Ride CT & Ride New England Serving New England, NYC and The Hudson Valley!
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com
Chatting with some friends one recent evening, one of them remarked that someday Vincents will be forgotten; that new riders lack an interest in the history of motorcycling and have no interest in the vintage machines that once flashed across the landscape. I hope he’s not right because some of the rare old machines are true works of art and genius.
It was back in February that Branchville Motors in Ridgefield alerted me that it had a 1954 Vincent Black Shadow Series C in the shop undergoing some repairs. Fewer than 1,700 were built 
in Britain between 1948 and 1955.
The Black Shadow featured a blacked-out 998cc engine capable of putting out roughly 55 horsepower. Particularly eye-catching was its large salad plate speedometer.
Getting to see a Vincent up close was certainly a treat. Just hope my friend was wrong in predicting that these marvelous motorcycles will someday be forgotten.
The month of March saw the acquisition and quick sale of a Garelli moped. I’d spotted the two-stroke, 50cc 1986 Garelli Monza GT outside of a house next to the pizza joint where I have lunch daily. I bought it for $10 with the notion of getting it running but decided a few days later to sell it on Craigslist.
I cautiously listed it for “$90obo” and sold it within hours for $125 – only to discover it was a rare moped and might have fetched as much as $500. Such is life.
