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(Left! The Vincent Black Shadow 50-degree V-twin engine is all-new, completely built from modem components. (Right) Big Ben? Not quite, but the Egli does have a rather large speedometer. ciency, resulting in a level of performance unmatched by any of its contemporaries. No wonder Egli chose it to power the bike he invented the Vtwin Cafe Racer cult with in the SWingin' '60s, before going on to build 150 Egli-Vincent customer replicas each with his trademark spine frame design incorporating the oil tank - a '60s update of the original Vincent chassis design. That's before the supply of donor motors dried up, and he had to switch to other engine designs to power the rest of the 2000 or so Egli frames built to the same format, which he's constructed so far up to the present day, in his hilltop workshop in a former lumber yard in central Switzerland. While it's already ironic that safety-minded Switzerland should have given birth to what is the type of motorcycle that has arguably brought more fun to more people than any other in the past three decades, in the form of the big twin cafe racer, it's even more improbable that for the past decade and a half, the most dedicated and competent restorer of Vincent motorcycles, as well as the most committed and successful Vincent exponent in top-line classic racing, should not be an Englishman, as would befit the brand that is the epitome of vintage Britbiking, but a 'bloody Frog'. I say that not with any sense of chauvinism (though, of course, Monsieur Chauvin was indeed, er - French), but because it's a mark of Patrick Godet's Anglicization that this is what he indeed calls himself. After buying his first Vincent back in 1974 at the tender age of 23, Patrick Frog has dedicated his life to the British marque, to the extent that after building up a car-restoration business (inevitably concentrating on that four-wheeled Vincent, the Aston Martin), and then a high-end classic bike operation producing immaculate restorations of exotica like a Linto 500 GP racer or Beart Norton Manx, Godet has since 1996 focused exclusively on making Vincents live again either in perfectly restored guise, or as born-again products of all our yesterdays. The first of these Vincent recreations in fact emerged from the Normandy workshop 15 years ago in 1986, as a spinoff from the reputation that Godet had carved for himself in mid-'80s Historic racing on both sides of the English Channel with his so-called 'Speciale', the most successful Vincent 1000cc V-twin road racer of recent years, developed in France and which in the hands of Patrick himself or Monaco's former GP star, Hubert Rigal, scored countless wins, including the prestigious Vintage Race of the Year in Britain. "Lots of people said a Vincent would never hold together, never handle properly and never brake hard enough, long enough, to beat the 750 Triumphs and Nortons - but it did!" said Godet proudly as he moved on to his next project, 10 replicas of the 500cc Vincent Grey Flash half-a-Vtwin road racer, which he built for historic racing in the late '80s, and tuned up well enough to get on the rostrum against all the overheadcamshaft bikes in a Historic GP. Together with the replica parts which he'd commissioned for his many Vincent restorations performed to the highest level of authenticity, this meant that when Godet decided to start recreating Egli-Vincent cafe racers seven years ago, he had a good basis for doing so. "I had several original Egli frames, one of which I used to make a chassis jig to replicate them," says Patrick. "To begin with, I didn't think it would be as popular as the original Britishbuilt Vincents, but after I'd built a dozen or so, and the orders started coming in thick and fast, I decided I had to obtain Fritz Egli's approval for what I was doing - so I contacted him and went to see him, to show him what I was making. He was really complimentary, and gave me permission to use his name on the bikes, because he said I was building them better than he used to himself! He wouldn't even accept a royalty on each bike - he said I couldn't possibly make enough profit to do sol But it means we are the only company in the world licensed to build genuine Egli-Vincents - there are other people doing this in Britain and America, but they're not the real thing." From inevitably using a good proportion of original components, Godet's Egli-Vincent recreations now comprise 100-percent new parts, which he either has made by suppliers to his specifications, or else manufactures himself in-house. These include the chassis and swingarm, a crankshaft assembly incorporating an Alpha big end, flywheels, sealed valve guides, gear selector mechanism' inlet manifolds, gracefully curved two-into-one exhaust system (including the chromed sheath for the bare Toga silencer, which is all he buys in), Ceriani-Iookalike triple clamps specially made to allow fitting of the big Vincent speedometer, fenders, assorted bracketry, handsomely shaped three-gallon alloy fuel tank, etc. The result is a bike literally crafted by hand, and thus costing $29,000 as tested, with the spine frame's central tube made from cold drawn steel, but with Reynolds 531 chrome-moly hangers embracing an engine which acts as a fully stressed chassis component, built to Black Shadow specification - the middle of the three Vincent V -twin levels of tune. "I consider this to be plenty good enough for current road conditions, and the likely level of use the bikes will be put to, though of course if someone wants more power, though a lot more fussy to ride on the street, I can build it to Black Lightning racing specification," says Patrick, who states that in Shadow guise, an Egli- cue. e Vincent with half-fairing is good for 132 mph. Stopping it from those speeds is entrusted to a similar drum brake package as fitted to the original Eglis, featuring a replica 210mm Fontana 4LS front and seven-inch Vincent 2LS rear, while suspension is also period Ceriani, fortunately still in production today, with the 35mm tele forks matched by twin rear shocks adjustable only for preload. The rear swingarm is built by Godet himself, using the same distinctive semi-elliptical tubing as the original Egli frames, and the all-new four-speed gearbox features original Vincent ratios and triplex chain primary drive, just as back then. But modern updates are provided by the Frenchmade Alton alternator; Vee Two Australia multiplate oilbath clutch, with Kevlar friction plates and a spragtype antilock operation just as on today's Superbikes, which permits you to exploit the reserves of engine braking without fear of locking the back wheel; die-cast Omega pistons; G&S valves (made to standard Vincent sizes); a Boyer Bransden COl with 12v battery, fitted instead of the original 6v coil ignition - and, praise be, an electric start. Slinging a leg over the superbly presented Egli - a true two-wheeled work of art - for an afternoon blat around the Lincolnshire Wolds surrounding Cadwell Park brought me into hands-on contact with a Vincent done right - so, no need to grope around with my right leg for the kickstart lever, and hope to be able to get enough of a swing to persuade it to light up from cold while balancing the bike on my left foot, because there isn't one. n e __ S • AUGUST 22,2001 29