:01 AM

a couple years back I almost had my grubby mits on a Norvin... (norton frame, vincent engine cafe racer) that some dude had inherited from his pops. the cat didnt know nuthin about it, I coulda had it for 5 large. Problem was, he went on vacation the day I found out about it, I was gonna get it when he got back. While on vacation he got to talking about it with someone and it went for 12k...

I was gonna keep the cafe chassis as was (all original, built in the early 60's). and build a chopper chassis for it - so I could make shirts that said "Choppahead... home of the Vincent Chopper' to wear to meets and shit.

BigDdy31

06-03-2005, 10:14 AM

I coulda had it for 5 large. Problem was, he went on vacation the day I found out about it, I was gonna get it when he got back. While on vacation he got to talking about it with someone and it went for 12k...

Man, it kills me to miss deals like that. I've missed a couple of sweet ones through the years and STILL kick myself over them.

That sounds like it would have been a sweet setup to turn into a Triton after you built the Vin chopper.

Truth

06-03-2005, 11:27 AM

Man, it kills me to miss deals like that. I've missed a couple of sweet ones through the years and STILL kick myself over them.

That sounds like it would have been a sweet setup to turn into a Triton after you built the Vin chopper.

yeah I keep thinking i should have made him sell it to me that day, even though he was out the door! haahh

Tony Bones

06-03-2005, 11:57 AM

Owner of a shop I used to go to for Italian bike junk has a mint one:

Williamsville Ducati Ktm Sales (http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypMap.py?Pyt=Typ&tuid=1560818&ck=214277470&tab=B2C&ycat=7843845&city=Holland&state=NY&uzip=14080&country=us&msa=1280&cs=4&ed=To7ykq1o2TyJIF33h6fwIis8SMNoM3smfUG1fHw_jLb5&stat=:pos:0:regular:regT:1:fbT:0)
(716) 537-2309

JEB

06-05-2005, 02:09 AM

a couple years back I almost had my grubby mits on a Norvin... (norton frame, vincent engine cafe racer) that some dude had inherited from his pops. the cat didnt know nuthin about it, I coulda had it for 5 large. Problem was, he went on vacation the day I found out about it, I was gonna get it when he got back. While on vacation he got to talking about it with someone and it went for 12k...

This one just sold for 30 large:

http://home.comcast.net/~bellboy17/norvin.jpg

The guy who sold it is an attorney out of Austin named herb harris. He owns THE original Rollie Free/John Edgar Black Lightning, and since he's an attorney, he trademarked and copyrighted the famous bathing suit picture of his bike. Now 1Low owes him some money for posting that pic here. ;)

greggski

06-05-2005, 12:50 PM

There's a guy here in town who has a nice unrestored vincent comet(the single cyl 500) which could be yours for the low low price of $10,000. Alittle steep for my blood but what a beautiful bike> I think The vbs is one of the coolest bikes ever built. The international vincent owners club had their annual rally in deerlodge mt last summer and i got a chance to see some truelly gorgeous bikes . It was neat to see them move and make noise instead of sitting in a static display. The real cool thing about that club is they ride the crap out of their bikes. When a Vincent twin is on the pipe it puts any product from the motor company to shame! It really sends chills down your spine. I got to ride with some guys in idaho on hwy 12(180miles of river canyon road). That had to been one of the highlights of my life. AS THEY SAY ''RIDE EM' DON'T HIDE EM' Gregg

R90S/2

06-06-2006, 03:04 PM

A guy that used to live in my area had a Rapide, two Black Shadows, and a Black Lightning. That was back when they were not super stupid money. Don't know what ever happened to him, his initials were KH. A nice guy, but he always liked to say he offered me one of the Shadows and I didn't take it. Never happened, he wouldn't price it! This was maybe 20 years ago. I have had two Rudges, though, a Sport Special and an Ulster. The '39 Ulster was about as fast as a '39 Vincent, maybe even faster.

Sean

06-06-2006, 08:39 PM

I met a guy named Jack 8 years ago. He was 50ish and I was 27. We became friends and we would talk about bikes and cars and shit and he would talk about all the old english iron he used to have. Well about 5 years ago he said he had only kept 1 bike. A Vincent Black Shadow with only 820 miles on it and he had in a storage facility a few towns over. Now we had hung out for 3 years and this is the first he mentions it. Well we go see it and yup there it is. A little dusty but pristine. I didn't ask a lot of questions cause he's a quiet type who's seen a lot of shit in the service and I figure if he wants to elaborate on things he will.

