Issue 132 : December 2003 - January 2004
NEC Bike Show
KTM Adventure
Harley's V-Rod
Tigger Tribute
Harley Sportsters
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NEC Bike Show
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Vincents in Tribute to Tigger
Notebook in hand I spent an hour in the large car park of the ACE chatting to the club members who'd turned out to mark the loss of a fellow rider. Considering that you can get through a whole year without seeing one of the greatest ever British motorcycles, finding 42 all in one place on the same day was something else. The weather was not that auspicious either. A chilly wind was blowing round the North Circular and heavy clouds offered the prospect of serious discomfort that blessedly held off for the afternoon. Vincent Owners club President Bryan Phillips was there, together with Deidre Vincent, daughter no less, of Phillip Vincent, the man who founded the company, plus a few Americans who were vacationing in the UK and heard about the gathering. George Missbach was from Atlanta Georgia, though he's a member of the Vincent club's 'Lone Star' chapter in Dallas Texas. George is currently having a Vincent built by the legendary Patrick Godet of Paris who is putting together an Egli framed version of the bike. There are around 2000 members of this very tight nit club world-wide, two thirds of those in the UK. What attracts people so compulsively to the Vincent? It's obviously impressive just to look at, but the engineering quality of the big Vee twins represents a major attraction to a lot of the club's members, Doug and Karilyne from the USA being among them. The couple from Pennsylvania ride a 1947 Black Shadow which they've owned for 15 years, and they do some serious riding on it. The couple have covered as much as 400 miles in a day on their bike without arguments erupting, which for any bike, let along one built before Elvis had his first hit, is quite something. Vincent owners tend to stick with their bikes a long time. Colin Jenner bought his 1937 Series 8 in 1964. It was only the 9th bike ever made by the company and features the exposed valve gear that characterised many early OHV engines. This was no museum piece though. Colin, who runs engineering business, Conway Motors in Maidstone has ridden this bike as far as Checkoslavakia, Hungary and Greece.
Things you might not know about Vincents:
How do they compare to Harley-Davidsons I wanted to know. 'A lot lighter and more responsive' I was told. Well at 420 pounds they are certainly lighter than the 600 - 700 pounds or more of a Harley and with around 50bhp on tap then if you're comparing them to Shovelheads I suppose . . . At least some of the models were built with two side stands and there's a reason for this that has something to do with rapid wheel removal but the logic is not adequately explained by my hastily scribbled notes. I do recall however noticing a substantial pin through the end of the rear axle of one bike which enabled wheel removal with no tools whatsoever - cool. With so much going for the machine it has to be asked why the company went out of production, and the short answer to that question is cost. At a time when a Triumph Tiger 110 was £198, a Vincent rapide would set you back £364 and a Lightning £600. This in the days of post war austerity before motorcycles had become the playthings of the well heeled, a time when people still used to say 'you could buy a car for that.' Some people however, and Tigger Alldus was clearly one of them, thought the investment was worth it. Mutch |
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Tigger Alldus was a character and a rare one by all accounts, much like the motorcycle marque he favoured, the legendary Vincent. As sadly reported in our summer issue Tigger lost his life in a road accident earlier this year and his mates in MAG and the Vincent HRD Owners Club decided to organise a memorial day to him at London's ACE Cafe. Ex girlfriend Tigger (coincidentally) of Bikers Web renown, was on site selling merchandise from which a donation was made to fund a Tigger memorial plaque at the National Motorcycle Museum. Should anyone wish to add to this fund then feel free to contact Streetbiker and we shall see that you're pointed in the right direction.
He was a great innovator was Phillip Vincent who, from a very young age, was busy designing things mechanical and patented the triangulated frame which features a shock absorber under the seat. It's a system that bears more than a passing resemblance to today's softail concept. I know this because a certain David Markham saw me taking photographs and approached to ask if I as familiar with the technical features of the marque. I admitted that my knowledge was sketchy and had it rapidly enhanced with an intensive course in engineering history.