Vincent Breather Timing
I am Nigel Spaxman from Richmond B.C. Canada. Having always admired Vincent motorcycles in 2001 I bought a rough collection of parts from which over about a 13 year period I built a Vincent to ride. It is mainly an early B Rapide but I have built it as a C Shadow. It has a C Shadow UFM, Girdraulics, and is painted all black. Every bearing, bushing and shaft in the engine is new as well as the pistons, liners, cams, and followers. I enjoyed the process of this build very much. I now have more than 10,000 miles on this bike and most of the bugs are ironed out. The bike has taken be back and forth to work, and also on some 1000 mile trips with a passenger and luggage. It is a beautiful machine to ride. It was my dream to build this bike not buy it. Anyway Robert Watson says “ you don’t really own a bike until you have held the crankpin in your hand”. I have always enjoyed motorcycles and most of my bikes have been bought as basket cases or projects requiring substantial work. Often I have found that by starting with incomplete basket case motorcycles I can build really nice machines, but I have never bothered to stick very much with standard specifications. The best way to get a completely standard bike is to buy one that is already that way. Often I find some interesting ways of doing things on my bikes. I have always been someone who can think outside the box.
With the Vincent I was less restricted than with my other builds, because I didn’t have to worry much about spending so much money that I could buy a similar bike cheaper. Vincents are expensive so I could spend more money. I stuck pretty close to standard specification because I think that the Vincent is one of the nicest motorcycles ever made. There are a lot of very typical modifications that local Vincent people advised me were wise. I fitted sealed intake valve guides, and an O ring chain, a McDogualator and electronic ignition. During the process of this build I relied a lot on the advice and some help from the late John McDougal. He built my crankshaft assembly for me and fitted new oversize sleeves in my cylinder muffs. I did many other of the proceedures using John’s advice. I sleeved my main bearing housings back to standard, and fitted all new spindles to the crankcases, using John’s advice and methods. Sometimes there were other methods I could have used but I stuck pretty closely to John’s ways most of the time. Some of the problems I had later were to do with not listening to John carefully enough.
While building this bike I read everything I could find about Vincents. I relied on Richardsons, Know Thy Beast and the parts book. I read everything in MPH written by Neville Higgins. I also read everything I could find written by Phil Irving. I have ended up knowing a lot about Vincents.
Some stuff I figured out myself from first principles and also from what I knew from my work on Triumphs, Nortons, Ducatis, Hondas and BMWs. During my career in Engineering I have often been able to find simple solutions to designs that no one else thought of. I think that is what I have done with the Vincent breather.
I am Nigel Spaxman from Richmond B.C. Canada. Having always admired Vincent motorcycles in 2001 I bought a rough collection of parts from which over about a 13 year period I built a Vincent to ride. It is mainly an early B Rapide but I have built it as a C Shadow. It has a C Shadow UFM, Girdraulics, and is painted all black. Every bearing, bushing and shaft in the engine is new as well as the pistons, liners, cams, and followers. I enjoyed the process of this build very much. I now have more than 10,000 miles on this bike and most of the bugs are ironed out. The bike has taken be back and forth to work, and also on some 1000 mile trips with a passenger and luggage. It is a beautiful machine to ride. It was my dream to build this bike not buy it. Anyway Robert Watson says “ you don’t really own a bike until you have held the crankpin in your hand”. I have always enjoyed motorcycles and most of my bikes have been bought as basket cases or projects requiring substantial work. Often I have found that by starting with incomplete basket case motorcycles I can build really nice machines, but I have never bothered to stick very much with standard specifications. The best way to get a completely standard bike is to buy one that is already that way. Often I find some interesting ways of doing things on my bikes. I have always been someone who can think outside the box.
With the Vincent I was less restricted than with my other builds, because I didn’t have to worry much about spending so much money that I could buy a similar bike cheaper. Vincents are expensive so I could spend more money. I stuck pretty close to standard specification because I think that the Vincent is one of the nicest motorcycles ever made. There are a lot of very typical modifications that local Vincent people advised me were wise. I fitted sealed intake valve guides, and an O ring chain, a McDogualator and electronic ignition. During the process of this build I relied a lot on the advice and some help from the late John McDougal. He built my crankshaft assembly for me and fitted new oversize sleeves in my cylinder muffs. I did many other of the proceedures using John’s advice. I sleeved my main bearing housings back to standard, and fitted all new spindles to the crankcases, using John’s advice and methods. Sometimes there were other methods I could have used but I stuck pretty closely to John’s ways most of the time. Some of the problems I had later were to do with not listening to John carefully enough.
While building this bike I read everything I could find about Vincents. I relied on Richardsons, Know Thy Beast and the parts book. I read everything in MPH written by Neville Higgins. I also read everything I could find written by Phil Irving. I have ended up knowing a lot about Vincents.
Some stuff I figured out myself from first principles and also from what I knew from my work on Triumphs, Nortons, Ducatis, Hondas and BMWs. During my career in Engineering I have often been able to find simple solutions to designs that no one else thought of. I think that is what I have done with the Vincent breather.