Weston Webbs in Auckland were the original agents / importers of Vincent motorcycles. I had all Weston Webbs factory correspondence and service information in my possession many years ago. Happy days.
luigi21,
Jan 15, 7:46am
Sunbeam ! was that a 4cyl ,I remember one in Dargaville in the early 60s.
drog,
Jan 15, 7:57am
Most likely S7 or S8. 500cc OHC twin cylinder.
dunwoody,
Jan 15, 7:51pm
Hey Drog. The first Vincent ageny was in the main street of Onehunga. Weston Webb took over the agency and then onsold to Len Perry Weston webbs son Robbin raced the 500 Silver Ghostfor a while mainly at Seagrove.
drog,
Jan 15, 8:09pm
500 Grey Flash perhaps!. I have seen and touched that Grey Flash. It is now owned in Australia. Who were the agents in Onehunga! The info I had in my possession included factory correspondence which suggested that Weston Webbs were the first. Cheers.
drog,
Jan 15, 9:14pm
Series A only. Series B onward were 50 degree.
socram,
Jan 16, 6:42am
Dad had a 350cc Vincent HRD, pre war.I still have some of the correspondence from the factory.
Easy to laugh now at old British bikes, but at the time, there weren't many options. The early Jap cars were none too flash either.Different age = different perception, but it is called progress.
The chrome on my mint 1989 Honda 250 wasn't anywhere near the quality of that on my 55 year old Brit car nor my 1961 Brit bike.It was showing signs of acute pitting and rust from the day I bought it 2nd hand from a fastidious owner.
richard112,
Jan 16, 9:09am
Had an AJS 500 single, my second bike back in about 1958. They were pretty amazing for their time. Pistons were bound with wire to get tolerances down to the min, tappet clearance hot was zero. Matchless were the same specs but without the close tolerances. Sort of a poor man's AJ. The 4 cylinder 1000cc Arial, (square configuration & known then as the squarial) was a dismal failure. Off the mark like a burnt boot, but 5 minuteshard work & the rear cylinders started to overheat. Vic Australian police had them for a short time. Heavy & clumsy in the suburbs, and on an open road you were away while they gradually died. Like someone said, that's what was around at the time. The yanks were making 2 wheeled trucks, & it was really only the poms & Euros making anything half way decent. Them were the days. Better toddle off with my hot chocolate.
sr2,
Jan 16, 9:33am
Apparently the later square fours improved the cooling with a revised head design. My dad had one when he 1st met my Mum and when offspring no1 appeared he begrudgingly built and fitted a sidecar (he was an engineer). After babies 2 & 3 had made their presence in the world he had Mum on the back and the chair loaded up with a ???carrycot??? in the foot well and 2 toddlers side by side on the seat. When baby 4 arrived he finally gave up, sold the bike and bought a 28 Chev.By the time baby no 8 had arrived (us lot bred like rabbits) he??
howie69,
Jan 16, 7:08pm
I learnt to ride on a BSA Gold Flash, and those british bikes as others have said are from a different time and should not be compared to todays souless rice rockets. Most of todays riders could not handle one of the old pommy bikes, nor would they be able to keep it going, you had to be prepared to spend time maintaining your bike. That so many of them survive today and fetch such big money is a tribute to the hardy souls who owned and maintained them, and the british working man who built them. I have had rice rockets even a mach three, but give me a real bike not a modern sports plastic fantastic which will not last the test of time. I still ride but not a jappa by choice. I can afford better.
nzdoug,
Jan 16, 9:24pm
Hey Howie, Thats "Golden Flash" ! My first ride was a BSA B33 500 single, 1951 vintage,with "plunger" rear shocks. Then , after i maimed myself with it by driving it into a parked car, I advanced to a 1961 BSA Super Road Rocket, then 66 Bonnie, then 79 HD XLCH Sportster, then 79 HD FX rigid chop. The B 33 accident got me rejected when I vountered to go to Viet Nam, so gotta be greatful!
azeo,
Jan 17, 1:50am
The Vincents/HRD's were very advanced for their day (although it cost), with many "modern" or useful features such as quick change rear wheel and servo clutch for injured servicemen. if one takes a look at a Britten for eg., it could be seen as a super-duper Vincent with Girder forks, stressed-member engine-box spine frame, cantilever rear-suspension etc. carbon Fibre though!
Vincents (or just the engines in many cases) have far outlived their final manufacturing date, Hugh Anderson raced one in Bears or was it Battle of twins in recent history very competively for a while.
