Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Vincent.

Vincent Motorcycles was one of the great British Motorcycle manufacturers of the pre & post war era and made motorcycles from 1928 - 1955.  It was owned by Philip Vincent who bought an existing manufacturing name, HRD, initially renaming his company "Vincent HRD".
He made various models, initially with bought in engines.  in 1934 he developed two new engines, a 500cc & a 1,000cc version.
The most famous Vincent motorcycle was the "Black Shadow" developed in 1948 and at the time was the fastest motorcycle in the world.
"Vincent HRD" became Vincent Engineers (Stevenage) Ltd in 1952 when they experienced financial losses and in 1955, like so many of the iconic British motorcycle manufacturers, they ceased all motorcycle production. 


(I paraphrased the previous info from Wikipedia)

While on a photo day out recently a motorcyclist parked up near us with this lovely old Vincent.  He allowed me to photograph it and we enjoyed a short conversation about his Vincent and the days when British bikes ruled the world.  His bike is not a "Black Shadow" but he was keen to tell me the speedo on it is from a "Black Shadow"





This owners club badge commemorates the original company name of Vincent HRD.


The speedometer is off a Vincent "Black Shadow"


Olympus EM10 Mk2 + 14-100 Pro lens.




3 comments:

  1. What an interesting post. Not a big motorcycle fan but love the history of the Vincent bikes and the days when we actually manufactured cars and bikes.

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  2. Thanks for your comment Mike. I'm not a motorcycle fan,I've never had one but enjoy photographing the old British bikes when I see them. Have a good Holiday weekend. 😁

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  3. I've never had a motorcycle either. When a teen several of my friends had BSA bikes but I bought an old banger of a car instead.
    It's been a lovely day here in Cornwall, and I believe we are promised a good weekend.

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