Vincent Black Shadow
 | |
| Manufacturer | Vincent HRD |
|---|---|
| Engine | 998 cc 50 degree OHV V-twin |
| Power | 55 bhp at 5500 rpm |
This article relates to the motorcycle brand, for the band of the same name please see The Vincent Black Shadow
The Vincent Black Shadow was a hand-built motorcycle produced by Vincent HRD from 1948. The series "C" which was introduced in the early 1950s had a 998 cc 50 degree OHV V-twin engine running a 7.3:1 compression ratio.
Model history
The first model from Vincent was the Rapide. However due to demand for a more "Sports oriented model", the Black Shadow was introduced. The model became so popular that the production of the Black Shadow exceeded the production numbers of the Rapide. The Black Shadow was a "Stressed Frame" design. The engine, instead of being cradled in a set of frame rails, was suspended from above becoming an integral part of the structure. The Black Shadow as well as the other post Second World War Vincents featured several new technological innovations such as a unique and original alternative to the primitive telescopic front forks of the day, a sprung rear sub-frame, the extensive use of aluminium alloy and a unit construction stressed engine. It weighed in at a relatively light 458 lb[1] (207 kg) which was about the weight of a pre-war 500 cc bike.
The inspiration for the Black Shadow was Royal Air Force pilots flying over the factory, and soldiers serving in the war. The designers created a motorcycle that could be operated and maintained by men who had been injured in combat. The clutch could be operated with just two fingers, and maintenance was made far easier than anything previously available.[citation needed]
The reason for its name "Black" Shadow was due to the entire bike (including the engine) being coated with black paint. The reason for the black paint on the cylinder block is still disputed to this day. Some claim that the black paint was for looks, others claim that it had something to do with heat transfer and dissipation. Whatever the original reason behind the painting of the engine, it was very different from anything else at a time when everything was polished and chromed.
Fewer than 1,700 [2] Vincent Black Shadows were made, all hand-assembled . It is now highly prized by classic motorcycle collectors from around the world, and is valued in excess of $60,000 USD in today's market. In the 1960s Vincents were being sold for $200 to $900 at then prices.
The bathing suit picture
The famous picture of Rollie Free stretched out in only a bathing suit on a Vincent is not in fact a Black Shadow but a Black Lightning. The Black Lightning was a custom order from the factory and was some 100 pounds lighter and 25 hp more powerful than the stock Black Shadow. In one of his books, Phil Irving (the designer) said that there were only about 16 of the model produced. The Black Lightning is the fastest Vincent ever produced.
As for the famous "bathing suit bike" picture, it is of Rollie Free, an American, riding on the Bonneville Salt Flats on 13 September 1948. Free was determined to break the land speed record in the "Flying Mile." His first pass hit 148 mph (238 km/h), which broke the record, but Free was determined to break 150. Noticing that his riding leathers had started to come apart at the seams from the force of the wind, Free borrowed a bathing suit, cap, and a pair of tennis shoes and laid down on the bike. With the decreased drag, Free broke 150 mph, topping out at 150.313 mph (241.905 km/h), breaking his record of only a few moments before. That bike, also known as the "John Edgar Lightning" after its sponsor, is currently in the private collection of Herb Harris of Austin, Texas.
In media
The Vincent Black Shadow is mentioned in works by Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Kingdom of Fear and "The Great Shark Hunt." In Fear and Loathing, the character Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson's alias) talks about entering a Black Shadow into the Mint 400, a grueling desert motocross race. This is meant as comic irony since not only is the Black Shadow deeply inappropriate for off road use but even at the time of writing (1971), the Black Shadow was considered antiquated and obsolete although it still held the distinction of being faster than any production motorcycle on sale at that period.
Thompson also mentions the Vincent Black Shadow in Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72, his book about the 1972 presidential campaign. He mentions buying one in California and not being able to find a place in Los Angeles County where he could truly test its speed. He also mentions joking with George McGovern's campaign manager Frank Mankiewicz that McGovern should ride the Black Shadow as a publicity stunt.
In his essay taken from Cycleworld Magazine called “Song of the Sausage Creature” Hunter S. Thompson does speak with some affection for the motorbike whilst comparing it to the Ducati 900, describing a bike that was definitely not for the faint hearted or shallow poseur:
The Ducati 900 is so finely engineered and balanced and torqued that you can do 90 mph in fifth through a 35-mph zone and get away with it. The bike is not just fast -- it is extremely quick and responsive, and it will do amazing things.... It is a little like riding the original Vincent Black Shadow, which would outrun an F-86 jet fighter on the takeoff runway, but at the end, the F-86 would go airborne and the Vincent would not, and there was no point in trying to turn it. WHAMO! The Sausage Creature strikes again. There is a fundamental difference, however, between the old Vincents and the new breed of superbikes. If you rode the Black Shadow at top speed for any length of time, you would almost certainly die. That is why there are not many life members of the Vincent Black Shadow Society. The Vincent was like a bullet that went straight; the Ducati is like the magic bullet that went sideways and hit JFK and the Governor of Texas at the same time.''
The motorcycle-riding main character of the 1990s action series Renegade, played by Lorenzo Lamas derives his alias "Vince Black" from the Vincent Black Shadow. Bo Hopkins, playing Jim Rockford's buddy and legal investigator, John "Coop" Cooper, breaks out a vintage Vincent Black Shadow for "The Return of the Black Shadow", an episode from the fifth season of "The Rockford Files". In this episode, "Coop" decides to haul out his old bike and assume his earlier street-tough identity to infiltrate and bust up a motorcycle gang that has gang-raped Rockford's girlfriend.
Richard Thompson, on his 1991 album 'Rumor and Sigh, has a song titled "1952 Vincent Black Lightning".
The motorcycle that Albert de Morcef rides in the anime adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo (Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo) is a Vincent Black Shadow.
In Clive Cussler's novel The Sacred Stone, main character Juan Cabrillo steals a 1952 Vincent Black Shadow to pursue a terrorist transporting a nuclear bomb. The bike is damaged during the pursuit. Cabrillo purchases the bike, and is shown at the end of the novel hard at work restoring it.
Also borrowing the name for their band is The Vincent Black Shadow (also known as TVBS) an alternative rock band from Vancouver Canada, signed to the Bodog record label.
See also
References
- ^ [1] Vincent Genealogy (retrieved 22 October 2006)
- ^ Harris Vincent accessed 2008-05-08
The Vincent Black Shadow also plays a prominent role in a Rockford Files episode: The Return of the Black Shadow http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0688086/
Bo Hopkins plays John Cooper, a disbarred lawyer. Rockford dates his sister. Rockford is attacked and sister is raped by a gang of bikers. To solve the crime, John Cooper reveals that he is an ex-biker. He digs his VBS out of mothballs and rides with The Rattlers to uncover their secrets.