A few weeks later Jack says he's gonna sell it cause it is just time to move on. I knew I couldn't afford it so I just told him that the bike was worth a shitload of cash, at least 30K. A guy from england showed up with 35K in cash and Jack wheeled it out of storage, fired it up and took it for a rip on the storage facility and then gave the guys the keys. The funny thing is that Jack didn't need the money.

That's it.

We do get some Vincents at my place of business from time to time. Nice bikes.

Sean.

Polock Joe

06-06-2006, 08:57 PM

The Buddy Stubbs Museum in PHX has 4 or 5 them.

vorhese

06-06-2006, 10:08 PM

I was standing outside my work helping the diesel guy, who was somewhere around 50 years old, fill a 55 gallon drum for our generator. We got to talking motorcycles and he asked me about my RD350. "That your bike?" He went on to tell me how he loved his RD350 and RD400 2 strokes he used to own. I was like, "Cool!"

Then the conversation switched to other bikes and I mentioned how I have a hard-on for British bikes. "Oh yeh, I remember back in the late 70's and early 80's when I had money. I had 2 or 3 Norton Commandos. A BSA. And a real nice Vincent. All cafe'd out real nice." He went on to tell me about racing, and having to sell them because of his kids. I was like, "Holy Shit!"

I haven't seen him since.

Trumpnut

06-06-2006, 10:22 PM

I've been collecting parts for years . I have maybe 40% of a sinlge (500cc) engine the neck/oil tank of a HRD . And some clutch parts . But it gets better I have a deal in the works to recast the cases and cylinders heads and primary . The only problem is the guy is hesitant on tearing the engine down . He was planning on remanufacturing them for his rich buddies .
If you ever really want one you can find HRD's in New Zeland

Billdozer1811

06-06-2006, 11:45 PM

Longwinded story #132.

So tonight I'm sitting around drinking whisky and helping my old friend work on his shovel, listening to him bitch about giving his tired old Bonnie to his useless brother, how much he loves my Triumph, blah, blah, blah. Then he tells me some dude he knows from work has a 1958-ish Vincent single lunger 500 just like he used to run on hill climbs back in the day. Says it "ran when parked" 15-20 years ago. Parked inside the garage all this time, but suspects dry rot on on tires and rubber items, etc, but that it is complete and stock. Dude wants $1500 for it. I come home to do a little research and now here's this thread... Probably bullshit, but I think I'll dig a little deeper and see what the real deal is...

-Bill
_________________
www.eldiablorun.com

GASIT

06-06-2006, 11:49 PM

My Dad bought a fully restored '55 Black Shadow from a guy in England for $5000 back in 1977. The English guy actually flew over to Oregon when the bike arrived by ship and showed us how to start it (special tecnique)and all the little idiocyncracies they have. It was a very nice bike ,close to perfect. My Dad and I rode it a lot. I had a '72 Combat Norton at the time and it was a modern bike and the difference was night and day . The Vincent had a lot going for it however. For a 1955 it bike felt fast and powerful ( but it wasn't ,the Norton decimated it in every aspect) and it had oddles of charm and looked phenominal. One time when riding it on one of my favorite roads, I passed a car on a right hand corner at about 60 and as I pulled around and in front , still leaned over, I went through a freshly dug pot hole about an inch deep and 1 foot square ( I went back and looked at it later,some kind of test hole?) .It ripped the bars out of my hands and flopped the wheel full lock side to side ,howling the tire with great screaching gusto about four times. I thought I'm going down but it wobbled out of it and went straight. I grabbed the throttle and continued on from about 30. At the time I thought ,ill handling bitch !But the more I thought about it I tend to be less harsh on it. It was the only time I had any problem. I never really enjoyed it after that .
Dad sold it to the guy who asked for first dibs the first day it was at home ( for a healthy profit). I had my Vincent experience and I dont miss it.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c75/steve000/VINCENT0368.jpg

GASIT

06-06-2006, 11:54 PM

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c75/steve000/VINCENT4.jpg

GASIT

06-07-2006, 12:14 AM

Sorry about the Rollie Free racing suit. This was way back in the late 70s. Soon after this I moved to the South Bay in Los Angeles. I ran into Wild Bill Cottom who owned Century BSA in San Pedro,LA's Port district. He had a shop full of the most bitchin Vincents that he had won racing for Pink Slips. Ask his daughter Cindy about that, she still runs the shop. Bills still there too but unfortunately he is in a gas tank hanging on the wall.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c75/steve000/VINCENT50370.jpg

CLM

06-13-2006, 02:06 AM

There's a dude not far from me that is a Vincent head. He ran an ad in a bike rag some time ago that read, "Got a Vincent engine you want rebuilt? Re mortgage your house and give me a call!" He's got at least one if not more absolutely perfect examples of this venerable mark. I've only had the pleasure to see one of 'em. I was stopped at a red light as he was approaching the bike to leave a diner. Only had time to acknowledge my awareness, give 'em a nod and move along. Didn't know anything about him until years later while talking scooters with an old friend that knows him. I'd like to drop in to visit the dudes toybox someday. I've got a feeling it'd be enough to make a grown man cry.

