The goal was to eliminate or play down any nonessential ingredients that made the road model recipe the fattening dish it is. We unencumbered the motor as much as possible by running lines in nonstock areas, revealing the full beauty of the powerplant, repositioned the footpegs and controls so they too would not break the lines of the engine, and even ran the exhaust in a flattering manner to not clutter its view.
The tank we narrowed four inches; created a seat using a Stingray pan; brought the handlebars in as narrow as the pegs. The headlight bucket was yanked off a random donor in the pile, reworked, and then pulled in as tight as possible.
The bike is a 1952, but we chose to use a 1948 fork as it is more delicate. The brake drums are handmade, and the linkage is hard. The rims are alloy—20-inch rear and 21-inch front with impossible-to-find Avon High Speed tires to cap them off.
Of course, as all good race-ready Vincents should be, she is running two front cylinder heads to accommodate a dual-carb setup.
The list goes on, but to give a basic idea of how lean, low, and mean she is, look at the jockey shift and make note that the factory anticipated the ball of your foot to be horizontal and forward of its pivot point!
As they say, one man’s junk is another’s treasure—but in this case, my ol’ man’s perception of junk is what eventually became my treasure…twice. SC