Grey Flash diary

A-BCD

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Non-VOC Member
Just to add some detail to Tim Kingham's Grey Flash Diary in MPH, here is the photo he refers to and Phil Vincent's account !!
originalGreyFlash.jpg
 

davidd

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VOC Member
Thanks for posting. It is one of the great shots of the Works Flash. It has lots of interesting items: fully sprung frame, no F106 as it has round tubes instead, lovely pipe with a kink under the gearbox (which was rare, but available on stock Flashes), transition timing cover, BAR gear box (one of six and you may remember it from the super charged A single), high shoulder alloy rims, no rear brake on the non-drive side, tiny foot rest plates, black brakes, black RFM (non-matching number for the purists), black rear fender stays, no chain guard and probably an RN carb. Very nice!

David
 
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davidd

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VOC Member
Who made the wheel rim's

It is not clear. Borrani would be the likely guess as they supplied high shouldered rims on some Lightnings and some Flashes. It is a little difficult to tell because if your bike was supplied with low shouldered rims from the factory and they were damaged, the likely aftermarket replacemant would have been the Borrani. There are some bikes that have a high shouldered Borrani on one end and a low shouldered rim on the other. I would guess that the Borrani was a replacement, but this is rarely good evidence to indicate what happened.

The low shouldered rims that have no markings which were supplied on most Flashes and many Lightnings have never been identified. John Bland remembers sourcing the low shouldered rims in Italy, but he does not remember which supplier. Borrani, like Dunlop, appear to have always marked their rims for trademark reasons. San Remo made a low shouldered rim without markings, but there is no evidence that San Remo was a supplier to Vincent.

David
 

vibrac

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VOC Member
Yes thats the picture I refered to,incidentally my Racing Comet has the same one rear drum and sproket configuration (and I think that I can see the brake rod in the picture). This is a very workable solution and has given no trouble (I think I first set it up for racing on the Comet in the late 60's.)
However this would mean I could not use the standardised Grey Flash cable brake lever F25/9AS see further discussion in next MPH
 
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