As I pulled in to park at the weekly hot rod/car/motorcycle show I was amazed!
Sitting there was not one, but two HRD Vincents parked side by side!
Two older gentlemen had trucked them down to Mesa, Arizona to get away from the winter blasts in Minnesota and do a bit of riding.
The Vincents were the 1000cc V-Twin, Series B Rapide and in excellent condition. Between the two of them I'd guess there was over $100,000 worth of motorcycles sitting there next to my Royal Enfield G5 Deluxe.
My RE, G5 looked right at home though, with its black and chrome and gold pen striping glistening in the sunlight.
Both of these Vincents had the reversible rear wheel with dual sprockets. By flipping the rear wheel 180 degrees and mounting a different chain they would go from "on the road" gearing to "off road". Pretty neat idea.
The large 150 mph speedometer mounted on each of them was also impressive. Large enough to be equal to a flyscreen.
When it came time for them to leave there was the expected fiddling with both carbs, the decompression lever and a good stout kick.
No "started on the first kick" here. It took over 7 good kicks to bring one to life and it tried several times to throw the rider up in the air. Obviously he knew what to expect and he let his foot slip off of the kick starter without breaking his leg.
The other one didn't kick back but it also took several strong kicks to get its attention. I was about to offer a push for him when it finally fired.
Eventually, both of them started and they sounded very healthy indeed. I was also pleased to see that neither one of them put out the clouds of smoke I've seen in several British videos of some of their restored Vincents.
They slowly rode off in stately fashion past the Harleys with many of the Harley riders not even knowing they were seeing some truly historic machines.
Unfortunately, I had decided to wear my light weight armor instead of my black leather motorcycle jacket.
Had I worn the jacket, I would have had a small camera in its pocket. Without it, I didn't have a camera to take pictures.
Not one photo of something I'll never see again.
Anyway, if any of you up in Minnesota ever see a pair of black and chrome HRD Vincents being ridden by two elderly gentlemen, say hi for me. Also ask them if they found Bob's Cycle Parts.
They both wanted to know if I knew of any Vincents in Phoenix so I told them to try Bob's. A couple of years ago Bob's had an old Rapide sitting among the tons of old Harley parts his place sells.