GUT723 RC/1/8678

greg brillus

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Only problem I've had with the using pieces of broom handle is it's damned hard to get the valve spring caps back on afterwards....................:)
 

Peter Holmes

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I have a great deal of sympathy for Steve, he wanted to purchase an all matching numbers Vincent, and probably parted with a great deal money in his quest, but has ended up with a bitsa, but who is to blame for this malady, my understanding is that the spares club are simply brokers in these transactions, for a fee it saves the actual seller having to deal with time wasters and tyre kickers, and also garage snoopers.
Steve was probably under the impression that by purchasing from the well respected Vincent Owners Spares Club that he would avoid all these potential problems, but I doubt that any of the bikes that get sold through the spares company come with any sort of guarantee whatsoever, and how could they. I think there could be a few lessons learnt from Steve's rather sour experience, no matter where you are purchasing your bike from it is always advisable to seek advice from the machine registrar first, it is one of the reasons he is there. Perhaps the spares company could offer a returnable holding deposit scheme, but only returnable if the bike proves not to be kosher when researched, that should remove the urgency from the transaction, and urgency can provoke risk. If Steve had purchased this bike from a dealer, and the dealer had told Steve it was a genuine all matching number bike, then he would have full and legal entitlement to a refund, if that was not forthcoming he could pursue it through the courts (as Jim Gleave, late of Atlantic Motorcycles found out at huge cost to himself, he refused to give a refund on an incorrectly described bike, not a Vincent, and it pretty much cost him his retirement fund, or so he told me)
I think it would be a great idea if all the bikes that get sold by using the Spares Club as a broker at least come with a provenance check from the club machine registrar, of course no mechanical guarantee whatsoever could be offered, the buyer will always have to satisfy himself on that issue.
 

SteveO

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Peter,
Thanks for the sympathy. To be fair to Ian Savage he has PM'd me and I will be speaking to him tomorrow. I can't recall exactly what was said at the time of purchase, it was over two years ago, but I don't think it was advertised as a "matching numbers" bike as such, but it certainly wasn't advertised as a bitsa in a Comet frame either. I don't know, perhaps the price reflected the number issue as well as the condition. It was the cheapest bike they had at the time, but also looked the most standard. It came with a photostat of the factory despatch record which showed the numbers that appeared on the bike - I missed the significance of the /1/. That's why I didn't consult Simon in the first place. Caveat emptor! I need only add my better half is not impressed: "So not only has this bike you spent so much money on broken down, but it also isn't what you thought it was!" She didn''t think it was too clever to mention all this publicly on the forum either, but I pointed out (a) if I came to sell it, anyone from the VOC would likely notice the discrepancy (b) I couldn't in all conscience sell it as something it wasn't myself anyway.
I hear the sound of Vincent owners all over the country rushing to the garage to carefully examine their frame numbers! Sorry for any extra work generated Simon!
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Steve, As long as the frames are not stolen, It should not make too much difference to what the Bike is worth.
It is still one Hell of a Bike, That most people would love to own !!.
There are a lot of Bikes out there that are not as they left the Factory, Due to crashes etc.
They say the value of Vin's is coming down anyway !.
Good Luck, Bill.
 

greg brillus

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Your all panicking over nothing...........The difference in value of a matching numbers Rapide over a non matching is not that big a deal. So long as all the parts are original and in good condition, and not from stolen bikes that is all that maters. If you genuinely want a matching numbers bike then you and you alone need to have done enough research into what the numbers mean and be able to recognize numbers that have been re-stamped, or do not match up. My own rapide came from the States, and was bought as a non matching machine, early die cast engine in a series "B" frame with Girdraulics.........It is however a very original machine with all the original hardware and parts. Aside the numbers and mismatch of engine/frames it could hold it's own in any Vincent Concourse for originality.
 

vibrac

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
People who have been conned into the myth of electric vehicles should have a look at carbon engineering ltd on Facebook
"Air to fuel" a future with a zero carbon Vincent
 
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