Were series B HRDs ever fitted with the smaller 6.5" headlights, or was the 6.5" headlight only ever fitted to the Girdraulic forks on series Cs? Thanks.
Misc: Everything Else Headlight Sizes for Series ‘B’ and ‘C’s
- Thread starter Bradley Burt
- Start date
Brad,
You’re wading into contentious territory (laughing while I write this). In works photos of the build shop it shows different sizes on the bikes. It gets complicated because they could be the North American Miller variant or the regular 6 1/2. I think towards the end of the series b around mid 49 you could have expected to get either 8” or 6 1/2 or American variant in US based on what was available to the factory from miller.
The build sheet for each bike would hold the answer.
You’re wading into contentious territory (laughing while I write this). In works photos of the build shop it shows different sizes on the bikes. It gets complicated because they could be the North American Miller variant or the regular 6 1/2. I think towards the end of the series b around mid 49 you could have expected to get either 8” or 6 1/2 or American variant in US based on what was available to the factory from miller.
The build sheet for each bike would hold the answer.
Vincent used whatever Miller provided on the specific day. At first the headlights were all 8" and around late 1947 the smaller 6.5" started to appear and it carried on been a mixture of 8" & 6.5" used right up to April 1949 (approx) when the last of the 8" were recorded. After that the factory stopped recording headlight size due to the 8" been discontinued. So yes its down to the individual build spec of each bike.
My bike had the 94E headlamp and was finished in May 1949, so I am claiming my bike was the last one to have the 8 inch Miller headlamp installed and noted.
Your data base from all the build sheets really allows you to develop good information quickly without going through several thousand documents.
The 49 Rapide BEB 263 that we are just completing has the same remarks under extras on the works order form as one posted here. Does anyone have information about what " Footrest assy schedule MKIII F52/11 & 12" stands for?
The footrest were chrome when we got the bike. It had also been apart for 60 years. Is it possible the schedule MKIII stands for chrome footrests?
BEB 263 is a B Rapide that came with a 6 1/2" headlight.
The footrest were chrome when we got the bike. It had also been apart for 60 years. Is it possible the schedule MKIII stands for chrome footrests?
BEB 263 is a B Rapide that came with a 6 1/2" headlight.
I did say April 1949 (approx).
The reference to Miller 94E cannot be relied upon and was written on virtually every bike be it 6.5" or 8". At first that is all that was entered and when the 6.5" unit appeared the factory started noting 8" or 6.5" in the remarks area or sometimes the lights area of the order form. From begining of 1949 the 6.5" unit became the standard and so they stopped listing 6.5, but if an 8" unit was fitted in 1949 then it would have been noted. I just looked at the original order form for your bike Michael and there is no mention of 8" so its assumed that the bike was fitted with 6.5" unit.
Usually some parts of the works order form were filled in by office staff before the bike was started but then ammended later as the build progressed and you can see that with the different handwriting and pen colours.
BEB 263 works order does mention the smaller headlight in the remarks area even though it says 94E in the lights area.
The comments about the footrest assy schedule is written on a lot of bikes so really wasn't anything unusual and has nothing to do with chrome. Nobody has ever been able to answer what it actually means but I know the very early footrest hangers on the first 50 to 100 odd bikes were changed slightly several times so I suspect the Mk3 version is the standard final type what most bikes were fitted with and for some unknown reason the office staff kept writing it on the forms into the early 1950's.
Mine has 94E not 94ET on the works form. Both my 8 inch lamps have 94E stamped on them. Simon, were the 6.5 inch lamps stamped? The two I have are not marked.
94ET was a mistake and should be 94E.
The factory wrote 94E on every works order form for every bike from 1946 to mid 1950 even though that unit was stopped in early 1949 so it cannot be relied upon as they were certainly not fitting 8" units in 2nd half of 1949 or 1950 at all.
By the way your bike is finished and despatched in July 1949, not May. You are reading the date wrong as its 5th July 1949 - 05/07/1949.
For most of 1948 and half of 1949 the factory recorded the size of the headlight used on the works order form in either the remarks area or occasionally the lighting area and the wrote either "8" headlight" or "7" headlight" which refers to what us owners call 6.5" units. According to the Vincent factory records the last bike fitted with a Miller 8" headlight was actually early March 1949 but they carried on noting 7" in the remarks area on bikes up to mid 1949 when they stopped noting it at all as the 8" units were no longer available. Note when they wrote 7" headlight in the remarks area it still had 94E written in the lighting set area which proves that the 94E comment cannot be relied upon.