The Rattler - part 2

[PRG]

Howdy Chaps,

The following is depicts the final stages of it after complete disassembly and starting back over, with a pic of the rim "sprucing" up and then finally the finished machine, now with 264 miles on the clock, more than the previous owner put on this 6K mile original machine in 32 years.

See y'all at Eustis with it.

[exeric]

I believe the Vincent is the epitome of the British motorcycle. It's got every beautiful feature of British design condensed into one drop dead gorgeous machine. . . However, with acknowledgement of it's Flying Merkel rear suspension.

[pem]

One of the bikes of my dreams. It just looks like a motorcycle is supposed to look.
As soon as you are bored with it let me know.

Dick

[Barry Brown]

It has obviously finally found the right home. Well done!

[PRG]

Howdy chaps,

Thank you sirs. And Exeric, don't forget Indian generator drive and girder fork variant and ....

Can't tell you how nice it is to return to the old comfortable pair of shoes dusty m.o. on this machine after the admittedly bit glossy 441 resto of last year. The odd oil leak now is viewed as adding character - something I'm regularly described as being more of than possessing therein - rather than something requiring immediate attention.

For those of us here used to riding large vintage American iron of great heft, which conducts itself at a relaxed gait with little real strain this is one area to which we can relate to these machines from across the pond oriented more towards high speed back country touring. The unique thing about Vincents is they ride "big". With a wheelbase of only 58 inches and weighing a mere 458lbs - about the size of a Triumph Bonneville - you'd never guess it rolling down the road with those girder forks rigid and flex free and that motor turning so little rpm - only 4200rpm at 100mph. They will roll from a mere 35 mph in 4th to over 120 (with less timid souls aboard, I'm only good for a century..but still sitting bolt upright) on a 46 tooth rear sprocket without a whimper, exhaust booming like a little more tenor version of a Knuckle on open lake pipes.

You know, with an extra 40 hours or so tacked onto the dedicated hundreds expended it could have been taken that last step from homely to glossy, but sorta like it this way. Looks like alot of those vintage VOC pictures of club riders in action over the last 60 years I poured over the last couple of decades while waiting for my oppurtunity to experience the same.

[c.o.]

Super job! I'm glad too that you didn't go that extra 40hrs. It looks great as is! I have a friend from England that says the Vincents don't handle so great at low speeds. I've never been in the saddle of one. What's your experience Peter?

[PRG]

Howdy Cory,

Somehow sitting "on" a vintage machine as one does with a Vin, rather than "in" as you'd experience on a 346, 440 or such makes you feel more exposed and therefore more aware of handling and braking quirks, whether real or imagined, as I guess it's the old farther to fall to the ground kind of thing.

They have alot of fork trail that reminds me of my one year only 46 Chief setup, turn in is slow and deliberate, but predictable. Indian countered that same issue by lengthening the top links to stand the forks more upright in 47 in an effort to match the nimbleness of the British invasion (Triumph). But with their weight and long wheelbase, it was a lost cause. I do not particularly care for the results of that effort on my 48. Vincent left theirs alone because these machines come into their own at higher speeds on sweeping by ways where you can get into a rythm and the shorter the wheelbase, the more allusive achieving high speed stability becomes.

In an effort to get this chassis to match the deceptively effortless speed of the motor, Vincent experimented with the some of first mass produced tunable hydraulic shock absorbers. They can easily be disassembled and modified, I change jounce/rebound on mine. Unfortunately, piston sweep to suspension travel on these units that look identical front and rear is entirely different (shorter stroke on rear) and people put the same weight oil in both ends resulting in a nearly rigid front end that will not settle with trail braking and take a plant which leads to terminal understeer in fast bends and washout or low side crashes. Aggravating this tendency is minimal front tire contact patch. As you know, Vincent was big into record setting and those machines generally run large diameter wheels with skinny section tires (20 rear, 21 front on a Lightning). The sports version of Vincents using a 3.0 x 20 front and a 3.50 x 19 rear. I have ridden the Touring version (in my sig below) for over a decade with 3.50 x 19 front and 4.0 x 18 rear and though a bit wallowy and numb compared to the former now experienced here this week, undesteer can be tuned out some.

