Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ease o f response to road surface co n diti ons th at had no t been p reviousl y available. I!H8 wa s th e last year th at th e HRD logo appeared on th e co m pa ny's mach in es. Durin g a trip to th e Sta tes. Phil Vince nt was str uck by th e number of pe ople th at as ked him a bo u t th e rela tions h ip between h is o wn co m pany a nd H arley-David son ! Since th e two co m pan ies wer e in dir ect co m petition i n th e large d isplacement Vtw in ma rk et. a cha nge was in o rde r. From the n o n . the Vincent scroll a p peared o n th e tanks. Wh il e th e Black Shadow was a n exce llent m ach in e. the top of th e line was th e newl y introd uce d Seri es C Black Li ghtn ing-. Fo r a n ex tra 100 Pounds Sterli ng. the buyer got quite a bit for h is money. This 380 lb . p roduction racer was virtuallv hand built. It wasa vailabl e with a varie ty o f racing ca ms. co mpression ra tios a nd la rg er ca r b s. Se pa ra te tw o-in ch exha us t pipes. inst ead of the Sha do w's two-in to-on es. hel ped boost engine o utp ut to iO hp a t 5600 rpm , With an out-of- th e-crat e top spee d of 150 mph; th e Black L ig h tni ng was th e fastest p roduction mo torcycle o f th e fifti es a n d qu it e possi b ly t h e ultim at e ac hieveme nt in Brit ish mot o rcycl in g':' Free's record ru ns at Bonnevi ll e wer e o n ly a few o f the reco rds to fall to Vin cent in th e fifties . In 1952. J oh n Sunees a nd o ther top riders of th e day broke eight Worl d En dura nce records a t Montlh er y in Fra n ce. m ounted on Black Shadows. Then. in 1955. a 24year-o ld N ew Zea la n der . Ru ssell Wrigh t. running a stream li ne d 1953 show model Black Ligh tni ng wi th racing cylinders an d larger ca rbs, gra bbed the La n d Speed R eco rd at 185 m p h . For the firs t tim e in 20 years. th e long coveted Worl d Lan d Speed R ecord belon ged to Grea t Brit a i n . Aft er these accomp lis hments. Ph ilip Vince nt was su re th at sa les wou ld soa r. Th ey di d n 't. Deject ed by thi s turn of events. Vincent was sti ll faced wi th huge defi ci ts ac q ui red durin g th e years o f slow prod uct io n . It see me d th at th e mom ent th ey h ad wa i ted so lo ng for brought th e straw th at broke th e ca me l's back . Vin cent sa id. " T h e new records came from gen ui ne ama teur a tte m p ts usin g p roduction motorcycles . ..and bea ti n g th e bes t that the Ger ma n a n d Ameri can factori es co u ld prod uce. Yet th ese sp lendid achieve men ts fai led to impress th e motorcycli ng enth usi asts o f th e world. so wh ere does one go from th ere?" Shonlv befor e Christm as .in 1955. th e last bike ro lled off th e line at St evenage, A g rea t era in th e histor y of mo to rcycl in g had co me to an end. • - (Con tin ued fro m p age 11.) 28 el imination o f th e front downtube. It wa s decid ed to mount th e frame back. bone to steel forgings at th e top o f eac h cylinder and th en to mount the steering head to th e backbone. Not . onl y did this reduce th e frame's weight but it allo wed them to keep th e wh eelbase a t 58". T he Series B Ra pi de was a n im rnediate success. turn ing 112 mph wi th a slig h tly modified ca m profile o n an otherwise stock en gi ne . It is ironi c th at th e high vo lu me of or ders may h ave h elped to spee d th e end of th e marque. The p ans req uired to p roduce th e Series B were o f su ch hi gh qual it y th at th ere was difficu lt y in stoc king su fficie nt q ua nti ties of th em . Also so me pans co u ld not be p urc hased a nyw he re. a t a ny price. so th ey needed to be manu factured by han d at Stevenage. T he lack of adequare ca p ita l required to purch ase automatic tooling j ust made ma tte rs worse, It got to th e p oint tha t o n ly 20% of th e orders co u ld be filled a nd th ere wa s a three to fo ur yea r waiti ng list for th e h igh perfor man ce model s. It was in light of th ese prob lems th a t . ~~! ~~g th e period of th e co mpa n y's . . .. . .. .. ~ largest volum e of o rders ( 194i -49). th ey su ffered staggering losses. " G u nga Din." a br eathed o n Series B ca m pa ig ne d by G eo rge Bro wn in th e lat e for ties, dom in a ted British race tracks. brea king nea rl y a ll so lo a nd sideca r records. In fact. Brown wa s so succes sfu l th at th e N orton and AJ S teams threaten ed to boycott meets th at a ll owed "Gunga " to run . It was during this p eri od th at J ohn Surtees, th e o n lv ma n to hold bot h car and mot or cycle Wo rld Champio n ships . worked for Vin cent HRD as an engi neering a p p re ntice. H e successfu lly raced a h igh ly tun ed Comet 500. th e G rey Fl ash . at Ca ldwell Park before leaving to join the legen dary No rton works team . In 1948. the Ra p ide lin e was upgra ded with th e Ser ies C Bl a ck Sha dow. Sponing hi gh co mpress io n p iston s. h ighl y p ol ish ed engi ne interna ls and larger carbs, th e Black Shadow was q ui te a j u mp up in performance. Pu m p in g o u t 55 h p a t 5.iOO rpm . the bike p rodu ced a top sp eed of 128 m ph with a stoppin g distan ce of 22 ~ feet from 30 mph . A che m ica l Py lium tr eatment a p p lied to the en gin e. brakes a n d oth er a ll o y pans serv ed to dissipate h eat as well . ..... _. . -. ------ --_ - --- as p rov id e th e 458 p ound bike wi th a muscular. racy look. Vincent 's Girdrauli c forks also mad e the ir fir st appearance o n th e Black Sh ad ow . The forks re ta ined th e geo me try o f a girder front end a s well as i ncor porat i ng a sin gl e shock a bsor ber. Whil e the girders p rov id ed rigidity not foun d o n th e tel escopics of the day. th e shock added an 1. t'mcrnt IIRlJSlory , Harper, Roy Vin cent Pu busn - I _ ;n9 Co. 1975· 79 . p.4 7. 2. cp c it p.52 . 3. op cit p.53 . 4. 1 cc Cit 5. cp Cit p.92 . p.201 . Specifications Engine 99Scc OHV SO-degree V-Twin Compression ratio 9: 1 Horsepower ... . . . . .. .• ..•.• ..... .. . . ... . . .. 70 @ &.600 rpm Srakes Twin 7 " drums at each wheel w/Elektron plates Carbs . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • .• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Amal TT Vincent Girdraulic (f ront )/ Single shock (rear) Suspension Gearbox Four-speed (3 .27. 3 .89.&.26 and 6 .77:1) ignition •... .. .. ..... .• . . •. Lucas TT Magneto (manual) t .6 pint s Oil capacity ... .. . .. .. •.. .. .. . . ... < ~ Fuel tank capacity ; 3% <;8l1ons ~ ;; : Ferri dax Racing Saddle Drives Primary .375" Triplex/Secondary 5/S"x1/4" Avon Racing Tires ' .' Wheelbase 56Y2" 3S0 Ibs. Weight 150 mph Top speed ' Price 533£ (approx . $1.500 in 19 50 )

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