(motorbike engine rattling)
- So, in 1928, a young Phil Vincent took on the brand of HRD
and began to manufacture his own motorcycles
from a small factory in Stevenage in England.
What he went on to produce between 1928, 1955,
were arguably some of the most special
and fantastic classic bikes ever produced.
And still to this day,
they are highly sought after and highly desired.
Now, when we think of Vincent,
typically we think of this
Series A, Series B, Series C models
before the company finished with the Series D.
They're the most common bikes
that come to mind when you think of a Vincent.
So we're gonna go through some of those today
and show the evolution of the bike and those models
that were produced at that small factory in England.
So in 1935,
the first Series A machine was launched.
And it was a 500 CC single-cylinder bike called the Comet.
And like this one, the Meteor.
What was unique about these bikes
were that they incorporated the Vincent diamond frame
rear suspension, which gave fully sprung rear end.
It also was the first machine that the factory produced
that had their own engine
that they designed and built themselves.
A very distinctive 500 CC single-cylinder engine,
open valves at the top,
and very unique V-section
where the push rods come up to the top of the engine there.
So it's very iconic, very recognizable,
a really high quality machine made in very low numbers,
very expensive in its day,
and was a very exclusive motorcycle to own.
(motorbike engine rattling)
So moving on to the Series B.
So post-war, Vincent launched the Series B range,
which started with the V-twin Rapide,
but was then joined by the single-cylinder model,
this one, the Meteor.
Now at the rear,
it still retained the diamond frame construction
with the twin spring boxes,
but it was topped off by now a dual seat,
which was designed by Feridax.
The engine was a completely new unit redesigned
with the cylinder leaning forward.
So it's basically half the V-twin,
which you see there.
Also, no downtube at the front,
because now the engine is a stressed member
and forms part of the frame.
Also, oil tank is now removed and is part of the frame
at the top there.
So you access the oil through the top on the filler here
as part of the tank at the top.
Then in 1950, the Series C machines were launched.
That started to see evolution of the bikes somewhat more,
a damper is fitted to the rear suspension
in the center of the two spring boxes to improve that.
The branding is the key difference now.
So HRD was dropped, or Vincent HRD was dropped
and left with just the simple Vincent motorcycle.
That was to stop any confusion on the American market
where HRD could be possibly confused with Harley Davidson.
The main difference from this bike as well,
when you get to the Series C,
is the introduction of the Girdraulic fork.
So the Brampton's on the B's
were quite old-fashioned by that point.
Vincent didn't want to go with a standard sort
of teledraulic or hydraulic front suspension,
so he came up with one that was a mixture of both
girder and hydraulic, hence the name, girdraulic.
It gave the benefit more lateral stability and stiffness
when compared to the hydraulic forks available.
The Black Shadow is the top of the icon
of the Vincent range.
It's the sort of pinup poster boy of the bike world
for post-war British bikes and probably the finest
post-war British classic motorcycle ever built.
Distinctive with its black enamel engine
its two into one exhaust,
and it's iconic really, five-inch large speedometer
that is upfront.
It really is beautiful machine.
(motorbike engine rattling)
So by the time that Vincent had ceased production in 1955,
with our final Series D models,
the factory produced in total around 11,000 machines
over the best part of 30 years.
Now, something like 97% of those were made across
the A, B, C models.
But what were they producing before the Series A's?
Well, let's have a look.
So in 1927, Phil Vincent had built his first prototype.
He started producing his own machines
when he took on the HRD brand
and moved the factory to Stevenage in 1928.
First models incorporated his unique spring frame design,
which is shown here.
What that meant was though, it was slightly awkward
in that it had this cross-section frame
that wrapped round the engine
and down across the motorcycle.
He left the part looking rather peculiar in too many eyes.
This is a Model B you see here further examples.
It meant that it was the bike was left
with this very small petrol tank,
which let's be frank, made it a bit of an ugly duckling.
So sales in those early years,
despite the bikes being well-made
and quite unique and innovative, were very low.
The numbers produced were literally a handful.
And you can see here on the production sheets
showing the production numbers in the early years,
28, 29, 30. 7 machines,
less than 20 machines, 30 machines.
So the numbers were so low and the sales,
because of the visual appearance of the bike.
