You do not have to join the club to either buy or sell a Vincent, however being a member will be a great benefit to you as a Vincent owner and I would highly recommend you do. I am both a fairly new club member and Vincent owner and found that after becoming a member of this club it has enabled me to meet and correspond with a lot of very friendly folk who are very happy to help with advice and even offers of parts while mine are being refurbished. Up to now everybody has been down to earth enthusiastic bike owners and not as I expected snooty 'Hooray Henry's'. There is also the 10% discount from the VOC spares scheme to consider, the membership price will be partly or completely recovered if you choose to change the bike to suit yourself, or need to replace parts. There is also the excellent owner’s club magazine that is full of interesting articles, the chance to join local and national Vincent events and facilities to trace your machines history and even get copies of the original factory records.
Regarding the Vincent’s ability as a practical machine compared to pre war bikes I think you will be pleasantly and totally surprised as to how good the Vincent actually is. Before I bought mine I started to have worries whether it would meet my expectations and be a safe useable machine on modern roads in traffic. Well the worries were completely unfounded as the bike (a 1951 Rapide) far exceeded my all of my hopes in all areas (brakes aside which as yet I have not got complete confidence in, this I hope to rectify by buying a new 8" front brake set up once funds allow). As a member of the club I have seen a variety of post war Vincent’s in all conditions from rough high mileage bikes to immaculate polished bikes, they all have one thing in common that if put together correctly and maintained they will cover high mileages and reach high speeds with very little effort, “yes” a Brough may be able to be ridden occasionally to events etc. but if you want a machine capable of being ridden every day in all weathers and traffic conditions then you will not find anything pre war that will live with the Vincent (or come even close), you will also need to come a lot further forward in British motorcycle history to find anything that is comparable.
Regarding the Vincent’s ability as a practical machine compared to pre war bikes I think you will be pleasantly and totally surprised as to how good the Vincent actually is. Before I bought mine I started to have worries whether it would meet my expectations and be a safe useable machine on modern roads in traffic. Well the worries were completely unfounded as the bike (a 1951 Rapide) far exceeded my all of my hopes in all areas (brakes aside which as yet I have not got complete confidence in, this I hope to rectify by buying a new 8" front brake set up once funds allow). As a member of the club I have seen a variety of post war Vincent’s in all conditions from rough high mileage bikes to immaculate polished bikes, they all have one thing in common that if put together correctly and maintained they will cover high mileages and reach high speeds with very little effort, “yes” a Brough may be able to be ridden occasionally to events etc. but if you want a machine capable of being ridden every day in all weathers and traffic conditions then you will not find anything pre war that will live with the Vincent (or come even close), you will also need to come a lot further forward in British motorcycle history to find anything that is comparable.