Vintage Vincent A Fine Motorbike

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Not many motorcycles have songs written about them. “Little Honda” comes to mind. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys, and turned into a Top 10 hit in 1964 by a grab-bag group of studio musicians that included Glen Campbell. It was released under the fabricated band name The Hondells, with other musicians later being hired to perform publicly.

Another brand-specific motorcycle song that wasn’t a hit, but which has attained cult status in the past 20 years, is “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.” Penned by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson and released in 1991, it tells of “dangerous man” named James who admits that he “robbed many a man to get my Vincent machine.” On his deathbed at age 21 from a shotgun blast to the chest, he hands the Vincent’s keys to the woman he loves, Red Molly.

It’s a plaintive, romantic song about a legendary motorcycle.  (Thompson, in case you’re a fan of the song, begins a North American tour tonight and visits The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass. on Oct. 14.) I mention “Little Honda” and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” to illustrate that a motorcycle worth remembering in song must be special for some good reason. In the case of the Vincent, it’s because models like the Black Lightning and Black Shawdow are the Holy Grail of motorcycling – exotic, rare, expensive and fast.

Forget about riding a Vincent, just seeing a Vincent is a memorable experience. “Cycle World” columnist and one-time Vincent Black Shadow owner Peter Egan once described the Black Shadow as “a sinister looking black bike full of external plumbing and raised oil lines.” As I mentioned last week, chatting with Egan at the recent Concours d’Elegance in Westport was a treat, but especially when the talk turned to the 1950 Black Shadow on display on the show ground. “It’s first rate,” he declared.

The display Vincent was owned by Roland Houde of Andover, Mass. He bought it a dozen years back. “It was a nice original runner,” he said, recalling that it required a complete cosmetic restoration. He did the job himself by hoisting the bike atop his pool table one winter. “The good news is I didn’t have to take the motor apart,” Houde said. “My wife got over it after a couple of years.”

Houde’s Black Shadow is primarily a show bike. “I rode when I first finished it,” he said. Now, instead, he has a 1952 Vincent Rapide “that’s a driver.” The Vincents are just two of 13 collectible motorcycles that he owns. “It’s my investment plan, I hope,” he said.

Houde has long been aware of the Vincent mystique. “I knew that 20 years ago,” he said as he began pointing out features on the bike. “This is a ‘can’t miss’ bike. It’ll never go down in price.”

Most noticeable at the front of the Black Shadow is the “pedestrian slicer” atop fender that says “MPH 125.” That’s because when it came out, the Black Shadow was the fastest production bike on the planet. “Guaranteed to do 125 right out the crate,” said Houde. The design is such that the brakes, clutch, chain, seat tension and gear ratios can be changed without needing tools, using tommy bars and thumb screws. “All the cables are the same size,” he said, making them interchangeable.

The Black Shadow can be shifted by either hand or foot. “The motor’s all aircraft quality. There’s no frame. It all hinges on the motor. The faster you go, the smoother it gets,” Houde said. There’s a reason for the super-sized speedometer, too. To better inform the rider because “people didn’t realize how fast they were going because it’s so smooth.”

Houde’s Black Shadow is valued at $100,000. Gazing at the 61-year-old bike, it’s easy to understand why it’s valued by collectors, worshipped by knowing riders, and celebrated in song. As Red Molly said to James in Thompson’s song, “That’s a fine motorbike.” And it is.

(Originally published in “The Republican-American” on Oct. 1, 2011.)