Be honest with myself!? My, that's asking a lot.Be honest and ask yourself
Yes, that's exactly the point. Two years ago I rode a 90-year old motorcycle across the U.S. Motorcyclists are a small percentage of the overall population, and only a small percentage of them would have chosen to do that. I did it on a motorcycle for which not much technical information exists, that I had completely rebuilt myself down to the last fastener. Having Vintage Brake install new brake linings was the only thing I didn't do myself. Again, such a rebuild is something only a small number of motorcyclists would be interested in doing. This paragraph is just a long way of saying, my preferences aren't shared by very many motorcyclists.We all have our own priorities or preferences.
When I can no longer do that kind of ride (not in the near future I hope ) maybe I'll pass my time by removing modifications I've done and restore my Rapide to original or a good standard. That is not my priority at present,
I take it that vibrac is the author of 'The Vincent Black Shadow' (Amberley, 2017), which I took the opportunity to re-read yesterday afternoon. Leaving aside the introductory material about the factory, and the final pages about successors, footnotes, etc. (and the 'Del-Autos' typo), fully 40% of the book is devoted to 'Modifications' and 'More Modifications'. Even without that "evidence," the author's personal preference for molested, as opposed to unmolested, Vincents comes through quite clearly at various places in the text. Which is fine, because preferences and priorities are individual choices.It makes me sad to think they will all be boiled back to standard to look like that collection in the shed at Stevenage in 1950
In addition to the satisfaction of having completely rebuilt it myself, I wanted my Ariel to give me the experience of riding a 90-year old motorcycle across the country, not the experience of a motorcycle that had modern improvements applied to it. I want my Vincent to give me the experience of riding a 1950 Vincent, not one that has been modified with 12 V electrics, Mikuni carburetors, altered suspension, etc. Those are my preferences, although clearly they are not shared by everyone.
A worry I had before I started this thread, which only has been amplified by some of the posts, is that my attempt to describe restoring a Vincent to stock configuration easily could degenerate into regular posts every step of the way by people insisting on what I "should do," what they "would do" (i.e. to "improve" it from standard), etc. That would be no fun for anyone.