Vincent Series C Rapide

A thoroughbred and no doubt. Vincent Series C Rapide. I'm going to hazard a guess that the lady alongside was not a passenger from her atire. She might just be a passer by wanting to have her picture taken with motorcycling royalty!

It would have been lovely if the bike was still around, after all Vincents have a rather high survival rate which is growing all the time, but alas LLN 708 doesn't feature with DVLA in Swansea. Perhaps it has had a plate change or been exported.

A significant location motoring-wise and one that looked familiar when I first saw the picture. I only recognised it because I was there recently (riding nothing so glamorous as a Vincent, just my humble Enfield Himalayan). The walls are those of the Montagu Estate, home of Lord Montagu and, of course, the Montagu Motor Museum. The view is on Palace Lane looking towards the weir on the Beaulieu River.

Vincent Series C Rapide by the Beaulieu Estate.

Elefant Rally / Elefantentreffen 1966

In memoriam of rallies we have missed out on this winter here are some of the nicest events photos of yore that I have come across for a good while. They're amongst the favourites in my collection. Pictures from someone's album of days gone by of a trip to the Elefant Rally in 1966.

(tip - as with all photos on this blog click to enlarge. If you then want to see them in even better resolution right click and open in a new tab or view image. All pictures on the blog are scanned in high res.)

Top right a winterised BMW combo - check the
homemade muffs around the heads and barrels to
stop it getting too cold! As a testament to their
quality you still even now see BMWs like this doing
the rounds of the winter rallies.
Bottom left the Nurburgring pits and grandstand area.
Bottom right. Well done sir! A venerable plunger framed
Golden Flash BSA has made it along from the UK.

Top. Tents under the trees with a
Jawa combination.
Bottom a very smart Vincent Black
Prince combination. Note the Harro
Elefantenboy tank bag and five inch
Black Shadow rev counter. The Black
Knight was already out of production for
more than ten years by the time this picture
was taken but it would have still been the
most potent bike at the event.

Top left a pair of Harleys.
Top right, those Harleys again. The license plates
are US forces in Germany type.
Bottom left. A glamorous visitor from Britain -
Vincent Black Shadow with Watsonian chair.
Bottom right. A NSU 501T from the late twenties.

Top left a sweet cafe racer based on a DKW RT350
twin.
Bottom left a Beemer combo alongside another
DKW - an RT200(?) this time.
Bottom right. US visitors. A Harley Duo-Glide
to the fore.

Top right a Triumph hitched to a child-adult
chair leads a Royal Enfield with Wessex sidecar.
Bottom left, the pit area at the Nurburgring.
Bottom right another Brit bike, an Ariel Square
Four MkII.

Bargain Vincent books

 There's a couple of Vincent books being sold at discount prices at the moment. Both are excellent books and stone cold bargains.

First up is Philippe Guyony's 'Vincent Motorcycles. The Untold Story since 1946' published by Veloce. Originally selling at £100 this is now being offered at various stores for around the £30 mark. It's a magnificent 400 page tome, well researched, written and sumptuously illustrated. Given that it is the untold story the main focus is on developments outside of the factory and mainly after the Stevenage doors were closed. Egli Vincents naturally feature heavily, but there is also a lot of good information on the various attempts at marque revival, racing machines and the characters involved with the brand. I could be churlish and say that the untold story is of water scooters, cyclemotors, lawnmowers and imported NSUs but I guess that is another untold story altogether and one that very few want to read about! Really though, a fantastic book: if you like old bike books and have anything more than a passing interest in Vincents then snap this up quick time whilst it is available at a bargain price.

Next and equally interesting is 'Vincent Motorcycles Since 1955. The Continuing Story' by David Wright and published by the Vincent Owners' Club. Though similar in title to Philippe's book the content is quite different and concentrates on ownership and developments of the Vincent since the factory closed. Some really nice tales of Vincent owners and enthusiasts and their high mileage and modified bikes are told. The 336 pages of Vincent goodness are now available on ebay through the Club for a mere £16. I'm not sure of the original retail of David Wright's book but at the price it is being offered at it would be rude not to buy at least one copy, it's a must for Vincent owners, potential owners and dreamers alike. 

RTV Vincent

Here's the sales flyer for the ill-fated Australian Vincent resurrection, the RTV. Rather than re-write the story here take a look at Philippe Guyony's Egli Vincent site.

An attractive enough bike but not massively dissimilar from other v twin muscle bikes of the time. With hindsight a retro might have gone down better, even in 1998. After all Godet's replica Egli Vincents were steady sellers. And for Pete's sake, why was the catalogue bike in red rather than black and gold!

Langa Langa races October 8 1951

Some more pictures from the 'Happy Valley' album. Langa Langa racetrack was at Gilgil near Nakuru in the Rift Valley in Kenya and was originally a WWII lorry driver training ground. The first race at Langa Langa was held in March 1951 and it was closed in 1953 following a fatal accident and the Mau Mau uprising.

A new track opened in 1956 and was called the Nakuru Park Motor Racing Circuit though was still referred to as the Langa Langa circuit (langalanga is Maasai for round and round). Racing continued until 1988 when it was sold to property developers.