That changed though in 1932.
It was in 1932 that with the help of Phil Irving,
the Model P was launched.
So this bike incorporated a new design for the rear frame
that meant that no cross-brace section was needed
to wrap around the engine anymore.
This diamond frame construction as they call it
meant they could finally produce the motorcycle
that incorporated special rear-end suspension,
that had a bite that visually looked the part.
It also utilised the Rudge engine.
So this was known as the Model P the Python,
because the engine used was a 500cc four valve
Rudge Python engine.
They also produced as well as the Model P
a sports or super-sports version known as the Model PS,
that incorporated again, a Rudge engine,
but the one that was used in the Rudge Ulster motorcycle.
So it's their higher performance version.
So it's finally from the launch of the Model P and PS
in 1932, that the company's fortunes started to turn around.
And the public really engaged with this motorcycle
and the numbers of sales started to improve.
In total, over a three-year period
they produced 46 of the Model P and over 100 of the PS,
which was a big step forward
from what they'd been doing before.
Still all be in small numbers,
but were pretty much built-to-order bikes,
so they were always very special.
And it's the Model P that I wanna show you now,
cause we've got an example of one here.
So this particular bike is a 1932 example.
It's one of the first 12 that were produced that year,
which has only 12 in total for 1932,
and it is a super, super rare bit of kit.
There's probably less than half a dozen
of these still survive.
And how many of them have complete probably only this one,
to be honest.
It's got, like I said before,
the 500cc Rudge Python engine,
which was one of the best engines you could get at the time.
So at that time, like many manufacturers,
Vincent were doing things on a small-scale.
So they're buying the engines in
from JA Prestwich, Blackburn and Rudge.
Rudge had had some great success at the Isle of Man,
and produced this particular 500cc single.
This was introduced into Vincent's unique frame,
which incorporated the now diamond frame rear suspension.
And it was this frame that actually went on from here
through to the Series A, B, C's and D's.
So this was the genesis of the Vincent's
that we all recognize for the granddaddy of them all
if you like.
It was a well-tested engine, it was very reliable,
but to squeeze it into the Vincent frame,
it meant that you see that there's this empty space here,
on this scholar for cradle on the Rudge with actually
incorporate the magneto and the dynamo
would have been separate.
So they're in there on a Rudge,
no room to fit it in here. So Vincent had a BTH,
mag dyno all in one fitted to the rear of the cylinder head.
And that meant that the carburetor didn't fit.
(laughing)
it was too close to the tank,
or it would fall on the top of the mag dyno.
So to overcome that simply turn the throttle body to the
horizontal, rather than it being vertical,
which looks a bit peculiar, but it does work.
So another feature of the engine is that it's a twin port.
So single cylinder, twin ports through to twin exhaust,
that was very fashionable in the early 1930s.
It didn't really provide any performance benefits at all.
So they soon went back to single port.
But in fact, if anything, it added more weight
because of the extra parts and exhaust,
but visually it looks the business,
particularly when you've got these sports up swept exhaust
that were again, very popular in the early 1930s.
So this particular bike is part of eight Vincent's
that form part of the Tom Joule collection.
Which I have the honor and pleasure of curating
and looking after for my friend Tom.
And we acquired this bike three years ago from a collector
who lives close to us and my dad and myself set about
giving it a light restoration.
So mechanically it was sorted,
but the tin wear frame and paint work
were in a need of repair, really.
So we stripped the bike right back,
spent some time tidying it up. We didn't go overboard.
I mean, the front forks in the frame,
we actually just hand painted ourselves.
So it maintains some nice patina and age,
but it looks really smart at the same time.
So our Model P was featured in this book,
"Fifty Years of The Marque."
which was written by Phil Vincent
to celebrate 50 years of the Vincent
since the Vincent company was established in 1928.
This came out in 1977, 78,
and there's lots of collections of photos
of different models.
And on this page, you'll see here.
So this is Phil Vincent's words here, photo of a Model P.
And you can see here MV 4433, which is our bike,
a really historical model.
The oldest diamond frame, Vincent motorcycle X stamped,
I road tested it in 1932 after machine had been assembled
in the original Stevenage factory.
So we've got the oldest surviving example of this bike,
but not only that,
it's one that Phil Vincent test rode himself.
