Probably, was trying to explain to grandies about the brit bikes. cheers.
pebbles61,
Jan 11, 11:51pm
You don't want a 4 cylinder, you want a Twin or Triple =D
cjdnzl,
Jan 12, 5:02pm
You can do that in one word: crap.
nzdoug,
Jan 12, 5:15pm
Dem was da days,'Beezers, Trumpets, RoyalGarbageFields, All Junk and Scrap, LUCAS Angel of Darkness.
cjdnzl,
Jan 12, 5:44pm
NO, never.They had two models, the Black Shadow and the Rapide.The Shadow was a vee twin, 1000cc, and the Rapide was half the the Shadow, i.e. a 500cc single. My brother had a Rapide, the thing was so high-geared, at 50 mph (going back 60 years now) progression along the road was just crack-crack crack from the exhaust.Never rode a Shadow though.Primitive bikes, girder forks, solid back end, but fast.
pebbles61,
Jan 12, 7:29pm
That's a bit rough, the new Triumph's are pretty sweet. The new Norton looks lush too.
purple666,
Jan 12, 7:53pm
Not quite right there, the Rapide was 1000cc as was the Shadow and a few others, the 500cc was called the Comet from memory. The Rapide was the basic model and the Black Shadow was the high tune version.
They didn't have a solid back end. They had an early form of cantilevered suspension, similar to a modern monoshock.
shortee2,
Jan 12, 9:03pm
AJS."All Jerks and Squeaks".
drog,
Jan 12, 10:33pm
Road twins: Black Shadow, Rapide Road singles: Comet, Meteor Racing: Black Lightning (T), Grey Flash (S)
wynyard,
Jan 13, 1:17am
I owned a 46 Mac Vellocette, fishtail exhaust, woof woof woof was what the motor sounded like, girder forks. Went to work on it everyday, I used to spend hours working on it to keep roadworthy, parked on the grass to save the oilstains, but for all that I loved it, It was like my Landrover it had character. I had to let her go as I was going on shift and needed something reliable and bought a Puch scooter very reliable but no mana.
nzdoug,
Jan 13, 1:58am
BSA."Bit Stuck Anywhere".
hawat,
Jan 13, 6:03pm
What about Vincent Black Knight. Going back to 1957 or 58 my sister had a boyfriend who had a Vincent Black Knight. That was 1000cc too but I didn't know if it was a twin or a 4. Remember that it had a handle to lift it up onto the back stand. Was very young but clearly remember the name and 1000cc and the full black faring. We lived on the edge of town and there was a long straight road (8 miles) and I remember one night standing and listening to the bike rumble away into the distance for ages along that 8 miles after he left our place
pauldw,
Jan 13, 7:10pm
Was a Rapide with added fibreglass, same engine.
bjmh,
Jan 13, 7:23pm
rode a 67 bonnie for a long time,neat bike in its day.you can't compare that era to modern bikes,for a start modern bikes stop.i thought B.S.A was bloody sore a.se
drog,
Jan 14, 12:48pm
Yes indeed. Well spotted. I think the single was going to be called a 'Victor', but it never went into production - Vincent went into receivership instead.
dunwoody,
Jan 14, 2:01pm
Vincent was an aircraft maker. They closed down the motor cycle making part and cocentrated on making target planes for the armed forces. A point of interset is that the Indian motor cycle company was going to use Vincent engines in their bikes but the directers decided to get out motor cycle making and so cancelled the cotract. If they had kept going ahead with the Vincent engine they would have been the major U S A motorcycle manufacturor Just a bit of history on the demise of Paul Vincents hobby.
drog,
Jan 14, 2:37pm
Not quite. Vincent made the engine for the target aircraft. The Vincent 'Picador' engine, an uprated twin. The Vincent powered Indian Chief was a one off evaluation exercise.
drog,
Jan 14, 2:44pm
Correct. They also had a flirtation with NSU and produced 'Max' models under license.
drog,
Jan 14, 8:13pm
Sorry, I don't know. The modern 2 wheel scene has left me well behind.
pauldw,
Jan 14, 9:26pm
Vincent was a motorcycle manufacturer than wound back to just general engineering. The motorcycles were never a side line.
The Picador was a bid for a Govt. contract that Vincent didn't get. Probably more Picador parts ended up in racing bikes than target drones.
Edit. The average US Indian motorcycle shop working on Vincent engines would have been amusing.
trogedon,
Jan 15, 1:19am
When I was at high school I had a friend who's father had a Vincent single. We used to ease it out of the shed and ride it around the house.
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