What age were you when you were first aware of HRDs or Vincents ?

Phil Davies

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
1975, I was (just) 20 and being told that I needed to have a break from constantly rebuilding BSA/Tri/AMC bikes hitched to my large yearly mileage outfit and buy the Rapide that the chap was selling as this bike would solve my rebuilding habit for a long time.
Bought the bike, best thing I ever did, got rid of everything not V twin related, it did solve my rebuilding problem and introduced me to proper 'high speed sidecar touring' that eventually turned into road racing sidecars historic and modern.
 

Bobv07662

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
In 1965 after buying gokart parts at Karting Supply in Paterson NJ ( I was 12) I took a fateful turn towards Frank Marmo Triumph on Railway Ave. Old school, hard core motorcycle dealer and racer. On display in the courtyard was a Vincent for sale. Never heard of the brand let alone wanted one.
It took a few decades but here I am.
Thanks Frank.
 

greg brillus

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VOC Member
Growing up in New Zealand, British cars and bikes were still the norm.......I remember riding my uncles 350 Compy Matchy around mums back yard when I had barely enough weight to kick start it.......Started my apprenticeship in Auckland as a mechanic.......at that stage most of my family had moved to Australia, whilst I stayed back home in NZ living with my grandmother.......Most weekends i would hang out with my friends and on most all saturday nights I would go down the road only a few km's away to the Western Springs Speedway.......It was an all in affair, so there was solo bikes, sidecars, migdets, TQ's and modifieds, the big sprint cars with the big wing on the roof........Being a motorcycle nut from a little kid and not having anyone else to answer to, it was like a paradise for me going there.......I use to love watching the solo guy's in the pits starting their Jawa's, Weslakes, and Godden's by simply spinning up the back wheel.......I always thought the sidecar blokes were complete nutters........always crashing, and going around the track the wrong way.....???......Anyway one night whilst up on the hill looking down at the sidecar boys about to start a race......they all lined up, the tape went up quickly and with a roar and a hiss they were off.......One of them clearly sounded way different to the others.......this was about 1984, so most all the bikes were Japanese powered machines.......But this one odd machine was quite different.......It could hold its own down most of the straights, with the contemporary jap bikes starting to pull ahead of it at the end of each straight, but through the corners, it simply walked away from them all.......It won the first race of the night, then came a very close second on the second race. I "Needed to know" what this bike was........in the pits i looked the bike over but could not find any sign of what make the engine was.......Being a 49 engine, the timing cover had nothing on it.......also covered in mud as well.......I looked at the smiling rider and his passenger, and asked them what in blazes was it........He said, "havent you heard of a HRD before".......I said, "Sorry mate......No".......Well I never got the sound of that engine out of my head.......after the family and I attended the 2007 International rally.......later that year I bought 2 bikes......Been pretty much playing with them ever since....... Like the sound of a Merlin passing overhead, things like that you don't forget.....All good fun really.
 

Debbie Kemp

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Well I was brought up in the Vincent scene, my Dad already owning his Touring Comet since his late teens. I began attending VOC rallies in 1977 when I was 2 and I’ve been a full VOC member and got my first Vincent when I turned 16. So many memories - from being a toddler sat on the rally field playing with my toys, to being one of the teenage members of my generation that would make our own fun at Vincent events, to working for Vinparts International and marrying Russell (a fellow VOC member) at the Cromwell Hotel in Stevenage so that we could have a wedding photo outside the nearby Vincent factory.
 
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