So it's got fantastic provenance.
So once we'd finished some of the restoration work,
we started to take the bike out to events and shows.
And we were featured in the October, 2019 version of the
Classic Motorcycle magazine.
You see a picture there of James Robinson,
the editor ride in it, it's a fabulous feature.
And we're very pleased that the bike was,
was covered in this way.
James Robinson is a big fan of Vincents,
and this was the first time he'd ridden one
that had a proprietary or non Vincent engine in.
So he was pleased with that.
One of the comments he did make,
was the fact that actually this has been since feels
quite normal in terms of its seating position to ride.
You feel like you sat in the bike.
Whereas the latest Vincents,
anyone that's written one or wants to go on one,
you very much sat on top of the bike.
And it's quite an unusual position,
a little bit alien to start,
but this is very comfortable and very familiar.
So as this bike hasn't been run for a couple of years,
it's what we call wet sumped.
So the oil in the tank through gravity
simply made its way to the bottom of the sump.
These engines be dry sumped.
So we need to drain that oil out
to avoid causing over oiling to the cylinder
or any damage that could be caused because of that.
So it's quite typical on these sorts of bikes.
It's a normal thing to do.
So we removed the sump plug at bomb, drain it out,
put it back in the oil tank and we should be good to go.
So when a bike is wet sumped as much as this one has,
if you don't drain the oil back, you can start the bike up,
but you'll quickly force too much oil up to the,
to the cylinder.
And it will oil up the plug pretty quickly and probably
stall the engine,
burn a lot of oil and didn't get it gathering out
the outlet ports.
And also you could run the risk of a hydraulic lock,
which would seize the engine up.
So it's worth just spending the time,
drain it out and put it back in.
So let's put some fuel in here,
which is super unleaded, tend to years in the UK,
which has got less than 5% ethanol.
Because the standard fuel has got up to 10% ethanol.
And that isn't great
when it's left in a bike for a long time.
It ruins some of the seals and can cause issues mechanically
as well with things gumming up.
Cause it draws in a lot more water than the,
the fuel with less ethanol then.
So that's why we use this.
Right.
So what we'll do we just make sure that the clutch is free
so we can kick it over.
it's turning over there clutch.
Yep, there we are
There okay.
We'll put the choke on, which is forward.
Advance and retard on this bike
from memory is the opposite to the later ones.
So it's, instead of a forward for advance,
it's actually closed for advanced.
So we'll retard it a little bit,
put it in the middle. Fuel on.
We'll, tickle the carb.
We'll see how we get on.
So find top dead centre, click it over compression.
So there we are.
It's on compression there.
Go over,
pull it back up.
bit of throttle,
fingers crossed.
Same again.
Over compression.
(engine rattling)
Happy days.
(engine roar drowns out words)
So it's a fully sprung bike.
Which is quite unique at the time.
Brampton front forks.
With the unique Vincent diamond frame,
rear frame,
and twin springbox is it provides
with the additional comfort of a spring seat,
a very pleasant ride.
Four speed gear box, Burman gear box.
Typical the period very reliable, mated up to this Rudge
500cc Python engine.
Which I have to say with its four valves.
It's got loads of.
It's just really smooth and it's quite refined.
Gives a very pleasant, sturdy ride.
Plenty of power if you need it.
She goes well,
the Vincent's unlike their competitors as well
had to do the addition of twin drum brakes on the front,
which were not actually fitted
to this 1932 model is standard,
but were retro fitted from 33 onwards,
that again just gives them extra safety and comfort
and riding along.
(engine rattling)
Like all bikes of this period.
Plenty of torque.
Fairly low revving engines.
You can plog along in third and fourth gear all day long,
pulling off in, you know, as low as 15 miles an hour really,
and get up to the speed that you want.
It makes it so easy to ride.
It's called a lightweight bike as well.
Even by modern standards.
There's not much to it. So it's, it's fairly nimble,
But it provides that classic single cylinder thumper
of a soundtrack,
Which is just a delight on a English country road like this.
So it really is very special feeling to be on this bike,
knowing that in 1932, the man himself,
Phillip Vincent test rode this bike.
Was riding 'round Stevenage sat right where I am now.
it really is an honor and a pleasure
to be feeling what he felt back then.