Bonjour , this will probably muddy the waters but in the early 60's we had a motley crew of bikers in the Luton area ( Bedfordshire, UK) mainly riding Bonnies, Dommies, Velos and CSRs and one day my mate Alan Thompson of Houghton Regis, near Luton, turned up on a Rapide with an Irish registration number. Could this be the bike in question ?? We used to ride to the Busy Bee on the Watford By-Pass, Jacks Hill Café at Gravely, nr Stevenage and the Ace on the North Circ. mainly in the summer and, in the winter the Spanish Doll in Luton, the Caramba coffee bar in Dunstable and the Ranch Café on the Watling street south of Dunstable .My Father sold the bike in the early 70s.
I am looking for it as I have some old tax discs for it and would like to pass them onto the present owner.
These rides nearly always ended with us escorting the Vin home, him with no lights and two of us sandwiching him between us away from the prying eyes of the "boys in blue"!! As we said, "Lucas invented darkness and Miller perfected it !!"
Happy days and hope this helps,
Best regards, Alan