Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128118
Egli-Vincent 1000a No kickstart lever - and no center stand, either, only a positive-operation, non suicide-stand that Ducati would be proud of. Instead, Godet has grafted a French-made electric start to the rear of the V-twin engine, operated by a red button mounted on the inside end of the right clipon - a mechanical convenience that's hard to overstate (the Egli cranks into life first time, every time, though it may sometimes take a couple of seconds of whirring away before it finally agrees to burst into life) but an ergonometric disaster, because you must first grope around inside your left leg to find the ignition switch, then reach over with your left hand to press the starter button, while pumping away on the twistgrip with your right to persuade it to catch, since you absolutely must start it with a closed throttle - otherwise as I found out the hard way, it won't fire up. This means you can't hold the clutch lever in while doing so, which not only makes starting in gear impossible, but also prevents cutting down on clutch drag when turning the engine over. No matter - as soon as it lights up, the V -twin engine settles down to a fast 1200-rpm idle, with relatively little mechanical noise in spite of the pushrod valvegear - you get the immediate impression this is a motor on which untold attention has been lavished to make sure that every clearance is just right, every adjustment just so, which at the same time sounds poised for action, thanks to the muscular offbeat crack issuing through the single silencer. Pausing only to take in the undeniable presence of the massive trademark five-inch 150 mph Vincent speedometer parked right in front of your eyes, and the smaller 8000 rpm Smiths Chronometric rev-counter behind it to the right, matching the large round light switch on the left with a Miller ammeter in the middle (Left) The Egli trademark spine frame gives stable handling at the expense of agility. (Right) There's a clear connection between the Egil and volumeproduction successors like the Ducait 750/900SS. A two-wheeled Cobra? band, for in true American V8 fashion, let alone Vincent V-twin style, there's power to go at almost any revs. I mean, this is a musclebike. One that's also incredibly longlegged in feel, once you get over the quite large gap between the bottom two gears and third, move into top and make some motion. There's a much more relaxed gait to the EgliVincent than to a modern V-twin, even a 90-degree 90055 Ducati with its lazy-sounding desmodue engine and it certainly feels to have greater reserves of power, even if its 55 hp is definitely on the humble side by modern cafe racer standards. It's not as if at 378 pounds half-dry the Egli is particularly light - just in the ballpark - but that meaty motor has added torque, which makes it accelerate quite impressively from way low. Shifting at 5000 rpm leaves you still fat in the powerband, and there's relatively little vibration at higher engine speeds from what is obviously an extremely well balanced engine. But it really isn't necessary to rev it right out, just ride that torque curve and concentrate on getting it into top gear via the quite positive change action by period standards, so you can play the throttle to deliver performance to go. Seventy miles per hour on the big speedometer equates to just 3000 rpm on the typically jerkyaction Smiths tachometer, so what you have here is a 130-mph twowheeled Cobra with four on the floor, but no need to consider shifting gear till your progress is badly slowed. This makes the Egli an extremely relaxing ride - well, once you try to forget you're riding a $29,000 motorcycle that has to be delivered to its and the Monza cap for the oil tank which comprises the frame's central spine parked just in front of the matching fuel filler, reach for the oneup gearlever with your right foot, and try hard to ease it into bottom gear without crunching it - difficult, if not impossible at rest. Ease out the very light-action clutch, and the meaty Vincent engine lives fully up to expectations by the prodigious amount of torque on hand from very low revs - barely off idle, in fact, so it pulls smartly away from under 1500 rpm. Indeed, it's so tractable you can maximize acceleration simply by cracking the Amal throttles wide open as soon as you're on the move - no need to slip the clutch to persuade it into the power- 30 AUGUST 22, 2001 • cue I ... n e ww s new owner on its constructor's way home to France next day. The riding position isn't quite as stretched out as you think it's going to be, though it's very easy to get flat on the tank and watch the revs rise as you do so. But in spite of the minimalist single seat, dropped handlebars and adjustable footpegs that on this bike were quite pronouncedly rear-set, the Egli is spartan but satisfying to ride, with lazy but predictable steering that even over quite bad bumps taken at speed doesn't display a trace of the frontend foxtrot that Girdraulics will spring on you when you least expect it. The Egli frame feels firm and unfussed, if not exactly agile by modern standards, just solid. It leaps about a little thanks to the softly sprung twin-shock rear end when you hit a bad bump - but it's a sign of how well-sorted the chassis geometry is that it doesn't need a steering damper, and never once flapped its head in spite of being given every opportunity to do so. If not for the adequate rather than exceptional stopping power from the 210mm front drum (the 2L5 rear works better, and I'd opt for the even more handsome-looking and, from personal experience, undoubtedly more effective 250mm Fontana front brake if I'd ordered an Egli and was intending to ride it at all seriously - its reputation for grabbing when cold is quite unfounded, provided you choose the right linings), the Egli-Vincent's handling reminds me very much of the 75055 Ducati which was of course the Italian firm's take on the Egli cafe racer concept: same rangy steering geometry (though thanks to its 50- degree engine, the Egli has a much shorter 1445mm wheelbase than the 90-degree Latin bike), same planted feel to the handling, same spacious riding position, same slim, cobby stance to the bike as a whole, and same off-beat lilt to the engine note - only an even lazier gait. Sorry, but compared to what was by then the established order of volume-production British parallel-twins, this was a new generation of sporting motorcycle - one that in due course led to the Honda, Aprilia and Ducati V-twins which dominate World Superbike racing today. So, in more than just a single way, the importance of what Patrick Godet is doing deserves to be recognized. On one level, he's building the ultimate replica - one that is praised by .the man who created the original it's copied from as being better than anything he made himself. So, two, in that way, he's keeping an important piece of motorcycle history alive and available to today's enthusiasts to appreciate, if they can afford what is an undeniably, but inevitably, costly entry ticket to the Godet-Egli owners club. But, three, he's also providing a reminder of the excellence of what many will say is within the context of its era, the finest British motorcycle engine ever built, for those who never sampled it in its heyday to appreciate and enjoy in the 21 st century. But, finally, it's also a window on a key model of a bygone world, which at the same time was a vital ingredient in the evolution of today's Superbikes. Oh one more thing: it's also a hell of a lot of fun to ride. eN