All of the captions for the images I have copied from the album.

C Hollyoak takes the bend at Picadilly Circus on a 650cc
Triumph.

An array of well motor cycles in the pits.

H Z Ulyate winning his race for the 2nd meeting in
succession mounted on 998cc Vincent HRD.

On a 498cc Norton Manx N Ziska rides well to finish first
& break the lap record. 

C Davis riding his Triumph GP 498cc over 351cc race
for m/cs.

N Ziska at practice.

P J Dale on 498cc Norton Inter came second to N Ziska.

Bristol Classic Bike Show 2017 pt2

The second and final selection of photos from my wanderings around the Bristol Show last weekend. So many more marvelous motos that I didn't get to snap due to the crowds but I hope you enjoy the selection.

A Raleigh Light Delivery three wheeler. This one is the 'Factory
Truck' version. This is the forerunner of the Reliant motorcar.
Reliant was formed as a breakaway from Raleigh when in the
mid-thirties Raleigh management decided to halt three wheeler
production.

Raleigh 500cc Sports.

Lovely early Greeves. A 1955 20T trials model. Last year of the
rubber in torsion rear suspension. Note also how the early
models have cast ally engine plates.

The Gold Star Owners Club had a brace of
pre-war Goldies on their stand.

Royal Enfield Bullet diesel conversion. One of the nicest
I've seen. Rather than using an industrial unit this motor
is from an Aixam microcar. It is 487cc, water cooled, cruises
comfortably at 65mph and gives 150mpg.

Nice period badge seen on Matchless JAP
special.

And here is the business end of the Matchless JAP. I couldn't
get a decent snap of the whole machine such were the crowds
it drew. Goes to show that you don't need anything shiny to
interest folks. The running gear is a 1931 Matchless Silver Hawk
frame (with cantilever rear suspension as original) into which
a 750cc JAP sidevalve twin has been inserted to replace Matchless'
ohc V4 unit.

And t'other side of the Matchless JAP.

Just one of the many crackers on the Vincent
Owners Club stand. A Python engined HRD.
Python was the name Rudge gave to their motors
when they supplied them to other manufacturers.

Other side of the HRD Python. Note the four
valve bronze cylinder head.

Something rather special. A 1935 works HRD
racer used in the 1935 TT. It was rebuilt for the 1936
TT with a Zoller supercharger fitted. However the
supercharged arrangement proved unsuccessful
in practice so was removed for the race.

One of the two pre-war HRD twins on the VOC stand.

Incredible the work some people put in to their
bikes. This Moto Morini Dart has had a 501cc motor
fitted to replace the original (either 350 or 400). The
bodywork is not merely carbon fibre stickers, it's the
real deal. Each panel has been replicated in carbon fibre.
Wow!

Very impressive handiwork and the bike is obviously used too.

If you're going to have a chop do it properly.
This Triumph based beast was on offer in the
autojumble. Recently imported and carrying an
American plate there was no price tag... It looks
like it has been fairly recently built, a close look at
the frame and it seems to be new. Great homage to
the golden era of chops.

1929 Harley Davidson model DL 750cc. Nearly finished and
very shiny on the Wessex Veteran and Vintage VMCC stand.

A couple of the pre-war Douglas ohv machines at the show.
Very very desirable bikes. I've never ridden one but they often
get rated as one of the best vintage machines. With their
popularity in vintage sprinting they can evidently be made to
really fly too. The machine to the fore is a 1922 S2 and the one
aft a 1928 RA. Very dull names for such exciting machines.
Note the disc brakes on the 1928 bike.

Close up on the 1928 Douglas RA currently
undergoing restoration. The RA stands for
Research Association - or British Motorcycle
and Cycle-Car Research Association to give them
their full title. The RA were the chaps behind the disc
brake design and as far as is known it is the first disc
brake fitted to any vehicle. The brake is not a disc
as we know them today - the disc itself is angled inwards
(ie very slightly conical) and a v is cut in to the friction
material on the caliper to mate with the disc. The caliper is
on a pivot and when the brake is applied it is pulled down on
to the disc. Though reputed to be good for their day, if
slightly grabby, the RA discs can't have been a resounding
success for they were not widely taken up. 

Vincent HRD brochure 1936

The 1936 Vincent HRD range. A surprisingly modest brochure given the product. 

1936 Vincent HRD brochure front cover.

1936 Vincent HRD brochure page 1.

1936 Vincent HRD brochure page 2.

1936 Vincent HRD brochure page 3.

1936 Vincent HRD brochure page 4.

1936 Vincent HRD brochure page 5.

1936 Vincent HRD brochure page 6.

1936 Vincent HRD brochure rear cover.

Vincent Motorcycles range 1952

The Vincent range for 1952.

Also posted up the Vincent HRD range for 1948

& The Conway Motors Vincent Buyers Guide.

Vincent Motorcycles 1952 brochure front cover.

Vincent Motorcycles 1952 brochure page 1.

Vincent Motorcycles 1952 brochure page 2.

Vincent Motorcycles 1952 brochure page 3.

Vincent Motorcycles 1952 brochure page 4.

Vincent Motorcycles 1952 brochure rear cover.