South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

So, I was invited on a little day out yesterday to help drop some bikes off at a local vintage rally ........

A friends uncle has a rather special collection of bikes, and he wanted a hand getting them up to the Morval Vintage Rally near Looe. The bikes in question were a 1939 Series A Vincent Rapide, a 1949 Series B Rapide, a 1950 Series C Rapide, a Series D Rapide (whose age I cannot remember), and a pair of Vincent Comets. The bikes were then also ridden around the show ring. After the show, we went for a drive down to the river (the long way) through the lanes for a picnic and then back home.

During the course or this I got to ride the Series B (lovely) the Series C (probably my favourite) and the series D (scary, as it had managed to get oil over it's tyres and the roads were now wet )

They were all surprising easy to ride and surprisingly rapid on the road, perhaps worryingly so considering the drum brakes all round!! Remembering the right foot one up three down gearchange wasn't too difficult (perhaps thanks to having had a couple of right-foot change bikes in the past) but kick-starting a 1000cc twin needs a "certain technique" that could be found a touch lacking

Anyway, some photo's ....

1939 Series A Rapide


1949 Series B Rapide


1950 Series C Rapide


All in line with the Series D and Comet's


and down by the river


To put in perspective the generosity of the owner letting us ride the wee beasties, a Series A is worth more than my house .....

And there was me feeling smug about getting couple of hours out before the rain came! Your day definitely trumps mine !

Wow, now that's a great way to spend a day.

We spend a lot of time drooling over the modern day exotica and this really puts things into perspective, nice one.

That B model is a rare thing - weren't they called 'the plumbers nightmare' or something because of all of the external oil feeds?

Whilst the Vincents look great and packed with, at the time, innovations, I always feel once running the occasion is lost as they just don't have the thundering V-twin sound - almost too clockwork & refined (if a little rattley).

Again, beats my day, after furnishing Badger with beverages, I took a boat ride to collect the slowest car I've owned for a long time.

I see your Vincents and raise you an NR750!!

Graham - the A was the plumbers nightmare, with external oil lines. The B was the first to get internal lines & unitary gearbox. I understand what you say about the exhaust note, due to the narrow angle V and the single exhaust .... A bit like the modern Aprilia twins, I suppose as they sound odd too.

Zing, im not sure a single NR "raises" from the full A/B/C/D suite of Vincent Rapides with a value of around £350k between them ....... But what was it like to ride? Is there a noticeable power step in the rev range or just the linear turbine-like smoothness (or boring-ness!) that I'd imagine Honda engineers building in? I bet it feels a bit heavy compared to modern bikes too?

One of the things about Vincents is how "modern" they are in some ways ... Around a 1400mm wheelbase for the shadows, with only about 400lbs wet weight, cantilever rear suspension (not seen again until Yamaha brought it back 35yrs later), and girder forks (not seen again really until Britten brought them back 35-40yrs later). One could argue Hondas engineering tour de force is merely plagiarism, with Triumph having tried oval pistons in the twenties!

Oh, and I'll post a video later of a rather unusual boat we went on to finish the day off .....

Very true ,Vincent in any guise is a winner. The NR did sound sublime in Wilton House courtyard. Also found this sneaky GSXR11.

Very nice Moose. Always knew you were getting old before your time.

Zing, I’ll see your NR and raise you a Capirossi Ducati. Very light, very load and wheelies in every gear (allegedly).

Indeed, or I'm ahead of my time as classic's are the new thing aren't they??

And my point was I rode them, not pushed them around ......

Getting closer

Oh, and the rather unusual boat I mentioned earlier .....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7glBdeQ ... e=youtu.be" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"

what an amazing collection.. and to actually ride a Vincent. Perfect... My Dad had a series D. They were so far ahead of there time.

Want to be even more jealous? Not only does he have those six, but he has another seven 1000's in pieces to rebuild .... Including a Black Shadow, Black Prince, and Black Knight ....

what an amazing collection. Black shadows fetch serious money these days. Only needs a couple of MV's to make collection complete perhaps a nice 750 america