This is an account of a 100,000 mile test of Vincent Black Shadow in 1951-3.
The motor was given to VOC Chairman Tim Kirker, reportedly for testing purposes. Back in 1951, Tony Rose set out to put 100,000 miles on his new Black Shadow and achieved this aim with relatively little in the way of parts replacement between November 1951 and February 1953. The test lasted about fifteen months, with Rose putting in an average of 200 miles a day.
No rebuild! Having done around 50,000 fast touring miles, with a sidecar fitted during the winter months, Rose rode his Black Shadow to Stevenage for a check-over. The Smiths firm had, by the way, sealed the speedometer to render it tamperproof.
Unbeknownst to Rose, the oil feed union bolt unscrewed itself during the ride to the factory and Rose reckoned the motor ran for ten or twelve miles without any oil in the tank! At Stevenage, the heads and cylinders were removed.
Two broken rear piston rings and a broken valve spring were replaced. The clutch linings were replaced, as were the drive chains and tyres. The clutch linings had been replaced at 4,000 miles or so because of oil contamination.
Averaging 70 mph, Rose calculated that he had gotten about 35 mpg – a British gallon is roughly equivalent to 4.5 litres – and around 200 miles per pint of engine oil. Some Vincent twins achieve 400 miles per pint of oil, depending on which sources one trusts but whatever the figures, Rose clearly didn't spare the horses! Ridden 'gently', a twin can get 50 mpg. So he was in the habit of gunning it. Also, hauling a chair about raises consumption quite a lot. Rose also had a windscreen fitted some of the time, which can also reduce mileage per gallon.
At about 67,000 miles, Rose clocked 112 mph on the Shadow in solo trim. Around 80,000 miles, fitted with a two- seat sidecar for his wife and child, Rose heard a tap from the big ends but carried on cruising at average speeds of 70 mph regardless. Just before the 100,000 mile mark, in January 1953, Rose decided to clock up the magic figure by visiting the Editor- in-Chief of the club journal M.P.H, R.A.B. Cook, who lived in the Scottish town of Banff.
One of the worst gale forces winds recorded in the British Isles was howling across Scotland as Rose and his mate Jim Reagan crossed the border. At one point, riding into the 113 mph gale, the outfit was brought to a standstill in bottom gear! Rose and Reagan had their work cut out to find petrol stations with manually operated pumps as most of the electrically- powered gas pumps were out of order because of cut power lines.
Several times, they had to borrow axes and saws to cut through trees and telegraph poles blown down across country roads. Once, a tree began to creak and they just managed to shove the outfit out of the way as it came crashing down. And then there was the black ice and the horizontal snow and sleet, just to add to the fun. When the reached Cook's house, they had passed 100,000 miles but the speedo cable had broken.
So, they repaired the cable and set out for Stevenage, 100,000 miles clicking over near the border town of Carlisle. On Tuesday, 2.2.1953, they turned off the Great North Road into the Vincent-HRD works.
The motor was stripped and the crannk assembly split. There were some broken springs in the ESA. Wear was as follows:
Rocker pins and rocker bores (3rd set) – .003″
Front cylinder bore – .0035″ to .004″
Rear cylinder bore – .0025″ to .0035″
Crankpin – .0003″
Big-end liner – .0004″
G9 layshaft – 1st gear, bore wear – .0006″
G8/1 layshaft – 2nd gear, bore wear – .00025″
G5 layshaft – journal wear – .0005″
After 100,000 miles, 80,000 of which were completed with various types of sidecar, this speaks volumes for the durability of Vincent-HRD motors. Tony Rose always said that he achieved his goal by changing the oil regularly, allowing the motor to warm up for at least twelve miles before using three-quarter or full throttle and by resisting the urge to rev the motor up in 2nd and 3rd gears. While he rode fast and hard, he didn't abuse his Shadow. He rode it properly. Most British motorbikes respond well to being ridden properly.
The Shadow went through three exhaust systems but Rose attributed this to parking it outside in all weathers and riding on heavily salted roads in the winter. A couple of sidecar wheels collapsed on him. One supposes that he changed the brake shoes a few times but he didn't refer to this in his account.
The alloy idler, so often damned as the bane of Vincenteers' lives, was still in good nick at the end of the 100,000 miles. Mind you, that doesn't stop me from fitting steel idlers! Phil Vincent remarked that, “Tony Rose was the sort of rider I had in mind when I produced the Black Shadow. The Black Shadow was designed to cruise effortlessly at a hundred miles an hour without fatiguing the rider.”
All the same, Rose must have been a very, very fit bloke to be able to put in a daily average of 200 miles! As for the Black Shadow, the credit for that really belongs to George Brown and Phil Irving. Oh sure, Vincent was jolly pleased with the results but Brown and Irving felt obliged to build the prototype in secret, without telling Vincent. Vincent had some great ideas but products like the Amanda water scooter and the Series D enclosed models were very out of touch with what customers actually wanted. Vincent always said that the Ds were the result of customer surveys…which only goes to prove they were were camels, the definition of a camel being a horse designed by committee.
Sometime, I will tell you what Ted Davies told me about testing Series Ds. But there is the story of Tony Rose and the 100,000 mile test. Vincent also remarked that it proved the reliability of the big-ends, which was an oblique reference to the Montlhéry tests and the record set by a Black Shadow in 1951.
Well, I interviewed several of the people who had some part in the famous Montlhéry episode and they all said it was a load of ballocks, that the big-ends didn't stand up to high speed use. Of course, the aim was 100 mph for 24 hours. With what were, in effect, uncaged needle roller big-ends, it was asking a lot. Black Lightnings had caged roller big-ends. And I am fitted caged roller big-ends to my tuned but standard-looking B Rapide.
To summarise, a standard Vincent-HRD 1000cc motor is good for astonishingly high mileages if ridden by mechanically sympathetic people. If ridden hamfistedly, they will not last as long as they should. If 120 mph cruising is wanted, one would be advised to buy a rice rocket…and get a licence in a false name! Mr Vincent himself once famously, or infamously, cautioned his US importer not to, “sell them to any Tom, Dick or Harry.”
–from Cindy Rutherford
Century Motorcycles
San Pedro, California
