Hoarding of Vincent Parts? Come On - Own Up!

[ClassicBiker]

I am a third generation parts hoarder, like my father before me, and his father before him. I still have my one of my father's two foot lockers that followed him around the far east, now filled with bits of scrap we both saved, just in case. I also have a tea chest that has was used twice by my parents, each time the emigrated to the states, now filled with off cuts of walnut and mahogany from my fathers various wood working projects. Along with my own accumulated ephemera and flotsam. For some reason I am totally unable to jettison bronze valve guides and any type of ball bearing. Valve springs. Why do I have a couple of coffee cans filled with old valve springs? All just in case.

 

[greg brillus]

I think the Vincent world along with many has changed........When you see multiple Comet crank cases for sale on ebay at crazy low prices, and none of them selling........A few years ago, bidders would have been fighting over them and going for big prices.......It seem to me that people are after bikes that can be ridden now.......not take the next 5 to 10 years to restore and get back on the road.......There are folk here in Australia who have been trying to sell off their collections for some time now........Too much money for what actually might be something worth while.......unless you can pick up a "Lot" for next to nothing, i think a lot of these collectors of parts might have just missed the boat........After all this time, i have decided to give restorations away........2 main reasons.......Obviously the cost has gone through the roof, what with parts costs, plating, pianting, machining.......all have become prohibitively expensive, and second, the total time to carry out the job has also gone sky high. All these specialists have become more busy, and so a job that should take 2 weeks, now takes 4 or more. So unless the bike is something really special, i wont take on any more. So for all you blokes with 6 upper frames, and 5 sets of crankcases lurking under your benches........you might just be in for a surprise if you think you are sitting on a gold mine. it is possible things migh bounce back.......Probably as much chance as the price of fuel coming down.

 

[Magnetoman]

I think the Vincent world along with many has changed........

In the mid-'60s a slide rule was an expensive purchase, as they had been for decades, but by 1970 companies couldn't give them away. Manufacture of CRTs for TVs and oscilloscopes (and, later, for computer monitors) was big deal for a half-century through the '90s, but in less than a decade that market had disappeared. Kodak thrived for over a century before suddenly-evaporating sales drove it to bankruptcy. What killed all of these was the development of a competing technology. Completely aside from recessions, pandemics, or changing demographics, with the rapid rise of electric vehicles, are gasoline-powered motorcycles already in a death spiral?

 

[vibrac]

N

In the mid-'60s a slide rule was an expensive purchase, as they had been for decades, but by 1970 companies couldn't give them away. Manufacture of CRTs for TVs and oscilloscopes (and, later, for computer monitors) was big deal for a half-century through the '90s, but in less than a decade that market had disappeared. Kodak thrived for over a century before suddenly-evaporating sales drove it to bankruptcy. What killed all of these was the development of a competing technology. Completely aside from recessions, pandemics, or changing demographics, with the rapid rise of electric vehicles, are gasoline-powered motorcycles already in a death spiral?

Not if synthetic fuel makes the break through needed and should have been instituted rather than the environmentally harming augmented milk floats. Technology change (change not improvement) does not imply redundancy I cite steam trains, horse riding, music records, archery, and bloody push bikes

 

[Speedtwin]

I recently watched a trial of a synthetic fuel from a very large corporation, test bed was a Yamaha M1 engine set up in an atmospherically controlled dyno test bed at a local university famed for its work on tuning motorcycles worldwide.
Very impressive power,economical usage very clean burn stable engine temperature all in all fantastic job.
Then I asked the question,so how much per litre to produce?
Lots of sucking of air through teeth then the answer came, around 6ok to make that can load over there..............25 litres...
Time to start hoarding fuel.

 

[Phil Davies]

I'm at that point.
Worked all my life (no choice) and retired at the maximum age and then eagerly looking forward to finally getting stuck into those dormant projects that had to stall over the years while keeping a house and fantastic family fed and watered. 6 months later find out I have a life limiting disease that does not have treatment, so now the garage has to be sorted and disposed of (all those 'just in case' spares.......!) to avoid my wife and daughters having to sift through lots of oddly shaped pieces of metal that are eagerly watched by the vultures.

 

[vibrac]

I recently watched a trial of a synthetic fuel from a very large corporation, test bed was a Yamaha M1 engine set up in an atmospherically controlled dyno test bed at a local university famed for its work on tuning motorcycles worldwide.
Very impressive power,economical usage very clean burn stable engine temperature all in all fantastic job.
Then I asked the question,so how much per litre to produce?
Lots of sucking of air through teeth then the answer came, around 6ok to make that can load over there..............25 litres...
Time to start hoarding fuel.

All depends on method and demand
carbon engineering of Canada produce it from CO2 and solar at a cost less than $100 a barrel crude that was a lot till Putin threw his weight around
what price that nett zero co2 compared to the cost of electric cars?

 

[Speedtwin]

Heh Phil,
Very sorry to hear your bad news.
Maybe a lesson for all of us there.

I'm at that point.
Worked all my life (no choice) and retired at the maximum age and then eagerly looking forward to finally getting stuck into those dormant projects that had to stall over the years while keeping a house and fantastic family fed and watered. 6 months later find out I have a life limiting disease that does not have treatment, so now the garage has to be sorted and disposed of (all those 'just in case' spares.......!) to avoid my wife and daughters having to sift through lots of oddly shaped pieces of metal that are eagerly watched by the vultures.

 

[Vincent Brake]

i cant deny....

 

[Speedtwin]

On the hoarding note speaking to a friend who moved from his parents house after they passed away some forty years ago,the house has been left bricked up ever since.
Asked him had he any plans to sell the site which is close to the city centre?
Nope he said," I have twenty two bikes entombed in there."
"There is a Manx Norton in the bath."
Where else would you keep them?
He has bought a couple of bikes a year for 50 years and never sold one.
Now that is dedication.