Now, I'd never ridden a hot rod motored Shadow with these smaller 3.0 x 20 tires and the first - and very lasting - impression on my usual Zen country route came right at my favorite 65mph-ish long sweeping off camber bend on hill descent. With no drama it simply began to drift the front, no abrupt backing off would tuck the front wheel in nor throttle application bring the rear around, I was completely saved by a fork in the road at the bottom leading onto a gravel strewn side road and pulled up several hundred yards later much wiser for the experience.

But in the main, nothing matches the serenity you experience at the helm of a well fettled Vin, ie, if you've tended to all those hundreds of bits, like 5 pivot points and bushings on the seat support alone. Unlike old Indians I'm familiar with that get "relaxed" unthreateningly with age, use or neglect, a cobbled up Vin can be a life threatening nightmare ... just ask anyone who's survived a tank slapper courtesy of a set of worn out Girdraulics.

[c.o.]

Wow, thanks for the insight! They are a great machine indeed. I should have also mentioned that said English friend said that if you're going into a slow turn that you might as well head for the ditch because that's where you are likely going! He also mentioned a "tank slapper" experience. I'm guessing that the machine must have had the worn girdraulic syndrome. Having said that he loves Vincents!

[Tom Lovejoy]

Yes Vincents are very impressive machines, I was lucky enough to ride with one for a long strip of road at Borrego several years ago. We were running a steady 70 mph, I was real pleased with my Scout, but that Vincent - man, it was hardly breathing. I was very impressed, even though I had always heard they were fantastic machines. Glad to see your having fun with it.

[redfred84]

Always Barned Vinnie

Peter, you have out done yourself again. This one is too cool, and I applaud your dicission to get her back into the mainstream sooner, rather than later. Now Sweet Pea has fine stable mate.
I'm still hunting.
See ya in a few weeks, RF.

[koanes]

Great job Peter. I love it when the desire to ride a machine supercedes the 100 point resto path. I think the machine will look even better after some years and many miles.

[PRG]

Forever Barned Vinnie

Thanks Chaps,

RedFredster; funny you should mention Sweet Pea, she quit riding with me at DE's on race tracks over 10 years ago, won't step into my Mini Cooper daily driver because it smells like an old dirty gym sock (air dry my used workout outfits on a hanger in back rather than laundering them regularly) and basically we're down to TheFrau, my R69S, as a comfortable perch for her out of all these machines.

But then there's a Vin....not only comfortable, but that is THE only machine she'll tolerate spirited motoring on. Following Bike Week, I aim to see just how high that tolerance level is because, maaaan, this one is way more sporty than the Red Rap she's use to.

This machine was just destined to get back on the road rather than be primped for showing like its bretheren all polished up like black orbs and that is where it'll stay, because that is apparently the biggest impression it left one of its previous owners - a career US military man and high mileage rider. He only had it for 3-4 years in the early 70's and a 1,000 or so miles but hunted it down after a 33 year absense and his first comment to me was about its performance. He kept referring to it as LND940 and Fear Naught. The former it's registration from England where it was shipped from to Monterrey, CA in 1959 and the latter to the badge I've left affixed to the front fender which referrs to its original owner - a British military man - apparently in the army as it depicts a WWI tank, a dreadnaught, with the words Fear Naught below it.

Returning WWWII military was exactly who Phil Vincent and Phil Irving had in mind for their products to the degree of accomodation such that they only affixed 3 springs initially to their servo clutch to enable those who'd incurred hand injuries to operate the clutch, specifically mentioning, if I recall, RAF pilots who'd suffered burns.

I couldn't let these connections with its heritage be lost. Alas, one of the front number plates was missing. I made a female mold out of soft clay with the burnished side of aluminum foil pressed into it facing outward, poured up fiberglass resin for a backing plate, lightly hit the foil with scotchbrite upon removal from the mold, then painted the background black to match the other one and hit it with matt clear to protect that finish. Sorta done as a quick afterthought during original dry mockup - to be done better later - it almost immediately looked "barn-ish" itself - so it'll stay look'n just like that.