Zaphod

08-14-2007, 12:26 PM

I've got a Comet and a Rapide. Currently looking for another engine that someone doesn;t think is worth its weight in gold.
I like the "B" handling, but love the "C" girdraulics at speed.

Cheers,
Zaphod

Englishman

08-14-2007, 12:38 PM

Strange how these threads get resurrected over a year after they supposedly die.

I did an article on who was making crankcases and other replacement parts for these engines a couple of years back. There were about four sources at the time. Of course there was some BS about not letting you have them if you didn't already have a boogered up set.

There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to put one of these engines together from repro stuff for around 5K... other than finding the parts.

It's my long term goal to have one of these engines, I'll never be able to afford a whole bike, but if anyone knows where there's one in a barn somewhere.....

Apehanger Hank

08-14-2007, 03:47 PM

I have a cousin in Frisco that owned among other things a construction company...the other things being an escort service, two or three titty bars...which helps with the escort service talent and finally a limo service to transport dancers/escorts and clients. In 1970 I was working at the construction company...among other things and we had a master carpenter on site. Old guy, long stringy white hair, rode a skate board everywhere he went, I believe his name was George. I gave him a ride home one day and he had a house full of Vincents. Every room was crammed full and a shed out back with Vincents piled on top of each other. I was slack jawed and drooling, but when I asked about them he got a fierce look on his face and turned and walked away. He was probably 60 years old or older; but I didn't doubt for a minute that he couldn't whip my ass, so I didn't press the issue. My cousin said his kid had been killed on a Vincent and he hated them. Supposedly he bought every Vincent he could find and hid them away and probably had two or three more houses full of them. I can only vouch for the one's I saw.
Hank

Apehanger Hank

08-14-2007, 04:10 PM

I have a friend...now a world known tattoo artist but in December 1972 he was a newly divorced, unemployed member of a well known 1% motorcyle club. He decided he needed to go to Chicago to visit some friends and I needed to go with him. So we head off on our little journey and ended up partying for two weeks in the Windy City and suburbs....if you count Milwaukee as a sort of suburb, we partied there too! Ended up crashing at some club brothers house and one morning he asked my bud...."do you want a Vincent?". He proceeded to pull Vincent parts out from under beds, out of closets and off his back porch. Pretty soon we were looking at a more or less complete Vincent Black Shadow do it yourself kit. Eventually my friend got it all back together and rode it before crashing into the back of a VW in Daytona around 1984. Pretty much totaled both the bike and the V Dub so he gave the VW owner and cops a fake driver's license and insurance document...I doubt the bike was ever titled or legally registered. In those days we would find a bike with a current tag and "borrow" it until we needed another one. So he pulled the motor/trans and threw the rest of the bike in a dumpster and got a ride out of Florida before he got arrested. I have no idea what happened to the motor/trans he may have traded them for the ride out of town.
Hank

Lucio

08-16-2007, 11:21 PM

Lurkingclass

12-21-2010, 10:39 PM

I just read the story of George Disteel and his 18+ Vincents on the Vintagent blog. A very cool story- far too strange to be made up.

http://thevintagent.blogspot.com/2010/12/crazy-george-disteel.html

chopaweeza

12-21-2010, 10:46 PM

I don't own one anymore but I did pit crew last year an BUBs for Team Terry Prince Vincent . Legendary Vincent tuner and restorer known the world over by Vincent enthusiasts . He's also my father in law and lucky for me I can talk HRD as we are there on Xmas eve for dinner . Great bikes and I regret ever selling mine .

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/chopaweeza/TPV%20Bonneville%20Album/BonnevilleandBeyond039.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/chopaweeza/TPV%20Bonneville%20Album/BonnevilleandBeyond080.jpg

Tony the torch

12-22-2010, 12:13 AM

we routinely service one of our customers Vincent's at our shop. those bikes are an engineering marvel . They have 4 self balancing drum brakes, a front wheel stand, 2 side stands, and one real wheel stand, it was the one of the first "soft tail" suspension bikes built. with gobs of other cool electrical and mechanical features.
Because of these complex engineering systems it is essential I to do extensive test riding to make sure everything is in working order....and I friggen love it..

We are now offering reduced service rates to Crocker owners.