A lot of the so-called problems of British (and many current bikes of theday) were caused as much by uncaring and careless owners no different from today, as manufacting tolerances, worn machine tools, Friday specials, design etc, , although failure to listen to customers in declining years, and or dogmatic design/marketing decisionsalso played a part. It's a story in itself.
Although the greater "hands-off" reliability and performance of modern and not so modern bikes is pretty amazing and they can have their own character, riding a well-put together classic/vintage is a pleasure in itself, and doesn't have to be rattly, slow and leaking oil everywhere. The old man used to have a black shadow that could occaisonally get to 130 solo, and still reach the ton with a four-seater sidecar, and chug around doing the daily. Despite being dinosaurs, old bikes are a lineage for modern bikes. good old nostalgia eh
drog,
Jan 17, 4:36am
Yes. Some years back I climbed off a K75 BMW onto an exceptionally well restored and fettled BSA Super Rocket. The BSA was the better ride. I was surprised.
socram,
Jan 17, 5:25am
You missed out the rise of accountants into positions of power.Putting cars and bikes onto the market before the engineers had even finished testing.The fact that the Mini was initially manufactured with floor seams the wrong way around letting in water and the electrics getting soaked, was down to them being pushed out before they were ready.
If it costs Toytota $1b just to revise the Corolla today, it isn't too difficult to visualise the frustrations of two generations of car and bike building engineers and designers in cash strapped and material strapped post war Britain.The Americans had a lot to do with rebuilding post war Japan, led by such influences as quality guru, J Edwards Deming.
ebygum1,
Jan 17, 5:40am
I beg to differ,the B.S.A. was known as a Gold Flash. In the early sixties we had a painter who would come to work on a Super Road Rocket. One morning he showed up in a van,looking the worse for wear. When asked what had happened he said he had hit the Moby Dick. That was a pub on the London/Chelmsford road,situated on a roundabout.He had come on far too fast,mounted the curb,jumped a low pipe fence and smacked into the pub wall!
nzdoug,
Jan 17, 6:47am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BSA_Golden_Flash_650ccm_1950.jpg My 61 Super Rocket was chrome and red tank w chrome fenders, North American (Canadian) market. The last of the A10 SRs in63 got the old stockof the alloy wheels from the end of the Gold Star production line, the ultimate BSAsuperRocket, oooooo, aaaah!
drog,
Jan 17, 7:14am
'Golden' Flash is technically correct, but I never heard anybody call them anything other than 'Gold' Flash.
wynyard,
Jan 17, 7:36am
Remembering to use the valve lifter when starting your bike or get thrown. Nasty.
vic008,
Jan 17, 7:47am
I remember the CHCH traffic police on Square fours, or am I wrong
purple666,
Jan 17, 8:03am
Yes early Square Fours had twin pipes with rear exhaust ports running through the heads into the front exhaust ports. The later ones had 4 pipes coming out of the heads and that helped the overheating problem. If my memory serves me right.
azeo,
Jan 17, 8:37am
drog, know what you mean, same thing with an 81 GSX750 vs 71 T150 and the trumpet was a far better ride in most respects, any small difference in top speed didn't really count much , rode a spitfire too once that surpised the hell out of a mate on an R/80, reckoned the speedo said 180+ and the beeza flew past,i was too busy hanging on!at 85(mph)below though that thing shook the eyeballs out, and did the jackhammer at the legal rd limit,above 85+ smoothed out bewtifully and took off like the scalded proverbial. prob a license loser today for that reason, even though slow by more modern standards, murder trying to stay at a constant 60mph. prob needed a bit of fettling and balancing .
ahh yerrs, the rise of the bean counters! have worked for two companies where regular as clockwork the bean counters chopped staff, or canned a worthwhile, indirectly money making enterprise, then had to hire staff back on contract, or on a consultancy or hard-negotiated conditions because they didn't listen to advice, including that the people they chopped were the only expert in the country for eg, or in short supply, . nastty things hapened sometimes because the institutional knowledge had gone. Good ol japanese, made very good use of TQM. Seems the "new" Hinckley Triumphs are doing well although it also seems that the 1st gen ones had their issues and bugs to iron out.
I'd almost sell the family for that Goldstar. ;)
nzdoug,
Jan 17, 9:05am
Its says "GOLDEN FLASH" on the tank badge or oil tank decal, depending on the year.
nzdoug,
Jan 17, 9:06am
Retard timing.
nzdoug,
Jan 17, 9:07am
The original "waterfall" then came the CBX with 6 pipes.
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