A Racing XS11!

[TopCatGr58]

That's very interesting info. What I find intriguing is this:

- Brakes Std XS1100 with braided lines

That they felt the standard brakes were adequate enough with just the use of SS lines! Although he didn't mention whether they used tougher brake disc rotors and sintered pads?

I definitely won't be doing any major CASE mods to accomodate the front sprocket, but will use the dual bearings design!
T.C.

[Geezer]

Originally posted by GNEPIG
the vincent handled so good that every one that raced them took the motors out and put them in norton frames.. every chopper that i have ever riden or riden next to that had a girder front end
did not even work, the only movment i seen was in the frame[sorry geezer]

i would kill for a chance to ride even a stock vincent .. a bike way too cool for the 50s

Vencents got a bad rap for handling from improperly maintained front ends and poor damping of the 1950's mono-shock rear end. There is nothing wrong with the girder design when properly built and tuned. Most of the Vinnie riders I know adapted Koni shocks for both the front and rear damping. The Shadow I rode was as good handling as any British twin of the time.

I'm very fortunate in that I've had the opportunity to ride all sorts of rare bikes that many people have never seen. The Vinnie stands out as the one I would have most likely killed to own. The Norton Manx was cool and loud but I wouldn't spend the bucks to get one no matter how rich I become.

Tony

[Pat Kelly]

I just wanted to bring this bike back into the light with the performance threads floating around.

[xs650mike]

About the Vincent, I used to hang around a guy who had several. He never let me ride one but he told me most of the handling difficulties people had were due to worn out dampers in the case of the girdraulic forks or improper adjustment of the scissors shocks on the girder forked models. The scissors (friction) shocks needed to be taken up regularly. Properly adjusted the bikes handled fine, especially considering the other bikes on the market. Harleys didn't even have rear suspension! I have ridden a couple of old bikes with girder forks and scissors shocks and the front ends were ok except they lacked travel. My friend also said that the Vincent's brakes (even with 2 front drums) were abyssmally bad, it was necessary to plan stops far ahead which left the rider SOL in an emergency. I am old enough to remember when all bikes had terrible brakes, fortunately few if any were as fast as the Vincent. The first bike I ever owned with good brakes was an XJ750RH Seca. Until I bought my XS1100, that was the only bike I ever owned with a truly comfortable amount of braking power.

[GNEPIG]

.. me thinks the Vini gots the bad rap on the handling part mostly cause the back a da seat was mounted to the rear axel and the front o da seat was mounted on a henge to the frame, the part thats spose ta bounce up and down with the suspension.. from the mouth of an old guy i new that actualy owned one said that it felt like the bike was bending in two every thime you hit a bump or got hard into the corners it felt like it was hinged in the middle.. he said this was pretty unerving and he could never really get used to this feeling but he loved the feeling of how fast it was
.. i think that had they made a subframe that supported the entire seat from the actual frame insted of the back of the swing arm this would have been a totaly different handling machine
.. but the design was ahead of it's time and it was a really cool bike inspite of it's flaws
.. the norton feather bed frame was the hot sh!t of it's day, it was just easier to spackle the hot sh!t Vini motor into the best frame of the time and go racing

.. "these are the words of Markus Arillius"

[xs650mike]

OT Musings

They did make a subframe for the seat on later model Vincents, guy I knew had a couple of 'em. Somewhere I've got a pick of a Black Shadow with this type of seat but I can't lay hands on it right now. The Vincent owner also told me that they were the only old bike to have since they had nearly universal parts interchangeability.

Featherbed Norton frames have been used with all sorts of engines. I've seen pictures of Norvins, Tritons and even Yamtons (XS650 engine). Check out this Harley Pan/Shovel powered Norton:


The brass knuckle kickstart pedal is priceless.

Not sure how much it weighs but:

[xs650mike]

Vincent Seat

Found that old mag with the Vincent pic showing subframe seat:


This did away with the "hinge-in-the-middle" feeling. The frameless construction with under-seat shocks and hugger rear fender is very similar to what Yamaha did on the XV920 "Euro Model" otherwise known as the "chain-drive Virago". I always thought of those as the "poor man's Vincent".

[bandet01]

neat looking bike but i beat it cost alot to build but that chain drive is neat i would like to do it to my bike but i wounder how much it will cost

[xs650mike]

pggg's chain drive XS11

Hey bandit,

Have you checked out pggg's chain drive bike? He shows you how to do it in this thread: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...e&pagenumber=1

I don't think he spent a lot of bucks.

[GNEPIG]

i stand corrected
.. these are what i have seen mostly, in real life and in pictures and only pics of the vini singles .. the picture you have posted is the first one i have ever seen with the seat support .. i am glad to see it.. the vini in my pic sold for over $65,000 on ebay recently
.. i had one of those 920RHs, it was a pretty fun bike.. i bobbed it and drag raced it for two years, it made a neet looking bobber
.. pan-shovel with the norton trans and the twin mach Amals,
that poor little norton atlas!. those groovy wheels i have never seem before either. very cool

[xs650mike]

Wow that's a beaut, but for $65 large you can keep it! I never understood those scissors shocks that worked off the seat, really stupid. Guess you'd really know what your back tire is doing!

Actually that's an AMC (Matchless/AJS) gearbox, when they merged with Norton they were used on Nortons since it was a better box than Norton had previously. I wondered about the wheels too, thought maybe they were Harley. I'd sure like to see a pic of the finished bike. Looks like it doesn't need much more than a front brake and a few odds and ends. I guess that's a Harley guy's idea of a cafe racer.