Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes Vincent Black Lightning

Anybody seen one of these on the road, or are they in production yet? Designed by a British Pilot in the early '20's originally. Company went out of business in 1955 but is trying to make a come back it seems. It was powered by a..........British V-Twin....

http://www.vincentmotors.com/BIK/phase1.php

nice bike. a lot like a thruxten

Frank

actually the article I read about them said they were powered by a honda

Yep, the Vincent HRD's were beautiful and fast bikes for their time. You kind of date yourself if you don't remember the Vincent's. I think the new Guy is in Oregon or am I confusing him with the group that is trying to bring back the Nortons.

I don't think you will see many new Vincent's on the road. I think people are buying them more as a collectors piece instead of a rider. I think they cost between 18k-20k.


Fryguy

USAFSniper,

I noticed that in the very top picture it shows that Vincent with the Honda RC-51 motor in it. I already knew about that one.

The rest of the pictures show a motor that looks more original.

-BT

Yeah, I knew these new models had a Honda engine, but thought it was interesting the a British pilot produced a fairly popular and well performing V-Twin that early on. They are a sweet looking bike though...maybe we could convince them to go into cahoots with Triumph.

I must say, excluding the first picture, that sure is a good looking bike. Wouldnt mind one of those....how much?

Or is it one of those, if you must ask you cant afford

The top photo is a valiant attempt, BUT the motor IS a Honda, and such in my view, is pretty much a styling exercise and not really a Vincent.

Now the lower photos.....OH YEAH, MAMA. Now that's NICE. It reminds me of an Egli Vincent, the Swiss engineer's creation that actually sold fairly well in the '70s-'90s for a small concerns' product. He designed a new frame for that beautiful motor and attached modern(for that time-period) suspension parts to it. It was always near the top of my "To Get List" when I win that Power Ball thing.

Here in So.Cal, I still see a few old Vincents and the occasional Egli version, out and about, every once in a while. I always admire guys who actually ride them and don't just "store them for posterity". A certain present host of the "Tonight Show" often shows up Sunday mornings at the Rock Store on one. Mr.Leno has a very rare early version, a Series I from the late '30s, and a few later versions that he just loves talkin' about AND riding.

Dwight

Actually the top photo was their prototype model, the others are evidently a final model they're trying to put back into production. If you click on the link up top it takes you to a page where you can personalize the style of bike from standard, to cruiser, to tourer, to sport. Personally I think it's an incredible looking machine...but I do think the price will be fairly steep...but then how many people could say they owned one? It would make you more unique on the road than we are now among all the HarYamaKawaHondas.

Now you just know they are going to be like the new "Nortons", pushing $20K. No such luck on something in the 10 or less range...

I was doing some reading on these a while back. The guy that invented the Eagle One brand is currently trying to ressurect the Vincent name. They are currently trying to get more financial backing to get into production. The motor is made by Honda as the other guys said. Pricing is supposed to run between $20-25K. Great looking bike. I hope they make it to production although the price is too rich for my blood. For that kind of money I'll deck out one sweet Rocket III and still have money left over.

I kind of think that if I were going to spend about $20k for an example of a resurrected marque's "new and improved" bike, I'd wait and see if Kenny Dreer in Portland, Oregon will be able to sort out the remaining bugs in that BEAUTIFUL new Norton, he and his boys are workin' on. Now THAT'S one great lookin' machine.

Dwight

Pity. I e-mailed the builder/designer and he replied because of the expense of the bike and the fact that he no longer has a contract with Honda, the bikes will not be going into production. Too bad, huh. I'd like to see the resurrection of more British bikes, not to mention it was a s__t-hot lookin' bike.

You should email him back and tell him to call Triumph...might be just the middle ground type of bike to fill the hole between the Bonneville/America/Speedmaster and the Rocket III. It sure looks like it should come out of the Triumph factory. If they could bring the price closer to 10K I'd consider it.

Triumph has already built and now discontinued a similar standard/classic bike - they were the T-bird based triples.

Triumph will be coming out with a new midsize(1200?) bike in the next year or so - something flexible to fill the gaps from the triple classics/ trophy and fit between the R3 and the BonneAm. This is all according to my dealer with no specific details given.