Black Falcon

rapcom

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Looking at the pictures accompanying the article, I can only wonder at the many, many hours of dedicated, skilled engineering expertise that has gone into such a fine example of a useless display item, which cannot be used legally and/or sensibly anywhere. I cannot see a chainguard, a battery, effective mudguards, a horn, a dipswitch, a comfortable riding position, and as for the size of the fuel tank and saddle....
A triumph of design and ostentation over practicality. I suppose you could put it on the sideboard as an ornament to show off the size of your ,,,,,wallet...
Boring Old Fart , Sussex
 

ClassicBiker

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VOC Member
Might be a good starting point for a restoration. I know mine wasn't In much worse shape when my farther and I started the restoration of it.
 

Bazlerker

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Aesthetics aside, Id be interested in knowing how it runs, is it even slightly practical and does it serve any purpose other than that of a paper weight...
Not all Vincents have to be concours examples of the marque...but motorcycles are made to be ridden, and form should follow function..
 

champion

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
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Being a child of the facebook age, I have ben well aware of the fame of this falcon bike, and as far as i can see, they just build custom old British bikes for super rich cool people to stand next to.

I maybe wrong, as I have never met the man, but that is what youtube.com tells me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQV-tLbi4iA



However, as far as I know, falcon did not build the V-Twin, instead they shipped it out to a company in Louistille, kentucky USA

I am aware of the work they do via facebook and follow them with interest.

They seem to be the real vincent guys, rebuilding V-twins all the time. When the Falcon became popular, comments on Restoration werks facebook page hinted at being angry that the bike would never be used, after so much work went into its build.

I have added some photos of the build for those of you who are not on facebook to look at.

I will also try and find some of the text about the bikes specs.
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champion

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Here are a selection of quotes from the building of this V-twin.


"these are bronze CNC machined 'muffs' that have liners (as stock). One of a kind."

"I wanted to do a bronze head like the pre-war TTR Vincent machines had, "

"CNC machined off an original example for the template, then modified. After the CNC cut them, they were extensively hand shaped. The expansion and thermal properties of them are very superior to the aluminum, but at a bit of a weight disadvantage. However, I took so much weight off the rest of the engine that it was negligible in the end. I mentioned that the pre-war machines offered a Bronze head... and the idea grew some legs into doing the muff that way. No more liners coming loose in the muff, *ever*... and they cool much faster than the alloy. The expansion is nearly identical to that of the liner. A very interesting exercise."

"I only will soda blast engine cases. No other media what-so-ever. Other parts like covers or external components, etc..., I will use different media... sand, glass, walnut, lead shot... "

"I wanted the inside of the engine to be as good or better than the outside. I also did a lot of engine turning to other chassis and engine parts no one will likely ever see. Every single part in that engine except some bushings and bearings were customized in some way by me. 50 years from now if even a little one turns up somewhere else, I'll know it is one of mine. "

"Just wish all the work would have been for something more likely to be used as they are intended, rather than an art project. "

"I fitted compression releases into a second plug hole on both heads, so kicking it was easy, physically speaking."

"Every single part was modified, fabricated, remanufactured and assembled by me, and me alone, here in my shop in Louisville over the course of nearly a year... except the cylinder muffs and the rear mounting plate. It was delivered as a derelict pile of largely unusable, knackered parts and mis-matched crank cases and covers that all had to be re-machined to even fit together. The engine was part restoration, part performance build... but overall, it became remanufacturing. I kept the machine's original crank, at great effort and expense as a tribute to it's past as a racer. It has a new Alpha bottom end and runs INA bearings... set up to rev high and hard.

I set it up specifically as a race engine, to above Vincent's 'Black Lighting' specs. It was the most mechanically quiet Vincent engine I have ever heard. I was shocked that I was able to achieve it. I had no idea. Quiet was a goal from the start, but... really... I was shocked. All the obsessive work paid off, and really floored me how smooth, robust and aggressive the engine ran even from the first starts. They typically just do not do that. Frankly... I do not get that lucky often, if ever. You just never know when you do something as different as I did with that, how it will do in reality, rather than theory. It could have turned out differently! Someone at Falcon leaned over on the first or second starts... and said how strong it sounded. I had to tell them that it was only running on one cylinder at the time.

I was out to Falcon for nearly 3 months on and off to help and do final setup and prep on the engine. It was a difficult birth, so to speak. They can be. We had to start the bike on rollers and get Ian's custom carb and exhaust setup dialed in, but it ran fantastically on the first 15 or so start-ups.
Ian at Falcon, further modified and made a few things on the engine like the oil plugs, different oil lines, shaped the BT-H ignition cover, drilled out the outer clutch plate, etc. Lot's of clever cosmetic things. His mounting of the regulator unit is pretty fantastic in form and function.

The total engine build, not counting consulting, final work at Falcon, etc, was over 1600 shop hours here. Consulting was over 300 more, parts sourcing was over 200 and time spent at Falcon was over 120 for a low estimated total of over 2200 hours of my time, not counting correspondence, miscellaneous running around and / or travel to CA over the course of the year, etc. It represented an entire years work and revenue here, and we did it at fantastic personal expense for the sake of the Vincent marque. I do genuinely care about what happens with Vincents in the future, and I have dedicated myself to them fully.

I was, and remain, very proud of the work. Many many things on that engine have never been done before in whole or in part. It was am ambitious effort, the engine alone. I have not seen or dealt with it since those initial starts months back. I do not, and and will not, have any further association with Falcon, so I have no idea what their plans are for it."

"I could prob build that engine in small numbers, but I would do some improvements for people who actually intend to USE them racing, etc. They would be about $60k ea. which is less than half of what this one-off restoration oriented one was.

I would do them up from new better cast cases (magnesium probably), improved new performance parts, better cranks, etc. Modern materials with dramatic improvements and not requiring as much 'restoration' work would save a LOT of time and turmoil.

Parts cost would be about $40k + alone, all in. I priced a couple out for people a while back. In order to be worth it, I would have to build at least 10.

People spend that kind of money on S&S Harley engines frequently...."

"Everything was lightened, polished and matched weights throughout the entire crank assembly to a tenth of a gram. Then, the balance factor was established and a dynamic balancer used to obtain what I wanted. I chose a factor that is not the stock one, due to it being a custom chassis. "

"It was such a smooth and mechanically quiet engine... Powerful with a quick spin up! Unfortunately, I was only able to deliver the engine and was not a part of getting things broken in and sorted out... Thats up to the company I built iit for. Unfortunately, they are probably not knowledgable enough to do what needs to be done for that engine to perform correctly. But...So it goes.

I am not sure if I will ever be able to repeat it... As most of it was done "just to do it". For instance, matching weights to +/- 1 gram is sufficient and would probably yield the exact same performance as doing it to the 1/10th of a gram I did in this instance.

It was an interesting exercise, but unfortunate that it had to be for some rich kid's art project. A years worth of work and consultation in something that will never be used to its potential. "

"I did not get to ride it, only run the engine on rollers over and over again to test the starting and running. Ran it about 20 times, then cooled it stone cold, drained the oil, flushed the engine, changed the filter, opened up the timing chest and checked to see if anything had changed... Then buttoned it up, started again, then got on a plane and left."
 

Albervin

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Interesting comparing this machine and its creator with the "piece of art" created by Mr Decker and featuring now on the VOC Facebook page. The Falcon team are much more knowledgable, respectful and thoughtful than the other individual. You may not like it but I think you have to respect the man and give him some credit. We could have a poll on the Falcon Black Vs the Decker Black Lightning ; the loser goes into the crusher :)
 
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