Oh well Bob, you have been around Vincent's for a long time, two years longer than I, I purchased my everyday rider Rapide in 1965, and it is still my preferred machine, having tried relatively modern stuff. It does sound like after many years of Vincent ownership, you have discovered that they are not really for you.
You sum it up pretty well with the words "silky smooth" and I know exactly what you mean, I rode my FJ1200 ABS down to the South of France when I first got it, two up, fully loaded with pannier boxes, top box, tank bag, and it did everything exceeding well, would probably have cruised all day at 120mph, if I could have put up with the head buffeting, and frequent stops for fuel, and of course, getting arrested and locked up, the French take flagrant abuse of speed limits fairly seriously. The FJR takes it a step further with shaft drive, so pretty much zero routine maintenance, just the required 10.000 mile servicing, what is not to like, well for me quite a lot.
I think I derive my enjoyment from living in the past, I went to hill climb event this weekend just gone, on the Vincent of course, as all the participating vehicles drove and rode past us spectators sat at the side of the road, the vehicles that stirred my soul were exotica from my youth, and even earlier, Gilera 4, cammy Velo's on open mega's, Brough's, Bentley's, Bugatti's, D types, C types, Cobra's, Dino's, and many many more, quite a few computer generated modern stuff went up also, but they did not really grab my attention.
It does sound to me like you are soon to be an ex Vincent owner, and I wish you luck with your Vincent free motorcycling future, its been interesting reading your posts on this forum.
Cheers
Peter