TPV Billet Frame Cafe Racer, Simon Leake 2019

[Simon Leake]

It´s so easy: If you are young, healthy, rich, ably talented and have a lot of time, you can build something like
this nice machine!

You got the (reasonably) healthy, moderately well off, ably talented part right. But the "young" and "time" part not so good.
Yes, the cost was eye-watering and, unfortunately, the next generation can't even afford a Flat in Sydney. But I have a strong belief in Industrial Art and all that goes with it. Our industries may be dying, before the Asian onslaught but it's not about how much steel and magnesium alloy you can make, its about what you do with it, and where you place it. The shapes you form it in to. I met some brilliant machinists making this bike and they all mean much more to me than the cold metal you see in the photo. Artists all.

Vincent is a coleagueate exercise not a marque. It has transcended the boundaries of a metallic thing and become living. It lives, in the Minds of Men (also including Women, Gay, Bi, Trans and non-binary). New, Old makes no difference.

Flesh is stronger than steel.

Vincent's Rule.

It is really a museum piece. But I will ride it.

 

[Simon Leake]

It doesn't have to be a proprietary item so long as its out of appropriate material I have seen a 3" length of plugged petrol hose for a reservior on rear brakes on racers I dont suggest thats the way but with a bit of ingenuity, a lathe and mill....

Thanks mate. I'm just focussing on getting it registered at the moment. It starts beautifuly with the EFI system and starter motor. Every time. Forget Carburetters. Thing of the past.

 

[vibrac]

Thanks mate. I'm just focussing on getting it registered at the moment. It starts beautifuly with the EFI system and starter motor. Every time. Forget Carburetters. Thing of the past.

You are dead right there I only have to see Ben playing tunes on his laptop/BMW brick to see that, However vintage racing means vintage carbs. I would like to see a good programmable ECU for a Vincent though, its one way to still get a modern ride with character (duck down into dugout)

 

[Little Honda]

You got the (reasonably) healthy, moderately well off, ably talented part right. But the "young" and "time" part not so good.
Yes, the cost was eye-watering and, unfortunately, the next generation can't even afford a Flat in Sydney. But I have a strong belief in Industrial Art and all that goes with it. Our industries may be dying, before the Asian onslaught but it's not about how much steel and magnesium alloy you can make, its about what you do with it, and where you place it. The shapes you form it in to. I met some brilliant machinists making this bike and they all mean much more to me than the cold metal you see in the photo. Artists all.

Vincent is a coleagueate exercise not a marque. It has transcended the boundaries of a metallic thing and become living. It lives, in the Minds of Men (also including Women, Gay, Bi, Trans and non-binary). New, Old makes no difference.

Flesh is stronger than steel.

Vincent's Rule.

It is really a museum piece. But I will ride it.

Yes!

 

[Simon Leake]

It´s so easy: If you are young, healthy, rich, ably talented and have a lot of time, you can build something like
this nice machine!

I am not that young, 62. Reasonably healthy thank goodness. Rich enough I guess (although I don't know what that means these days), Maybe a few talents, not including metalwork (I am much better at woodwork), but very little time (which is why it took me 8 years). I imagined it into being and never gave up on it.
It was Enoch Powell who said:
"The lives of Nations, no less than those of Men, are lived largely in the imagination."

 

[Albervin]

A couple of years ago I was watching a chap play with the fuel injection on his Commando. I knew him as he also owns a Mossey Vincent. There he was with his laptop adjusting fuel mixture, dwell etc. Standing 2m from the bike and tuning it in real time with no screwdriver, no gauges, just several Mb of computing. I was awestruck and gobsmacked. He said it was a bit of a long and convoluted road but a worthwhile exercise. The bike can easily be returned to "normal" but he has no plans as yet to do so.

 

[atomiclama]

This just popped up in my YT feed. Just thought I'd share for those that have not seen it.

 

[vinhrd998]

This just popped up in my YT feed. Just thought I'd share for those that have not seen it.

A pity that Fritz Egli Jr does not get some credit for the billet frame design in that video.

 

[vibrac]

A couple of years ago I was watching a chap play with the fuel injection on his Commando. I knew him as he also owns a Mossey Vincent. There he was with his laptop adjusting fuel mixture, dwell etc. Standing 2m from the bike and tuning it in real time with no screwdriver, no gauges, just several Mb of computing. I was awestruck and gobsmacked. He said it was a bit of a long and convoluted road but a worthwhile exercise. The bike can easily be returned to "normal" but he has no plans as yet to do so.

You should see the effect it has on Vintage Racers when Ben tunes his K BMW (Age appropriate for the BEARS) in the BHR paddock on his laptop.

 

[Chris Launders]

If you watch this at 2.40 the engine guy is adjusting the engine on the laptop while the car is being backed out of the workshop, by the way this is the worlds fastest street car it has run 5.77 seconds 265 mph for the quarter mine and yes he does drive it on the road, admittedly without the Methanol though.