Images from John Ulver

[Graham Smith]

John's had trouble uploading some images, so e-mailed them to me...

 

[Kansas Bad Man]

A nasty rant from a guy that hasn't a clue, he is comparing.
a 60 year old v in to a 200 mph out of the box busa. It would take ZERO
insight to blast out a article comparing the Space Shuttle to the Write (sp?) brothers first flight.
What a JERK ! Not a good way to sell there RAG to this cowboy .

 

[usefulidiot]

Interesting read thanks for posting. If I was writing that article I would have tested another one first. The bike obviously wasn't very well sorted. The brakes on my Rap function far better than either of my Nortons or even my CB750, all bikes produced much later. Not sure what could have caused the handling complaints...clutch gripe I can't argue with....


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[vibrac]

Yes obviously not a sorted machine Handing in the context of the year of manufacture is excellent I know Ben has won more races because of the handling rather than the speed (And he doesn't even have Bramptons )
As for the slipping clutch I cured mine I bought a multiplate stuck it on the shelf and the Vincent clutch stopped slipping- just like that (It knew it had to)

 

[Bill Thomas]

I know what he is saying, But I think it was a case of the wrong bloke on the wrong bike, ! It was 1965 ? I got my road bike down to 12.5 and 110mph on the standing 1/4 mile. Also I thought a stiff damper was bad for a Vin' So by tightning the seat dampers up tight it would make it worse. I wonder how tight he had the steering damper, I like mine tightish !! I now know they need an Hydraulic steering damper. I don't think Marty did much on that bike !! But safe to say that rider did not like it !! Cheers Bill.

 

[Monkeypants]

Interesting read thanks for posting. If I was writing that article I would have tested another one first. The bike obviously wasn't very well sorted. The brakes on my Rap function far better than either of my Nortons or even my CB750, all bikes produced much later. Not sure what could have caused the handling complaints...clutch gripe I can't argue with....


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When set up properly the Vincent clutch is as nice as it gets. They are featherlight and have a good controllable engagement.
I have one bike with a VeeTwo multiplate, the other with standard Vincent clutch. Both work well, however the Veetwo did not at first.
After some fiddling I eventually switched the Veetwo sintered bronze plates out for Barnett Kevlar and addded type F ATF to the clutch, now it works as it should.
With the standard Vincent clutch I've done nothing, however all of the wear items were renewed just before I purchased the bike.

Glen

 

[davidd]

If I remember correctly, this was the Bill Cottom Lightning. Marty Dickerson told me that he was asked to make sure it was functional, but he was not asked to make it a proper running machine. He did a quick once- over to make sure nothing would fall off, the cables worked and there was fresh gas and oil. He was not asked to make sure that it worked well. I think he was under the impression that it was being used for a parade lap. He had no idea that it was a complete road test. Marty was fully capable of making the bike work right, but that was not what he was asked to do. He was pretty miffed about the whole thing.

David

 

[Kansas Bad Man]

If the Lightning shown was the Lightning they tested, that's the reason for the poor grades . That Lightning is a GARAGE QUEEN never run in anger. To pretty to shinny, chrome on pipes not Blue. Pipes are side by side 2 inchers for flat out running, not for rode racing, they would drag big time. The rear sprocket is huge, no 3.27 lightning overall gear there. With that sprocket it would probably take 9000 to get it to a ton25 . There is no modes to the brake balance beam, if nothing was done there in the reinforcing area of the beam, nothing else was done either to improve the brakes. I only see a two petcock gas tank, typical give away for a GARAGE QUEEN !

She wernt no go fast quick stopper in my opinion.

MAX

 

[Kansas Bad Man]

Marty's BIUE would blow that lightning in the weeds.

Just a fact MAX

 

[ClassicBiker]

A nasty rant from a guy that hasn't a clue, he is comparing.
a 60 year old v in to a 200 mph out of the box busa. It would take ZERO
insight to blast out a article comparing the Space Shuttle to the Write (sp?) brothers first flight.
What a JERK ! Not a good way to sell there RAG to this cowboy .

Max,
It was written only ten years after Vincent's quite production. But your mistaking it for a more recently article only confirms what I have thought for a long time about Cycle World. That being their attitude, if it comes from Asia it's great, if it comes from Britain it's crap. A reasonable and responsible individual writing an assessment of a ten year old bike would look for a decent example that was representative of a new machine and would consider it in the context of the time at which it was manufactured. After reading Mr. Thomas' post along with Glenliman, and Davvidd's posts I don't believe a fair assessment was on the author's agenda. So you're right it's a nasty rant by a jerk, but it is comparing a 10 not 60 year old poorly set up machine to new bikes, at the time of writing. So you're right on your zero insight point. But you're wrong on the author not having a clue. He knew what he was doing. He set out to do a hatchet job and he accomplished it. Finally, "Not a good way to sell their RAG to this cowboy" or this one either.
Steven